by SL Schiefer
“Absolutely. But I would handle it.”
“Well, I don’t have the resources to handle shit like this myself, as much as I want to.”
I set my water down on the coffee table in front of me and stand up to make my way around to where she’s sitting. Raven tries to sink into the chair, probably to keep herself as far away from me as possible. I lean down, placing my hands on the arms of the chair. She swallows again, my eyes tracking the movement in her throat. I take one hand and run a finger down from her ear to the base of her throat, then around to grip the back of her neck.
“I need you to not go to the cops. I can help you, let me help you.” Her breathing is picking up and her eyes drop to my lips. Her tongue darts out and licks her bottom lip, and then she lightly bites her lip.
Fuck. It.
I lean my face down an inch more, giving her the invitation she needs. She leans up, pressing her lips to mine, and all rational thought leaves my mind. I grip her neck a little harder and pull her up to stand, running my hands down her sides, caressing the swells of her breasts. Pulling on the bottom of her shirt, I take it off in one quick motion.
“So. Fucking. Beautiful. God, you’re a fucking Angel. My Angel.” I lean down and take her lips in a demanding kiss she can easily keep up with. She runs her hands everywhere, ending up underneath my shirt. Running her nails lightly over my abs, she causes a moan to rip from my mouth. This girl is definitely going to be the death of me.
Chapter Nine – Raven
OH MY FUCKING GOD! What the fuck am I doing? He’s hot and cold all the damn time. I can’t keep up with the whiplash of moods from him. Why did he even bring me here? I was contemplating on getting up and heading back to the shop but when he stalked over to me like he just had to be closer, all logic left me. When he leaned down closer to me, I nearly forgot my own name. This isn’t me. This isn’t who I am.
Reluctantly, I pull away from the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. I have to clench my legs together in all efforts to soothe the ache building in me and take a deep breath to steady my heart. Slowly, I open my eyes, only to look directly into dark amber eyes that seem to be trying to peer into my soul. His eyebrows are pinched together, his lips pressed tightly to one another.
“I’m sorry,” I say, my voice coming out in a whisper.
“For what?” His voice, unlike mine, comes out strong and confident. A slight smile plays on his lips, as if he knows what he does to me.
“Why am I here?” I ask with more confidence. I place my palm against his chest to push him away so I can pull myself together. Instantly, I regret the idea as the heat from his skin burns into my hand. His muscles are rock hard. I can feel my eyes grow wide as they lock on to the sight of my hand on him, my brain failing to talk to the rest of my body for my hand to move.
“You’re the one who broke the kiss, Angel. I’m more than happy to show you what I’m working with.” He smiles widely. My eyes snap up to meet his. Big. Mistake. He’s beautiful. From his tanned skin, to the hint of danger dancing in his eyes, to his cocky grin. Perfect, straight white teeth. Best of all, a wide, masculine jaw. I’ve always been a sucker for a good jaw.
I roll my eyes in annoyance as I quickly force my hand to stand down. “You’re cocky.”
“You’re not good at pretending you aren’t interested.” He takes a step closer to me.
I take a step back. “Who’s pretending?” I quickly turn my back toward him, swiping my shirt from the floor and pulling it over my head as I take a few more steps away from him, pretending to be scoping out his pad. I walk around the room, not really looking anywhere in particular, before I look back at him. “So?” I want to know the real reason for me being here. The fact that he’s neglected to answer makes my guard rebuild lightning fast.
“So, what?” he shoots back. He cocks his head slightly to the side as his eyes openly roam over my body on repeat before they settle back on my eyes.
Lifting a brow in his direction, I cross my arms over my chest. Pursing my lips as I take in today’s events, I suddenly remember the mess that awaits me when I’m done here. “Why did you bring me here?” I’m annoyed at him for playing games. I’m more annoyed with myself for allowing him to get to me. My heart is still beating faster than normal, my palms slick. If I force myself to look away for my body to calm down, he’s the type of guy who thinks it means I’m uncomfortable, and that I want him. Even though I do want him, it’s knowledge he isn’t privy to know. So I do the only thing I can, I narrow my eyes, staring directly back at him.
“I wanted to talk to you without any interruptions.”
“Why couldn’t you just do that in the car? Or better yet, you could’ve told me that in the parking lot of the police station and save us both some time.” I know my words are laced with fierce bitchiness, but I don’t even understand why he showed up at the station in the first place. “How did you know I was there, anyway?”
“I have my resources.” He smiles. “And to answer your other question, I wanted your full attention. I wanted to be able to read if you were going to tell me the truth of whether or not you would keep this out of the cops’ hands. It’s easier to read you when you aren’t driving. I couldn’t exactly talk about keeping this on the DL while standing where any cop could hear, now could I?”
“Why is it so important for you that I drop the perusal of what happened and let the cops know not to go any further with it? Why the hell do you even care?” Something in the back of my mind is wagging its finger back and forth, silently shouting something isn’t right. But looking at Mace, my body is screaming at me to do what he’s asking. To give in and oblige.
“Angel, all I’m asking is that you let me handle this. Sometimes, the police’s hands are tied. I’ll help you clean everything up. Just let me take care of this, okay?” His eyes are pleading with me, but his voice is sure and strong.
“Why do you care?”
“Because I do.” He shrugs.
“Why?” I ask again. This time I square my shoulders as if I’m ready to take on a fight. My muscles tense, prepared for anything.
I watch as he stalks toward me, his eyes never leaving mine. I hold my ground, refusing to allow my feet to move me backward, away from the man who looks like he’s on the hunt.
“I can’t tell you that,” he says simply, like the answer doesn’t really matter.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know the answer to that. But ever since I met you, I can’t get you out of my mind,” he admits as his large, calloused hands come to rest on my naked shoulders. Instantly, a surge of need and fear hits straight to my core. “You matter, Raven.” His voice is soft. His face takes on a look of confusion as if he’s not even sure where that admission came from.
I matter? To a man I just met? Something’s not right. I just met this sexy Adonis; there’s no reason for him to care. Our lives are not intertwined in any way. And the vagueness of his answers—I don’t buy it. “Why do I feel like you’re hiding something that’s important for me to know, Mace?”
“Why are you so untrusting?” His palms fall from my shoulders in defeat, and my body instantly craves for him to put them back on me.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“I am who I am,” I shrug.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Well, you want to be vague when I ask you for answers, I guess that means it’s fair game for me to do the same. As for the cops, that’s my decision to make,” I tell him as I stress the word ‘my’, using my finger to point into my chest. “If I wanted your help,” I tell him, turning my finger and jabbing it into the rock solid muscle that covers his heart, “then I’d ask you for it. But as far as I know, I haven’t. So why am I in your house?” When I stop moving my mouth, I realize I’ve moved so close to him that our bodies are beginning to touch. I can feel his breath against my face. The heat from his body is soaking into mine. Every time his chest rises with each breath, it brushes the tips of my b
reasts. Every fiber of my body is on full alert. I can feel my nipples tighten, my pussy clenching.
I shake my head of all thoughts except for one—get the fuck out of here.
I take a few steps back. “You know what, Mace? I don’t have time for games. Nor do I have patience for them, so save the shit, I have things I need to do. Have a good life.”
With that, I walk out, slamming the door of his beautiful home behind me.
Chapter Ten – Mace
I WATCHED HER ASS walk out of my living room and out the door. I almost flinched when the door slammed. I’m sure if it were possible the hinges would have shook with the force with which she slammed it with. Fucking firecracker my Angel is. I grin.
I must have lost my fucking my mind. Shaking my head, I grab my phone out of my pocket, shooting a text to one of the prospects to get a couple of others and head to the shop. Whether she likes it or not, she’s getting help. It would be easier if she agrees, but it’s not like she’s a huge challenge.
Following the path Raven just took, I walk outside and to one end of my garage. Staring at the space my car is occupying, it’s currently collecting dust with a car cover over it. It’s been a while since I’ve even driven a car. This car has been sitting here since the first time it was nice enough to get the bike back out.
Strolling over to the front end of the car, I grasp the cover and pull it up and over the car, revealing it to the sunlight. When I first got this car, I decided to leave everything factory on it. The value of the car, I think, is so much more when the thing is left alone. No special paint, no special upgrades to the engine, and nothing done to the interior.
Once I have the cover somewhat folded and out of the way, I turn to stare at my baby. A 1972 Plymouth Roadrunner, the original factory purple. Raven would have a coronary if she saw this, then again, if she would have stuck around maybe I could have showed her.
Grabbing the key chain off the hook by the door, I get in and start her up, revving the engine a little to let her breathe some life back into her pipes. Sliding the gearshift into reverse, I ease out of the garage, hopping out to shut the door and getting back in.
I decide to drive by the shop to see if my guys showed up. For their sakes, someone better be there. I pull my phone back out of my pocket and dial Creep’s number, wondering what my vice president is up to.
“Yo.” This guy never answers the phone like a normal person.
“What are you doing? You want to hit up the club for a drink?” Best thing about owning a club? Free dinks whenever we want. Might have been one of the main selling points that ran through all of our minds when I first pitched them the idea.
“You know I’m always game for that. What I want to know is why you’re helping Anders’ daughter clean up the shop when we made the mess,” he says gruffly through the phone.
“You know, that’s really none of your business. But I’ll explain it all when we get down to the club. I’ll see you there, fucker.” I end the call, tossing the phone over to the passenger seat.
The drink I needed, and was looking forward to, just became a depressing thought. Inquisitions should never happen over beer between guys.
***
I’m sitting at the bar, waiting for Creep to arrive, and have stopped the advances of five different women. All five were as different as night and day. But none of them hold a candle to my Angel. All of them are just an empty hole to get my dick wet in, but never fully satisfying. Ugh, that’s a pussy-ass fucking thought.
Just then, a hand is slapping my back, pulling me out of my thoughts. Just in time, too.
“Alright, man. My ear is here for you. Time for you to divulge all your secrets.” Comedian, he is.
Shaking my head, I mutter, “I have no secrets, you’re fucking delusional. Raven is… a means to an end.”
“Yeah, the end of your dick.” He laughs hysterically after that comment. I have to give him credit for that one. That one was actually pretty good.
“No, asshole. More than that. Although, that would be a nice bonus.” Not that I’m telling this guy my ultimate plan is to get her beautiful body underneath me… on top of me… beside me… Actually, I’ll take her anyway she’ll let me.
“Okay, okay. So you just want to bone her. Cool. But what is your end game with her? Why are we helping her?”
“Because she went to the cops today. Which is why someone had to come pick up my bike. I’m trying to get her to leave it alone. But she couldn’t be persuaded to. Not just yet, at least.”
He barks out a laugh, “Oh, so she became a challenge then. She turned your ass down. And now you have to somehow salvage your manhood by getting her in bed.”
“Not necessarily in bed.” Another laugh. I’m smirking at this point. There is a reason this guy is my Vice President. We’ve been friends since we were little shits; it was only natural that he follow me up the ranks.
“Now that, my friend, is exactly what I’m talking about. Get her in bed, get her to keep quiet, then move on with your life. Capiche?” He eyes me. He saw the girl, so he knows I’m going to have a problem with letting her go. But he’s enough of a friend to not call me out on that fact.
“Yeah, man. You been watching those old mob shows again?” I pick up my beer and smile as I slide the bottle to my lips and take a long pull of it.
“Don’t judge me, asshole.” He picks up his beer and takes a drink. Setting it back down, he turns to me to say something else, but my ringing phone cuts him off. This fucking phone has the worst timing.
Looking at my phone, Bug’s name is on the screen. I slide the answer button over. “What’s up?”
“Pres?” Bug says nervously.
“Yeah?”
“You’re going to need to come back to the clubhouse,” he tells me, gaining a little more solidness in his voice.
“Oh, yeah? Why’s that?”
“Well, Carver’s ol’ lady was dropping off a shipment today. Apparently, Jayla left this morning to do some shopping, but never came back when she said she was going to, so Carver kept calling her cell phone. He was sent a picture from her phone.”
“Okay. A picture of what?”
“Of her sitting by our front gate. She’s dead.” Ice makes its way down my spine. They did it again. They have been quiet lately, except for my run-in today.
The thing they don’t realize is that they’re not dealing with a young kid who doesn’t know how to get revenge without going in guns a blazin’. Not now. No, they’re dealing with an adult who has seen too much bad shit go down, but I’m good at playing the game. The little game where you let them think they are ahead of you, winning, and then out of nowhere I hit them like a fucking tornado.
Knocking them all down. Destroying every last person.
And I need to do it before they think using Raven is a great idea.
Chapter Eleven – Raven
THIS DAY JUST KEEPS getting worse and worse. First, finding Dad, then the dipshit cops down at the station, to the fight with Mace. I was hoping that coming back to clean up the shop would bring me some sort of peace. Mindless. This place is my home away from home. But within a minute from walking through the damn door, three douchebags appeared. Apparently, Mace sent them to help clean the mess up. What. The. Fuck? Does he not get what ‘have a good life’ means? Was I unclear?
No matter how hard I tried to get the apes to leave, they refused. “Orders are orders.” What the hell does that mean? I asked, several times, in a few different ways. And I was pretty much invisible to them at that point. Although, I have to say, with Dad out for the day, and Luke being God knows where, there’s no way I’d be as far as we are in the four hours I’ve been here if it weren’t for them. Of course, Jazz was sitting on top of the hood of a car in for a tune-up, watching the show the entire time. Or more like, watching the three beefy men at work.
“Hey,” I call out to her, but she doesn’t even acknowledge she heard me. “Yo!” I say louder, snapping my fingers in front o
f her face.
“What?” she snaps. “Can you not tell I’m busy?” Her face is scrunched up like she’s annoyed at me for interrupting her favorite show on TV.
“Seriously, Jazz? Do you not see this fucking place? It’s a mess! We have customers pissed off! We need to get this place cleaned up so I can actually fix everything that was fucked with. This is not good for business.”
“Yes, Rave, I get that. But seriously, chica, you need to simmer the fuck down! There’s nothing you can do to fix this, we’ll get it done. And those stuck up, whiny, entitled assholes you talked about yesterday will eventually get their shit back. Can you not just take five minutes to be a normal woman in her early twenties? Trust me, your vagina will thank you,” she fires back, topping it with a smirk.
Part of me wants to laugh, but the other part of me wants to straight up throat punch her. This is Dad’s business. This is where I was raised. This is all we have left of Mom. She bought it for Dad for him to go after his dreams. It was the last thing she gave him before she died. The idea of some asshole coming in here and trying to ruin that, and tarnish our good name, royally pisses me off!
Instead of even responding, I roll my eyes and head out the back service door. After slamming it shut, I press my forehead to the metal, close my eyes, and take a few deep, steadying breaths. Without warning, the door hits the toe of my boots, catching me off guard and sending me flying right on my ass. Jazz peeks her head around the corner and busts out laughing.
Narrowing my eyes at her, I ask, “Do you really think there is anything funny about any of this?”
She lets out a few more chuckles before pulling herself together and parking her ass on the curb lining one of the parking stalls. “Okay, I’m sorry. But you know… karma and all that. Anyway, you okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll live.” I roll my eyes at her.
“Yes, I know you’ll live. But you falling on your ass is not what I meant. I mean, are you okay?”
