I laughed. “No, you’ve certainly proved that you’re not.”
She began to sweep again. “So, when are the tanning beds arriving?”
“Well, the storm set delivery back a day but they should be here by the end of the week.”
“Good. I’m pale as a Mainer.” She bent and scooped up her pile of hair into a dustpan.
“You are a Mainer now,” I said unnecessarily. The phone in my back pocket vibrated letting me know that I was getting a text. I pulled it out and glanced down, smiling. It was Big John.
“Hey, beautiful."
“You must have the wrong girl.”
“Really? This isn’t the cute little girl from the salon down the road? The one with the big tits and round ass?”
“Watch yourself. I could choose to take that as an insult.”
“You know I love your tits and ass, baby.”
“Oh, yeah? How much do you love them?”
“I could suck on your tits all day. And the next time we fuck it will be your ass I stick my dick into.”
“I think I just had a mini orgasm.”
“Don’t say shit like that when I can’t get my hands on you.”
“It’s okay. My hands are on me.”
There was a long pause.
“Are you fucking with me?”
“Kind of.”
“That’s two punishments I owe you now. Never did get you for teasing me yesterday.”
“No, you were too busy fucking the breath out of me.”
“Hell, wish I was fucking you now. But that’s not why I’m texting.”
“What’s going on?”
“I won’t be around until late tonight. Have a job for the club.”
“Okay.”
“As soon as you close up for the day I want your ass back at the clubhouse.”
“Wow. Bossy much?”
“I mean it, baby. This is serious. If I’m worrying about you while I’m on the job I could get careless.”
I sobered at the thought. Careless meant mistakes, and I didn’t want Big John getting hurt. “Okay. I’ll get my ass to the clubhouse.”
“Good. You’ll be protected there until I get back.”
“Will you be back before morning?”
“If nothing goes wrong.”
“Be safe.”
“I will. Later.”
I breathed in deeply, wondering what he’d be doing for the club, knowing that as long as he was in my life this was how it would be. Me always wondering, praying that he returned unscathed. When he’d returned from his talk with Rock the afternoon before he’d been distracted and moody, refusing to tell me what it was about because it was club business. I already understood that club business between the brothers wasn’t shared with their women, or anyone else for that matter. I accepted that, and the reasons for it. But my wanting to smooth the worry wrinkles on his brow and help in some way had overruled any caution from pressing him further.
Realizing my concern over his quiet frame of mind he’d simply released a resigned breath, taken me into his arms and held me tight, and we’d curled up on the bed and just enjoyed being together. After a while we’d filled the silence with talk about one another, until the mood shifted and we’d grown aware of each other physically. Big John had fucked me into exhaustion, until it was all I could do to catch my breath, never mind asking questions. It had been enough.
“Was that the big Viking?” Jasmine joked, cleaning out one of the sinks.
I just smiled, and began to straighten up the products on the shelves. Customers seemed to have a habit of moving things around, or not placing them back where they’d got them.
“You can keep silent all you want but your face gives it away.”
“What are your plans tonight?” I asked grinning.
She shrugged. “Clay has to work at one of the clubs so I thought I’d go home. Haven’t been there for a few days and I’m sure my plants need watering. Clay’s going to come over after his shift.”
“Why don’t you come up for dinner before you go? I could make a quick pasta dish.” I hadn’t been upstairs since the day before but I was sure I had the ingredients to make salad and a small lasagna.
“Thought you had to get back to the club after we close?” Jasmine reminded me what I’d told her earlier, before Big John’s text.
“I think the idea is for me not to be alone. I’m sure if I head there after we eat it’ll be fine. Plus, I have the alarm now, we can activate it after we lock up for the day.”
“Okay. You know I love your pasta.”
“Let’s finish up and head upstairs.”
We worked in silence, doing the end of the day cleaning so that the salon would be ready for our first customer in the morning. Thelma and Cora Waterstone was our first customer in the morning and they could be counted on arriving at exactly eight o’clock. Thelma always looked the place over with a critical eye, too, and wasn’t shy about voicing a complaint when she saw a full trash can or dirt in the corner. I humored her. The woman was ninety years old, lived with her seventy-year-old daughter, and they were both so pathetically lonely that I felt sorry for them.
After about fifteen minutes we ceased what we were doing and gave each other a look. “We done?” Jasmine asked with a smile.
I looked around the place. Thankfully Betty and Jackie had cleaned their stations as usual before they’d left. “Think so.” I glanced up at the clock, it was ten till five. “Close enough.” I went to the door and was about to lock it when I noticed a truck parked next to Jasmine’s car. I recognized one of the bikers from the club, but couldn’t recall his name. I opened the door and he rolled down the window on his passenger side at the same time. “Can I help you with something?”
“No, ma’am. Just waiting to escort you to the clubhouse.”
Really? I shook my head realizing he’d been assigned to protect me. “I’m afraid you’re going to have a little wait. Jasmine and I are going to eat dinner before we leave. Would you like to come in and join us?”
“Thanks, but no thanks. I was told to sit here until you leave.”
His stubbornness made me smile. I closed the door and was about to lock it when I decided against it in case he had to come inside or changed his mind about dinner.
“What about the alarm?” Jasmine asked when I passed the keypad next to the door.
“There’s a biker sitting guard duty right outside,” I explained, walking her way. “Come on, you can make the salad while I make the lasagna.”
“Oh, I love your lasagna.”
We made our way upstairs and into my apartment. As was her habit Jasmine slipped off her shoes right inside the door and left them on the small carpet there. I’d told her that it wasn’t necessary but she’d said it was out of habit because her carpets were white, so I stopped arguing with her. I continued toward the kitchen.
“Ouch! Damn it!”
I swung back to Jasmine. She was hopping around on one foot and was pulling the other one up to examine it.
“I stepped on something,” she complained, looking closely at her injured foot. “Damn that hurt.”
I automatically looked down at the floor to see what it might have been. There was something there. I narrowed my eyes and studied it for a second, my blood turning cold when I realized what it was. Half of a pistachio shell was lying on the floor. I froze with fear at what that meant. I didn’t eat pistachios, but Paul did, and he had a habit of carrying around a handful in his pocket for whenever he wanted one.
“What’s wrong, honey?” My stricken expression must have alerted Jasmine that something was wrong. She laughed lightly. “I’m the one that hurt my foot.” My gaze finally rose to meet hers, and her smile disappeared instantly. “What is it?” She almost whispered the question, which revealed that she sensed something wasn’t right.
“Jasmine, get out!” She at least had a chance because she was still close to the door. I knew it was too late for me. Paul was already stepping
into the room from the left of us, slightly out of Jasmine’s sight. “Run!” I screamed with panic.
She didn’t question me, or hesitate, turning to open the door we’d just closed. But that was as far as she got. Paul was on her in an instant, yanking her back by the back of her collar and then slamming and locking the door. In the same movement, he brought Jasmine forward and slammed her head into the door, knocking her out.
“Jasmine!” I cried out with fear, watching as Paul release her to drop to the floor. I rushed to where she’d fallen, my fear for her condition outweighing any fear for Paul’s unexpected appearance. “Jasmine!” I pulled her over onto her back.
An evil laugh, followed by a hand twisting in my hair and yanking my head up, brought my tearful gaze to his.
“Hello, darling.”
“Please don’t hurt her,” I begged, bringing a hand up to lessen the pressure of his hurtful hold.
“Then do as I say and she might live,” he said in a cold voice. “But you, well, I’m afraid your fucking that biker scum out in broad daylight sealed your fate.”
“So, it was you who shot at us!” I gasped.
“Not me, I wouldn’t have missed,” he confirmed, his tone indifferent. “But some worthless piece of shit I’d hired. Idiot rented a Cadillac. But I took care of him after he failed his assignment. I guess if you want something done right you do it yourself.”
I shook my head, tears falling down my cheeks. Because I knew then and there that he was going to kill me, and probably Jasmine, too. Pure evil was reflected in Paul’s cold, dead eyes, and the hate was a toxic cloud surrounding him. I knew that he was going to make me suffer. There was little humor in his eyes when he smiled the smile I’d come to hate and fear over the years.
“You know, don’t you. You know you screwed up. I wanted you back until I was shown a video of you screwing that filthy biker in his truck.” Without warning Paul backhanded me viciously across the mouth. “You had his dirty hands on you, his dirty cock inside you.” He backhanded me again. “I’m going to make you pay for that. By the time I’m done you’ll be begging me to kill you. And then when I’m done with you, I’m going after him.”
The next time Paul decided to hit me he did it with his fist. So, hard that I felt my jaw crack, and blood spewed from my mouth onto the wall and floor. Dizziness made me wobble on my knees and I fought to remain awake, but another fist to the face had me seeing stars and the next thing I knew I was falling into blackness.
Chapter 28
Big John
“You still awake, baby?” I waited a couple of minutes and decided that Daisy must have gone to bed. I didn’t blame her. It was late and I’d stopped on the side of the road on the way home to take a leak. Gator and Cooper were with me, each with their ears to their own phones. The protection run had gone without incident and I was eager to get back to my woman. Just to make sure she’d made it to the club okay I decided to text Ross, the prospect in charge of keeping an eye on her. When he didn’t answer back a bad feeling moved over me.
Shit! I called the bar at the club, knowing that someone was always there to pick up.
“Yeah?”
It was Painter. “Brother, have you seen Ross? He’s supposed to be watching my woman and neither one are responding to my texts.”
“Haven’t seen Ross all night, man. Thought he was fucking off.”
“Check my room for Daisy,” I ordered, fighting down the rush of alarm beginning to grow in my gut. “If she’s not there head to her house. I’m on my way!”
I kick started my bike and tore off onto the highway, cutting off a vehicle that swerved just in time from hitting me. The driver laid on his horn but I didn’t give a fuck. I was too revved up on adrenaline from fear of what could have happened to Daisy. The fact that Ross hadn’t responded to my text said a lot in my world. He wouldn’t ignore a text from a brother unless he’d been forcefully removed from the situation, or he was dead. And the only one who could relieve him from his duties was me.
Cooper and Gator yelled something as I sped past them but I ignored them, and the next thing I knew they were rolling up behind me. When they were even with me I indicated that they turn on their head sets.
“We’re heading to Daisy’s. She and Ross aren’t answering my texts.”
“Shit, man,” Gator said. “That’s not like Ross.”
Talking wasn’t necessary after that. We revved our engines and raced toward home. I was glad we were on the highway, and we pushed our speed as if there weren’t any limits. Moving in and out of traffic, letting nothing get in our way. If anything had happened to Daisy then Ross had better be dead because I was going to kill him.
Leaving the highway, we had to cut our speed for the twists and sharp turns on the country roads that would take me to Daisy’s. Couldn’t afford to get reckless and wiping out on a gravel filled road at the speed we were pushing hurt like hell. A couple of times I almost laid my bike down, but managed to bring it under control in the nick of time. We were still a fair distance away from Daisy’s, but not far enough to notice that the sky was lit up like a fucking Christmas tree on fire.
“Fuck, man, that Daisy’s house?” I heard Cooper murmur in a tone that revealed he wasn’t looking for an answer.
Fear like I’d never felt before pushed through me and like a mad man I picked up speed. Nothing else mattered right then than reaching my woman. Once I turned onto her road it was a straight shot to her place and I went full throttle. My blood froze when I got close enough to realize that Daisy’s house was on fire. Closer still exposed the fucking chaos surrounding it. The volunteer fire department was there, an ambulance, the cops, and some of my brothers were present. I knew this was fucking bad.
I jumped off my bike before it even came to a stop, not giving a fuck that it skidded and fell to the ground. My brothers, alerted to my arrival, rushed toward me, and held me back as I tried to get closer to the burning house. “Daisy!” I saw Ross’s truck and Jasmine’s car in the drive.
“Brother, no!” It took Painter, Snake and Rock to hold me back. “There’s nothing you can do.” Firemen had their hoses on full blast on the wood structure but as far as I could tell it was a lost cause. More of it than not was already burned to the ground. Daisy’s vehicle, which she’d kept parked behind her house, wasn’t there, and that gave me some hope.
“We don’t know if she was in there.” My president added.
As I slowly deciphered Hawk’s remark I turned toward him. I forced my breathing to calm, forced myself to stop resisting my brothers. They released me but didn’t step away. I watched the ambulance take off. No lights. No sirens. And that told me that if anyone was inside that they were already gone.
“Ross didn’t make it, brother,” Rock explained as we watched the ambulance go down the road. “He was found right inside the door with a bullet through the head.”
That explained why the cops were present, because there’d been a murder.
“Never had a chance,” Painter added.
“Fuck!” I exploded, looking past them back to the smoldering house, and the vehicles in the drive. “What about Jasmine?” I frowned. The cops present weren’t doing shit, just standing around their cruiser and watching what was going on. Probably waiting to hear if there were any other deaths to investigate.
Hawk released a heavy breath. “So far we don’t know where Jasmine and Daisy are. We’re waiting for confirmation if, ah, anyone else was in the house.”
I didn’t like the implications of what his fucking hesitation could mean. My gaze riveted to the destroyed house. When I saw one of the fire-men pull away and walk toward the squad car I left the circle of my brothers and headed there, too. Whatever he’d said had been brief and to the point because he’d turned and headed back to the house before I even got there. Charlie was there, and as we made eye-contact she hurriedly walked my way.
“She isn’t here,” she said in a rushed tone, sensing my fear.
“Th
ank fuck.” I collapsed within myself with relief. She wasn’t dead. But then where the fuck was she?
Charlie took me by the arm and we turned away from the other cops’ present, slowly walking back to my brothers. “Neither woman is here,” she announced to the group. “And so far, it appears the fire was intentionally set. Won’t know for sure until the investigation is complete.”
“What about our brother?” Gator asked, arms crossed.
Charlie pressed her lips, clearly at odds with saying more. She was a cop and they had their own investigation to do. “I can’t really say anymore on that, but you already know he was killed by a bullet to the head.” She hesitated. “What was he doing here?”
“Haircut,” Hawk stepped in with a quick response. His firm tone revealed that she wouldn’t be getting anything more than that from him.
Charlie just stared at him for a second, before nodding. She had enough association with the club to know when to not push it, especially with our president. “So, where do you think Jasmine and Daisy are?”
Hawk shrugged, and I knew he was going to brush off their disappearance to the cops. From here on out we would take over. If the girls had been taken against their will we’d find them and take care of them our own way. “Daisy’s car is gone, they went shopping.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “At this time in the morning?” she asked incredulously. “It’s clear that someone was here since Ross is dead. Aren’t you afraid that whoever killed him took Daisy and Jasmine?”
Shit. But our president was quick and sharp. “Isn’t the first time our women have gone off on a shopping spree to Portland and spent the night out.” He crossed his arms. “Ross must have seen something suspicious on his way by and stopped to check it out. He obviously interrupted a robbery in progress.”
Charlie scoffed. “You have all the answers, don’t you.”
Hawk grinned. “Usually do.”
“Charlie!” She turned to one of her partners. He motioned her over. Her gaze, when she turned back to us, included us all. “Let me know when they return. I’ll have questions for them.” was all she said as she turned and walked away.
What He Wants (Book 3 after Phantom Riders MC-Hawk and No Mercy) Page 24
