Enlisting Her Heart

by Willow Brooke

  “Don’t get your hopes up, lover boy.” Violet looked at the two, wondering whom she was riding with. “Which one of these death traps am I riding?” She eyed the two unsure which was safer.

  “Whichever one you want to, baby. You can ride both if you want…” Romeo’s usual sexual innuendo lightening the situation.

  “That work with all the girls? And here I thought you two’d have better game than that. I think this one is the lesser of two evils,” she pointed to Romeo’s with a sigh. Juju’s protests only encouraged him more.

  Romeo grabbed a helmet off the seat and smashed it down on her head, attaching the strap under her chin. “There. Safety first.” Amusement spread over his features at her pouty response. “What’s that look for?”

  “You messed up my hair.” She shoved the stray strand that whipped across her face and attempted to tuck it under the helmet. Romeo and Juju both laughed, raking on her nerves. “It’s not funny.”

  “Baby, getting your hair a little tasseled is a small price to pay for the ride of your life.” Her pout didn’t improve so he bit his lip. Trying to keep her from fleeing, he stepped on the bike. “Come on.” He extended a hand, helping her straddle the seat behind him.

  Her heart thudded against her ribs. What the hell was she thinking? Where did risking her life on a death machine fit in the grand scheme of things? She groaned, unsure where to put her hands. As if Romeo sensed her dilemma, he reached back and grabbed her hands, wrapping them around his chest.

  “Hang on tight, Vi, and don’t worry, I don’t bite…unless you ask me to.” Before she had a chance to chastise him, he started the bike, its motor roaring to life. Behind them Juju grinned and kicked the crazy contraption he had chosen as Romeo pulled away from the curb. He walked it slowly past the lobby door, stopping only momentarily while he adjusted her arms tighter. Violet caught Kodiak and Hulk staring as they drove off, their expressions grim and scary.

  Much to her surprise, the ride wasn’t anything like she thought it’d be. Romeo maneuvered the beast along the open road effortlessly, careful with his turns and kept the speed at a reasonable pace that she found herself relaxing. The wind whipped the ends of her hair, fanning it out around her. Instead of worrying about split ends, all she felt was peace. Romeo was a gentleman once they had left the resort. He pointed out things as they drove, taking a winding scenic route that lined the ocean. Juju followed behind them, leaned over the motorcycle in what looked like a backbreaking angle. She was glad she picked the Harley, cringing to think at how uncomfortable he appeared. Her glancing back must have encouraged him, because he jerked the front wheel up, popping a wheelie. Violet flinched, a strew of cuss words flying from her mouth. Romeo glanced in his rear view mirror, shaking his head. “He’s a dipshit. If it helps any, he used to race bikes. He’s not gonna fall to his death, unfortunately.” Even though the idea of Juju racing should have eased her concern, it didn’t.

  “Thank God I rode with you. I’d have killed him.” Romeo laughed, pulling the bike over on a rest area overlooking the ocean. Juju followed, shutting the death trap down and walked over to them with both hands spread wide, his grin matching.

  “Tell me how badass I am.” Violet had to fight the urge to slap the smirk off his face.

  “Oh, you’re an ass. What the hell were you thinking? You coulda killed yourself!” She smacked his arm, knowing good damn and well it didn’t hurt. He fought back a laugh and faked pain, which seemed to only aggravate her more. “I’m serious!”

  “Aww, you do care,” Juju taunted.

  “Of course I do! You guys are like brothers to me. I don’t want you walking around with your face grated off.”

  “As good as I am, you got a point. Nothing can hurt these looks, baby.” He flexed, making it hard not to laugh.

  “Damn you’re vain.”

  “Not vain, confident. Come on, let’s get you back. You ready to ride with me?” Juju’s eyes danced, taunting her.

  “Hell no.” She felt her pocket vibrating and grabbed her cell. She didn’t know whether to laugh or be frightened. There were two messages, one from Hulk and one from Kodiak. The look on her face must have showed, because Romeo and Juju crowded around her.

  “What’s it say?” Juju asked, looking over her shoulder. Violet dreaded reading it, but they might as well know.

  “Get your ass back here now—Kodiak.” The other one says, “Have fun. I’m sure Romeo and Juju will be more than happy to oblige all of your three way fantasies—Hulk.” Tears stung at Violet’s eyes, bursting free like floodgates. Romeo pulled her into his arms, hugging her tight with Juju rubbing her back up and down in attempts to calm her. She felt like her whole world had just collapsed around her. How was she supposed to fix this? Hell, how was she supposed to face them now? What had seemed like an innocent way of getting the two stubborn asses to wake up and get their head out of their ass had turned into a shit storm with no end in sight. Her heart shattered in her chest. All she wanted was to fly home and get away from everything and everyone—which was exactly what she was going to do. “I need to go home. Can one of you take me to the airport?” She knew her face was streaked with make-up like a member of Kiss, but didn’t care. It was all she could do to keep from folding to the ground.

  “What? Violet, honey listen…guys are dumbasses. They’re both just lashing out. They’ll come around. Don’t go running yet, just give it some time.” Juju hugged her, hating that she was so torn up. He might be the king of love ‘em and leave ‘em, but he made sure he didn’t leave any woman in tears. He just couldn’t handle a woman crying. His dad had done enough of that growing up to his momma.

  “I just want to go. There’s no reason for me to be here. I screwed everything up and caused shit between you guys. I won’t mess up all of your relationships.” She burst out crying again at the realization that because of her, the team’s lives were jeopardized.

  “Oh now, honey, it’s not as bad as you think. You didn’t mess anything up, you hear me?” Juju tilted her chin up to look at him. He took the hem of his shirt and raised it, drying her face. “No more tears. You are an amazing little thing that any man, or men, would be lucky to have.” Once the black smears were wiped away, he hugged her again, pulling back.

  “Thanks. I just need to go home. I don’t want to ruin everyone’s vacation by being like this, and I don’t see me shitting rainbows any time soon.” She shifted her weight, her eyes falling to the ground.

  “Nah. Come on, I’ve got an idea. Screw them. You aren’t gonna be pining away for those two meat heads while they are acting like this.” Romeo put her helmet back on and climbed on the bike. “Follow me, Juju. I got the perfect prescription for all that ails her.” Violet didn’t have a choice but to climb on unless she wanted to hike it the twenty something miles back. She settled back behind Romeo, still guilt ridden and heartbroken. As the wind blew across her face, she tried to forget. Forget the chaos. Forget the heartache. Her head leaned against Romeo’s back and she closed her eyes, allowing the warm salt air to cleanse her. A momentary escape, but still enough to keep her from wallowing in her self-despair.

  Leave it to Romeo and Juju to turn tears to drinking. Another ten miles down the coast sat a full out biker bar. As they pulled up, Violet cringed at all the rows of motorcycles parked out front. Bikes meant rough and tough…both things that she wasn’t. Sure, she was a confident woman who didn’t take shit from anyone, but she didn’t exactly fit in the leather wearing, pop a cap in your ass (or whatever bikers did with those that pissed them off), beer chugging, ride or die persona. She was more of the dress wearing, nails painted, sip a margarita, and live happily ever after type. Romeo parked, with Juju taking a spot beside them.

  “Come on. It’s time you have some fun.” Romeo laughed as she sat staring at the rickety building. A flashing neon sign stretched across the top of a woman’s silhouette, her legs spread around a bottle of whiskey. Beer, Boobs, and Blues was the name of the classy establishment.
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  “Gee, I feel underdressed,” Violet snarked.

  “Nah. If anything you’ve got too much clothing on.” Juju laughed. “Come on. You’ll have fun, I swear.” She knew that probably wouldn’t be the case, but what else did she have to do? Go back and put on a brave face in front of everyone, dodging the questioning looks and pretending the tension between her and Hulk and Kodiak wasn’t there? Or better yet, go sit in her room like a total looser and stay locked up feeling sorry for herself? No. Maybe getting out of her element and stepping into a different change of scenery might be good to help keep her mind off the mess she created. Hell, from the looks of things, she’d be focused more on making it out alive and wouldn’t have time to think about her aching heart.

  “Sure. Why the hell not. I am a biker chick now…” She grinned, looking at the Harley. She’d done it. And enjoyed it. Damn.

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but you’re on your way. Not to say you wouldn’t look damn fine in all leather…” Romeo teased lightheartedly. His usual flirtatious behavior brought a small smile to her frown.

  “Thanks.” She walked toward the door, looking back over her shoulder. “You two coming or what?” They didn’t seem to need any more coaxing. Both men followed, almost plowing into her as she stopped the moment she stepped inside. “Holy shit.” The moment she walked in, all eyes turned to her. A mob of leather clad, gnarly looking men all glared at her, their eyes raking over her from head to toe. Violet stumbled backwards, running into Romeo. Her head shot up, the fear showing in her wide-eyed expression. Romeo chuckled in amusement, draping a reassuring arm around her shoulders.

  “What, not expecting a room full of guys to notice a hot little number like you busting through the doors?”

  Violet shook her head. “No… They aren’t gonna hurt me are they?” She folded closer to him for protection and Romeo sighed.

  “Now do you think we’d honestly bring you somewhere you wouldn’t be safe? You have two highly trained killing machines at your service. They are just taking in the view, darlin’. Hold that head up high. Just because those two dumbasses are too busy being jealous to appreciate your sexy ass doesn’t mean you aren’t every man’s wet dream. Come on.” Romeo pulled her to the bar, Juju falling in step on her left side to give her own little personal bubble of protection. If there was one thing Romeo knew, it was women. If a woman was crying over some guy, her self-esteem was shit. So, he took it upon himself to give her a good dose of encouragement and make her see that Hulk and Kodiak needed to be doing the groveling, not her.

  “Give me three double shots of Patrone please,” Juju hollered at the bartender over the loud music. Violet’s head snapped to look at him. “What? You need to loosen up and have a good time. Tequila is the best remedy.”

  “Good call.” Romeo grinned.

  “Contrary to popular belief, Tequila doesn’t make all women’s clothes fall off,” Violet grumbled. Romeo and Juju chuckled, taking the small glasses from the bartender and handed her one.

  “Here, baby, this one’s on the house.” The bald shaven tatted bartender handed Violet a frozen mixed drink with a wink. He was handsome in that bad boy sort of way, but more distinguished showing his age.

  “Thanks.” She smiled sweetly, adverting her eyes so not to give the massive beast any false hopes. Romeo edged closer, playing the boyfriend role to make him back off. The man nodded and left, showing respect given his appearance. Violet didn’t know whether to laugh or leave. Her eyes roamed the room, relieved when she discovered that most everyone had gone back to their own business, only casting her a glance from time to time.

  “Good, because that’s not on our agenda. You need to forget and relax tonight. I promise we are here to protect you and nothing else. Scouts honor.” Romeo held up two fingers, looking far from an innocent boy scout. Violet didn’t want to get drunk and end up in worse shit than she was already in. The guys must have read her thoughts, because Juju backed him up.

  “Vi, listen. Hulk and Kodiak are our brothers, and they’ve staked a claim on you. You’re family, girl. It’s our job to show you a good time and be a friend when you need one, and protect you. So drink. To girl power!” Juju licked salt off his hand and slammed back the shot, sucking until the juice chased the twang of the alcohol. Violet giggled when his arms shot up like he made a touchdown.

  “You heard the man, to girl power.” Romeo shrugged and drank, nudging Violet to do the same. “Oh hell,” she muttered in defeat and went through the lick slam suck routine, chasing it up with a swig of what she found to be a strawberry margarita.

  “Yeah!” Juju yelled before ordering another round. After the third shot, Violet began to relax. A girl next to them had struck a conversation, telling her a little too much about herself but was nice enough she didn’t mind. The thirty-something brunette had introduced herself as Dolly. Her ‘ol’ man’ as she had called him, was named Bruno, which Violet found humorous, but thankfully hadn’t drank enough to voice that particular opinion. It wasn’t long before Dolly had taken her as a drunk bestie and Juju dipped in for the rescue.

  “Sorry, Dolly, but I’ve gotta steal her away for a few minutes.” Juju winked at the older lady. None of them had corrected the couple on their assumption that Violet was with them, which Violet appreciated. It was easier to be in a room full of drunk men if she wore an ‘I’m taken’ sticker on her forehead. When Juju led her onto the dance floor, she laughed.

  “Thanks. She talks so much I can’t hear myself think.” Juju kept Violet at a respectable distance from himself, falling into a comfortable pace.

  “Yeah, and just in time. Look.” He spun her around where she could see the extremely knackered Dolly doing a sloppy strip tease on the bar.

  Violet busted out laughing. “Oh my gosh, someone needs to put her to bed.” About that time the bartender and Bruno stepped in, escorting her out the door.

  “Looks like you aren’t the only one who had that idea,” he chuckled. The song came to an end and with no lush to contend with, they went back to their seats.

  “Damn. I haven’t seen a striptease that bad since we went to that little hole in the wall in Russia.” Romeo handed them another shot. Violet didn’t try to refuse. She was starting to feel more relaxed and could go longer than ten minutes without worrying about what Hulk and Kodiak were doing. It felt good. No problems, no worries. The buzz eased up nice and easy, giving her that illusive inner peace she so desperately needed.

  “Shit, I forgot about that.” Juju laughed.

  “You went to a titty bar in Russia?” Violet grinned, coming off more intrigued because of the alcohol haze.

  “Yeah. We were laid over for two weeks on our way to Iraq. We all got tired of sitting around so we ventured out to find something to do.” Juju took a swig of his beer.

  “See, it’s hard to leave the base there because Russians aren’t too keen on U.S. soldiers there. We were only permitted to go to certain places, which totally sucked ass. So, we thought what the hell and went in for a few drinks. We get in there and it’s this tiny room that looked like someone’s front room or something. There was a small bar off to the corner, and a stage up front with like maybe six table tops. There were three dancers on stage going at it—like full-blown lesbian porn, man. Anyway, all three girls were manlier than we all were. It was so fuckin’ wrong,” Romeo said, shaking his head.

  “Yeah. Bitches had more body hair than us all put together. It was like watching sasquatches go down on each other. If it weren’t for the stale beer, we’d have left.” Romeo grinned at the memory. It didn’t matter where the unit went, they always had a blast. Whether it was taking down the slime of the earth or training in the swamps of Louisiana, they always made it unforgettable.

  As the night wore on, Violet found herself enjoying the two lighthearted brother figures. They kept her laughing, and with a full drink until she was singing at the top of her lungs and making friends with everyone in the bar. They kept close to her side, but gave her f
reedom to cut loose and let herself get lost in the night. When Juju had to help her to the bathroom, they decided to call it a night and called a cab. The bikes were rentals from the bartender, which was a little bit of information Violet didn’t need. She needed to think it all a coincidence and not a setup, but the guys had planned it to work her situation from two different angles.

  On one hand, Violet got to relax and forget the drama. On the other, Hulk and Kodiak got a good reality bitch slap when they got to see them carry her drunken ass back to her hut that night. Which, just like they had anticipated, the men were pacing back and forth in front of her room when they arrived.

  “What the fuck did you do to her?” Hulk raged as they nonchalantly strolled by, ignoring them. Kodiak was right behind, ready to unleash if their answer wasn’t acceptable.

  “We took her to have fun,” Juju said in a cocky half laugh, half gloat.

  “What do you mean you took her to have fun? She’s passed the fuck out!” Hulk’s temper kept elevating.

  “He means, while you two were busy being assholes and ruining her vacation, we decided she needed some fun. Job done.” Romeo laid her on the bed, pulling off her shoes. Hulk and Kodiak both stepped forward in a warning. “Down, boys, shit. Go grab the fuckin’ trashcan. She’s gonna need it after putting down half a bottle of tequila.”

  “Fuck! You let her drink that damn much alcohol? Are you insane?” Kodiak spat at them.

  “Yep. And three margaritas. The girl can flat hold her liquor.” Juju grinned proudly. “Now, get out of here before you wake her up.”

  Neither Hulk nor Kodiak moved a muscle until Romeo started toward the door. “Oh for fuck’s sake. We took her out to have a few drinks, not to a gangbang. Man…it’s no wonder she was so upset. You two are showing your asses big time. You guys better straighten your shit up or you’re gonna lose her,” he rolled his eyes and locked the door behind them.