Vegas claps her hands again, “Alright, boys, you got to get out of here.” She throws a thumb over her shoulder. “Bring me my sucker to bait, me and the girls are going to prep.”
Chapter 20
Vegas
Dana leans over closer so I can hear her whispering, while she pulls the handle to the margarita machine back. “Did Spider really use that crazy ass chick’s idea to catch her boyfriend cheating, to get Johnny here tonight? How?”
Leaning back over the bar she hands the cute twenty something girl her margarita. Smiling, she takes the customer’s money to the cash register. Dollar Margarita Night brings in the younger crowd from the local college. Battle Born Tattoos has been tattooing butterflies all night. I spot a new one on the shoulder blade of the girl who just walked away.
Laughing, I answer, “Because when you have the same iCloud ID, you receive all of that person’s texts sent to that ID. Tank has been telling Skid info to get back to Johnny. So, Tank is manipulating their conversations, being able to receive everything. He told Johnny that Derrick has been harassing me again. Since Skid has been on the road doing what the club or Johnny have asked him to, he doesn’t really know what’s been going on, or who Derrick is. Blade has had a tail on Johnny, he’ll alert us when he’s on his way here. Johnny wants the Battle Born’s territory, he’ll come.”
“Giving my number to Axl was the worst idea ever. He’s been texting me non-stop all day for the past two days. I haven’t been able to sleep with all this stress. The first time he texts me, I didn’t even know who it was,” Dana holds up her phone, reading the sender’s name as Roger Rabbit to Jessica Rabbit. I laugh at how cute Axl really is with her.
“The man is certifiable, Vegas, he thinks we need code names for our ‘Framing Johnny Carmine’ operation”, she shakes her head at me. “I slipped and said, ‘roger that,’ agreeing with him and he hasn’t dropped it since. It’s only made it worse. He sent me a link to trucker terms, Vegas! Who has time for that! He was talking about installing a CB radio in my car…. OMG! I just figured out where the rabbit idea came from! I call my car Rabbit, she’s my little rabbit, damn it!”
Right then her phone pings with a new alert from non-other than Roger Rabbit himself.
Roger Rabbit: The Bear is on the MOVE, COPY???
Jessica Rabbit: Roger that
“Who is the Bear and why is he on the move?”, I ask since Axl didn’t send the rest of us the trucker code.
“Bear means law enforcement, that means Johnny is on his way here.” Dana looks a little worried how this all will play out. Right on cue, my phone beeps with a message.
Blade: Johnny is headed your way. Be ready, no worries I have eyes on you.
Me: I got this, Blade xo
Jenn puts her music on a playlist. She and James must have received the same message since they both make their way to the bar, Jenn grabbing a soda with ice. James heads into the kitchen area behind the bar where the crowd won’t be in his way if he needs to get to me. Derrick heads in from the back of the office where he’s been waiting all night, a crazed look in his eyes which has me a little worried that he is taking this seriously, walks straight over to me forcing me to step back against the shelves lined with alcohol. Towering over my short height, Derrick places each hand on either side of me, trapping me on the spot.
His brown eyes attach to mine, his threatening appearance has a hush fall over the partiers. “Vegas, I always thought you to be a smart girl, not a stupid one. I know you make some money cashing in on selling booze. We are still married, so what’s yours is mine.”
Derrick winks at me, grabbing my arm and pulling me closer to his face. I can see Johnny standing back in the crowd closer to the door. Pulling my face all the way to the right, I close my eyes shut. Derrick’s breath breezes across my skin. “Don’t,” he tugs me hard at him, “Make me mad, Vegas.”
My sweet little Tugger starts to growl at Derrick, warning him to back off. “Derrick, leave Vegas a..lone!”. Dana sounds panicked and upset, but I think it’s all nerves because she chokes on the end.
She steps forward to push Derrick back, when Derick does fly back to my surprise, only to see it was Johnny who grabbed Derrick and slammed him against the bottles on the shelf that go crashing down, several of them breaking.
“It’s time you leave, asshole, and don’t come back looking for a hand out.” Johnny shoves Derrick forward towards the front door. Almost tripping on his feet when rushing forward, Derrick storms out through the front door.
Taking the next step of the plan, I purposely bite my lower lip with a deep inhale and run out the back door. Getting Johnny alone to get the information we need, I’m counting on him following me.
It’s cold as hell out here, which helps me to shake for real. Leaving my back to the door, I wrap my arms tightly around me. I hear the door behind close and drop my head in mock shame.
Johnny’s hand slides across my shoulders, causing me to shiver more from his touch than the cold. “Why didn’t you come to me sooner, Vegas?” He pulls me in close to him, trying to warm me up.
I want to shove the douche bag off me, but try to stop myself from moving. “I couldn’t go back and ask you again, I’d turned you away already. I-I-I didn’t think you would want to talk to me again. I was just so scared, Johnny, it’s hard for me to trust again.”
Johnny wraps his other arm around me. “Sweetie, I know it’s hard being a scared woman, you should know a man is what you need to help you take care of this. This is not what you are capable of dealing with.”
He tries to soothe me, but makes me just want to kill the bastard right here on the spot. “Sign the agreements I sent you and I’ll take care of this for you. I even have a man off the radar who will take care of Derrick for you. You’ll get used to coming to me for everything, and I’ll do all the work. You’ll see, we’ll work all this out.” Rubbing his hands up and down my back, it’s all I can take not to puke on his shoes.
Stepping back out of his hold, I flinch when he touches my face. “Don’t flinch from me, sweetie, I’ll show you how good having a good man behind you can be.” God, that double entendre really has me gagging back a ‘fuck you’ and ‘never gonna happen’. Ever.
“How does this work? How do you keep Derrick from taking money from me?”, I ask softly, still looking down.
“I’ll file a hardship with the court. Laurie files those for me, sweetie. All I need is for you to do what I say.” Johnny runs both hands across my jaw forcing my head to his. Oh shit. No, no, no.
Jenn slams the back door open hollering, “Vegas, we need you in here ASAP! Big crowd just walked in.” Thank god that distracted Johnny from moving any closer. Johnny’s eyes skewer Jenn on the spot.
Turning my feet in her direction, I walk away, saying to Johnny, “Thank you so much for saving me, I will have James take the papers to you first thing in the morning.” Half heartily waving, I close the door, locking it behind me.
Jenn’s face is worried. “You owe me big for keeping you from locking lips with that sleazy dick, just gross. I wanted to puke listening to the whole thing. Spider is sly, I watched the whole thing from my phone. It was really cool.”
“I just hope this whole situation gets resolved soon because I will never let that guy ever touch me again. I was literally shivering from his touch.” Just to prove a point, my body shivers in response. A knock at the back sounds with three hard bangs.
Jenn and I jump up to answer only to find Blade barge through and slam the door in Axl’s face. He grabs me by my ass and my legs wrap around his waist. My hands pull his face to mine. I kiss him so hard, I’ve missed him so much, not seeing him for two days. Jenn laughs while locking my office door on her way out back to the bar.
Kissing down my throat to the tops of my breasts, he growls when he meets my off the shoulder sweater. “I don’t like that he touched any part of you, this is all mine, Alessia,” he says as he’s nipping my skin with his teeth. “Never again.”
Blade sits me on the desk and kisses my forehead, pulling me to him and hugging me tightly. “I’m coming home tonight, and I’m never leaving. I don’t care what Axl says.”
Humor laces my tone, “What do you mean, ‘what Axl says?’” I pull back a little to look at his handsome face.
“I’ve been a grouchy fucker. Tonight I was at my damn limit with those damn chicks, swear to you, I made the last three cry when I said I wouldn’t tattoo another damn heart or fuckin’ butterfly on another bitch tonight. Then Axl had his limit with me and the girls and we shut down for the night. I’m going to paint a sign that says, ‘No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem, Just No Damn Butterflies or Pansies Will Be Tatted Here.’”
“My man is tired and grumpy,” I say while giving him a soft kiss. “Let’s take off. Dana and Jenn are going to close soon anyway.” Getting off the desk, I grab my jacket and purse to head out.
I open the door and whistle for Tugger, who barrels forward and jumps into my arms. Laughing, I drop him to the floor and tell everyone goodnight.
“Were you worried, Tugg?” He whines and puts his paw on my leg. “It’s okay, Tugg. Sorry I scared you, poor guy.” I kiss the top of his head and he settles down.
Taking Blade’s hand, we walk out the back door and I’m shocked to see my Tahoe parked right there. Blade’s hands wrap around my waist. “We are going to your parents’ house in Tahoe. Fuego said you had a key, don’t want you anywhere near here till we get all the information from Johnny.” Kissing my forehead, he opens the door. Tugger jumps in thinking it’s for him which has me laughing.
“Sit in the back, Tugg!”, I tell him and he jumps back to the bench seat, on his blanket. I sit in the passenger seat and Blade shuts the door and walks around the front to drive all of us up the mountain.
Chapter 21
Blade
The day after, watching Alessia eat lunch in a small café up in this hipster little part of town has me amused. She seems to fit in well as she’s able to start up a conversation with just about anyone. The waitress, who’s got dreads down her back, is telling her about a few hiking trails and a few stores she can stop in and pick up some crap. I have no idea what they are talking about. I just enjoy watching her. Whatever she plans for the day, I’ll just follow along.
Taking a drink of my coffee, I grunt when I feel Alessia’s boot hitting my shin. Looking back up to her, I give her a “what the fuck are you kicking me for, woman” look, when she starts bitching.
“Jesus, Blade! The woman was asking you a few questions and you completely ignored her. Did you even hear her? She just walked off when you wouldn’t bother answering even after I called your name,” she glares back at me.
“Chill, babe, I was just letting you get your girl talk in. Not my place to interject my thoughts, I wasn’t listening. Doesn’t matter anyway, you done with your bagel? What are we doing next?” I ask her, hoping that she will drop it.
Her face scrunches a little, which is really cute on her, it’s like fighting with a puppy. The thought has me laughing at her mean fight face. Dropping her napkin on her plate, she huffs out and stands to walk out the door. Now I’m chasing her quick angry walk down the sidewalk.
Catching up to the little firecracker, I pull her off the sidewalk to me and give her a big, wet kiss, then kiss her nose. “Sorry, baby, I just zoned out. I didn’t mean anything by it. Let it go, yeah?” I ask looking into her eyes. What her problem is, I don’t know, I’m freaking lost on that one. It just felt like the right thing to say. Look at me being a good boyfriend and shit.
Grabbing her hand, I question, “So, where are we walking to, being the car is about three blocks back.” She abruptly stops, turns and glares at me, pulling her shades over her eyes. “Blade,” she shakes her head placing her hands on her hips, which draws my eyes to those black leggings that are fucking hot. The greatest pants these girls started wearing.
“The waitress back there was telling me where I could pick up some jewelry I know both your mom and my mom would love. We could buy them for their Christmas presents since we are up here, you nodded and said sure. I really can’t even deal with you right now.” She finishes and picks up her ringing phone from her pocket, “Hey, James.” She listens and says back, “You told Johnny I was out of town shopping with my mom? No, that’s good… K… thanks, bye.”
Putting her phone back into her pocket, she grabs my hand pulling me down the sidewalk. “Business taken care of, now let’s go exploring.” Slapping her fine, firm ass, I follow along.
We spend the day exploring. I can’t even remember the last time I walked around a city. Alessia meets and talks to all kinds of different people. We finally find the jewelry store that is custom art of whatever that is that these girls die over, which is really just overpriced crap to me.
Except there’s this one piece of jewelry that catches my eye.
Alessia is on the other side of the store, talking animatedly to the owner, I guess they know each other. Silently signaling the sales guy over, I point to the ring. I hand him five hundred bucks out of my wallet and say quietly, “Hold that under the name William Johnson, I’ll be in touch with the rest of the details.” Snatching the business card from the counter I say his name, “Stan Smith,” then tuck it into my wallet.
“Yes, sir,” he stammers out. “I’ll wait for your call.” Stan takes the ring out of the case, moving quickly to the back and never coming back out.
Alessia picks up two necklaces that I pay for, and a pair of earrings that I caught her eyeing while I was paying. She was so excited that as soon as we stepped out of the store, she took the silver hoops which had a hundred little diamonds wrapped around them out of the box, placing them in her ears, and thanked me with a big kiss. It just makes me happy seeing her happy. Which is a strange feeling. New, but it’s a good kind of new.
Sitting down on a bench with a hot coffee in our hands, we watch the snowflakes fall. “Blade, if our families were so close, why didn’t you ever come up here with your parents for a visit? There are so many parties or vacations I can remember your parents being at, but never did they bring you, why?”
I think back to what I can remember and what Stryker told me. “From what I know, your old man didn’t want any boys around all you girls. Kept you girls a secret as best as he could. Not only from boys around your age or the club, but also to protect you from people that would use you to get to him. Since I’m about nine years older, I don’t think time caught up with us till recently. I had a lot of work to take care of before I got to where I am. I think our timing is just about right. If I would have known, or met you a few years ago, I don’t think it would have been the right time.”
“Yeah, I don’t think it would have been the right time either.” Alessia snuggles in a little closer to my side. She lifts my arm and moves in closer to rest her head on my shoulder. “Our lives crossed right when we were least expecting it.” She chuckles, “You were so arrogant. Hot, but arrogant. I wanted to punch you as much as I wanted to climb on top of you.”
“Arrogant, huh, you were sexy as fuck with that attitude you were throwing my way. I wanted to smack your ass and ride you hard to shut you up. We were a time bomb, baby, eventually we were going to detonate.”
Alessia’s deep laugh reverberates through my chest causing me to laugh along with her. She has a way to pull me to her that no one else ever could. Even when I’m right next to her, I want more, it’s never enough. More laughs, more love, just a whole lot more of it all.
“That was the best worst line ever!” Alessia turns to me to kiss my neck and she sends shivers down my spine from her cold lips. “Blade, I wanted to tell you about a business idea I had in mind. I’m taking the money I made off the sale of the building to you to build a brewery.”
She stops, sits up and turns to look at my face. Her face alights with mischief. “You can invest as much as you want, be a silent partner, or an active one. We can see how it goes and employ a few members. I a
lready got the business permits and contracting plans. I’m going to start remodeling the shop out back behind the bar soon. If any of the brothers can build, I’ll let them build it. Take time to think about it. If you are interested, I’ll have the contracts drawn up for you to look over.”
“Alessia, that’s a really big project, I’ll have to run it by the club. We can look at it piece by piece and we’ll see where it takes us?”
“It will be a challenging project, I’m really excited about it, but yeah I’m not in a big rush. I want it to be right. Come on, big guy, let’s grab some food and head home where it’s warm.”
Heading through the winding snowy roads and endless pine trees, we finally make it back to her parents’ two-story vacation home. Building a fire in the fireplace in the living-room, we grab our food, then go to sit on the couch, eating and warming up in front of the fire. That’s how we spend the evening, wrapped up in each other, then again the next day, and the day after that.
∞ ∞ ∞
Feeling rested with Alessia in my arms, I’ve been lying here watching the snow fall from the sky, waiting for her to wake. The last few days have been so relaxing, I could keep her here in peace forever. I understand why Fuego bought this home for his family. Tugg gets up off the floor from his bed, excited to wake Alessia up. I glare at the little fucker and he tucks tail and takes off through the doggy door I installed yesterday. Fuego’s probably going to be pissed, but that little cock blocker needed to start taking care of himself and going outside to piss alone.
My phone vibrates from the side table and I pick it up to answer Spider’s call. “Yeah.” Grabbing the white down comforter, I start to turn to move out of the bed not to wake Alessia, but she rolls over and wraps her naked body around mine.
Betting on Forever (Battle Born MC Book 1) Page 16
