by April Lust
“Guys, this is Michelle. Michelle, this is Joe, Pete and Spike.” I knew it. Then, Dane added, “Joe and Pete were with me yesterday.”
I pulled the two of them up out of their chairs and gave them the tightest hugs I could manage. “Thank you so much,” I blubbered. I needed a tissue after that, and I left the room to clean my face up.
When I got back, Dane handed me a cup of coffee. “These guys were nice enough to go to the store and get some actual food in this place. I don’t like the idea of delivery men coming and going.”
“Why?” I looked around the room. All of the faces looking back at me were stern, tight.
“We have to keep the house under pretty tight surveillance,” Spike said. “After what happened to you yesterday, and an attack on some of the men two nights ago, we know that a rival gang is stalking our members, so to speak. Their leader has a thing out for Dane here.”
“He’s the one who sent the guy to ambush me,” Dane said, his voice quiet. I stared at him in shock.
“What’s his problem? What did you do to him?”
“He just fucking hates me, that’s all. Sorry to be so crude, but it’s true.” He had never apologized for being crude before. Who was this new person in front of me? I couldn’t help but remember what he said in bed.
“It’s all right,” I assured him. “So he hates you, and he wants to hurt you. I get that. So, what, he had his men follow me to my house yesterday?”
“Yeah. We heard on the streets they screwed up a kidnapping. I’m sorry it happened.”
I shrugged. “You couldn’t help it. I’m just glad my saviors came after me. So what next?”
The four of them exchanged looks. “Nothing you need to be worried about,” Dane said.
“Are you sure about that?” I shot him a meaningful look. I wanted to remind him of what we said without actually coming out and saying it.
“Maybe we should go,” Spike said, clearing his throat.
“Yeah, I’ll see you later. And, Michelle, these two will be sitting out front all day.” He motioned to Joe and Pete.
“Why? I mean, that’s nice and everything, but why do we need them? Won’t you be here?”
He looked uncomfortable, and the others left in a big hurry. Once the front door closed, he looked at me.
“No, I won’t. I have to take care of a few things.”
I felt cold again, and I wrapped my arms around myself. He put his arms around me.
“I’m sorry. You’re perfectly safe here,” he said.”
I rested my head on his chest and sighed. “So why the guard out front?”
“That’s who will make sure you’re safe,” he said with a smile in his voice.
“What are you doing?” I pulled back, searching his face for any sign of a plan. “Something dangerous?”
“When do I ever do dangerous things?” he asked, grinning.
“I mean it. You said it yourself last night. Don’t leave me here by myself. Don’t not come home.”
He smiled more genuinely this time. “You really care whether I come home?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Nobody ever did before.”
“So all the more reason why you should.” I kissed him gently, then wrapped my arms around his shoulders and squeezed. I closed my eyes and prayed for him to stay safe. I wasn’t sure what I would do without him anymore.
###
“He said what?”
“I know, I know.” I paced the floor like I always did when I was stuck on something. I couldn’t get out of my head the way Dane told me I was his. “And I agreed with him,” I mumbled.
“Holy crap, girl! What the hell?” Mac was clearly flabbergasted, screaming into the Bluetooth device in her car on the way to work.
“I know, okay? It was in the heat of the moment.”
“What happened after that?”
“Like, when we were having sex?”
“No. Duh. Afterword. Did either of you say anything about it?”
“No. it’s like it never happened.”
“It definitely happened.”
“Obviously. I don’t know what to do now. It’s out there.”
“Did you mean it?”
I sat down on the couch. “I don’t know.”
“You do. You just don’t want to say it.” Then she honked and cursed out another driver, making me laugh and breaking the tension.
She turned her attention back to me and her voice was kinder. “Listen. It’s okay if you meant it. Really. No judgment. There’s no telling why two people come together. It was just fated. You can’t help it.”
“It just doesn’t seem like me at all, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed. “Maybe this was who you were waiting for all this time, and you just didn’t know it.”
“Yeah, a biker who just got out of prison.”
“He just what?” she asked, her voice getting a little shrill. I heard a noise at the door—Dane. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let me let you go. He’s back. I’ll call you later.” I hung up and stood with a smile, ready to greet him with open arms. Mac was right. Maybe it was meant to be. I was willing to embrace it, no matter what it meant.
Chapter Twenty-One
Dane
I went to the clubhouse after leaving home. I had to remind myself at least three times on the way that Michelle was completely safe at the house. It was the safest place for her. Nobody could get in, and nobody was getting out. Meaning her. She wouldn’t be sneaking around anymore—though I doubted she would want to after what happened already.
Things were tense with my men, and I understood why. Nobody liked looking over their shoulder wherever they went. It was never easy when things got this way, and it happened from time to time. Another club would be pissed about something we did, or maybe there’d be a problem with one of our business partners. Tension would rise. It was never fun, but it always blew over.
After talking things out with Spike, and calling over to the hospital to run the plan by Slash, I was pretty confident in what my next steps would be to make sure our little problem with the Reign of Chaos was put to bed.
I was never so ready to fight. Even in prison I never felt the urge to kick the shit out of somebody the way I felt it toward Gareth. I didn’t even hate him so much when I was in prison, and I knew he was the reason I was there. It took Michelle to push me over the edge. She showed me what I was willing to do to get revenge. I would do anything it took, as long as he paid for what he thought he could do to my woman.
My woman. It sounded weird when I thought it. I didn’t know if she really wanted to be my woman or if she only screamed it in the heat of passion. I didn’t wanna hold her to it. I felt like such an asshole. Since when was I so whipped?
Once I checked in with the club, I headed out to a bar I liked to go to sometimes. Not that I didn’t like spending time with the club, but once in a while it was good to get out and see new faces. Everybody knew who I was, so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t accept me, unless it was a bar the Reign of Chaos hung out at. They were the only club we had a problem with.
I wasn’t going there to drink—not at noon, though it wasn’t like I never drank that early before. I wanted to see if any of the girls who worked there could do me a favor. I knew they always had pretty young things working the bar and the tables, so there was a good chance of me finding somebody perfect for the job.
When I walked in, the bartender called out, “We’re not open yet. Sorry.”
“No, no. That’s Dane. He can come in any time he wants.” One of the waitresses noticed me and winked. I grinned at her. I heard what she meant behind her words. A deaf man could have.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” I said, sitting at the bar. “I’m not here to drink anyway.”
“What are you here for?” Now that the bartender knew I was a friend of the place, so to speak, she was a little friendlier. I noticed her high, perky tits in her low-cut t-shirt.
She had a slammin’ body, tiny and tight, and I couldn’t help but take a look.
“I was wondering if any of you lovely young ladies would like to earn a little extra money.”
She had been leaning toward me, but stood straight up, tensing. “We’re not like that here.”
“I don’t mean prostitution. Relax. I just need a girl who can pass for younger than she is. I have a quick little job for her, and I’d be willing to pay.”
“How much?” she asked, suspicious.
“A grand.”
“What?” Her jaw dropped. I guessed that was at least a week’s worth of good tips for her. Maybe two, depending on the crowds and the shifts she worked. Afternoons wouldn’t pay as much as evenings.
“For sure.”
“What kind of job is it?”
I grinned and looked her up and down again. She had a young face. I guessed she couldn’t be more than twenty-one, maybe twenty-two. Good skin, healthy-looking. She could pass for seventeen, maybe even sixteen.
“First, tell me your name.”
She smiled. “Jenny.”
“Jenny, I’m Dane, like my friend over there just told you. And I need bait.”
“Bait? You lost me, buddy.”
I liked her attitude. “I’m trying to trap somebody, to put it bluntly. I need to set up the bait.”
“Who is this person?”
“He’s a scumbag who needs to rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
“Why?”
“A lot of things. Don’t worry, you’ll be totally safe.” I didn’t think she’d wanna hear about the joyride Michelle went on with his friends. She’d kick my ass outta there in a second.
“How do you know?”
“I’m gonna put it all on the table for you. This guy holds auctions. Maybe you’ve heard about them, maybe not. They’re sorta underground.”
“Like…for things? Or people?”
“People. Women. He auctions them off to the highest bidder. He deals in virginity.”
“Oh, gross.” She wrinkled her button nose.
“I know. It’s a one-night thing, at least I think it is. Guys pay thousands.” I felt myself getting a little hot under the collar as a blush crept up on me. I didn’t have any room to talk shit on the guys who bought girls there since I did it myself. It wasn’t the same, though. I didn’t buy her because I was drooling over her. I did it to save her from the men who were.
“So what’s this got to do with me?”
“This next auction is gonna be different. He wants to use underage virgins.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, hell no.”
“Yeah. So that’s why I need you.”
“I’m not underage, though I’m flattered.” She winked.
“You could pass for it though. Easily. Maybe a little less makeup, a little more lip gloss. Something to make you look like a kid trying to look older than she is. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know. I get it. So, what, you’d want me to walk up to him and ask him if I can be in his auction?”
“Exactly. I want you to walk into his office and tell him you’re sixteen. Ask if that’s a problem. When he says no, ask him again. Be clear. Is it okay that I’m not eighteen yet?”
“Gotcha. That’s all I have to do?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Give him a fake name, whatever. They don’t check ID. It’s a real shady operation.”
She leaned back against the shelves on the wall, thinking. “A thousand dollars just for doing that?”
“I’d need you to wear a wire, too.”
“A wire? Where would you get that?”
I grinned. “Already got it, darlin’. No need to worry.”
“And I would be totally safe? He wouldn’t, like, find the wire and kill me or anything?”
I hoped not. “Hell no. I’ll be just across the street in my car, and I’ll have my men around the place, too. We’ll take good care of you.”
She thought about it some more. I knew the money was too tempting for her to turn me down. I couldn’t imagine she would make a lot of money in the dive she worked in even on weekend nights, much less Monday afternoons.
She had one more question. “When is this going down?”
“This afternoon. Immediately, if possible.”
“Wait, what? I don’t get time to think it over?”
I stood. “No, I’m sorry. It’s gotta happen soon. I can find somebody else if it’s too much to ask. I get it, trust me.”
She looked around. “I’m working.”
“I could have you back before happy hour.”
“Nobody comes in here during the lunch hour anyway,” she muttered. “Okay. I’ll get somebody to cover for me. One of the girls can do it. It’ll be easy.”
I grinned, feeling relieved. “Great. I’ll meet you outside.” I went to the car, glad Jenny was willing to go along with me. It took a lot of nerve for somebody to go along with a total stranger—especially when the stranger asked them to do something crazy like I was asking.
I laughed when she came out, already looking younger. She had let down her blonde hair, and it hung in long waves over her tits. Her makeup was a little fresher, a little less harsh. She could pass for underage in a heartbeat.
If it all went down the way I planned it, Gareth would be a distant memory in no time. I could go home to Michelle and tell her everything had worked out, and we could be together. If she wanted to.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I’m not so sure I wanna do this.”
I looked at Jenny and tried to hide how crazy she was making me. I didn’t wanna scare her off.
“What’s wrong?”
“Everything.” She looked at me with wide eyes. All the confidence she had at the bar was gone. Now she really reminded me of the kid she was supposed to be. I wanted to tell her to keep that scared tone in her voice when she talked to him, but I didn’t wanna scare her even more.
I clenched my jaw to calm myself down before I said anything else. “He can’t do anything to you. He won’t even know who you are. Believe me, when you walk in and he takes one look at you, he’s gonna shit his pants.”
“I might shit mine first,” she muttered.
I turned away to keep her from seeing my smile. “Well, I don’t think he’s gonna wanna use you if you go around shitting yourself.” I grinned at her, and got a smile, at least. It was better than nothing.
“I’m telling you, it’ll be fine. All you have to do is go in and tell him your name. That’s it. I promise they won’t even ask for ID, but if they do, tell them you don’t have it on you. They won’t even care. All I need is for you to go in there and get Gareth to say he’ll use you. You make sure to remind him you’re underage. That’s it. Then you can leave.”
She thought about it again, chewing on her lip and staring out the window. Her knee bounced up and down. She tapped her fingertips along the inside of the door.
“All right,” she breathed. “Let’s get it over with.”
“You sure the wire is secure?” I asked.
She looked down her t-shirt, to where she had fastened it between her tits. “Yeah, it’s good.”
I turned on the receiver and turned up the volume. “Say that again.”
She dipped her head down, toward the mic. “It’s good.”
I shook my head. “Don’t do that. Be normal.” She said it again, this time without bending her head down. She sounded clear.
I looked out the windows to confirm that my guys waited at both corners of the block Gareth’s clubhouse sat on. A lot of MCs kept to themselves and worked sorta outside town, but Gareth didn’t care. His clubhouse sat in the middle of the street, across from a bank and a post office. I had to give him a little credit for his balls.
She looked out the window at the building. “And you’ll still give me a thousand dollars?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay. Let’s do it.” She got out of the car without looking back and walked down the
street to the front door of the clubhouse. I watched her swinging her hips and couldn’t help smiling. Gareth would lose it when he saw her body. All he could see were dollar signs, though. And she would bring a big price.
If he went for the lie. I hoped his greed would get in the way of his common sense, and he wouldn’t ask too many questions. Then again, it might not have been a good idea to find out too much. He could at least pretend he didn’t know anything about her—that she had lied to him.
