Blacklisted

by Jay Crownover

  “Are you okay, Presley? You got really pale all of a sudden.” I saw Della put her hand out in my direction, but I jerked away. I felt like I wasn’t in control of my actions as the world start to swirl alarmingly around me.

  “I…uh…I’m going to check on Kody.” I needed to get away from the crowd. I needed to splash some water on my face and try and catch my breath. I had no clue what was going on with me, but I felt very, very off.

  As I was lurching and stumbling toward the bathroom, bumping into everyone in my path along the way, I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket. Everything around me felt like it was closing in, and I struggled to breathe. I could barely see the face of my phone, but I managed to answer without dropping it.

  Shot’s deep voice in my ear brought my racing heart rate down a bit, but I hardly managed to mumble any words when he asked what was wrong with me.

  “I don’t feel well.” The words were nothing more than a pained rasp, then my phone fell from my frozen fingers and hit the floor. Vaguely, like he was yelling from the far end of a tunnel, I could hear Shot calling my name. I wanted to reply, but all I was capable of doing was slumping against the closest wall.

  Slowly, with my back against the wall, I slid down to the floor. My head was spinning, and my stomach started to turn upside down. I blinked rapidly, trying to keep the world in focus, but nothing worked. It felt like an alien had invaded my body and there was no way to get control back.

  I muttered a weak complaint as I was suddenly hauled to my feet. The motion was enough to make me lose all the bar goodies I’d indulged in during the last hour. I heard a deep voice swear loudly somewhere outside of my hazy bubble, but I couldn’t respond. I felt like a rag doll that was getting roughly jerked around. I feebly tried to push away the hand pulling at me and dragging me, but none of my limbs were responding to any of my commands. I was so frustrated; however, I couldn’t scream or cry.

  I was hanging like a limp noodle in the hands of a stranger, I couldn’t see clearly, and my phone was abandoned on the floor. Even though my mind was fuzzy and I didn’t feel at all like myself, I knew this situation was bad, and going to get worse.

  “Hey, where are you trying to take my boss’s sister?” The question was barked in a no-nonsense tone. Kody’s big, bearded bouncer suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and I was dropped on the floor in response.

  I could hear the muffled sounds of a scuffle happening around me, and Kody’s shrill voice added into the mix. Soft hands touched my face and stroked my hair. I could tell it was Kody, even though I couldn’t bring her face into focus.

  “It’s okay. I’ve got you. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Presley.” She sounded both comforting and pissed as hell.

  I heard the sound of fists hitting flesh but it was all too much and all I was capable of doing was closing my eyes and melting into Kody’s embrace.

  “Thank God Shot called me.” Her voice was sharp. “He knew something was wrong right away and demanded I have Harris check on you. He’s going to be here any minute.” She sighed. “Case is also on his way. It’ll be interesting to see which one gets here first.” She tightened her hold on my limp body and squeezed. “I’m so sorry this happened to you in my bar.” She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. “I think someone slipped something into your drink.”

  It was the only reasonable explanation. I was the only one who wasn’t drinking wine at the table, and there were plenty of odorless, tasteless drugs that could easily be added to a drink to disable someone.

  There was a loud thump, the sound of angry male voices, and the tinkling of glass breaking. I wanted to see what was going on, but I felt like I was in a pool of dark water and each second that passed I was getting pulled deeper and deeper down. I let my eyes close, since I couldn’t bring anything into focus anyway. My mind started to drift, and my limbs went heavy and limp.

  “Give her to me, Kody.” It was a demand, flat-out. Even with my senses dull and my entire being out of sorts, I recognized the command and authority in Shot’s voice.

  I didn’t hear a response before I was suddenly lifted by a pair of strong arms. I felt like I was floating.

  “Where are you taking her?” Kody sounded worried, but she surrendered me to the biker with little fuss.

  “To the hospital. Tell your brother if he lets that guy go tonight, there won’t be anything left of him in the morning. You better find out who drugged her, Kody, or I will take this bar apart piece by piece.” I felt the leather of his vest against my cheek and the warmth from his chest beginning to seep into my lethargic body. I sighed heavily and finally allowed myself to give up the fight against whatever was swimming in my veins. Even in my compromised state, my body—and my soul—seemed to implicitly trust Shot. When I could think straight I was going to have to give some serious thought as to what that meant. For now, I let the darkness pull me under and sank into a blissful, peaceful kind of silence.

  But not before I felt the soft press of warm lips against my forehead.

  Chapter 11

  Shot

  Is everything okay in there?” I waited a second for a response, and when one wasn’t immediately forthcoming, I pushed my way into Presley’s bathroom while calling her name. “Presley, I asked if you were okay.”

  I was trying to keep my frustration and worry in check, since she’d had such a rough night, but my emotions were starting to bubble out of control.

  Luckily the door, like everything else in the apartment, was flimsy and popped open without too much of a fight. The water was on in the shower, so the room was steamy and warm. Presley was standing at the small vanity, her hands on the sink as she stared at herself in the fogged-over mirror. Her hair was pulled up in a messy tangle on top of her head, and all she was wearing was a baby pink towel wrapped around her body. If the circumstances were different, I would’ve taken a minute to appreciate the view. There was an awful lot of naked leg and gentle yet significant curves on display, but it wasn’t her phenomenal figure I was focused on. It was the tear streaks on her cheeks and the tremor in her hands. She was scary pale, and her bottom lip looked swollen and sore from where she’d been worriedly chewing on it since coming home from the emergency room.

  Presley looked over in my direction, but I could tell her gaze wasn’t focused on me. It felt like she was looking right through me. She’d been staring at me the same way since the doctors cleared her and told her she would be fine after she got some rest. Before she was allowed to go home, she’d had to suffer through having her stomach pumped and getting what seemed like a gallon of blood drawn. Case also showed up to question her, but she was too out of it to give a coherent account of what happened. Luckily, Kody had a top-of-the-line surveillance system set up in her bar, and everything had been caught on camera.

  The big guy entering the bar shortly after the girls showed up for happy hour.

  Him speaking with one of Kody’s cocktail servers.

  Him handing her something and motioning toward the table.

  The cocktail server adamantly refusing and shaking her head.

  The man then showing her something on his phone.

  The cocktail server then reluctantly taking whatever it was he shoved in her direction.

  The video also showed the server pouring the contents of the small vial into a martini glass, then looking directly at the camera behind the bar and mouthing an apology.

  Later, when Case arrived at the hospital to speak with his sister about the incident, he would reveal the man had pictures of the server’s kids on his phone and had threatened the woman to get her cooperation. So far, the attacker was cooling his heels behind bars and not saying a word. He’d lawyered up, which tied Case’s hands. Silently, I made the promise to myself that if the guy who drugged and terrorized Presley walked out of the sheriff’s office, he wasn’t going to make it very far. I didn’t have the same red tape to wade through in order to get the information I wanted, and I wasn’t as worried abo
ut playing fair and keeping things clean and legal as Case was. I lived my life getting my hands dirty, usually for a good cause, but sometimes for my own personal reasons. I rarely regretted when it was time to climb into the mud.

  It was easy enough to wash the filth off the outside. It was the way it stained the inside that always kept me from getting too close to anyone outside of the club. Except for the woman who was currently falling apart in front of my eyes. For whatever reason, I wanted to get as close to her as possible. It was making me angry in a way I couldn’t put into words to see someone who was strong, and typically so pulled together, wilting and crumbling to pieces. I hated feeling helpless and ineffective while Presley suffered in a pain-filled silence. Like I told her before, I didn’t like it one bit when other people hurt her.

  She inhaled sharply and lifted a trembling hand to her wet face. “I’m fine. I just dropped my moisturizer in the sink.” She rubbed the back of her hand across her cheek and kept her gaze locked firmly on the ground. “I told you, I’m going to be okay. You don’t need to hang around and keep an eye on me. I’m sure you have other things you can be doing with your time.” Her words trailed off and her eyes drifted closed. She really seemed to be on the edge of shattering into a million fragile pieces.

  Case and I had almost come to blows when it was time for Presley to leave the hospital. He wanted to take her home, and I knew if he did, he was going to lecture her about her safety and warn her to keep her distance from me. If he took her home, I wasn’t going to be able to check up on her and take care of her, and both those things felt as essential as breathing. Fortunately, Presley had enough of her faculties gathered to tell her domineering older brother she wanted me to take her to her apartment. Case looked ready to kill both of us but didn’t argue, because it was obvious Presley wasn’t up to a fight.

  I took her home and put her to bed. She slept for nearly ten hours and woke up still shaken and scared. She was surprised I was still there, and I told her repeatedly I wasn’t going anywhere until I was sure she was okay. She kept insisting she was fine, but her actions, and the look in her eyes, told me otherwise. She was having a hard time once again being a victim and the target of such malicious behavior.

  “Sure there are other things I could be doing, but what I want to do is take care of you.” I lifted a hand toward her face, biting back a slew of swear words when she flinched. I used my thumb to wipe away a rolling tear and told her, “I need you to let me take care of you right now.”

  She was quiet for a heartbeat, then one of her hands wrapped around my wrist as I continued to stroke her soft cheek. “I feel like an idiot.” She let out an unsteady breath and her bright green gaze finally met mine. “All my life I’ve been the smartest person in the room. It’s the one thing that has always set me apart. I’m not good with people, or social interactions. I’m not warm and friendly like Kody is. I’m not outgoing and fun to be around. But I am smart. So why did I do something so stupid like let my guard down while I was out in public? I knew I was provoking Ashby. I knew I was purposely trying to force her to make a move, and yet I got caught up in being with friends and family. And look what happened.” Her grip tightened on my wrist and her eyes once again got glassy and sad looking, which made my heart twist painfully inside my chest. “When I try to live my life, I almost lose it.”

  “Stop it. That’s not fair to you or anyone else. No one was acting stupid—you were all acting how you should act when you’re together in a place that feels safe and surrounded by friends and family. Being smart has nothing to do with it. There was a deputy parked in the parking lot and he didn’t notice anything amiss. Harris was watching the door and he didn’t pick up on a threat. Kody, Aspen, and Della all know what’s going on with you and Ashby, and none of them were on alert because they were enjoying your company and not thinking about there still being a threat. You are allowed to have a good time, Presley. You are allowed to build relationships with people. Don’t let this woman who’s after you be the most important person in your life anymore.”

  She shook her head slightly, and I slid my hand to the side of her neck. I could feel her pulse fluttering delicately under my fingers. She let go of my wrist and shifted her grip to the front of my faded black T-shirt. I don’t know if she meant to, but she pulled me closer, which made ignoring her state of undress nearly impossible. The gentle swell of her breasts above the knot of her towel might’ve been the most tempting sight I’d ever encountered. I wasn’t exactly known for controlling my baser impulses, but I would try…for her.

  She didn’t need me lusting after her while she was vulnerable and uncertain. She needed me to remind her even the darkest of nights gave into the dawn, that no matter how bleak things seemed, they wouldn’t always remain that way. Thinking that way had gotten me through some of the worst deployments any man could imagine. It was also the mind-set that helped me survive my childhood. I knew growing up under my old man’s thumb wouldn’t be forever, and eventually I could break free, go out, and be a better man than he was.

  “What if it had been Kody who ended up with her drink drugged? What if that man had succeeded in getting one of us out of the bar? Any one of us could have ended up kidnapped, assaulted, or worse. None of that would be a possibility if I hadn’t come crashing into the Lawtons’ lives. How can they be so nice and supportive when all I’ve brought them is trouble? I would hate me if I was in their shoes.”

  I chuckled and palmed the back of her head, pulling her forward so she could bury her tear-stained face in the center of my chest.

  “No, you wouldn’t. You don’t have it in you to hate. And the Lawtons know good from bad. Their old man made sure of it. They aren’t the type to turn their backs on someone who clearly needs the love and protection of a family. And neither are you. Which is why you’re so damn worried about something happening to someone else because of you. None of this is your fault, Presley.” I felt like I’d said it a thousand times in a hundred different ways, but she still refused to believe me. She was going to let guilt crush her and use it to push everyone who wanted to get close to her away.

  That would happen over my dead body.

  I threaded my fingers through her silky hair and pulled her head back so she had no choice but to look up at me. I lowered my head slightly so we were eye to eye and told her, “You are not alone. Not anymore. You don’t have to bear the weight of everything that’s happening by yourself anymore. The reason I’m not as worried about your friends and family as you are is because I can see how much stronger you all are together. That guy wasn’t going to get you out of the bar, no matter what. Kody would’ve noticed you were missing in a second. If they hadn’t been drinking, Aspen and Della would’ve picked up on something being off within a heartbeat. Case would travel to the ends of the Earth to find you if you vanish. And the same goes for you. If Kody was the one who suddenly disappeared, I know you wouldn’t let it go. You’re all looking out for one another, but you still have blinders on and can’t see it.”

  She exhaled slowly, making that towel dip and dance precariously. I gulped audibly and ordered my eyes to stay locked onto hers. I kept most of my reactions in check, but there was no stopping the swell of my cock behind my zipper. That part of my body couldn’t ignore her, or all her exposed skin, no matter how hard I tried.

  “What about you?” Her voice was so quiet I almost didn’t hear her question.

  I felt my eyebrows shoot upward as I asked, “What about me?”

  “Would you notice if I suddenly disappeared?” She asked it in such an earnest tone I realized she honestly doubted that I was feeling something significant for her.

  Normally that kind of obliviousness would enrage me, but she’d been alone for so long, I had to remember she wasn’t used to having anyone looking for her when she wasn’t around.

  I gently tugged her closer so our lips were barely a millimeter away from touching. “I don’t plan on letting you out of my sight anytime soon. And if you de
cide to make me the most important person in your life right now, I won’t complain.”

  Her long eyelashes fluttered and her hold on me shifted from my shirt to my neck. Her hands curled around the back of my neck, the edge of her fingernails scraping across sensitive skin.

  “I’ve never had anyone to lean on before. I’m not sure I know how to do it.” Her breath was warm against my mouth, and her skin was super soft underneath my hands as I backed her toward the edge of the vanity. I had a hand on the back of her bare thigh right where the towel ended. If my fingers moved just an inch, they would be touching all the places I shouldn’t be thinking about but was.

  “I have an entire club of brothers who help me hold on when the weight of the world gets too heavy. Stick with me, and I’ll teach you how to lean and let go.”

  Lean she did. Right into me so that our lips touched.

  I let her kiss me, slow and sweet, until I couldn’t take it anymore. She was half naked and as close to me as she’d ever been. My self-control had already been put to the test and had reached the end of the line. My palm slid up the back of her thigh, and I heard her gasp over the sound of the water running in the shower. I put a hand on the slight curve of her backside, using my hold on her to lift her up onto the edge of the vanity. I stepped between her long legs, watching as the fabric of the towel shifted and parted in the most enticing way.

  I stared at her, maybe asking for permission for the first time in my life instead of assuming she was offering up something she might not be in the right headspace to give.

  “Do you want me to kiss you, Pres?” It was the second time I’d asked her if I could kiss her, and instead of feeling burdened by it, I felt like I was stepping foot on new and unexplored ground. There was a level of respect between us that was shockingly poignant and powerful. Even if she said no, I wasn’t going to stop her, if she was the one who kept on kissing me. I would help her work through whatever was going on in her head but keep my cool.