by Jayne Blue
“Yeah, it is.” I was in some sort of badass biker parade. After one quick phone call to Sawyer. This was the craziest thing I had ever seen.
My phone rang again. Sawyer.
“You okay love?”
“Yes, I’m okay. This might be a gigantic overreaction.”
“No such thing when it comes to you and the little man.”
Another bike pulled up next to me. This one was Sawyer. My heart beat calmed a bit. He was right there, moments after I had reached out, it was practically superhuman.
I turned onto our street and the bikers lined up along the curb. The neighbors were going to be scratching their heads.
The car had not peeled off, though. No amount of intimidation had stopped him. Sawyer pulled next to me and I rolled down my window as I turned the car off in my driveway.
My tail had actually parked outside of the perimeter of my biker bubble.
“He’s getting out of the car. You stay in yours,” Sawyer instructed.
A man in a business suit exited the car and walked past the row of bikers who were giving him the scariest looks I had ever seen. Whoever this guy was had balls.
He walked up to my car and Sawyer interjected.
“What do you want, why are you following her?”
“Bess Geary, this is a summons to appear in court and he handed me an envelope.”
“What the hell?” I said, forgetting Henry’s big ears.
“Next time you do this, maybe don’t follow a single woman?” Sawyer said.
“I only get paid if I serve ‘em up.” The guy replied and turned to walk back down the row of bikers to his car.
Sawyer made a hand gesture toward one of his guys and they all revved up their engines and drove slowly down my block. Henry’s mouth was hanging open and I had to check to be sure that mine was not. The Harley parade was impressive and intimidating and Sawyer had summoned it forth with one call from me. It was a different world I was dabbling in. One with a different code of action and honor.
Sawyer opened the back seat door and helped with Henry’s gear.
I looked at the document that the process server had handed me.
“That rat bastard,” I muttered.
It was from Chris. He was challenging our custody agreement. He was taking me to court.
Shit.
Later, after Sawyer, Henry and I ate dinner and Henry was tucked in bed, Sawyer and I sat with a beer each and just tried to relax for a minute.
I explained to him what Chris was after.
“His new wife is struggling with infertility. He is kind of a rich guy, his parents want heirs. They had thought he would just have more kids but it is not happening for them right now. All of a sudden, he is pressuring me about Henry. It’s insane. I used to have to fight him to be present and now I am fighting to get him out.” I tipped the bottle to my lips and took a pull. My enjoyment of beer was a way to sock it to Chris. He thought it was base that I liked a cold one.
“Ah, where’d you get the information?” Sawyer asked.
“Mutual old friends from when we were married.”
“So what is he asking for?”
“Right now he has every other weekend. He wants at the very least to split the week but his idea? He would be the primary parent, or Candice would. He’s wealthy, married, stable apparently, and I’m not.”
“You’re perfect; everyone who knows you knows that.” Sawyer turned me around and pulled me in so I was resting my back on his chest. I started to melt into it. What was this power he had to get me to relax?
“Yeah right.”
Sawyer wound his finger through mine and I had a second to inspect his hands. He had a few scrapes on the knuckles. They were fresh.
“Rough looking eh?”
“What happened?”
“You don’t want to know.”
Sawyer ran one rough knuckle down my cheek and then across my neck and lower still until he found the nipple that was now straining at my blouse.
It had been a crazy stressful day but here I was, wanting him, wanting the day to end with him.
I was on top, back to his front, and felt the hardness beneath me building; I wanted him to rip my clothes off.
The only problem was Henry, asleep in his room. Sawyer understood this too. I did not have to tell him.
He pushed me forward and we stood up. Wordless. He walked me to the kitchen through to the garage. The garage? I didn’t question it.
He closed the door and we were alone in my little garage. Truth be told, I was kind of cold which could very well kill the mood.
Sawyer stepped forward.
“You’re going to be real quiet,” He said it without a smile or a hint of fun. He said it to be obeyed.
He punctuated the command with a hard kiss on my lips. He pulled up my skirt in the same motion and ripped off my panties. Gone, shredded, in one swift move. I felt a little sting where the fabric broke and burned on the skin of my hip but it was just another sensation of a dozen nerve endings that were screaming for his touch.
Sawyer opened a few buttons on my blouse as I drowned in the way it felt to have him rake his teeth on my flesh. He pulled my breasts from the cups of my bra and they were pushed up and out like a porn star. I shocked myself at how turned on this made me.
“I can’t wait, please,” I whispered into his hair as he sucked on me hard. It was too much.
To my surprise, he turned me around and bent me over the car hood. My exposed breasts were now pressed against the cold metal. I was hot and cold at the same time and didn’t know what to do with it.
Sawyer leaned over me and I felt a powerful thrust from behind. His hands were on both my hips, his cock diving into me. It was the wildest position, the craziest place, and it had me shaking.
Staying quiet was impossible. A moan escaped and no sooner had I made a sound then one of Sawyer’s hands came up and covered my mouth.
I licked his palm. It was rough and salty and the act produced another noise. This time from Sawyer. Or maybe it was a wild animal. I licked again and he let loose.
I braced myself against the hood as he pummeled me from behind.
“God, oh God,” He said it softly but in a way that let me know he was beyond control. I was over the car but had the power to bring him to this.
I had no leverage, no way to move, I was at his mercy in one way, and he at mine in another.
His pace slowed as he hit the top but each thrust was impossibly harder and deeper.
“Harder,” I found myself whispering and he obliged me. I bit my own lip to keep from screaming his name as we both found our release together.
Chapter Twelve
Sawyer
She was a by the book woman but I knew she liked it dirty with me. It was the best secret I had discovered with Bess Geary and I planned to keep that all to myself. I planned to keep her all to myself.
I had been rough. I knew it. But she kept up with me, pushed me to new levels. I leaned over her and squeezed her as hard as I could without breaking her. I separated from her reluctantly and pulled her up as I smoothed her skirt back down over that perfect ass.
“These are done,” I said as I kicked her panties to the nearby can.
“I’ll have to remember not to wear my favorites when you’re around.”
I pulled lovely lace cups back over her breasts. Her chest was flushed there. I was sad to not have her completely naked. Later.
I helped Bess with her blouse and other than the flushed skin and tousled hair she almost looked like I had not just fucked her over her car hood. Almost.
“You’re so fucking hot. I am not sorry. I had to have you.”
“Sorry? All of sudden the garage is my new favorite place.”
I searched her face, her warm eyes, her lips. She was the most gorgeous woman I had seen, ever, bar none. I kissed her. This time softly, I had given her a lot, and she had taken it. Now I wanted to take care of her.
“Come on. Let�
�s get you in the house. It’s cold out here.”
She took a quick shower, wrapped herself in a robe and the largest socks I had ever seen.
“Those are epic.”
“I know. I do get cold on the wood floors.”
“Henry okay?”
“Down for the count.”
“I’m going to sleep on the couch.”
“You could probably sneak in bed with me.”
“If I do that we will eventually wake up your little camper.”
“True.” I pulled her close again and my hands wanted to go inside that robe dammit. How was it that we had just been together and I wanted to be with her again?
“Go to your room,” I said.
“Am I being punished?” She jutted her lower lip out and it was all I could do not to take it between my teeth. This woman was everything to me.
When she had called that she was being followed, I wanted to murder someone. I knew my crew had it covered the minute I called them. Still, I didn’t want to tell her how scared I was for her. It would not have served her, behind the wheel, with her kid in the backseat.
“No more going off without me. Things are heating up with the Bratva on my end.”
“What does that mean?”
“Not your concern but please understand you did the right thing by calling me last night.”
“What do you mean that things are heating up?” She backed away.
“I mean you, me, and your cop friend probably, are poking the hornet’s nest a little bit more each day. They’re going to strike back.”
“I can take care of myself and I also will not help you do something illegal.” This was the Bess I knew. I had pushed a little too far into my world with that last warning. But so be it. She needed to be safe.
“It is not your concern.”
“I cannot have you do anything illegal or unsafe.”
“You worried about me doll?”
“I am. And don’t call me doll.” I pulled grabbed the belt of her robe and yanked her forward to me. She struggled to back away but I held tight.
“I’ll call you whatever I want. You’re mine. Whether you admit it or not. I am telling you that you are not going out alone or getting into situations like last night that could have gotten you or Henry hurt. You hear me?”
She stopped struggling and softened against me. I kissed her pouting lips and hopefully that was it. She got the message. It was not safe until I had cleaned the Russians out. How I did it, was not her worry.
Bess
His? I was his? The phrase thrilled me and pissed me off all at the same time. But I pretended to agree. I pretended to comply with Sawyer McCall’s orders. Fighting him was impossible.
I was going to get to the bottom of whoever had kidnapped Alexis and I was going to do it by the book. Sawyer McCall had worked hard to clean up the Great Wolves MC in Grand City and I was damn sure he would not get dirty again on my account.
True to his word, he slept on the couch and followed close behind me as I dropped off Henry and headed to work.
“Day of paperwork and interviewing candidates.” I lied to him.
“Okay, call BEFORE you head out to get Henry,” he said and kissed me.
“Yes, Prez.”
Sure, I had a bit of paperwork but my plan was to visit Alexis again. Norm had said her foster parents called her in as a runaway. Why? What had happened? I wanted to understand and I worried about the other runaway on my client list too.
I decided to check in with Detective Murray to see if there had been any leads on Kirstin Jones.
“Not one. I’m sorry.”
“I just wondered if you’d really given it a priority.”
“Norm told us pretty definitely that her foster parents said she was online and then out the door. If there is a boyfriend. We have been over this Bess. It's the same story.”
“I gotcha. I just can’t get her off my mind.”
“That’s why you’re so good at your job.”
“Let me know if you turn up anything.”
“Of course.”
No sooner had I hung up the phone and Cassidy Parker was at my office door.
Her brow was furrowed and her lips were pressed in a tight line.
“My girl is gone.”
“What?”
“The one I told you about, DeAndra Parrish.”
“What do you mean gone.”
“Her parents just left. They told Norm and me that she ran away. She hasn’t been responding to my texts because she bolted.”
“Shit. Norm!” Norm Northcut came in.
“What the hell?”
“Another one?”
“Look, Cassidy followed all the protocols and she’s been looping me in on everything. DeAndra Parrish is a runaway.”
“Just like Kirstin?” We were failing, over and over, we were failing.
“I’m afraid so.” Norm said and Cassidy paced the floor.
“Look both of you, there’s another element out there that I’m very worried about.”
“Sex trafficking, we know they’re at risk.”
“But what if both Kirstin and now DeAndra are out there, on the streets, vulnerable, with this much more aggressive predator in the mix?”
“Sex trafficking is not new.” Norm added.
“No, it’s not, but it’s getting worse and Grand City feels like the next Flint or Toledo or any of the towns we’ve read statistics on.”
“All we can do is keep the lines of communication open with the Michigan Human Trafficking Taskforce and Detective Murray.” Norm’s concern was a degree or ten less than mine. Cassidy, however, looked like she was going to jump out of her skin.
“I suppose.”
“You know they could also just be with some dumbass junkie boyfriends. That’s just as likely.”
“The outcome isn’t great for that either but at least, they wouldn’t have the experience that Alexis had.”
“That’s really cold comfort,” Cassidy said. And she was right. I had two vulnerable runaways out of my agency to worry about now. One girl that had been through hell. I also had a fresh skepticism of the open files. There were so many young people that I could not protect. I felt sick, desperate, and I needed to prove to myself that I was good for something. That my agency could help.
I had to find out what I could about how the Russians operated with Alexis. She knew more and might be able to give something to Murray get the sex traffickers out of Grand City.
My phone buzzed with a text. It was Sawyer.
“I’ve got a picture to send you. Maybe next time you see Alexis. Or your detective friend you could have them take a look.” He was now reading my mind. That was new.
A scary looking shaved headed man appeared in the next text. I was sure I didn’t want to know how Sawyer came by it.
“Where’d you get this?” I texted back.
“Snapchat,” was the response. Fine. He was not going to tell me and I didn’t want to push it.
I texted back a thank you. I toyed with telling him about DeAndra and that I was headed to see Alexis on my own. But I stopped myself. I didn’t need or want Sawyer showing up to the halfway house.
“Call me when you’re done today, promise.”
“Promise.”
That was it. I needed to get to Alexis.
She was in the common room hanging out with some of the other girls. She was so skinny, so vulnerable, but I spied for a second. She was holding her own. A giggle escaped from her mouth at someone’s joke. Her spirit was wounded for sure, but there was still so much good to work with.
I walked in and she gave me a small smile. That she was not curled up in a ball in a dark room after what she had been through amazed me. She was a survivor of the highest order.
“Can we talk?”
She got up and came over to the kitchen. I decided to empty the dishwasher and she helped. It gave us something to do with our hands and a place to look instead of me staring her
down. I didn’t want to push her so fast but I needed to. I felt like DeAndra and Kirstin were out there and could already be enduring what Alexis had.
“Can we go over what happened, not the worst stuff, just the part when they got you?”
“Sure.”
“So you’d gone to the mall.”
“Yes, I was allowed to walk around the mall, I did it all the time. I was in the food court when a man came up and sat down, slid right next to me in the booth. He was big and scary, and his English was crap.”
“Russian.”
“That’s what Sawyer said. I don’t have a degree in accents.”
“Sure, so then what?”
“I was so scared. I was about to scream when he pushed the first needle into my thigh.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah, I felt very foggy very fast. I guess I sort of remember leaving the mall and getting into his car. It was maroon, long, old looking. But once I got in, it’s pretty blurry. I don’t know how long we drove.”
“Then?”
“Then there were other girls. We were tied to cots. I knew that. It seemed like a bunch of garages. Then we were in trucks and I know that was a long drive. I’m pretty sure that’s how I got here.”
“We’re about two hours away from Flint.”
“That seems right.”
“I was taken to another garage, a hotel; it was then that I started pretending to be stoned. Things get clearer.”
“Was the man who grabbed you around after that?”
“He was in and out. He did a lot of shuttling us I think. There were other men in charge and others who forced me into those hotel rooms.”
“So whose faces would you recognize do you think?”
“I would recognize George for sure. And if I saw him I would spit on him.”
“You’re better than me. I’d want to rip his eyes out.” I said and was not kidding.
We finished putting away the dishes. I got ready to leave, and as I did, Alexis put a hand out and grabbed my wrist.
“There’s more, I can help you with more.”
“It’s not too much?”
“No, I want to put them away. If I can help any of those girls that, I saw. They’re not as strong as I am. They’re going to die or never get out. I don’t know what happens if they don’t get out.”
