Rebel hurried to the door. “Where’s Mama?”
“Out with Bear and Marr.” Dare gave him a flat stare. “I’ll take your woman there, meet me in the lot.”
“Go with Dare.” Rebel pulled on his socks, a totally adorable picture, but I didn’t say anything.
“He’s different with you,” Dare said as we walked out of the clubhouse.
“I wouldn’t know. This world isn’t mine.” I stared around at all the people in small groups.
“Could be.”
I glanced up at Dare. Had he just said Rebel could really be mine?
“That’s not our deal.”
“Deals change.”
“So this is Rebel’s girl.” An old guy who looked a bit like Santa Claus stood in our way.
“Dogg, this is Elle,” Dare growled, stepping around the old guy.
Dogg fell into step beside them. “You treating my boy right?”
I smiled over at the man who had trained Rebel. Did that mean they were close? “Did you help him when his family walked away?”
Both men stopped and stared at me.
“It’s why he’s helping me.” I didn’t see what the big deal was.
“He tell you about it?” Dogg crossed his arms and gave me a nasty glare.
“Nope.” I blinked my eyes fast to keep the tears from falling. “I guess I just hoped someone helped him like he helped me.”
Something softened in the biker’s face. “Yeah, I helped him.” Dogg pulled me in for a hug. “He’s a good man.”
“Come on,” Dare called. “I need to get you settled so I can race that bastard.”
“What did he do?” I caught up to Dare.
“When my old lady and I were working shit out, he liked to poke at me, so now I’m returning the favor.” Dare grinned. It made the handsome man, almost devastating with a harsh beauty. Not that I was telling this big biker he was beautiful, but he was.
“Mama, Marr, you two are on guard duty.” Dare nodded for me to join them.
I sat down beside them at a table, no men were around. “Why is it okay for you to be alone but not me?”
“We’re old ladies,” Mama said.
“I’ll kick their ass,” Marr said at the same time.
“I could totally kick their asses,” I countered, liking Marr.
“You must be the bounty hunter, nice to meet you.” Marr grinned at me.
“Women don’t fight bikers.” Mama scowled at Marr. “That shit caused you no end of trouble.”
“You fought bikers?”
“Only my old man, Jericho. He won’t let me fight with the others.” She crossed her arms with a pout on her face.
“So explain more about what women can do in the club.” I eyed the two women.
“You don’t want to know.” Marr waved away the question. “What did Rebel tell you?”
“To stick by him.” I looked between the two women confused when they started laughing.
“What?”
“At least Dare told me more, no it was MJ who told me more. Men suck.” Mama sighed. “I keep having to tell this, Marr, you do it.”
Marr looked at Mama as if she’d lost her mind. When Mama didn’t speak, Marr grimaced. “See the ones running around with no cut.” She pointed to a few girls.
I noticed for the first time both she and Mama wore cuts like the bikers.
“Those ones, any guy can have if they want them. And if they don’t have a woman who carries knives...” She pulled a knife out of her thigh-high boot.
“I didn’t wear my gun or knife tonight.” I’d remember to bring my knife next time.
Mama rolled her eyes but didn’t challenge Marr’s description.
“Girls, a demeaning term, are women who are with one biker for a night or for a while.” She pointed the tip of the knife at me. “You are a girl. I was never a girl.”
“Not the best idea ever,” Mama interjected. “A girl has the least protection and other bikers can screw with you if you’re not with your guy. Even cause problems between members.”
“Old ladies,” Marr picked up the conversation, “are sworn to the club and their man in a ceremony, no one but the biker can touch you, and you’re part of the family.”
That didn’t sound so bad.
“While that’s true, you’re considered property. Marr is Jericho’s property and I am Dare’s property.”
Marr growled at Mama but didn’t contradict her. Mama turned her back to me and I read her patch, it said property. That sounded a lot less appealing.
“Why would either of you be property?” The question was out of my mouth before I could think better of it.
Mama whipped around with a warning look, and Marr’s dark look made me realize that might sound insulting, so I zipped my lips shut before I made things worse.
“If your biker owns your heart, then what does it matter?” Mama looked directly into my soul when she spoke.
Did she know I loved Rebel? Surely, I wasn’t that obvious.
“It’s protection, status, not a bad thing.” Mama patted my hand.
“If you say so.”
“So you’re trained with a gun and knife. How about hand to hand?” Marr inspected me like she was sizing up a cut of meat.
“Black belt,” I answered.
“Bloody great, we could spar just like the fucking men.” Marr grinned wide.
“No, don’t ever take Marr up on that.” Rebel stepped up to me.
I’d been so absorbed in the conversation I hadn’t seen him come close.
“Marr is also a master.” He glared at Marr. “Of sadism. You know what that is?”
I glanced at the grinning woman. “Would you do real damage?”
“Never, not in the dungeon and definitely not sparring.” She shot Rebel a defiant look. “Your woman can decide on her own what she wants to risk.”
“I’ll think about it.” I stood up, glad he was back with me. “Did you win?”
Rebel didn’t respond.
“Dare always wins the races, pisses Rebel off.” Mama waved, heading to her man.
He shrugged. “She’s right.” He hugged me to him. “You ready to go?”
I wanted to know more about his club, but that wasn’t part of the deal. “Whenever you are.”
“Drinking contest, Rebel, get your ass over here.” Jericho yelled loud enough everyone turned to him.
“Dammit, baby, this will be boring for you.” He kissed my head. “It takes forever for us all to pass the fuck out.”
An idea hit me. Did I even want to suggest it? Was I brave enough? Maybe his club wasn’t like the Angels that way. I worried my lip and debated whether to say it.
“What are you thinking?”
I jumped, surprised when Rebel spoke because I’d been wrapped up in my internal debate. “I have an idea, maybe a really bad one.”
He walked me away from the others. “What’s your bad idea?” He gave me his naughty smile.
“What if you add blow jobs to the equation? Whoever comes or passes out first?” I blurted it out then shut my eyes tight, afraid of what he’d think of me.
“That’s an awesome idea, baby, look at me.”
I opened my eyes and met his gaze.
“You really want to do that?”
“Um, maybe I’ve even fantasized about it.” I scrunched my face up worried. I mean I’d just admitted to a thing for public sex, there was probably a name for that.
“So that’s a yes.” He laughed.
“Yes.”
Rebel grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder.
“What the hell are you doing?” I protested as he loped across the ground until we were right next to Jericho.
He set me down. “New game.” Rebel eyed the guys assembled. “If you dare, let’s mix it up. Whoever comes or passes out loses, until only one dick remains.”
Marr appeared next to Jericho. “You better agree.” She gave him a look that had Jericho grinning wide.
“New game,” Jericho thundered in his loud voice. “Gotta have a girl and a bottle, last dick standing wins.”
Whoops went through the group and a half dozen other bikers showed up.
I noticed tension as words flew between Mama and Zero. Dare stomped over to Zero who had Jess beside him. “Give me your fucking jacket,” the man snarled at Zero.
Zero shrugged it off and threw it to him. “Won’t help you win.”
Dare gave him the finger and stalked back beside his woman. I was guessing that Dare wasn’t keen on people watching his woman, but maybe it was Mama wanting to cover his cock.
Young guys hurried over and set three boxes on the table. Jericho opened up the first box and passed out bottles of whiskey. The young guys did the same. Soon each of the guys had two bottles of whiskey in front of them on the two long rectangular tables that had been pushed together. “May the best man be left standing,” Jericho shouted. “Girls, to your knees. And drink.”
I unfastened Rebel’s pants, he lifted his hips so I could slide them down before I sucked him down. He glanced down at me and guzzled whiskey at the same time. I didn’t know how they drank, straight chugging or what, but I had something more important to focus on, I didn’t plan to make this easy for him.
I rolled down my bra and brought my breasts out of my shirt, his cock hardened but I didn’t look to see if he appreciated his view. I had a man to defeat.
Each time someone fell to booze or their woman, someone shouted the name, but I didn’t know the bikers well enough to know who was who or how many were left. I lost myself to the rhythm, loving it when he pushed up into me, but then stilled, soon his hips rocked again. This time I was sure I had him and then he came hard, shuddering as he thrust up again and again. He pulled me to standing and hugged him to me. “We won, baby.”
What? We’d been the last ones. Suddenly I didn’t want to turn and look to see if everyone watched me, but I couldn’t really hide in his chest forever. He tucked my breasts back into my shirt before he bent to pull his pants on and fell back in the chair laughing. My bad boy was drunk off his ass.
Chapter Eighteen
Rebel
I had dreaded living with Elle because I liked my solo routines and was set in my ways. We had been together three weeks and she’d meshed with my routine right away. In fact, I liked coming home with her, knowing I’d cook for both of us before we relaxed for the night. She read and I surfed channels or worked out. We both worked out in the morning but I liked hitting the weights at night if I spent the day in the damn office. Even the damn cat had mellowed with her there.
Not only did we mesh at home, but I liked working with her. We’d started teaming up on bigger bounties and Gus had been sending all those contracts my way lately. I think he might’ve been pissed at the elder Jackson or maybe he just liked Elle. I knew it wasn’t me.
“You ready to roll?” I hollered in the bathroom.
“Yeah. Give me a minute.” She walked out dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and boots like she did every day for work. The boots held two knife holders and she kept her Glock in the car but rarely carried it. She preferred her Taser, I think she liked shocking the hell out of the bounties, it was her cruel streak.
Her boobs were captured behind that tight bra she insisted on, but it just made it more fun to set them free every night. “We heading north today? Or is that tomorrow?” She took the coffee I handed her and drank half of it.
“Today, we’re taking the SUV. Greg Parks isn’t one we want to take chances with.”
She held her hand up and I quit talking. She refused to talk cases before she drained her supersized cup of coffee. We were thirty minutes out of Ardmore before she looked over at me. “Now what were you saying?”
“You’re a grouch when you wake up,” I teased her.
“Someone shouldn’t fuck with my morning routine,” she growled back.
“Not even for really awesome fucking.”
She smiled at me. “Tell me about Greg Parks.”
“The hundred thousand dollar bounty.” I handed her the folder. “We’ll start with the bar at the top of the list.”
She read the file as I drove, commenting occasionally. “You think it’ll take three days?”
“Maybe two, depending on how lucky we are in the information department.”
“You know better, I don’t do Oklahoma City much.” She yawned. “I need more sleep.” She gave me the stink eye.
“You were the one who insisted on round two last night.” I’d underestimated the benefits of having a woman in my bed every night. And I have to admit, I’d been greedy. We were heading toward two months and it was like the first time every time. I had no fucking idea what to do with that, so I tried hard not to think about it.
“Do I get to question the guy at the bar?” She put her gun in the glove box.
“Yup, and I get to beat him if he doesn’t answer.”
“You always get the fun jobs,” she quipped as she got out.
“You get to Taser them,” I pointed out.
Inside, I assessed the lunch crowd. A few regulars and in the back corner, that would be Jack, the guy who knew how to find Greg. Elle swayed her hips as she walked. Jack was so focused on her that he didn’t even notice me until I scooted in beside him.
“Now, Jack,” Elle crooned. “We’re here for Greg and we can do it the easy way.” She pointed to herself and thumbed through a stack of cash. “Or the hard way.” She pointed to me. “Either way we’re leaving with all you know.”
“Don’t know nothing,” he growled.
“Now that’s a lie.” Elle nodded.
I popped him in the nose with the back of my fist.
“Motherfucker.” His nose began to bleed.
Elle handed him tissues. “Now that’s strike one, on the third strike, we take you out back and work you over.”
“What’s it worth to you?”
“A hundred.” She tossed it to the middle of the table.
“Three hundred,” he countered.
“If you have a location, it’s a deal, otherwise only a hundred.”
He eyed the money and scratched his arms. Junkie, that meant he’d take the cash and rat out his friend.
Elle leaned forward. “Buy lots of good shit with three hundred.”
“He’s staying over at the Boardmont on the third floor, last room in the hall.” Sweat broke out on his forehead.
“What ain’t you telling us?”
“He’s got eyes watching for your type.” He nodded to me.
“He ever go out?”
“Not much, and never out the front door, he uses the fire escape.” He looked at the money then up to Elle.
She glanced at me. I nodded. He’d told us all he knew. She flipped the other two bills on the table. “Happy score.” She slid out of the booth and I followed behind her.
Elle had a touch with questioning, maybe rats liked telling her their secrets better than me. I’d always had to beat it out of them, but she flashed her smile and a few bills then most of the guys turned talkative. I’d asked her about it, but she’d said she had to beat people more before we’d teamed up. It must be the winning combination.
I cruised past the flop twice. Not an easy penetration if he had eyes on the street or in the lobby. Was he paranoid enough to have eyes on his fire escape?
“You know what we need to do.” She was matter-of-fact.
I didn’t want to send her in there alone. Greg was dangerous.
“I can look like a prostitute, you can’t look like a junkie.”
I stayed quiet even though I knew she was right.
“We need food, planning, and a change of wardrobe. I need to shop.”
I drove to a diner I liked and pulled into the parking lot, figuring we could talk it through while we ate.
“They have great pie here.”
“As if my ass needs another slab of pie on it.” She rolled her eyes.
“Your ass needs pie.” I smacked her ass as we walked into the diner. “It told me so last night.”
She elbowed me. Once we ordered two cheeseburgers, fries and two slices of apple pie, I was ready to talk logistics.
“You wait to go in,” I started, doodling on a napkin as I laid it out. “I’ll get a visual and if he’s there, I tell you and you knock, do your working girl bit. I cover the fire escape, you cover the front door. And you take your damn gun.”
“It doesn’t fit with the outfit,” she protested. “I’ll have my Taser.”
“Don’t take a Taser to a gun fight.”
The waitress brought the food and I dug in. Elle messed with it, cutting the sandwich in half, before she began to eat.
“I take the gun,” she agreed as she wiped her French fry through her pile of ketchup.
“Okay. Where do we need to shop? Whores R Us?”
She threw a fry at me. “Any sex toy shop.”
I waggled my brows. “Can we buy toys too?”
“Are there any you don’t already have?” She shook her head at me.
“We’ll have to see.” This trip was already sounding better.
We hit a store a few blocks away. I didn’t find any toys but Elle got a great vinyl skirt, halter and boots. I wanted to play dress up later at the motel and she didn’t say no. Instead of driving across town to change, Elle changed in the dressing room of Candy Cane’s Adult Store. She was hot as hell when she stepped out of the dressing room.
She refused all my attempts to convince her to detour to any motel. We drove the block around the flop again, seeing no one in the alley by the fire escape. I parked a street over, apprehension settling into my gut. Greg had a reputation for brutality, which was why the contract was so high. I’d considered leaving her in Ardmore and bringing JoJo instead, but there was no way she’d forgive me if I dissed her that way.
Bail Out Page 15
