Devil's Advocate: Vlad (The Bedlam Horde MC Book 1)

by Sarah Zolton Arthur

  Up on the fifth floor, Sarge stands outside Greer’s room looking like a man who’s gotten little sleep and in need of a good sparring match.

  “I guess Greer’s been giving him a run for his money,” Nic whispers, tipping her head to point out Sarge.

  “She’s something else,” I respond wryly.

  “She’s strong and she’s been through a lot. She doesn’t like being helpless or forced to be indebted to a man. Men aren’t real high on her list right now. Give her some time. She’ll come around.”

  “It’s not me you have to convince. But it just might kill Sarge.”

  Fuck. No truer words.

  “Brother,” he greets me. “Nic.” He turns his attention to my woman. “I take it by that smile on your face that you haven’t gotten sick of his ass yet.”

  “I think it’ll take a while for me to tire of his ass.”

  “You mean my dick,” I correct her.

  She chuckles, smiling. “Oh, yes, his dick. That’s true.”

  “It is legendary,” Sarge teases.

  “But he does have a pretty fine ass,” Nic says, reaching around to pat my backside. “Real eye-candy material.”

  God, who is this woman? I think I fucked the uptight right out of her. It’s a goddamn miracle to see her let loose and have fun. She was strung so tight when we first met, rightly so, but this new side of her is more than I could’ve hoped for and I’ll take it for the gift it is.

  “Baby, why don’t you go inside with Greer? Sarge and I need to talk and I need to call the rest of my lieutenants. We’ll be in the waiting room for a little privacy if you need us for anything.”

  When those big, brown eyes stare thankful into mine, she just about knocks me on my eye-candy ass to the point that I want to tell Sarge to figure the Greer situation out so I can pick the fuck-a-thon with Nic up where we left off early this morning. That’s not what happens, but damn, do I wish it could.

  “Sure, honey buns.” Honey buns?

  “Did you just call a biker ‘honey buns’?” Sarge asks, laughing and shaking his head.

  “Well, we already established it’s ‘eye candy’. ‘Candy-ass’ just feels like a different connotation. Honey buns are sweet.” By the time she pushes up on her tiptoes to press that luscious mouth to mine, I’m ready to let her call me whatever the hell she wants. “Sure, dipshit.” “Sure, stupid ass.” A woman as hot as Nic can get a man to agree to just about anything.

  I wait for her to enter Greer’s room and hear her buoyant, “Hey, sweetie,” before turning to walk back down the hall to the waiting room with Sarge on my heels. Living in the twenty-first century, we use our phones for a Zoom call. I need the brothers’ approval before spending the kind of cake required to pay off Greer’s hospital bill.

  Sarge sends out the invitations to the rest of the brothers and we wait for them to accept.

  “This is new,” Dark, who’s the first to join, says to us.

  “I needed a meeting and don’t have the time to drive back to Bentley to take it,” I answer.

  “Something wrong?” Reap asks, surprising the hell out of me because I didn’t see him pop in.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” Sarge answers for me.

  We wait a few more minutes for Cutter and Roughneck to join us before getting to the meat of this meet. “Right. Now that we’re all here, there’s a money matter I need to clear.” Dark is our money man. He’s fucking smart and we voted him in to the position.

  “You’re clearing it with all of us, so I take it you’re looking for a substantial amount?” Dark asks.

  “Affirmative,” Sarge answers in his military speak.

  “Let me load up the spreadsheet. It’ll just take a sec for me to connect.” Thirty seconds later, and he has the spreadsheet up for all of us to see. Forget smart; the man’s a genius.

  “Where are we standing?” I ask.

  “Well, Rage screwed us over a bit, but I managed to change the passcode to the storage unit before he wiped out the kitty. Then there’s the cash stores he left at the club. While you’ve been playing security guard to the hot chick, the brothers and I have been on a treasure hunt here at the compound, finding all the different places Rage stashed the money. I guess we’re lucky the man doesn’t believe in banks.”

  “I guess there’s that,” I mutter.

  “I’m opening up a business account. All our cash will funnel through the business. That way, no one person will have access to the funds, but I think it’s a bad idea with Rage and men loyal to Rage still wandering around the county to keep it here at the club any longer than necessary. You all okay with that?”

  After each man gives their okay, I bring down the invisible gavel again. “Right. That’s a go.”

  “What do you need money for?” Reaper asks me specifically.

  “You know Nic and Greer are under the club’s protection, and you know Greer was admitted to the hospital. She’s in hiding. The woman doesn’t have any health insurance and there’s a bill that has to be paid.”

  “You want to use club funds to pay for the bill?” That comes from Roughneck.

  “Yeah. Otherwise, I’ll try to come up with it out of my own pocket.”

  “You’d pay a hospital bill for some hot bitch you hardly know?” Cut asks. “What, you hoping to get in her pants? Show off that legendary dick of yours?”

  “Wrong bitch,” Sarge answers before I have the chance.

  “Nicola?” Reap asks. “So you weren’t bullshitting, this is really a thing between you two? I mean, she’s one hot piece, but color me surprised. I think we’ve all been waiting for the shine to dull on your new toy.”

  “Thanks a lot, asshole,” I bite back. “Nic’s not a toy. No clue as to why it’s different with her, but it has been since I met her.”

  “Well, if that changes and she’s down, remind her we can have a little fun,” Roughneck says. “I don’t mind sloppy seconds when we’re talking about a bitch that hot.”

  “Wait, how the fuck do you know what my woman looks like?” I ask.

  “Sarge snapped a picture with his phone,” Roughneck admits without remorse. “He sent it to show us what’s been keeping you from club business.”

  I turn to glare at Sarge. At least he has the decency to look shamefaced. “Blink in her direction in a way I don’t like, I’ll end you in your sleep, brother.” It’s more than a threat. A man doesn’t let a woman like Nic go without a fight.

  “Whoa, that’s a lot of aggression toward your brother over a woman you’ve known less than two weeks.” Reap’s right. I need to calm down. “Is there something more you need to tell us?” he asks, getting me to laugh.

  “Yeah, fuck off.” Two weeks, two months or two years, time is irrelevant where Nic is concerned.

  “Well, that’s not very nice,” he says. “Sarge, you want to tell us, then?”

  “Our boy’s growing up.”

  Each brother gives some form of ‘What?’ which leaves me compelled to answer. “I thought you all were men, but it appears I accidentally asked a bunch of gossiping bitches to sit the table with me. Nic’s mine—in every way you can think of. She’s my old lady.”

  “Officially?” Roughneck asks. “Like you’ve officially claimed an old lady. She’s not just your woman. Nicola’s off limits to all the brothers.”

  “She’s a hundred percent off limits, dumbass. She’s claimed. You’ll have to find your own. I don’t share.”

  “Well,” Dark says, cutting in. “Nic’s your old lady and Greer is Nic’s girl, and they’re both under Horde protection, so I don’t think we have a choice. I vote yes. Brothers?” he asks the rest of them.

  “We’ll still have cash to keep the club running?” Cut asks a legitimate question.

  “Yeah.” Dark scrolls up the spreadsheet in order to show us his columns. “This column”—he points to one—“is like our checking account, for lack of a better term.” Then, pointing to the second, he says, “This one acts as our savings account.
That’s where the money for the bill will come from. As you all can see, we’ll be fine.”

  “Then I don’t see a problem,” Cut says. “Yes.”

  Two down.

  “You know my vote, prez.” Yeah, Sarge wouldn’t leave me hanging. That’s three.

  “Yes,” Reaper says.

  “What if I say no?” Roughneck asks.

  I shrug. “Then I’ll shoot you between the eyes and we’ll pass it without your vote because you’ll be rotting at the back of the property until the scavengers pick your bones clean.”

  “Brother, that was highly specific. Someone needs counseling.”

  “Do I get my gun or are you voting yes?” I ask him.

  “Unbunch those panties. I’m just giving you shit. Yes. Let’s bail out the bitch.”

  “I need a brother to drive my truck out here to Middlesboro,” Sarge says. “Then you can ride my bike back. But we need a way to get Greer home.”

  “On it,” Reap agrees, disconnecting from the call.

  “I got shit to do, but I’m bringing Nic by the clubhouse after we leave here. I want you all to meet her, make her feel comfortable.”

  “You got it.” Cut disconnects.

  “Be there.” Roughneck cuts out next.

  “This should be interesting,” Dark mutters right before his screen goes black.

  “Am I doing the right thing?” I ask. Sarge’ll give it to me straight.

  “Only way it can be,” he replies. “She’s with you, you’re part of us. She needs to know us, get comfortable around us. Otherwise, you’re losing her or denouncing the club.”

  Yeah… I run my hand through my hair. Neither of those options are options I’m willing to accept.

  Nic’s face lights up when we walk into the room. Greer, on the other hand, sighs annoyingly.

  “Hi, Vlad,” Greer says to me. “Captain Caveman,” she addresses Sarge.

  He snickers through his nose. “Harpy.”

  “If the sexual tension gets any thicker in here, we’ll need a machete to cut ourselves out,” I tease, only to feel eyes on me. I turn to look at Nic, who’s glaring daggers at me. I get that she’s protective of Greer, but she has to start living in the real world. Treating her like she’s made of glass won’t help her integrate back into normal society.

  None of it matters anyway when Sarge walks over to drop in the ugly, dusty rose chair. He stretches his long legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and crossing his arms over his chest, settling in. “Sexual tension?” he asks, shaking his head. “She’s been a major bitch pain in my ass.”

  “I didn’t know you were into that stuff. But at least now I know what to get you for your next birthday.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Sarge reaches over to the table next to Greer’s bed to snatch up the tissue box and throws it at my head like he’s in a grueling game of dodgeball. I duck, pulling Nic down with me, and that’s when the nurse sticks her pointed nose inside the room.

  “There are other patients on this floor. You need to quiet down.”

  I bite my lip, holding back the laugh until she shuts the door behind her and then I erupt. All of us do, even Greer, as much as she can, not being fully recovered.

  We wait out the one hundred and fifty fucking hours it takes for our girl’s discharge papers to arrive shooting the shit, pretty much about nothing of importance aside from taking my lumps from Sarge and even some playful ribbing from Greer about Nic and me being together.

  In the middle of our wait time, Blood calls. “What do you need?” I ask.

  “Checking in. How’re the women?”

  “We’re here waiting for the discharge papers to spring Greer from this joint.”

  “Shit—need to talk to the brothers about her hospital bill.”

  “No need. It’s taken care of.”

  “Appreciate it, but she’s our girl,” he says. “We take care of our own.”

  “Yeah, as do we, which is why we got it covered.”

  “How is she yours?” Blood asks, his words coming off as almost a threat. This should be fun.

  I exhale slowly not exactly wanting to get into this here, but I’m no pussy, which means he needs to hear it from me. “Nic and I are together. She’s my old lady, Greer’s her girl, means Greer’s our girl.”

  “The fuck you talking about, Nic’s your old lady?” he bellows through the line.

  “It means what it means. You’ve got Hannah. I’m sure you get my meaning.”

  “With her past, you’re taking advantage of a vulnerable—” There’s rustling over the line and Blood shouts, “Dammit, woman.”

  Then Hannah’s voice comes through. “Did I hear that right, you and Nic?” She, at least, doesn’t sound like she wants to feed my balls through a meat grinder while they’re still attached to my body.

  “Yeah. Me and Nic. We didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did and I don’t regret it. I’m not ending it. You’re my girl, Han, but you want to be pissed, be pissed. I don’t give a good goddamn.” I wrap my arm around Nicola’s waist to draw her closer. She’s been listening. It involves her. I’m ready to give Hannah the rest. “She means something to me—a lot of something that’s quickly heading for a lot more something. No way I took advantage of the situation. You know me—no way.”

  “Honey, you don’t have to convince me. I’ve got a good man that I’ve been in love with practically since he rescued me from a really bad situation almost a decade ago.”

  “That wasn’t the same,” Blood grumbles from somewhere in the room with Han.

  “Wasn’t it?” she asks him. “You sure you want to stick with that answer? I’ll give it a minute.”

  “Oh, fuck,” he says. I chuckle, knowing he’s giving in. “He hurts her, I’ll gut him like a pig.

  “He hurts her, I’ll gut him like a pig,” Hannah returns.

  I cut in. “Yeah. Tell your man she’s going with us to the clubhouse—my brothers need to meet her officially—then we’re all heading back to the cabin. You want to see either of ’em, that’s where they’ll be.”

  It takes another fifteen minutes after Reap drops off the truck until we’re finally able to blow this joint and despite his earlier recap of his time with Greer, Sarge chooses to keep up with the mission given to him by opting to drive her back to the compound instead of trading with Reaper, while Nic rides with me.

  I can’t believe I’m showing up to the clubhouse with a woman on my bike. Part of me still wonders if I’m doing the right thing here, but if she’s in my life, she has to see, to know, to feel comfortable in this aspect of it because I’m not giving up the club.

  The kid on the gate tips his chin up as we pass through, but his rounded eyes tell a different story because the way Nic holds me, it’s not the embrace of a fuck toy. He can’t miss what she means to me. Makes my job easier. I park and help her off the bike. “Stay close,” I direct her.

  “Will they hurt me?”

  “Not if they want to live. But this is new territory for the Horde. Women who show up here do it knowing they’re fair game to whatever brother has an itch to scratch and they’re down with it. It’s a thrill.”

  “And you want to make sure they don’t make moves on me and Greer,” she surmises correctly.

  “You’ll be safe around every Horde brother in our chapter or they won’t be brothers for long.” That’s when the men surprise me yet again. All my lieutenants minus Sarge, who’s busy helping Greer inside, wait for us at the bar.

  As soon as the door shuts behind us, the virgin slides a bottle down the bar top over to me. He goes from guard duty to bar duty. A prospect’s work is never done. “What can I get the lady?” he asks.

  “Nic, he’s talking to you.” I nudge her. She was busy taking in the room. Thank Christ we’ve got pussy who like to fuck but don’t like fucking in a junk yard.

  “Beer is fine,” she says.

  The virgin uncaps a brew, but before he has the chance to slide it over, Reaper pl
ucks the bottle from the kid to walk it over to her. “We met at the hospital, but I wanted this chance to say welcome to the family, little lady.” He hands her off the bottle then surprises us both by pulling my woman into a hug. “Know you got my number in your phone. If you ever can’t get a hold of Vlad, you can call me. The man’s our president and my brother. We take your position in the club seriously.”

  “My… position?” she asks.

  “First lady of the Horde, babe. Think we don’t know any woman who’s got our president’s dick also has his ear? It goes hand in hand.”

  “Um… wow,” is her reply. Wow. Right.

  As each of my lieutenants welcomes her, I clear my throat then to get the attention of the rest of the brothers and the pussies who’ve shown up because they need to understand what’s what now.

  “This gorgeous woman is Nicola.” I move Nic in front of me, squeezing both her shoulders so there’s no doubt who I’m talking about. “She’s my old lady. Every brother here knows she’s off limits.”

  “She’s fuckin’ hot,” one of the men calls from over the way of the pool table.

  “She’s fucking hot and she’s all mine.” From there, I turn my attention to the pussies. “Any bitch wants to come on to me, don’t. Nic’s the only one taking my dick. You think to give her shit, you’ll find yourself out on your ass, banned.”

  I hear some grumbles of “That’s bullshit,” but I’ve said my piece. They break the rules, they face the consequences. Tipping my chin, I gesture for Sarge to take my side with Greer. He positions her between us.

  “This is Greer. She’s Nic’s girl. She’s under Horde protection, and more than that, she’s under my personal protection. Again, she’s off limits. Any man thinks to touch her, I’ll break your fucking fingers off. We clear?”

  They grumble and I get it. She’s hot too. Look at me not giving a shit. I don’t let the partying resume until I’ve received a roomful of “yes.”

  “Right. That’s done. Have fun.”

  “Man,” the virgin starts. “I looked up to you—the Casanova of the Horde. Love ’em and leave ‘em every night. Is that what getting old does? You can’t keep up?”