by Nicole Fox
“Woah,” I said, taking a step back from the rail. “On a gamble?”
“Yep. He bet it like it was nothing, just to cover his ass. When I took over after his funeral, I promised myself I'd never make a stupid fuck-up like that . . .” He trailed off and looked down into the green belt behind the house, into all the trees running rampant through the wilderness.
I touched his arm, squeezed a big bicep. “You're not your daddy,” I said, my words as soothing as I could make them. “You're tough, and you're making the hard decision right now. We've all made mistakes, Koen. It's nothing to be ashamed of. As long as we fix them, that's what matters. But, right now, you're putting your club first, something Gator didn't do.”
“I know that,” he said, smiling a little, his eyes turning back to mine. “I just don't want to lose you in the process.”
“We'll figure it out,” I said as I pressed myself into him and wrapped my arms around his waist.
“Yeah,” he said, enveloping me in his embrace and holding my head to his chest as he stroked my hair. “Yeah, we will.”
“Definitely,” I promised.
Boy, were we wrong.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Koen
“Cater to his ego,” Agent McKesson said as she set her beer down. “He's an arrogant asshole, surrounded by yes men.”
“Really pump it up,” Grandpa Xavier added. “Get him so puffed he feels ten feet tall and strong as Superman.”
“You gotta admit you never could've beat him,” Claire added, “and that's why you want to join him now.”
That last one stung a bit, having to admit that I would've lost in the long run. But, it was partially true, I guess. That'd make the lying easier. Lies are always easier to wrap up when there's a nugget of truth hidden inside. I nodded along with it all the same, though.
“And remember,” Grandpa Xavier added, “you gotta get him talking about everything, about all his dealings overseas. Enough that they can nail him on something when it goes in front of a jury.”
Saying I needed to get him to admit all his shit was one thing, though. Tricking him into doing it was something else altogether. “How should I get his confidence?” I asked.
“Here,” Agent McKesson said, getting up and going into the living room to pull a file from her briefcase. “Almost forgot,” she called from the other room, then came back in with a manila folder outstretched in front of her like an offering.
“What's this?” I asked as I took it.
“Details on a government contract,” she replied. “Bidding process, along with sealed bids from a couple other companies.”
I opened the folder and began looking through the papers. Looked official and on the up and up. I didn't know the first thing about federal contracts, though. “Explain why it's important?” I asked as I kept leafing through the papers.
“These are the bids from other arms providers to the state of Louisiana, to arm their SWAT and National Guard forces,” Agent McKesson said. “It basically gives Volkov all the information he needs to underbid all the competitors, but stay in a sweet enough spot to make sure he gets the contract.”
Fed whistled low as I kept flipping. I glanced up at him, but I still didn't get the significance.
“It's basically free, almost legal money,” Fed explained. “No one has those bids, so Aleksey gets a free payday when you hand him that folder.”
“And it's real?” I asked, incredulous.
“Yep,” Agent McKesson said, nodding. “Don't let anyone else see it, though. We needed it to look genuine, so I, uh, borrowed the file from a friend. We'll switch it out when we're done, so it doesn't make it into evidence. Luckily, though, if you get caught with it by a normal cop, there won't be any explaining to do.”
“’Cause they won't know what it is, mainly,” Grandpa Xavier clarified.
“So, I give him this,” I said, closing the folder and pushing it away from me, “suck up, play nice, get him talking. Then what?”
“Then we give you immunity on this,” Agent McKesson said, opening up a new beer. “You, the rest of the MC. Then, you move onto Witpro.”
I nodded along, my eyes focused on that manila folder in front of me. I'd seen some of the numbers in there, numbers with lots and lots of dollar signs and zeroes. Real money, not this crap we were pulling down with the MC.
But, I had to forget about all that. Because I was going into protection. My life was going to be gone, disappeared. I was going to be disappeared. But, at least I'd be taking Jace with me. I could live with that.
And besides, everyone else would be safe.
I nodded again. As long as the rest of the MC was able to stay clear of this, my biggest fuck up, I'd be fine. I wouldn't pull anyone else down with me, not like my father almost did all those years ago.
“Alright,” I said, finally. “Let's do this.”
# # #
Jace
“I don't give two shits about what you think you gotta do!” Happy yelled right in Koen's face, flecks of spittle flying everywhere. His face was redder than a beet, and veins were popping out all over like he'd been shooting ‘roids for the last six months.
The look on Koen's face was calm though, collected, almost serene.
“Look,” my newly-minted partner in crime said, “I understand you don't want me to split from the club, but I have to. If I don't, we'll be having even worse things coming down the pike.”
Damn it was weird to call him that. Partner. It had a nice ring to it, though. I hadn't had anything like him since I was back home. All I'd had were all the men, and that didn't count for much of anything.
But now I had Koen.
Too bad I might have to lose him, too, when I went after Aleksey again.
“Happy,” Fed added in a slightly frustrated voice, “just sit your ass down and listen to some fucking reason for once in your miserable life.”
“You can't leave the club, though! We've always had a Baldwin in the lead!”
“And, maybe,” Koen said, pausing to take a deep sigh, “just maybe, that's been the problem. You guys can handle this just fine without me around. Probably better.”
Happy grunted and crossed his arms as he sat back down in his seat. He was still stewing, I could tell.
“What's the plan then? Why're we doing this?”
“To take the heat off you,” Koen reminded him. “Less y'all know, the better.”
“Agreed,” Fed said.
“Fine,” Happy said, harrumphing again. “What's going to happen, then?”
“You're gonna kick my ass at the big rally this weekend.”
Happy barked out a harsh laugh and shook his head. “Ain't no one gonna believe that, Boss.”
“They will if you make it look good enough. What's that old quote? No one believes a little lie, but everyone believes a big one?”
After that, we closed down the meeting. We kept what was going to happen to just the top three men in the club. The less they knew, the better. At least, that was the way Koen saw things. I tended to agree.
After that, we closed down the meeting. We kept what was going to happen to just the top three men in the club. The less they knew, the better. At least, that was the way Koen saw things. I tended to agree.
With Happy gone, Koen pulled Fed aside. “Alright,” Koen said, “here's the deal. I need you to set the meeting, but you gotta do it in person, up at his offices in Baton Rouge. Can't have this tracked back to us if things go tits up, right?”
“Alright, Boss, anything. You got a place in mind? Like a hotel?”
“The Renaissance, downtown. Tell him one other person will be coming with me as backup.”
Fed nodded, scratched his chin. “Sounds good to me. When should I leave?”
“Today. Right now, even,” Koen said, clapping his buddy on the shoulder. “Should be able to make it there and back before any of the guys notice you're gone.”
“Got it,” he said, then turned and left without ev
en a second thought. One thing about Fed I liked is that he always seemed to do what he said was going to do. And he did it when he said it, too.
I knew it was going to hurt Koen to have to leave Fed behind. I understood, because it was going to hurt just as much to abandon Benji this way, and to cut off what little life I'd already built up here. But, it was what I had to do. This meeting with the Wolf was my last chance.
“Koen, babe,” I said to get his attention after Fed left the room and shut the door carefully behind him.
“Yeah? What's up?” he asked as he turned to me.
“I want to be in that room with you. When you meet with Aleksey.”
Koen eyed me carefully, measuring whether I was trying to pull a fast one on him. “Why?”
“You need me there,” I said, licking my lips and thinking through my words carefully, “to make sure you don't go and get all cocky with the plan.”
“What makes you think I'd do that?”
I laughed, maybe a little bit too dismissively. “I saw the way you looked when Agent McKesson gave you that folder. It looked like you'd just seen dollar signs, a new opportunity.”
It was a shot in the dark I was taking, but I had a feeling I was right.
He leaned back a little, his brow furrowed in consternation. He went to say something, but I interjected before the words could leave his mouth.
“'Sides,” I continued, pressing my point, “you're an ornery biker. You need a smooth-talking pro, like me, there. I'll be a good distraction, keep him on his toes. And we need him on his toes. This guy's like a fucking Bond villain or some shit, babe. Besides, who do you want watching your back with the Feebs? Me, some streetwalker? Or an ex-agent?”
He sighed and drummed his fingers on the meeting table, his eyes turned away from me, but unfocused as he looked off into space. He was thinking my idea over, which meant I had him hooked.
I hated having to manipulate him like this, and I felt as gutted as catfish that took its last bait. But, I needed to be in that room. And, honestly, I think I needed him to hate me a little bit at the end of this. If he really cared for me when it was all said and done, the pain he'd feel would be a thousand times worse.
“Okay,” he slowly said after a moment, dragging it out into almost two words, “but you gotta promise me something.”
“Anything,” I said, smiling that he'd let me convince him. “Just name it.”
“Give me your word me you won't do something stupid, like try to kill Aleksey while we're on tape.”
I nodded quickly, maybe a little too quickly, and held up right hand with its three fingers extended. “Girl scout's honor,” I said.
He nodded as he glanced at my fingers, a little smile turning up just the corners of his mouth. “Good. We'll see what Aleksey has to say, but you can come with me.”
I smiled a little, happy that he was bringing me along. Inside, though, I was reeling from the choice I'd made. This was my chance to finally get the Wolf for Tomlin's death. But, if I was going to take it, I was going to have to throw away the best thing that had ever happened to me.
Because, unfortunately, the joke was on Koen.
I was never a girl scout.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Koen
We stuck around for a few more hours at Club Hellfire, finalizing a few mundane details on the upcoming rally, and my signing off on a few perfectly legal items. When Jace looked bored enough that she was about to cry, I grabbed her by the waist and led her out back to my bike. We hopped on and headed home.
The whole ride home, though, worry gnawed at my insides.
Aleksey Volkov wasn't the kind of man you robbed, or the kind of man you gladly wore a wire to meet with. Just walking into the Wolf's den, even at a place of my choosing, was like playing with matches while you were drowning in a pool full of gas. It was stupid, and liable to get you killed painfully in more ways than just one.
Pile on top of that Jace's fixation on vengeance, and you had the makings of a danger gumbo. True, I was pretty sure she'd dropped the whole murder angle, especially now that we had a viable way of putting him in prison and tearing apart his empire, but that still didn't eliminate the possibility that something else could go wrong.
After all, we weren't exactly batting .1000 here on schemes, not lately.
But, it was her choice, I supposed. And she'd lived a dangerous enough life before I'd come on the scene. Besides, she'd given me her word that she wouldn't try anything.
Still, though, as I pulled the spare bike into my garage, I was secretly terrified for Jace's safety.
And, that was when it really hit me. I was falling for her. Hard. Like out of a plane, no parachute, terminal velocity, here comes the earth and my impending doom, hard. I didn't know what I'd do if lost her, especially not to a man like the Wolf.
I'd agreed to her idea, though. And, no matter what I might have been, I was above all a man of my word. And that meant she was coming along with me, whether I liked it or not.
All this worry had had one other side effect, too. My back was a minefield of knots and cricks, reaching up into my neck and shoulders.
I stretched my neck, twisting it from side to side as I dropped my vest in the living room.
“You alright?” Jace asked as she flopped onto the couch, coiling herself up in such a way that was still sexy as Hell, even though I knew damned well that she wasn't trying.
“Neck's killing me,” I told her. “Stress and shit, that's all.”
“Go take a hot shower, then,” she suggested. “Call it an early night. We've got a crazy couple days ahead of us, anyways. Probably could use the rest while you can get it.”
“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding as I rubbed the back of my neck. “Probably right.”
I headed upstairs and into the master bedroom. I stripped out of my clothes and, naked, headed into the bathroom to start the shower. I cranked up the hot water as far as I could stand and, as the room filled with steam heat, I slipped beneath the water.
The surging droplets massaged my tired muscles as I hung my head beneath the stream of water. The rhythmic pulse didn't do much to wash away my concerns and misgivings, but it at least helped my back release its tension. I tried to focus on the good things that would come out of this, of how I'd be free of the criminal life, how Jace and I would be off on our own together. The MC would be free of any charges, and everyone would have a clean slate.
It even worked, briefly. My mind began to quiet, and I started to see only the good things that could come out of this. I lathered up my soap and cleaned myself from head to toe, washing away as much of my inner turmoil as I could.
Soon, my second-guessings threatened to crowd my thoughts again, and I turned off the water and hopped out to dry myself off. Maybe sleep would be a better hiding place than the shower, I decided.
I killed the water and hopped out of the shower stall, grabbed a towel and began to dry myself. I tossed the towel on the rack to dry and, naked, headed back into my bedroom.
Jace was already tucked in beneath the covers of my bed, her face turned away from the light of the bathroom. I flicked off the light and slipped into bed behind her, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her naked body close. She felt warm and small in my embrace.
As tired as I was, the feel of her skin on mine began to have its easily predicted effect. I felt my cock growing, rising to the occasion between us.
“Hi, you,” Jace nearly purred as she felt my cock slip up between her thighs. I felt her move beneath the covers, readjusting, and her hand was soon wrapped around me, stroking me. “Happy to see me, even after all the stress today?”
God, her hands. I'd never felt anything so soft, but so sure of themselves. She stroked me up and down, sending waves of sensations through my whole body.
I could feel it even in my scalp, and tingles shot up and down my spine as she worked her magic on me. I leaned forward, inhaled her smell, kissed her neck. My hand came up, cupped a naked breast
, teased her nipple.
She pushed back into me a little, rubbed her cheeks over my hard and ready cock as she turned her head, moaning. Our lips found each other in the dark, and we kissed like long time lovers, like we knew every move the other was about to make.
She took her hand from my manhood and rolled over to face me, our bodies still beneath the covers. Her breathing was heavy, almost panting, and she bit her lip in the dim light.
“Koen,” she whispered as her hand found my cock again and my hands returned to her body, “I care about you.”
I didn't say anything at first. I just let her words, words I hadn't realized I'd been waiting to hear, soak into my psyche. “I care about you, too,” I said finally.
