by Carmen Faye
She shook her head adamantly. “No, I’m coming with you. I want to see this end.” He nodded, and the four of them went in together. Tres was lounging in a chair at the most popular poker table. There was another, older guy next to him that Maya assumed was Raoul. He looked humble, while the Scorpion leader had a hard, angry expression.
She returned it as they locked eyes. Tres gave her a salacious smile, letting his gaze roam her body before returning to her eyes, and she gritted her teeth. She took a step forward, but Vance held her back. From ten feet away, she told him, “You’re an excellent liar, but the truth always comes out, and this time, it really bit you in the ass, didn’t it?”
He shrugged. “I am a flexible man. I can find ways to make a living. In the meantime, I’m willing to make some concessions, if your hombre here will sit down and have a beer with me.”
Vance squeezed her hand, and they walked together to take two empty seats directly across from the Scorpions. Buddha and Caleb flanked them, with several of the other Mojave Boys standing around them. Joe appeared with four open beers and placed them on the table, returning shortly with two more.
Tres grunted. “You want your woman here with you for club business?” he asked in a derisive tone.
“I make the rules in my club, jefe, and if you expect to be treated like a guest here, you won’t question them. Maya stays.” He took a swig of his beer. “How’s business?” he asked, his tone light and tormenting.
“You should know. You saw the stash of product, and you know what you destroyed. It was the majority of what we had, and we won’t get another shipment until the first of the month. That’s two weeks away, hermano.” He sat up and leaned on the table with his elbows. “Tell me what is on your mind, Ice. I want to hear what the Mojave Boys are asking from us.”
Vance didn’t answer right away, appearing calm and relaxed. Shifting in his seat, he took on an authoritative air. Maya recognized it; he was the man in charge, and whatever he said would set the tone for the rest of the conversation. “We want a truce, jefe. We want to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.”
The man grunted. “Is that all?”
Vance shrugged. “There are some ground rules, I guess. First, we won’t step into the territory you’ve claimed, but you don’t come into ours. No deals in our territory. You can use a single route through us to move product, but not without prior notice.”
“I’m sure you want a take,” Raoul interjected, not moving.
Maya held her breath, but Vance shook his head. “Our club doesn’t like your business, man. We don’t want a penny of what you earn from it. We want the respect of notice before you cross our borders and use the path we’re setting up for you. And we don’t want any more tension between the clubs.” He hesitated and added, “We also want free run of our product through your territory if we have orders to the south.”
“You ask a lot and give nothing in return, my friend,” Tres told him, shaking his head and pulling on the beer. “In negotiations, both sides are able to benefit.”
Vance scoffed, and Caleb piped up, “We’re giving you a way to run product through our territory, and we aren’t charging you a fee. And in exchange for your cooperation with us, we won’t demand that any of our customers turn you away. And if you think the bunker we blasted is the only one we know about, you’re kidding yourself. Agree to the terms and hold up the truce, and we won’t take away the last of your income source.”
El jefe didn’t look pleased. Raoul spoke for him, obviously not wanting his boss to blow up. Maya couldn’t blame him; she had seen what Tres was capable of when he was angry, and actions like that would get them both killed. “We can understand your position. But we don’t even have a place to store the product we’ll get at the first of the month. You didn’t just destroy the product. You blew up the bunker.”
Vance’s smile was sinister and cold, and Maya saw for the first time the true nature that earned him the nickname ‘Ice’. She’d never believed it was just because of his last name, and here was her confirmation. “You have the underground in the desert. Use the wing where you held Maya.”
The leader’s expression darkened, and he flattened his hands on the table. Raoul spoke quickly. “That can be a temporary solution, but those facilities are used for other things.”
Maya could feel Vance’s rage in the way his body tensed, and she put a hand on his thigh. “I have a proposal of my own,” she said, and all eyes turned to her. She ignored those that sparked with anger and focused only on the intrigue in Tres’s expression. “I don’t approve of any aspect of your business, but I am not going to stand by and let you continue with the human trafficking.”
She saw the protest and held up her hand. “I have resources, just like the rest of you, and while I may not like it, there are other ways to make money that don’t involve selling people. What if I could get you studio quality equipment and a quarter million to invest in a new adult film trade?” She saw Vance staring at her in shock from the corner of her eye, but she was rather pleased with herself for this idea.
She continued, “We all know that not all models make the kind of money I do, and I can send at least a dozen your way to get you started. You’ll have to provide a certain flat fee for each project to each actress. And what they’ll do in front of a camera would be their discretion. But with the kind of money I’m offering to start up your new business venture, you could be banking in no time. And since it’s not illegal, you don’t have to focus a lot of security effort on it.”
No one spoke for a long time. Finally, el jefe asked, “This would be in place of our other side venture, yes?” Maya nodded. “And you are loaning us this money?”
She shook her head. “Think of it as a settlement for the loss of your storage unit, or a good faith charity. Hell, say it’s for emotional damages from the loss of your men. Whatever you want. It’s really a payoff in exchange for a guarantee you’ll stop the human trafficking.”
He exchanged glances with Raoul, and Maya saw the older man was ready to jump on the bandwagon. Narrowing his gaze at Vance, he asked, “Did you know about this? And do you approve of your woman’s offer?”
Maya looked to Vance, holding her breath and nervous about his reaction. With a smirk, he said, “I don’t have to keep track of her. She had a mind of her own, and I support her fully in her decisions. It’s her money and her time. She can do with it what she wants.” He leaned forward and taunted, “That’s an advantage I have over you, jefe. I don’t need to keep a woman under my thumb and force her to be with me. I can give her freedom, and she keeps coming back anyway.”
Maya knew Tres wanted to come across the table at him, but he exercised control and remained seated. There was a long silent spell, and he met gazes all the way around the table. Finally, he sighed. “I guess you give me no choice. I accept the offer for a truce, and I agree to your terms. As for la mujer, I will stop the trade immediately, but I expect swift action to get something else going.”
She nodded. “With a written and signed agreement that you won’t sell women anymore, I’ll have the money to you in three days. That should hold you over until you get another shipment of your other product.” She spat the last word. “I’ll call in some favors and get you in contact with someone who can set up a studio for you and contract some women for the roles.”
Maya watched as the agreements were set and signed, and she felt giddy as the two Scorpions left with their tails tucked between their legs. She elbowed Caleb as Vance saw them out and muttered, “It feels good to see them suffer, but don’t ever tell Vance I said so.”
Caleb snorted. “My lips are sealed.”
CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
It didn’t take long to tour Maya’s swanky loft apartment, since most of it was one large room. He loved it. It was everything he would have imagined for a woman like her. “What do you think?” she asked, bending down to pull a couple of pops from the fridge.
“It’s perfect,” he told her
, taking the can she handed him and opening it. It wasn’t too ritzy, and the style reminded him of his own home, the furnishings just a little more expensive. “I can’t believe I’m here.” They had flown into Houston, and he’d had the ‘pleasure’ of meeting Franz at the airport, where he’d had a car waiting for them. His first impression of Maya’s manager was that he drank far too much coffee and was high strung. But he was a good guy.
With things settled back home, Vance had accompanied Maya to her photoshoot in Philly, and they’d come back here to take a little time off. Maya hadn’t been home in over a month, and Vance needed a break from the norm. They’d decided to spend a week here, coordinating their schedules for the next few months and simply enjoying some time alone.
They’d done a lot of talking over the past few weeks, but they’d spent a lot more time making love. It was time to really discuss their future and how to handle it. “You know I don’t want to be apart more than we have to,” he hedged as they slumped on the couch, both of them travel weary.
“I know,” she said quietly, staring straight ahead. “I don't want to give up this apartment, and I would never ask you to give up the house.” She sighed. “I think it’s time to slow down a bit on my career. I’m tired of traveling so much.”
He scowled. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”
She nodded. “I’m at the top of my game. I can pick and choose my contracts now, and I can start getting some experience behind the camera.” She shifted so she was facing him. “I didn’t plan on falling in love, Vance, but that’s the most important thing in my life now, not my career.”
Vance searched her face but couldn’t read her expression. “I get that.” He cleared his throat. “I’m committed, Maya. I’m done with the whole single biker lifestyle.”
“I know that,” she told him, and he knew she meant it. He thought she would worry about him picking up women randomly, but she was more confident than that. “I say we start with two weeks here, and then I’ll go back to Wheelie with you for two weeks. That brings me up to the next contract.”
“I’ll go with you for that,” he offered, and she smiled in delight. “After that?”
She hesitated. “Let’s take a week apart, in our own spaces, to adjust. We’ll see how that goes and start the cycle over, if it’s working.”
He liked the idea. He didn’t thrill to being apart, but he understood why she wanted it. Reaching for her, Vance pulled Maya into his lap and just held her, their sodas forgotten. She leaned down, and he kissed her, a sweet and sensual kiss that ignited a blaze in his stomach and chest. It filtered down into his groin, but he wasn’t ready to head to the bedroom. This was a different kind of intimacy, and he wanted to enjoy every second of it.
She caressed his face as she returned the quiet but sure desire in the kiss, and Vance fisted his fingers in her hair. When they finally broke apart, he could barely catch his breath, and Maya’s eyes were on fire. “I love you, Maya.”
“I love you, too.” She smiled, and he thought she was going to drag him to the bed. Instead, she rested her head on his shoulder and began, “If this all works out…”
She didn’t finish, and he felt that maddening urge to growl in frustration. “What?” he asked impatiently.
“If it all works, how do you feel about marriage? And maybe…” She trailed off again.
A bit taken aback but excited, Vance finished for her, “Children? As long as my son can have a dirt bike by the time he’s ten, I’m good with that.”
She chuckled. “It’s a deal, if your little girl gets the same.” Vance laughed out loud. He loved this woman more each minute.
THE END
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If at first you don't succeed...
She's tried a thousand times over to get his attention, and failed each attempt. It was hopeless - Lila DeMarco was lacking something, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The dark and sizzling James Maltoni is a regular at the weekly motorcycle meet outside her restaurant. Yet again, she comes out to serve food and drinks; yet again, her eyes roam over his broad shoulders, his crooked smile, his jeans that fit just right. Something in her tightens, aches for a release only he could give her... and for what feels like is the first time, he looks at her. Not as the wallflower waitress, but as a woman.
Well, maybe the three-thousandth time's the charm.
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