by K. J. Dahlen
THUMP!
My head slumped and I stared down at my captor who laid sprawled out on the floor. The top of his head had been blown off. Blood pooled around him.
What the fuck?
Another shot rang out and all hell broke loose as light ripped across my eyes. It only blinded me and I still couldn’t see a god dammed thing. Where was it coming from? Metal clanged. Bullets echoed with loud pings. There were shouts and men screaming. I couldn’t see anything being weak and strapped to the chair with blood and brains all over my eyes.
There were more shouts and my chair rocked, as there was even some kind of explosion. I could smell skin and flesh burning. I wondered if now I was going to burn alive right here in this shitty, blood-soaked chair. It would figure. Anything could happen now. It was pure mayhem. I stilled. It had to be Bruno. He was the only man who could bring such chaos and destruction.
Then it all settled down. Sulfur burned my nose and I tried to lick my cracked lips but I really couldn’t, I had no control over anything.
I could smell the gunpowder from the guns and hear feet scuffling. Boot steps. What the fuck was happening?
“Oh fuck!” Jaxson shouted.
I realized that my head now hung back as I’d ceased to have the strength to raise it.
“God dammit! Dino?” Oh fuck, fuck!” he kept yelling.
“No, man!” Bruno’s hysterical voice joined his. “I will kill all of them. Every last fucking Bianchi is dead!” he shouted.
What were they going on about? I kind of fazed in and out, then I could have sworn I heard an odd sound.
Weeping?
Then hands were on me. “Dammit!” Jaxson’s voice sobbed like a kid. “No, man! Fucking Christ!”
He sounded like he was crying? No, couldn’t be. I’d never seen him do that.
“Get the fuck off him.”
I paused. Was that—?
“Dino?” Dagger asked me.
Yes, I knew that voice. “Yeah?” I answered weakly.
“He’s—alive?” Jaxson asked in a stunned cracking voice.
Someone was wiping my eyes. I blinked and a face came into focus. It was Dagger.
Next, someone was untying me. But I couldn’t really feel it. I was too out of it to move or care.
“You okay, Dino?” It was Bruno and his voice was quieter than I’d ever heard before.
“Yeah. I think?”
“Man! Why didn’t you say so?” Jaxson asked. His paling face finally came into view.
“You didn’t ask.”
Bruno’s laughter echoed in the room. “Fucking Thunder. Always with the mouth but never when it counts.”
“He’s bad off though,” Dagger said.
“Get the doc in here!” Bruno yelled.
“Lay him out on that table over there,” Dagger ordered.
There was a lot of noise, things were tossed around, and sounds of men’s boots stomped around the room.
I could hear it all, but I was too weak to raise my head to look.
“Fuck. Is he gonna live?’ Jaxson asked.
“Jax…” I whispered.
His voice came close. “Yes, Thunder?”
“C-chloe and—Bel…” I could barely speak. My throat was dry and my tongue was bleeding.
“Bruno has them being watched.”
“Yeah kid, they’re safe,” Bruno added.
I sighed as their voices came in and out. “Good. I may still get to fuck that firecracker yet.”
I could hear Jaxson chuckling.
“The hell you say!” Bruno whispered but there was no anger in his voice. “Dammit, Damicio. Why did you ditch your detail, man?”
I laughed and winced at doing so. “Did they leave any fingers…for…y-you to take?”
“No one is taking anything else from you, man!” Jaxson got louder, he sounded pissed now.
“Ok, all of you back off,” Dagger ordered. “The doc is here,”
And that was the last thing I heard.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Chloe
Something was pounding on the door. God, it was loud. I wish Jaxson’s guys would stay the hell out of our apartment. They’d done this before. I hated those huge creeps being inside my home.
BOOM…BOOM.
Gasping, I sat up and gazed around. Fuck, I wasn’t in our apartment. It was the seedy hotel room at the Flaming Arrow.
“Dammit!” Bella got up and strode around the bed. She grabbed her gun from the table and swung the closet door open.
I then realized what was happening. The mafia guy we had tied up had been kicking on the closet door.
“Look you faggot,” Bella fumed. “See this?” She aimed the barrel down at him. “Yeah, you do right?”
I could hear him whimper and groan.
“So if you don’t want your brains splattered all over this closet, you will keep still!” She slammed the door and strode over to the table.
My eyes were wide. Wow, this woman was some kind of powerhouse. She was like wonder woman and cat woman, all rolled into one package. MC Woman! I laughed out loud. Yeah. That’s what she was.
She swung her angry gaze over at me. “What’s so fucking funny?”
I shrugged. “You might blow someone’s head off on in the morning, if you don’t get some coffee?”
She paused and stared at me then tilted her redhead back and laughed.
Yeah, she was the woman for Thunder. No wonder he’d acted so odd ever since he’d brought her back with him. I paused as I thought of him. I bet him and my Jax was out scouring the town for us. I suddenly felt a fear. Would they get themselves killed doing that? “Hey, um. Bella?’
With her long legs out and her feet on the other chair, she slowed her chuckling and looked over again. “Yeah?”
“Do you think Thunder and Jaxson are out looking for us?”
She stared at me. “How would I know?” Something flickered in her eyes.
I couldn’t tell if it was concern in her gaze or just annoyance. “W-what if something happens to—?”
She stood up and put her hands on her hips. “It’s a little late to be thinking about that, Chloe!”
I sighed and looked away.
She grabbed a bottle of water and handed it to me as she came closer to the bed and sat down. “I’m sorry. I know you love this Jax guy.”
I held the bottle in my hands and twisted off the cap as I swung my gaze over to her. “Like nothing else in the world.” I tipped the bottle back and took a huge, long gulp.
Her eyes widened a little. “W-what… What does it feel like?”
“What?” I didn’t understand the question as I capped the bottle and set it down on the table.
She rolled her eyes. “To be in love with a guy?” Her voice was quiet, almost afraid.
I watched her closely as I answered, “Consuming. Addictive. Like he crawled up inside me and lives there. Like my every other thought is about him.” I closed my eyes. “I can even taste him on my lips. His scent, his body. The way his eyes pin me and I almost cannot breathe.”
Silence.
My eyes popped open to see she was now closing her eyes.
Oh…she does have it bad for Thunder!
Her eyes opened. There was heat in them—even I could see it. She let out a sigh. Then she shook her head and stood up from the bed. “We gotta get ready.” She gazed around at the room in general and almost looked lost. “Dammit, I need a cigarette!”
I smirked at her. “You smoke?”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
I chuckled. “So, did anything else happen with Thunder and you?”
She bit at her lip. “Yeah…um…Damn!” She got fidgety all the sudden as she wandered to the window and stood for a moment.
I waited, hoping she would share. This woman was tight lipped about everything personal it seemed.
“In the hotel we were at. He… well, I wanted him so badly. Fuck, I don’t know why. I never wanted a guy before!�
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I wanted to ask about that. She was a biker bunny at one time. How could that be true?
“All my life there’s been only…Bastards. I’d so wanted to pin him as one. Then, he surprised me, not once but a few times. I wondered if it was some kind of game.”
I spoke up now, “Not Dino. He doesn’t play games. He is what he appears to be.”
She turned around. “Well, he appears to be an Alpha Biker, Chloe. I’d been around too many of them. So, well…I wanted to believe he was just that.”
“And now?” I asked.
She looked back out the window and was silent for a minute or two. “I-I just can’t trust a man. It’s that simple.”
I had other thoughts but I could see she’d shut down again and wouldn’t give me anything else. I so wanted Thunder to have the woman who matched him. One that would make him happy. The man had earned happiness the hard way. It was why I was even here in this hotel room. Just look at everything he’d done for me and Jax the last 6 months? He’d helped me to spirit Jax away from that hospital even when it was against Bruno’s orders. All to save his best friend. I never met a man as honorable and decent as him. Except for Jaxson. Yeah, they were MC but in the many months I’d been around them, I’d never seen anything amoral or cruel with either man. They did what they had to do, but they never enjoyed killing or fighting like the kind of men she’d known.
“Okay, time to get dolled up again,” Bella announced totally dismissing the subject at hand as she sashayed across the room and grabbed her bag.”
I stared at her. “What?”
She rifled through the bag and set the makeup clutch out then pulled out the sheer blouses. “Yep we got an audition today.”
I sat up off the pillows. “A what?”
She stopped and grinned at me. “Can you sing or dance?”
I stared back and now I knew for sure that she was teasing me. “For shit, Bella.”
She nodded. “Good.”
I was confused to no end. “You’re serious?”
She turned to the mirror over the dresser and grabbed her wig. “As a heart attack. I told you my idea was gonna be fun. You’ll see.”
I scoffed and got out of bed. My legs hurt. “Dammit. Do I have to wear those heels today?”
She swung her amused gaze over. “Hell yea. It’s part of the ensemble.”
I stared at her. “What is this all about?”
She winked at me and took out a blouse. “We are gonna make some money so we can get out of town.”
I gasped. “Now look Bella, I am willing to do a lot to help. But I won’t do that!”
She tugged the wig down a little and paused. Turning to look at me, she laughed. “Oh my god, Chloe. I don’t mean we are gonna turn tricks!”
I let out a relieved breath.
She turned back to the mirror and grabbed a silk blouse. “Well, not those kinds of tricks anyways.” She sniggered.
It still sounded bad to me. “Then what the hell?”
“You’ll see but I got the idea yesterday. It’s the perfect place to hide and make a few hundred.”
“Pole dancing or what?” My brain was teaming with ideas and none of them were the least bit appealing.
“Nah, that is shit.” She grabbed the mascara. “Nasty bitches. They’re worse than the men at those places. So fucking territorial.”
I huffed. “Then what?”
She layered the black goop onto her lashes. “Just get ready, okay?”
I didn’t like this a bit, but we had to be out of the room soon and I didn’t know how much cash she had. Then there was the trussed up mafia guy. “What about the guy in the closet?”
Shrugging, she was now putting eyeliner on while looking into the dirty ass mirror. “He can’t do anything. We will be long gone by the time someone finds him.”
I looked over at the closet. It just now occurred to me that he might be listening. Then I looked back over at her. That was why she wasn’t telling me. Damn, this woman was smart. Street smart. I felt like a tiny goldfish who’d been in a bowl my whole life then I meet this angel warrior fish and she’d opened the ocean up to me…
“Come on, Chloe! You got paint to put on!” She chuckled. “And you gotta lay it on extra thick this time.” She now stood, got close to the mirror and layered on the bright red onto her lips.
I shook my head and grabbed my bag. Lay it on thick? What? Are we we going to the circus? I shook my head. I wasn’t going to ask any more questions until we got free of this room at least. I proceeded to put on the blouse, then the wig. I couldn’t get it straight. “Dammit.” I tugged at it in frustration and it covered my eyes.
“Dang, Chloe. Come over and I will help you.” There was laughter in her voice.
I pulled the wig up. “I-I just don’t know if I can do this shit?” I walked over to where she stood at the dresser.
She tisked. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see.” She gave me a wink then tugged the wig a little and started to tuck my loose strands of my hair into it. Then she put her fingers to her lips and motioned her head to the closet. “So, we are going to go to the All Girls, Girls Club down on Fifth.”
My eyes widened at her. “The one with the booths? Like where we have to…” Oh, my god! I couldn’t even finish it. That was where men put in a twenty and the girl was behind glass and had to show all of herself to get the guy off! “O-oh, fuck no!”
She nodded and gave me another wink. As she now had a little brush to dab eye shadow onto my eyelids.
I closed my eyes so she could apply it though it was like a bright turquoise and I winced at how ridiculous it was going to look on me.
“Yeah,” she went on. “Then the guys can’t touch us. Not through the glass.”
I continued to play my part, “But I don’t know how to act like that. I mean what do I do?” I put dramatic fear into my voice, well maybe it was real fear.
She pinched my cheek to get me to open my eyes. “Now mascara. It’s easy Chloe. You just like, show em a little pussy.”
I flinched. “Oh, no! I can’t do that!” I squeaked all while hoping this was an act and that wasn’t what I would be doing. Oh, god. Jax would kill me!
“Oh, yes.” She added eyeliner to my lids. “You just grab your tits like this.” She paused.
I opened my eyes.
She wasn’t grabbing her tits. She was lifting the lipstick up to my lips. “Oh, daddy!” she cooed. “Yeah, yeah, touch your dick just like that. Ohhh…” She purred in a low sexy voice as she neatly painted my mouth.
I sucked in a breath and spluttered some laughter. Oh, my god! She was hilarious! “T-then, I could what? Stick my tongue out like I want to lick him while fingering myself and go— ‘ahhhh, oh god, that’s it! Oh daddy, your cock is sooo big. Oh, baby! Pump it for me’— While I fingered myself.”
Bella paused with the lipstick in midair. Her eyes actually widened at me. She tilted her head at me with wonder.
We could hear a groan and a thump from the closet.
I gasped and put my hand over my mouth.
She bit at her lip to keep from laughing. Then she blinked at me. “Damn, Chloe are you sure you haven’t done this before?” Her chuckling came out now.
I raised my shoulders proudly. “I got a sexy ass man that has taught me a few tricks.”
She nodded. “So you aren’t as innocent as a school girl?”
I shook my head and stood to put on the little skirt. “No. I can be as kinky as the next girl.”
Bella nodded looking proud as she stared at my face. “Good, we are gonna need every trick you got.”
I nearly busted my sore ribs trying not to laugh and now I couldn’t stop. “Yeah, like licking a cock. So yummmmmiiieee. Then swallowing the cream?” I stepped closer to the closet and smacked my lipstick painted lips as I grabbed the heels from the floor.
More groaning came from the closet.
Bella finally could contain herself any longer, as she burst out laughing.
I joined her with hilarious laughter and grabbed my ribs again. I sat down to put the horrid torture heels on my feet. “Lip smackin’ good!”
Bella doubled over and held her hand up at me. “Stop it. My mascara is gonna run!”
We had to fight to control our laughter for a few minutes.
Then after she put her heels on, Bella looked around the room. “I think we got everything. You ready?”
I was still smiling from the fun we just had at the closet guy’s expense then my smile faded. Ready? All jokes aside…what was her plan?
She stepped to the door as she slung her bag over her shoulder. “Come on we have some… Dicks to see.”
My mouth popped open. She’d been kidding before right?
Bella gave me a green eyed wink and opened the door, stepping out into the hall.
I was right behind her. God, where were we going?
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Bella
I led Chloe around the back of the Arrow. I didn’t want to be out on the front street in our get ups. Now that I’d thought about it, we shouldn’t have put all this on before going out. Shit. We needed hats or something! We stepped out into the alley and I looked around. We wouldn’t even be able to catch a cab looking like this.
I walked slowly in the heels to the end of the alley.
There were men there on the street. They sort of looked mob. I gasped and ducked back.
“What is it?” Chloe asked from behind me.
“Mob, I think?’
She stood still. “What do we do?”
Just then, I heard a roaring. There was only one thing that sounded like that. “Shhh, wait a second, K?” I stepped close to the edge of the wall and peeked out. Yeah, two bikers. I tried to read their cuts. There were only two real clubs left and either one could be dangerous to us, if they knew who we were.
“Is it…?” Chloe whispered from behind me.
I shook my head. “No these guys aren’t our guys.”
She shuffled her feet and almost looked disappointed.
“They’re Border Patrol,” I called back to her in a whisper.
Her face paled a bit. To her, it could be good or bad maybe. “D-do you know them?” she asked me.
I squinted at the men as they had parked just before the alley to the hotel. “No.” They were big like most of the MC but I didn’t know either of them.
