by Brook Greene
I shrug nonchalantly. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and we all like to make money as much as our women love to spend it.” I pad the lie just a little bit more. But Hollis will know, and I’ll make her see how important it is to keep a man like Campbell close, making him think we’re just as, if not more, dirty than he is. I lean into the table. “But, the warning about her—,” He holds up his hand, cutting me off.
“Is understood.” He taps out his cigar and stands. “I think we’re done here, gentleman.” He offers me his hand, and I just look at it. “I look forward to your phone call.” When he sees I’m not going to shake it, he reaches into his lapel, taking out another business card and throws it on the table in front of me. “Just in case you lost the last one. Call the cell.” He walks over, opens the double doors and leaves us.
We watch him go, and when I turn back, all the eyes in the room are on me. “Are you fucking seriously considering that shit?” Matt leans his hands, palms down, on the bar he’s standing behind.
Leo sighs as he leans in, resting his forearms on his knees, rubbing his hands roughly over his face. “Think about it for a minute, guys. This could give us the in we’ll need to find out all his dirty little secrets, and really get Hollis some closure by locking his sorry ass up.” He stands. “But this isn’t a discussion we should be having here. It can wait till we’re back in the safety of our own four walls, and we know there aren’t unseen ears listening.” His eyes dart around the room.
“He’s right. Let’s get the hell out of here. I need to get Hollis home.” I wave at the desk clerk as we walk back through the snack bar and out the front doors, hoping like hell I don’t ever have to come back to this fucking place ever again.
I’d hoped to close this chapter of her life today, but instead I opened the fucking door and invited him in, giving him access he doesn’t need.
Chapter Nineteen
Roman
I stand just outside the driver’s side door of Leo’s SUV. “You know we’ll have to run this by douchebag,” Leo says through the rolled down window.
“Yeah, I know.” I turn and look back at the Bastards clubhouse, then back to him, already dreading that conversation. I know exactly what I’ve gotten us into with my hasty decision. But in that moment, all I could think of was bringing the fucker down and eliminating him as a threat. “We’ll be right behind you. Let me get Hollis settled at home and I’ll meet you at the clubhouse, then we can get everyone’s thoughts on this and call him.”
Our new CO, who took over after Kent retired, is a complete asshole. Leo calling him a douchebag is just the big man being nice, which is laughable.
“You know it’s going to go over like a dog turd in a punch bowl at a picnic,” Cowboy adds from the passenger seat. I just look at him and roll my eyes. I step away, slapping the door before walking inside to collect Hollis.
I step through the door and they both turn when it slams behind me. Hollis has a beer halfway up to her mouth, and Cruz is holding a tumbler of amber liquid in his. She’d been in the bedroom behind a locked door when I’d left her, and at some point, she’d migrated down here with Cruz.
She nearly drops the bottle when she hops from her bar stool and runs over to me. Her eyes search my face frantically, and when she sees I’m fine, she lays her hand on my cheek, pushing up on her toes to give me a kiss.
“How did it go?” she inquires, her eyes still holding a small amount of panic.
I cover her hand with mine and smile down at her. “I told you it would be okay.” I lean in and kiss her back, knowing now is not the time to discuss what I’d opened us up to.
“Let’s go home and put all this shit behind us,” she says, her eyes lighting up as she separates herself from me. “Let me go get my dress and shoes.” I watch her fine ass run for the steps, taking them two at a time. She’s tougher than I give her credit for, and from now on, I’m going to let her make choices in life that impact her the way this could have today but didn’t. She’s right, she’s been around men like him her whole life and can handle herself, which she’s proved on more than one occasion, and she’s nothing like the rest of the women. She’s tough. She’s had to be with the lifestyle her mother chose for her.
When she’s out of earshot, I look over at Cruz, who’s been watching us the whole time. “I’ll call you later.”
He stands, looking at least a little guilty. “Man, she just needed something to drink.”
I give my head a hard shake. “Not about this.” I gesture to the bar and her beer. “But the fact I’ve fucked up. Big time.”
I hear her hit the top step. “I’ll call you later,” I say quietly before we both turn to watch her run into my open arms. I reach my hand out to Cruz. “Thank you, man. Don’t be strangers.”
He takes it. “I’m sure we won’t be.”
“Give my regards to Mose and Dex,” I say as I tuck Hollis under my arm and head for the door, but I stop and turn back to him. “Call Leo.” I level my eyes and he nods, no words needing to be exchanged. Leo had been in contact with Oz this morning, and that shit can’t be talked about in present company, but we’d promised to keep him informed about the well-being of his president and friend. All is going well, for now, with what the agency asked Oz to do, but what he’s doing could go south fast, and we may need the Bastards help to pull him out of the shitstorm, should it hit.
~~~~~~
Hollis and I get situated in her SUV, and I pull through the gate, nodding at the two same prospects who’ve been manning the gate for the past two days. I never got their names, but I’m sure if they hang around long enough, I will.
I no more get pulled out onto the four lane before she turns to me in her seat. “So tell me what happened.”
I glance over at her and shrug my shoulders. “We had a few drinks and talked. It’s not like we can flash our badges and that gives us an excuse to fuck somebody up. He’s the fucking mayor, Hollis.”
Her face falls into a frown. “You could’ve at least kicked him in the nuts.”
I laugh. “Men don’t kick other men in the nuts.” I shift in my seat, adjusting myself. Just the thought of how fucking painful the action is has me wincing.
She turns to look out of the windshield at the road. “Well then, you should’ve taken me, I would’ve done it.”
I lay my hand over my package, this time grimacing. “That’s because you don’t have nuts.”
She turns back to me. “So you’re saying you would much rather get punched in the face than take a hit to the crotch?”
“Hell yes,” I answer without a doubt in my mind or a hint of hesitation in my words.
“Boys are stupid.” She laughs. “I take it you’re not going to tell me what was said?”
“Long story short, he’d done his homework too.” She gasps, but I lay my hand on her leg. “I’m sure he only got the non-official backstory.” I don’t know what he found out, he never said, but if he wants us to work for him, it’s the worst parts of our cover story.
She takes my hand up into hers, lacing her fingers through mine. “Are you sure? There are some who would sing like a canary about you if offered the right amount of money.” She looks ashamed. She had at one time sang, but not for money. She’d done it for my protection.
I bring her hand over and kiss the back of it. “You didn’t have a choice, so get that look off your face.” I stroke her cheek with my finger. “Smile for me again?” I want to see it one more time before I tell her the rest.
She looks up with the brightest smile. “So that’s it?”
I roll my eyes. “It’s a fake one, but I’ll take it.” I sigh and continue. “He wants us to work for him.” I look away because I don’t want to see her beautiful face fall at my words.
She pulls away from me. “And if I know the cop in you, you said yes, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t tell him no. We have to discuss it with our new CO before we give him a definite answer.” I can feel the air in
the cab shift, making me glance over at her and feel the need to explain my actions more. “Working with him allows me to keep an eye on him so that I can make sure you stay safe.”
She looks away from me and out the window. “Kinda like keep your friends close but your enemies closer?” she mumbles.
“Yeah, I guess.”
~~~~~~
Hollis
There have been many times in my life I’ve questioned my actions and choices, but asking Roman to find my father has got to be one of the worst. The heartbreak and hurt from this morning is now worry and regret. Had I known how this day would turn out, I would’ve never left and came down here, or at all for that matter.
I should’ve listened to Roman and left it with the information he’d found for me. There could never be any good come from a man who cheats on his wife, knocks up his girlfriend, and then pays to have the child disappear.
“And what about you?” I ask him, turning to study his profile.
“What about me?” He doesn’t look back at me, he just keeps his eyes on the road ahead of us.
“Your safety,” I reply, matter-of-factly. Something that’s so important to him should be obvious.
He scoffs. “My safety? I don’t see that being an issue, Hollis.”
“Well I do.” I shift in my seat again to face him. He shakes his head at me, dismissing my concerns. It irritates me that he can be so adamant about my well-being but blow off my worries about him being safe like it’s nothing. “If he were to find out who you and the others really are, he doesn’t strike me as a man that would be too happy about it.”
He lays a reassuring hand on my leg and I cover it with mine. “He won’t find out.” He sounds so sure, but it does nothing to ease my fears.
“If you’re doing this to get revenge for me, I would rather you didn’t get tangled up with him because if you do, he’ll never be out of our lives. I just want to leave this day behind us and move on.” He looks over at me again. Taking in a deep breath, he lets it out slowly, giving my leg a squeeze.
“Believe me, the thought of working with him makes my skin crawl.”
“Then why do it?”
“Because, like you said, the cop in me has to.”
“I don’t like it, and I have a bad feeling about the whole thing.”
“You have a bad feeling about this? What the fuck, Hollis? Forgive me, but all this is because of you.” I shove his hand off my knee and turn away from him in my seat.
“I’m more than aware that I brought all this on. I had no idea you would find him or what kind of man he was going to be.” I prop my arm on the door, resting my head in my hand as I will the tears that are burning my eyes not to fall. “It was your fucking decision to work with him, not mine. I was completely content to leave him and it all behind us today when we drive out of this town. I got what I came for. You’re the one who can’t take his own warnings or advice.”
He whips the truck to the side of the road, hitting the flashers, then reaches for me and practically drags my body across the console onto his lap, wrapping his thick arms around me. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” His blue eyes cut me with the sincerity in them, but I still resist the urge to collapse into his arms. “Hollis, this has been a fucked-up day. I just want to get you home, get you naked, and make you forget about it with my mouth on your pussy, making you come so hard that you can’t walk when I’m done fucking you.” He pushes his hardening dick up into my sex. I still have the shorts Cruz had loaned me on, and the thin material allows me to feel more than what I would if I had a pair of jeans on. I let out a light moan as he rubs against my sensitive clit. He clamps his big hands around my hips as he settles himself back down into his seat, pulling me down onto him. His eyes have grown hooded with need and I tangle my fingers into his long hair. I crush my mouth to his, forgetting the anger, only burning with the want I have for this man deep in my soul.
He rips our mouths apart, both of us panting heavily. “Hollis, we can’t do this on the side of the road.”
I reach for his belt, pulling it free. “Yes, we can.” He grabs my wrists, stopping me from going any further. “We’ve done it before.” My voice reeks of desperation.
“We can’t risk it. If a cop were to come by, he would run my real identity. Your vehicle is registered to me.” I know he’s being logical, but fuck, I need him inside of me now.
I pull my bottom lip through my teeth, breaking one of my wrists free from his grasp so I can reach it between us to rub my palm up his hardened length. Giving it a squeeze, he groans. “You sure?”
“As much as it’s going to pain me to stop you, yes, I’m sure.” He pinches his eyes together and helps me climb off his lap and back into my seat. He pulls the truck back out into the sparse traffic on the four lane and heads home, but he does reach for my hand, smiling as he lays it over his dick. “Keep that right there.” He pats the back of it, making me laugh.
~~~~~~
Roman
“I made a decision,” I announce, slapping the table out of frustration.
Spencer sits up in his seat and gets in my face. “Out of rage and revenge, not one that had any information backing it.” He slaps the folder, containing what little information we could dig up on the mayor, down on the table. He stands quickly, pushing the rolling chair he’s sitting in backwards, making it bang off the wall behind him. “You have nothing on this man, nothing to warrant the agency signing off on you going undercover.” He turns away from us, resting his hands on his hips, letting his head fall back. “Let’s not even get started on the fact that you conducted an investigation, off the record, using your connections with other agencies to obtain information to a case that doesn’t even fucking exist.” As he talks, his voice continues to grow in volume, and so when he finishes and turns, he’s screaming at us. He pounds his index finger into the table. “And the fact that you made a fucking decision is complete bullshit. I don’t know who you think you are, Jefferys, but when you’re out of my sight, Tucker is in charge, and sometimes I even question that.”
“So I take it you’re not happy with us?” Dalton clips from the other end of the table.
He throws his hand up, pointing at Dalton. “I’ve about had enough of your fucking mouth, Haynes.”
Dalton leans back in his chair with a shit-eating grin on his face, lacing his fingers together and laying them on his stomach. “That’s such a shame, douche, because I’m just getting started.” There are laughs all around the table, and they don’t go unnoticed.
He mimics our laughter. “You all think I’m a fucking joke?”
“You hear us laughing, don’t you?” Matthew snorts.
He slams his palm down on the table, meaning to cut us off, but it doesn’t. He’s at least fifteen years younger than us and he’s trying to tell us how to do a job we’ve been on for more years than he’s been a DEA agent.
Leo takes out his phone. “Who the fuck are you calling, Tucker?” he asks, reaching for the phone Leo has in his hand, but misses it as Leo jerks away from him.
“A man who will understand what we did and why we fucking did it,” Eno informs him.
“Listen,” Cowboy starts as he stands, his imposing frame filling the room as he walks around the table. “We see what’s going on here.” He stops to look around the room at all of us, and then back to him. “You got promoted to your dream job and every day you leave your desk and go home and jerk off to The Fugitive or some shit like that.” He motions around the table. “But we’ve been in the field, working the job since you were a bad decision cum stain on the bedsheets under your mother’s ass.” When Cowboy stops, he’s right in his face. “We take care of our own, but unfortunately, you haven’t found your way into our good graces or our very tight knit circle, so you would never understand the lengths we would go to, to make sure they’re safe.”
Much to his credit, he doesn’t back away from the large opposing man and gives it right back. “You don’t think I k
now what kind of lengths you’ve gone to?” Cowboy just smiles at the man and backs away, sitting back down.
“Then you know that we know what the hell we’re talking about.” I pull the folder over to me and flip it open. “He paid to have Hollis’s true identity erased. The only kind of man who would do that is a criminal.”
“Or a rich man who’s just trying to dodge high child support payments,” he retorts with a smirk on his face. His resistance is confusing me. It’s for no other reason than us going behind his back to help Hollis and drumming up a case right here in our back yard.
“Are you fucking kidding me? How in the hell did you become a CO? You’re about as dense as water,” Leo scoffs, sitting back in his chair, throwing his phone on the table. “He fucked with two legal documents.”
“No, he didn’t, a piece of white trash he paid did.” My body shoots up to my feet and I reach for him before I can stop myself. I take his tie in my grasp and pull his smaller body up and to me.
“Listen, asshole, Ms. Sarah, like Hollis, is an innocent in all this shit. Hold your tongue and stop talking about things you have no fucking idea about.” At that moment, it doesn’t occur to me that I have my hands around the neck of my CO, just that I’m tired of men downplaying how women are used as pawns to manipulate a circumstance they want changed, or playing off the danger women are put in to do so.
“Roman, let him go.” A familiar voice cuts through the haze of distaste for the man in front of me, and the anger I have rolling through me for his dismissal of the facts that are screaming the mayor has his hands in more than just politics.
I release his tie and step back as Kent Delany steps between me and CO Spencer, who’s righting his tie, his face growing redder with every second that passes. “You’re no longer needed here, Agent Spencer. I’ve come out of retirement to take over my team. Report back to the field office where Agent Mendel is waiting for you.”
