HEARTLESS

by Storm, Franca

  I can’t take it.

  The need to help her, to coach her, is overwhelming.

  Two birds with one stone. I can help her and get my dance on like I wanted.

  The high alcohol content coursing through my blood helps push down the realization that I don’t do public shows of any kind anymore and haven’t for a long while. All I’m focused on is the immediate.

  Before I know it, I’m heading straight for the girl.

  I hear whispers that I can’t quite make out. My vision is blurry and I’m pretty sure I’m not quite walking in a straight line on my way to the stage. But, once I get up there, I just need to concentrate on the beat and the rhythm will come instinctively. It doesn’t matter how drunk I am, my body will move.

  As I reach the stage and struggle to hoist myself onto it, I feel hands at my back, helping me up.

  Before I can get a word out, the girl’s eyes widen and she exclaims, “Wow, it’s you! Halle Belmont! Owner of Temptress!”

  Okay, I guess my reputation precedes me.

  “Let me help you out, sweetie.”

  There’s no hesitation from her, she nods emphatically.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Sadie.”

  As I reach for her hips, the boys holler wildly. Another song starts up. It’s a classic for strip joints everywhere. Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard.

  I start guiding Sadie’s hips, loosening her, making her movements appear more seductive. As I let go, I whisper to her, “Copy my moves, okay? We’ll do it together.”

  Excitement flashes on her face and the shyness I saw before from her melts away, as she focuses on me and the fun we’re having, rather than the salivating men watching her.

  As soon as we both start moving together, the crowd goes absolutely wild. Catcalls, whistles, applause and dirty talk abounds.

  It doesn’t take long for Sadie to get the hang of the routine I’m showing her. It’s simple, but very effective in riling up the audience. I let her go with it, as she rips off her top and tosses it into the crowd.

  I get lost to the music, to the beat. I let my body go, relishing the freedom of it, infusing my emotions into my movements. The stifling heat in the room has me tearing open my blouse for some desperate relief.

  Opening my eyes, I watch her grinning at me. She backs up into me, feigning grinding against my crotch in a bold move that has the boys going crazy. A bit of girl-on-girl action always does. Men are so easy.

  A growl sounds suddenly, so loud and ferocious that I can hear it over the music. The crowd falls silent, stilling instantly. Sadie stops dancing, her eyes going wide.

  I’m screaming in the next second as strong hands grab me from behind.

  “Time for bed,” a very familiar voice rumbles in my ear.

  Smiter.

  The next thing I know, he’s draping his leather jacket over me, then sweeping me up in his arms. He carries me through the crowd. All eyes are on us. Everyone looks scared shitless, as we pass on by, none of them daring to look directly at Smiter. Oh, no. Is he mad then? Mad at them for some reason? What’s going on?

  “Smiter? What are you doing? Put me down! I want to go back to my dance.”

  Ignoring me, he pushes out of the room, then carries me down the corridor.

  “Smiter?” I press, when he still doesn’t say a word.

  He kicks open the door to a room that I recognize as the one Ax had set up for me earlier. A loud thud tells me he’s kicked it shut behind him.

  He drops me on the queen bed.

  I scramble around to sit up. Once I manage it, I toss his leather jacket off me. “What’s going on? Why am I in here? Why did—?”

  “What the fuck were you thinking?” he thunders.

  Oh, so he’s not mad at the guys then. He’s mad at me.

  “Yeah, I’m fucking well mad at you!”

  I said that out loud? Wow, I really am smashed.

  “Hal!” he snaps, leaning down to my eye level. “You ain’t thinking nothing, you’re saying all this shit out loud. Stop it and focus on me. I’m tryinˈ to talk to you, woman.”

  I turn away and crawl across the bed. “I didn’t finish my dance.”

  “Get back here.”

  “No!”

  I’ve almost made it to the edge of the bed, right by the door, when hands clamp down on my hips, stopping me.

  I’m dragged across the covers, back over to the side farthest from the door. I squeal, scrambling to stop it, thrashing about. I end up rolling onto my back and then I find myself looking up at Smiter. He looks… angry? His nostrils are flaring, his sexy eyes wide and scary. Oh my God, it looks so funny. Absolutely hilarious. I burst out laughing.

  ***

  ~Smiter~

  Fucking great. She’s giggling now, all hysterical with it.

  Four whiskeys and she’s outta her mind. She ain’t used to drinking more than one drink at a time, that’s why it’s hitting her so hard.

  When I walked back into the clubhouse, two of the old timers told me all ˈbout her drinking. That weren’t what had me almost losing my shit, though. When they told me where she was at, I nearly lost it. Couldn’t fucking believe it. She’d gone to hang out in the backroom, the place where the boys take their whores for some quiet time. Ax put out a do-not-touch order on her, but still. Her going there’s sending a mixed message. Big time.

  She tries getting away again.

  That’s it!

  I climb onto the bed and pin her down, my hands ˈround her wrists, my knees holding her legs still.

  “You ain’t going nowhere.”

  She pouts up at me. “Why not? I was having fun. You’re ruining it.”

  “Fun? You were stripping!”

  “No. Sadie was. I was teaching her. I didn’t strip. I was just dancing.”

  I point at her open shirt that’s got her red, lacy bra on full display. “Your shirt’s wide open, got your bra exposed. All the boys saw!”

  “It was hot in there. It’s just a bra. You’re being such a prude.” She laughs to herself. “Prude. Such a funny word.”

  “Hal!” I snap harshly to get her attention. It works and she jerks her gaze at me. “You were in there ˈround club whores and a stripper from a seedy strip joint. It sent a bad message to the boys.”

  “Message?” she asks, blinking up at me.

  “That it’s open season on you, that you’re on the level of the whores!”

  Saying it out loud is making me sick.

  She rolls her eyes. “Come on. That’s ridiculous.”

  “It’s my club, my world. I’m telling you how it is. You gotta fucking listen. I’m tryinˈ to protect you, woman.”

  “I don’t need your protection.”

  “Yeah, you do. Especially after what you pulled tonight. Now, I gotta make a visible claim on you, gotta make it real clear you’re mine, that tonight was just a slipup, that you ain’t entertainment for the boys.”

  She rubs her eyes tiredly. “Visible claim? I don’t… what?” Takes her a moment, then a look of disgust comes over her face. “That’s messed up. It’s majorly backwards, sexist, and disturbing.”

  I ain’t getting into a debate with her over it. She’s too messed up right now anyway.

  I push off her and take my jacket with me, hanging it on a hook by the door. I can feel her eyes on me as I cross to the chest of drawers and open the bottom drawer. Only takes me a couple of seconds to find what I’m searching for.

  I head on back to her and strip off her shirt and bra. “Arms,” I command. She raises ˈem and I pull on one of the items I grabbed. My club t-shirt. I see her looking down, studying it, as I pull off her boots, then her skirt.

  “A Black Thorns shirt,” she murmurs to herself, smiling, all happy.

  I dress her in the other thing I brought over, a pair of gray, flannel pajama pants.

  “If you ain’t beside me, wear this t-shirt inside the clubhouse. It’ll tell the boys you’re with a member, untouchable. Y
ou got me?”

  She grumbles something under her breath ˈbout sexism and all that. But, I finally get a nod from her and a slurred, “Yes.”

  “Good.” I reach over her and grab a bottle of water and two pain pills. “Take these, then you’re gonna sleep.”

  She stares at ˈem for a second, before popping ˈem in her mouth, then downing half the water bottle. She ain’t gonna feel so bad tomorrow now.

  “Where did these come from?” she asks. She tugs at her pants. “And these?”

  “Brought the water and pills in after I found out you’d been drinking way too much. The pajamas I picked up when I was out today, during the last leg of the ride.”

  “You went shopping for me?”

  “Knew you’d need stuff here. There’s more in the drawers and ˈround the room.”

  “I picked up a bag from my condo when me and Ax were in Brockford.”

  “Can’t be wearing ˈem sexy clothes of yours ˈround here, Hal. Gotta cover up.”

  She rolls her eyes at me. Has me clenching my jaw, cuz normally it’d get me riled up. She knows it pisses me off. But she ain’t with it right now. She don’t know what she’s doing.

  I turn away and strip off my clothes, down to just my boxers.

  “What are you doing?” she asks, as I come back to the bed, ˈbout to get in.

  “Sleeping.”

  “In this bed? With me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No.”

  “Halle—

  “No, Smiter. Look, I appreciate the water and everything, but that’s it. You and me? We’re not… good. We’re not together. I don’t want you to—”

  “Don’t care what you want right now. Gonna do what’s best for you.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “I don’t trust you’re gonna stay in here and just sleep. The second I leave, I’m betting you’re gonna go back to that room again. You ain’t in your right mind yet, ain’t sobered up. I gotta do what’s best for you, protect you from yourself right now. So, I’m gonna stay here with you tonight. Gonna make sure you go straight to sleep.”

  “I’m not a child. My God, Smiter.”

  “You ain’t, but you been through a lot, so you made a bunch of bad decisions tonight.”

  “I guess you’d know all about making bad decisions, huh?” she bites at me.

  I don’t take the bait, cuz I know she’s just tryinˈ to get a rise outta me, so I’ll take off in a temper and leave her here alone, like she wants.

  “Nice try. But I’m gonna be here for you. Ain’t going nowhere,” I tell her, tucking her into bed, then climbing in on the other side.

  “I just wish you didn’t pick and choose when you’re here for me, when you want to be with me,” she murmurs sadly, as she settles her head on her pillow.

  I reach out to her, taking her hand. “Weren’t intending that, sweetheart. I just—”

  She bats my hand away. She rolls onto her side, facing away from me. “Forget it. I don’t care anymore.”

  We both know that ain’t true.

  She showed just how deep she cares ˈbout me last night when I gave her the whole story on Mia. But I gotta do more, gotta show her I’m getting my shit together. For her.

  Sucking in a breath, I force the words outta my mouth, revealing, “I went by Mia’s grave today.”

  She turns back real sharp. “You… what?”

  “Went to say a final goodbye,” I go on. “To try to put it all behind me and let it go. Told her I met you. Somebody I care ˈbout. A lot. Somebody worth moving on for.”

  “Oh my God. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t gotta say nothing, Hal. Just believe I’m tryinˈ.” My fingers brush her arm, stroking up and down, real light and cautious, cuz of last time. “For you.”

  Shocking me then, she rolls into me, getting close.

  “Thought you weren’t up for being close with me, cuz we ain’t in a good place, and all that.”

  “You went through a lot today. You need this. Besides, we’re still friends, aren’t we? Friends hug.”

  I hold her tight to me, chuckling. “I’m on board with that, sweetheart.”

  “Although, raging hard-ons don’t usually come with the friend package.”

  Yeah, I figured it wouldn’t be long before she took notice of my hard cock pressed up against her. “You can tell me we ain’t together all you want, but there’s parts of me that ain’t yet got that message.” I whisper in her ear, “Maybe all parts.”

  “Smiter, I—”

  “Relax, Hal. Just messing with you.” Anything to keep the mood light and shit, cuz it’s harder than I thought being next to her, holding her, but needing to hold off on the physical. It ain’t ˈbout nothing as empty as just needing to get my rocks off.

  After what I faced today and with all the shit that’s been going down, I’m craving that connection with her, being real close to her. I need her. It’s like a part of her is being cut off from me. Fucking hate it. But, even if she weren’t drunk off her ass, I can’t be taking it there with her right now. Can’t be selfish with her no more.

  She ain’t ready for it. She’s real hurt, cuz of me. Her life’s been turned upside down, cuz of me, my enemy. It’s got her reeling, real off balance. She needs time to get her head on straight again ˈbout everything, including us.

  I lean down and give her a kiss on her forehead. “Nite, sweet Halle.”

  Forcing myself, I break my hold ˈround her and pull away, putting some space between us.

  “Goodnight, Smiter,” I hear her say, as I settle my head on my pillow. “Sweet dreams.”

  I smile to myself and close my eyes.

  Chapter 20

  ~Smiter~

  Leaning against the wall outside Ax’s office, I sigh with major relief.

  That was real fucking intense.

  Prez does a hell of a thorough job when he’s tryinˈ to figure shit out. He ain’t no fool.

  He woulda had us, if me and Runner hadn’t already worked out a foolproof story ˈbout what went down during our ride. We both woulda been in deep shit, probably put on forced leave, or solitary lockdown.

  Runner was questioned earlier this morning. By the time Ax had got done with me afterward, he’d been satisfied that our stories lined up and didn’t have no holes in ˈem. We made sure our story was rock solid, but also not too clean. With me going off the rails a bit lately and Runner’s well-known wild nature, we both knew Ax wasn’t gonna believe there weren’t at least some kinda incident during our ride. So, we made up some shit ˈbout us stopping off for a drink at a hole-in-the-wall bar where some guy disrespected us, leaving me to teach him a lesson with my fists. Ax bought it all. He ain’t got a clue ˈbout what really went down with us riding right to the edge of Slayers territory.

  Making my way down the corridor, I scrub my hand over the back of my neck. It’s come to something when I gotta make up bullshit stories to cover my ass with the likes of Runner. I’m usually the solid, dependable one. The one Ax and the club can lean on. The one he never needs to worry about. It’s like a punch in the gut, knowing how much everything lately has twisted me up, having me failing to live up to that.

  Saying a final goodbye to Mia was a big step on getting a grip. But, there’s still Frankie, knowing I gotta make sure he gets what he deserves.

  As I pass by the kitchen, the smell of bacon stops me in my tracks.

  Was gonna head back to Halle’s room to see how she’s doing. Had to leave when she was asleep to meet with Ax.

  But the smell of breakfast has me real curious ˈbout what’s going down in the kitchen. The club’s on lockdown. It means there ain’t no Old Ladies here to be cooking for the boys. So, what’s going on? Ax only made one exception and that was letting that stripper in for Kyle’s birthday party last night. He only did that to keep up morale, so the boys don’t get antsy and end up lashing out some way.

  I push on through into the kitchen.

  On
e quick scan of the room has me stopping dead.

  It ain’t no security issue, but it’s a major fucking shock.

  Never thought I’d ever be seeing this.

  A bunch of the boys are gathered ˈround the sink. They got some sorta assembly line going where they’re washing, drying, and putting away dishes. I hold back a laugh at the sight of such hard men doing such a domestic task, one that’s normally left to the Old Ladies.

  I’m ˈbout to ask ˈem how this happened, when my eyes land on her.

  Halle.

  She’s sitting up at one of the kitchen tables, eating a piece of toast with one hand and typing away on her laptop with the other.

  I look her over. She’s remembered what I told her last night. She’s wearing my club t-shirt. Only thing is, she’s got it tied at the sides and its pulled tight across her tits. Way tighter than I like ˈround the boys. It’s got my dick waking up. At least she ain’t wearing one of her short, clingy skirts. She’s got on a pair of ripped jeans, the kind you pay to buy that way, instead of regular ones that just get worn down that way from wearing ˈem so much. She ain’t wearing stilettos, but ˈem ankle boots have still got a major heel. Still sexy as all fuck. And, damn, her hair’s pulled back in a high ponytail. An image flashes in my mind of bending her over the table, yanking on it hard, as I take her real hard from behind. Rough and merciless, just the way she likes it.

  I make my way over to her.

  “All done, Halle!”, Billy calls to her.

  She turns on her chair, inspecting their work. She gives ˈem a nod. “Great job, guys. Thanks.”

  “So, apple crisp, right?” Red, a long-time member, asks her.

  “You’ve got it,” she says. “It’ll be ready for lunch.”

  Wow.

  I pull out the spare chair next to Halle and sink down beside her. “Morning.”

  She jumps and shuts the lid of her laptop quick.

  I lean in and whisper so the boys don’t hear, “What’s going on?”

  She tries to distract me with one of her sexy smiles. “Do you want me to make you something?”