by Ryan Michele
“Club business,” he clipped as I glared at him. Normally I’d let that shit slide, but this time, it was taking everything in my power to hold it together.
Liv laughed, lying on the ground in her puddle of blood and dirt. “What the fuck are you laughing about?” I asked as Coop’s head buried into my neck.
“You killed Babs, now someone will kill you.” G.T. slammed his fist hard into her jaw. I could hear the bones cracking at the contact.
“Wh… what’s she talking about Cruz?” My voice was unsteady. I thought this shit would be over, but it was becoming to be far from it.
Cruz looked across the room at the brothers who all nodded to him. “Babs put a hit on you if you killed her. Right now the only one that can place it is Rabbit. So we need to get to him before he finds out. We’re gonna use Liv here. She, after all, has been fucking his ol’ lady.”
Liv’s body went still, all the cockiness from her little confession gone at those words. “You can’t tell Rabbit. He knows nothing about me.” Her voice shook.
“That’s what I was banking on,” Cruz said as he nodded to Dagger and G.T. They tied her arms and legs and gagged her, dragging her off.
“Cruz, what’s gonna happen?” I knew that in our world having a price tag on my head meant everyone would be after me. Everyone would want the chunk of the money. I’d be a sitting duck just waiting to die.
“I take care of you. Trust me.” I nodded my head because if anything was certain, it was that I trusted this man.
“Thank you,” I whispered to him.
“For what?”
“For getting my boy back,” I said, squeezing his little body into mine.
“Babe, you did this. You brought him home. I’m just here for back up.” I smiled up at him knowing he was only partially right.
“Can we go home?”
Cruz looked over at Diamond, who nodded to us. “Yeah, Babe. Let’s go.”
15
Harlow
Lying in bed next to Cruz, I thought over the week I’d had. The whirlwind of emotions was tearing me up. Tension around the club was through the roof with everyone on edge about the meeting with Rabbit tomorrow night. Cruz has been in meetings non-stop, and I haven’t been privileged to the information. Part of me wanted to know badly what the hell was going on, but the other part wanted to distance myself as far away from it as possible.
I made it my life’s mission to keep Cooper in my sight at all times. I kept him attached to my hip, not letting anyone watch him. I knew that Ma didn’t intend on him getting taken, and she’d have done anything to protect him if she could have, but I just couldn’t risk it.
Trusting someone else with him was incredibly hard. Just the thought of someone else watching him kicked up my anxiety. I hadn’t been back to X, and as far as I knew Becs was running the joint.
I didn’t even have the urge to go there right now, or leave the clubhouse for that matter.
Shutting my mind off tonight was proving to be more difficult than I thought. Even having a couple of shots before bed hasn’t relieved the uncertainty of tomorrow. The horrible part of not knowing what was gonna happen was… I didn’t know what to do to help. They didn’t want me to. Cruz was on edge, but he’s been doing everything he can to be calm and collected for Cooper and me.
He’s doing a great job at it, considering at times I wondered if he was affected at all.
After about an hour of lying there, I couldn’t take it anymore. Sliding slowly out of Cruz’s grasp, I needed another drink. The clock on the nightstand read 1:37 a.m. and I knew someone would be up in the clubhouse, and there were no parties going on.
Walking into the main room of the clubhouse, the place was dead silent, my plan was ruined. I guess 1:30 a.m. on a Monday morning was not party-central. Grabbing a bottle of Jack, I headed down to the kids’ media room in the basement. It was quiet with all the families being gone, and it was peaceful.
Walking slowly down the hall, I made my way to the movie room, thinking some Vin Diesel would be a good pick-me-up. Passing through, rough moans began to invade my ears. As I passed the last bedroom door, the voices became more intense. Rolling my eyes, I kept moving along. Hearing this was nothing new in the club, it was actually quite normal.
“You like that pretty little asshole fucked. Don’t you?” The voice. The voice made me stop dead in my tracks as I listened unmoving. “You dirty little whore.” A loud slap followed by a woman’s moan and the slapping of skin had memories that I buried deep down coming to life right before my eyes. Making my feet move, I peeked inside of the door needing to see the face behind the voice.
Looking through the small crack, my body shuddered as my hands clenched tightly. Rocky was pounding away on the blonde that tried to give Cruz a lap dance a while back. This couldn’t be. It couldn’t.
“You fucking little whore. Doing this for daddy, huh?” My breath left me so fast it was as if I was a balloon, and someone just popped me with a needle. I was suffocating inside my body, but not wanting to make a sound for fear he would hear me. My mind raced faster than I could catch up. It was him. It truly was him. Was it?
I needed to get out of here. Needed to get away… get away from him. He couldn’t be here. Rocky… no. It just couldn’t be. Racing as fast as I could, I ran back up to the main clubhouse and locked myself in the bathroom.
Bracing my hands on the counter, my head hung as if my neck decided to take a vacation. This just couldn’t be. It couldn’t. First off, the brothers would have checked Rocky’s background. There’s no way they would let someone like him Prospect for the club. They couldn’t know. It’s the only explanation.
His words kept ringing through my head over and over again. “You fucking little whore. Doing this for daddy, huh?” He said those exact words to me over and over again, night after night. A memory I wanted to stay locked up forever was dredged up like vomit in my mouth. I focused on the mirror in front of me as my own eyes stared into each other. Whore. That’s what I am. That’s what I did in there for this club… to protect this club. Between him and Babs, the one thing I never wanted to be was being proven, I truly felt like a whore.
The wheels in my head turned quickly. I needed to protect this club again, but I needed to make a hundred percent sure it was him. In prison, he was the guard who provided me with the supplies to take care of some of the women giving the club troubles. But he always wanted payment, regularly. But Rocky, didn’t look like him… it’s the voice. The voice was his; I knew it.
I’d thought from the beginning that something was off with that man. I just never imagined this could be it. His body was so much different, while about the same height, the officer in prison was pudgy with a belly that protruded. Rocky was lean and muscular. The officer had green eyes, while Rocky had brown. The officer had no facial hair, while Rocky was covered with a beard and mustache, not to mention he had long hair while the officer had short.
As far as looks were concerned, nothing was similar, and I hoped to God I was wrong about that voice. I needed to make sure. I needed to know. My mind began formulating a plan, and thank God Casey decided to stay two extra weeks after everything went down to be here for us… for me. I was gonna need her help if I was gonna pull this off.
The rest of the night, I laid next to Cruz trying to control my breathing, not wanting to wake him. Today was such a big day for our family. I didn’t want to fuck with any of the brothers’ heads. They needed all their shit together, and this would fuck them up. The good thing was that Cruz mistook my uneasiness for nerves about what he was going to go do. While I was coming up with all kinds of scenarios of what could happen, I needed to screw my head on straight and get my end together.
For the first time in a week, I asked Ma to watch Cooper. It scared the shit out of me, not having Ma watching him, per se, but having anyone watch him that wasn’t me. I gave Ma another gun and told her to shoot first and think later. I wouldn’t lose my boy again.
Af
ter a quick text to Casey telling her, I needed her help and to be at the club at three o’clock, I pulled myself together before the guys left. Earlier this morning I asked Cruz, who was staying back with us, and when he said Buzz and Rocky, I was relieved. I needed Rocky here. I needed answers.
“Babe, you sure you’re okay?” Cruz asked while lacing up his heavy boots.
Walking over to the chair, he was sitting in, I kneeled down in front of him. “Yeah. Just be careful, okay?”
“Always. I’ll be home in a couple of hours and all this shit will be over.” I wanted to believe him. I really did, but what I was about to do… if I was wrong, the brothers would have my ass on a stick. I’d be dead, but I needed to know for the club and myself.
Leaning up, I wrapped my arms around his neck threading my fingers through the back of his hair. Staring into his beautiful blue eyes, my lips fell to his. He instinctively pulled me closer, deepening the kiss. I hoped this wouldn’t be the last time I did this, because if I were wrong about Rocky, it just might be. That fear almost held me back from doing what needed to be done, but I couldn’t let it. If it were true, the guys needed to know.
“I’ll be back soon.” Nodding, we both stood.
“Daddy!” Cooper yelled from his room. Cruz smiled, shaking his head. After lots of hugs and rough manly kisses, Cruz handed Coop off to me as he left.
Liv had been staying here in the same room that Stella and Moxie were privileged to a while back. I never went to see her and stayed very clear of the room as it was very tempting to go in and beat the living shit out of her, but I didn’t. I wanted to at times… but didn’t, only because Cruz said no. They needed her; in turn I actually needed her.
After a half hour, the sound of revved-up Harleys filled the room. I listened as they left the clubhouse. Gathering Coop, I handed him off to Ma, who eyed me as if she knew I was up to something, but didn’t say a word. I left in search of my target.
He was here; I just needed to find him. I grabbed my bag that looked like an oversized purse because I needed to make sure everything I packed was with me and well hidden. Walking through the clubhouse, Buzz was behind the bar cleaning it up as two of the club mamas were mopping the floors. “Hey, Buzz. You see Rocky?”
“I think he’s out at the shop.” Perfect. I’d planned on doing this in the basement of the clubhouse, but the shop would be even better. Off the backroom, where Sting was kept for so long, was a small room about eight by eight with mainly storage inside. Sending out a quick text to Casey, I made my way out into the sunlight.
Walking into the shop, the first man I came across was Greg, the man I had hurt the first day I was here. Even though I’ve apologized to him, I still felt a bit bad. Poor guy was just protecting my bike. Walking up to him, I said, “Hey, Greg.” He smiled broadly.
“Hey, Princess. What’s going on?” he asked while wiping his hands on the shop towels next to him.
“Just out for one of my walks. Hey. I’m gonna go look for a couple of things for Sting in the back. I’m thinking of tuning him up.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively.
“You and that man of yours.” He smirked. “Sure thing. Go on back and get what ya need.”
“Thanks. Hey, you seen Rocky?”
“Yeah, in the office.”
“Could you ask him to come back? I need to talk to him about something.”
“Sure thing, Princess.”
“Thanks!” I smiled my most sultry smile at the guy. Flirting always worked around this place. One thing a man couldn’t deny was pussy.
Making my way to the back room, I took in all my surroundings. Three men were working in the shop, but seemed to have their heads stuck in their work. It looked as if Rocky was the only one inside the office, at least from what I could see through the mini-blinds.
“Hey, Bitch!” Casey called from behind me as she waved to all the guys. I was so gonna miss her.
“Hey, Babe. Come to help me look for parts?” I winked taking in the oversized purse she was carrying, as well. Men never seem to give a second thought to the purses, man, what they didn’t know.
“Absolutely.” Since giving Casey a quick rundown early this morning about why we were going to be doing what we were about to do, I felt calm with her by my side. I had to give her a hell of a reason, or she wouldn’t want any part of it. It was too dangerous, and I couldn’t help that feeling lingering in the back of my head saying, what if I’m wrong.
Shaking myself out of those thoughts, we headed towards the back. Casey instantly went to work, clearing a small space in the center of the room and placing a chair in the center. I knew if I were gonna do this, it would have to be fast and methodical… no mistakes. The guys have already been gone for an hour, and if everything went okay, Cruz said he’d be back in two. I needed to get to work.
“You ready?” My eyes focused on hers. She may not have become the gun-toting girl that I did, but she still had her father in her, and when he came out to play, it was game on.
“Let’s see who this fucker is.” Nodding, I made sure my guns were loaded. I gave Casey a taser and stuck mine in my side holster. It was made to look just like a gun and was gonna be my tool of choice for this inquisition. We were as ready as we were gonna be.
I wasn’t as nervous as I was last night. Having that extra time to think and not react helped keep my head on straight. Now if this shit was confirmed, I couldn’t say it’ll stay that way. I was playing that one by ear.
Going out into the connecting room, we began looking for parts for Sting, always keeping our eyes attached to the door. When it slowly creaked open, I glanced over at Casey who nodded.
“Hey, Rocky. Can you help me find some plugs for Sting?” He grunted, but hearing his boot steps getting closer, I turned and smiled at him. His eyes were still the same brown as they’ve been every other time, but this time I imagined them green, and as I did, an elusive chill ran down my spine. I didn’t let it show, instead; I gave him a very vibrant smile. “Thanks.”
Casey walked up on the other side of Rocky as he turned to look at her, appraising her up and down. That was just what I suspected he’d do, with her long legs and painted-on jeans; no one could resist her. “Hey, Rocky, you know Casey, right?” He nodded his head.
“Hey, Rocky.” Casey’s voice was a soft purr, very seductive and inviting. This woman rocked.
Rocky kept his head turned towards Casey as I began to creep a bit closer. Casey amped it up by moving closer to Rocky, giving him the fuck-me eyes that men fell for every time. Rocky was no different. Taking the taser out of my holster slowly, I placed it behind my back waiting for the perfect time. Casey leaned in close to whisper in his ear. Keeping herself far enough away, to avoid the shock she knew would be coming. Reaching around, I placed the taser on Rocky’s neck, hitting the trigger hard, he fell to the ground shaking and mumbling some garbled up shit that I couldn’t understand. Tasers only gave you a short period of time, and we had a lot of work to do.
“Now. Come on.” Casey grabbed one of Rocky’s arms while I grabbed the other, dragging him into the room. Picking the big lug up, I dug in Casey’s purse finding the rope and duct tape. At first I thought of using the rope to bind him, but then thought better of it, duct tape would work just nicely, and it’s harder to break out of.
Quickly, I taped his hands behind his back and then taped them through the slats on the chair. Moving his knees up the side of the chair, I taped them to the back chair poles. There was no way he could stand and swing the chair at either of us if he got the chance. I then taped his thighs and torso just for good measure.
Casey searched through her bag, finding an old sock. “Perfect for now. I’ll get it all done; then we’ll have to take this out to do the rest.” Taping the sock into Rocky’s mouth, he began to come back from the shock.
“Hey there, big guy. Remember me?” I asked as his eyes grew wide, and he began shaking his head. “Well, I think I know you from somewhere, so I’ve gotta check some
things out.”
He tried to move in the chair, but realized if he did the only place it would get him was the floor, and for me that’d be just as good as where he was. Reaching into my purse, I grabbed the battery-operated shaver and flipped it on. Rocky began squirming. “What’s wrong? Have something to hide under all that hair?”
He shook his head repeatedly, but his body was tensing up, as he was trying to move his arms out of the binding. I would hit him a few times in the face, but just wanted to make sure I was correct before I completely fucked myself. Gripping his head, I held on tight to the top of it as my buzzer cut his hair. Rocky tried moving to get away from the cutters, but didn’t put up too much effort.
I began swiping through his hair, cutting every last bit off, giving him a military short haircut. This looked more like the officer. Next I moved to the beard and mustache.
I moved the cutters closer to his face as his eyes got wide, and he started thrashing around. This was no good. “Casey, tase him.” After she did, I cut the length of it off. Casey went and grabbed the razor, water bottle, and soap out of her purse. After the first few strokes, my heart was beating out of my chest. My hands became sweaty, and my eyes saw red. I shaved around his gag; there was no need to take it off. I ripped the tape when needed to go around, placing it back, but kept the gag in place.
With him still out from the taser, I opened his eyelid placing my finger on the colored part of his eyeball. When my finger moved to the side, it revealed a brown contact that I slid out of place. I did the same to the other. The green eyes I dreaded stared back at me.
Stepping back, Officer Macaffe sat in front of me. The one man I never wanted to see or think about again. The only man inside that I fucked, repeatedly, and not by choice, the one man that could truly call me a whore.
