A Different Trade

by J. R. Roberts

  After searching Clint from heat to toe, Dhang’s gunman found a knife in Clint’s boot, which he took.

  He then stepped out of the room and shut the door, leaving Clint to his own devices.

  Although the room was quite comfortable, there wasn’t much to keep him occupied for several minutes. The thought of sitting in there for hours made Clint fidget even more than he already was. When he heard the door opening again, he jumped up from where he’d been sitting and eagerly went to greet whoever was coming for him. “Oh,” he grunted when he saw the same big fellow who’d taken away his Colt. “It’s you again.”

  “You have visitors.”

  “Mr. Dhang’s back already?”

  “Not quite.”

  The thickly muscled guard stepped to one side, allowing two familiar but very unexpected guests to step into the room.

  Stunned by what he was seeing, Clint said, “Ingrid? What the—”

  The slender blonde cut him short by pressing her lips against his. Clint’s eyes widened with surprise. Just behind her, Jade said a few words to the large fellow who’d brought them to that room before shutting the door in his face.

  As soon as Ingrid pulled back a little, Clint picked up right where he’d left off. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

  “Making sure you don’t get killed,” she whispered.

  Clint didn’t see Jade approach him so much as he felt when she was close enough to touch him. Her exotic scent drifted through the air as her fingernails raked gently against his back. “Mr. Dhang is having a word with Miss Tasha,” she said. “This woman told him she is a friend of yours.”

  Ingrid’s eyes were locked on Clint’s as she rubbed against him. Slowly, Clint said, “Yes. She is. I just wasn’t expecting to see her here.”

  “Since Mr. Dhang is conducting business with Miss Tasha, he agreed to let your friend come to help you pass the time,” Jade said.

  Clint turned and finally caught a glimpse of the dark-haired Asian woman. Jade was so close to him that all he could see was half of her face before she stepped behind him. “That’s very generous of him,” Clint said.

  “Mr. Dhang treats his friends very well.”

  “So he considers me a friend?”

  Jade’s hands worked to expertly massage every muscle in Clint’s back. “He is still deciding on that, but I am sure you have nothing to worry about. Until he makes his decision, I was told to keep you busy.”

  “And I insisted on coming along,” Ingrid said in a sensual whisper. Her eyes, on the other hand, pleaded with Clint to go along with what she told him.

  “I’m glad for that,” he said. “Nobody can take my mind off things the way you can.” Then, Clint wrapped his arms around Ingrid and kissed her deeply on the lips. She tasted sweet and melted against him while nibbling on his lower lip. While they continued to kiss, Jade walked toward the table near the bed, where she poured some water into a basin.

  “Sometimes Dhang uses girls from Miss Tasha’s to entertain his customers,” Ingrid whispered directly into his ear. “Sometimes those customers don’t make it out of here.”

  Clint looked over toward the bed and saw Jade was slowly peeling off her dress. Somehow knowing exactly when his eyes were on her, she looked over and smiled while dipping her fingers into the water she’d poured. Jade leaned her head back to rub some of the water along the slope of her neck.

  “What’s your plan?” Clint whispered.

  “Right now,” Ingrid replied while stroking his growing erection, “we need to bide our time.”

  “Sounds promising.”

  THIRTY-FIVE

  Jade was stark naked as she approached Clint and began stripping him out of his clothes. More than just undressing him, she moved her hands along his body and over his pockets as though she was searching him for contraband. All things considered, he enjoyed that search a hell of a lot more than the one performed by the big guard. After removing his boots, Jade placed her hands on Clint’s thighs and ran them all the way up as she rose to stand in front of him.

  “Mr. Dhang takes good care of his friends,” Jade said.

  Clint cupped her pert breasts, paying special attention to her dark, penny-sized nipples. “How about we not talk about him for a while?”

  “Good idea,” she said while taking Clint’s hand and guiding it between her legs. Jade’s skin was smooth as silk, but the skin of her inner thighs felt more like warm cream. She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath as Clint’s fingers found the little slit between her legs. The lips of her pussy were moist, and Clint rubbed them up and down until Jade grabbed on to his shoulder for support.

  Suddenly, Clint felt a warm, wet sensation below his waist. When he looked down, he saw Ingrid on her knees and licking the inside of his leg. With Jade standing slightly to Clint’s side, Ingrid had to lean in from the other angle but she quickly wrapped her lips around his cock and began sucking him.

  The longer Clint massaged Jade’s pussy, the wetter she became. When he slipped a finger inside her, she gripped his shoulders tightly for support as she started moaning in her native tongue.

  Ingrid was vigorously bobbing her head back and forth, devouring his cock while cupping him in one hand. She only came up for air once, and then she ran her tongue up and down his rigid shaft.

  Before long, Jade stepped away from him and set herself down on the bed. Sitting on the edge of the mattress with her legs hanging over, she lay back and used both hands to spread her pussy lips apart. Clint may not have known the exact words she was saying, but he could recognize the pleading tone in her voice. After helping Ingrid to her feet, Clint approached the bed. Jade watched them both with hungry eyes, rubbing herself as Clint drew closer. She then propped herself up on one elbow, reached out, and guided Clint’s stiff cock to where she so desperately wanted it to go.

  Clint took hold of Jade’s legs and drove into her. Both he and Jade let out satisfied moans, and when Clint buried himself just a bit deeper into her, Jade gripped the expensive blankets with both hands and arched her back. As Clint fell into a steady thrusting movement, Jade wrapped one leg tightly around his waist while allowing him to open the other leg just a bit wider.

  As this was going on, Ingrid kept busy as well. Clint felt her press against his back and then start to gently run her fingernails up and down his body. Next, he felt her hair brush against the side of his face as well as the wet touch of her mouth against his ear.

  “If she gets the signal from Dhang’s men,” Ingrid whispered, “she’ll kill you.”

  Clint felt a rush of anxiety when he heard Ingrid’s voice. However, the blonde’s whisper was nowhere near loud enough to be heard above the creak of the bed and Jade’s steady grunting as Clint pumped into her. In between his own breaths, Clint half grunted and half whispered, “Signal?”

  Wrapping her arms around him from behind so she could rub his bare chest, Ingrid said, “Don’t know exactly, but if she gets it, you won’t leave this room alive and neither will I.”

  Clint looked back just far enough to kiss Ingrid on the lips. He continued pumping between Jade’s legs as he whispered, “I’m unarmed.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Just be ready.”

  “You, too.”

  “I’m always ready,” Ingrid said. She then rested her chin on Clint’s shoulder and said, “I feel left out.”

  Opening her eyes as if she’d just awoken from a deep sleep, Jade replied, “We can’t have that, now can we?” She wriggled away from Clint so she could flip over and crawl toward the opposite end on all fours.

  While Clint was captivated by that sight, he was roughly turned around and shoved toward the bed until he dropped down onto the mattress in a seated position. “You’re a real silver-tongued devil,” Ingrid said. “Put that tongue to work on me.” Even though she wasn’t stripped bare like the other
two, Ingrid was still a sight to behold. She tugged at the strings fastening the front of her loose blouse, which allowed the thin material to fall aside to reveal her nicely rounded breasts. Large, pink nipples were already erect as she gathered up her plain brown skirt to hike it up past her knees.

  As Ingrid climbed onto the bed and straddled Clint’s chest, Jade busied herself with the lower portion of his body. Clint couldn’t see what she was doing, but he could feel her tongue flick against his erection as well as her delicate hand wrap around his cock.

  Ingrid scooted forward while reaching down to grab Clint’s hair in one hand. With the other hand, she pulled up her skirt a bit more to show him the Derringers that were strapped so high up her inner thighs that they would have easily been overlooked during a simple search. Once she was certain that Clint had seen the guns, she placed herself even higher up on his chest while pulling his head between her legs.

  Clint was all too happy to oblige her by licking the smooth lips of Ingrid’s pussy. When his tongue found the sensitive nub of her clit, she leaned back and let out a shuddering moan.

  While this was going on, Jade straddled Clint’s hips and took him inside her. He could feel her legs squeezing in on him from both sides as she rode him with growing intensity. She took every inch of him inside and moaned loudly as Clint started to pump up into her. Eventually, she found a spot she liked and stayed there while slowly grinding on him.

  At first, Ingrid had moaned loudly even when she’d lifted herself up a bit to put about an inch of space between herself and Clint’s mouth. He looked up at her, cupped her ass in his hands, and stuck his tongue inside her to drive Ingrid out of her mind with surges of pleasure. Soon, she lost herself in the moment and trembled like a leaf as she felt an orgasm sweep through her entire body.

  When Clint looked up, he could see slender hands cupping Ingrid’s breasts from behind. Jade teased the other woman’s nipples between her thumb and forefinger, grunting louder and louder as Clint continued to thrust between her legs. It wasn’t long before Jade was screaming with ecstasy and tossing her hair back and forth.

  Between watching Ingrid, tasting her, feeling Jade, and hearing them both cry out in pleasure, Clint couldn’t hold himself back another second. He pumped up inside Jade and exploded within her with a climax that seemed to last the better part of a day. As the girls’ cries faded and the blood rushed a little slower through Clint’s ears, another sound could be heard.

  Knocking.

  All three of them quieted down and Ingrid climbed off Clint to sit beside him on the bed. Jade remained sitting astride him, sweat trickling down her taut body, and turned toward the door. After she said something in her native language, a gruff voice replied through the door. There was one more quick exchange before Jade turned to look down at Clint.

  He didn’t need a translator to know that a signal had just been given.

  THIRTY-SIX

  Still straddling Clint’s hips, Jade reached up into her thick black hair. She arched her back, displaying her proud breasts as she removed a thin polished stick that had been keeping a portion of her hair in place. With the snap of her wrist, she pulled the stick apart to reveal a short stiletto blade that had been hidden within the stick. Before Clint could make a move, she pressed the tip of the blade against a tender spot on Clint’s inner thigh.

  “What’s this about?” Clint asked.

  “You have become a liability to Mr. Dhang,” Jade said.

  “And that’s why you’re going to stick me in the leg?”

  “I am sorry, but that is why I must kill you.”

  “Better men have tried with much heavier artillery than that,” Clint replied.

  Jade smiled while slowly twisting the tip of the stiletto against Clint’s leg. “All I need to do is open this artery and you will bleed out faster than if you were shot.”

  “That’s a hell of a way to treat a man while you’re still sitting on top of him.”

  “Is it not the best way to die while the pleasures I have given you are still fresh?”

  Clint had to admit that would be a damn fine way to go, but he wasn’t about to say that to her. “You could always let me go,” he offered.

  She shook her head. Now that the stick had been removed from her hair, Jade’s long black mane hung loose to make her look even more like a jungle cat. “The order has been given and there is nothing for me to do about it. At least the two of you will leave this world with the taste of life’s greatest pleasures fresh on your—”

  Ingrid pounced at her with both arms stretched out, catching both Jade and Clint by surprise. Jade fell straight back, pinning Clint’s legs to the bed. Although he was trapped in an awkward position, he was grateful that the sharp, slender blade had been forced well away from his leg and the other vital spots in that general vicinity.

  “Too much talking,” Ingrid said as she delivered a right cross to Jade’s head.

  Even though Jade took the punch well for someone her size, she was knocked completely off the bed and hit the floor in a tangle of smooth legs, long hair, and scrambling arms. Somehow she managed to right herself and snap a quick punch to answer the one she’d been given. Having caught Ingrid before she could take another swing at her, Jade got to her feet and shouted something at the door.

  “Clint!” Ingrid said.

  In the flurry of commotion that had descended upon that bed, he’d rolled off the side and landed on his feet. When he heard Ingrid call his name, he stood up straight and caught the pistol she’d tossed his way. The little Derringer was swallowed up in his hand, but his finger found the trigger quickly enough.

  When the door was shoved open, Clint waited just long enough to get a look at who was coming in. It was no surprise to see the burly guard come stomping in like a bull. Not only was he holding a .44, but he brought the pistol up and took aim at Clint. The instant he saw that, Clint fired from the hip. The Derringer popped once, causing the big man to flinch. Clint took more careful aim and squeezed off his second shot a split second before the other man could fire. That bullet caught the guard in the forehead and snapped his entire upper body back. Another shot cracked through the air, and when Clint turned to see what had happened, he found Ingrid holding the second Derringer in her grip.

  “She . . . was going to kill me,” Ingrid gasped.

  Jade lay crumpled on the floor. She let out a groan, rolled onto her back, and showed the bloody wound in her ribs.

  “She’ll make it,” Clint said as he walked over to take the pistol away from the dead man in the doorway. On his way back into the room, he kicked the stiletto away from Jade’s hand. “Let me know if anyone else comes along.”

  Ingrid was stunned, but she nodded and watched the door while Clint pulled on his pants, shirt, and boots. When he was dressed, he asked, “Is there any law around here?”

  “There’s a county sheriff in the next town.”

  “That’d be a no. Can you keep an eye on her for a short while?”

  Ingrid nodded. “I’ll tie her up before she gets any ideas.”

  Since Jade was still sluggish after receiving the shallow bullet wound, Clint figured she wouldn’t be much of a threat anytime soon. “If she gets a second wind,” he told her, “don’t hesitate to put her down.”

  He’d said that mostly for Jade’s benefit and she cringed in response to the threat. Although Ingrid seemed nervous, she gained some confidence when Clint went back to the guard, searched him, and then tossed her the holdout pistol he found in the bigger man’s boot.

  “When you hear things quiet down, get the hell out of here,” he said.

  “What about you?”

  “I’m going to make a bit more noise.”

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  If there was one advantage to gunfire, it was how quickly it could clear a room. As Clint headed for the stairs, he crossed paths with only one arm
ed man on the second floor. All the gamblers were either gone or hiding under tables. That single gunman wasn’t expecting to see anyone storm down the hallway, and he dropped to the floor when Clint fired a warning shot into the ceiling over the man’s head.

  Clint ran down the stairs, holding the dead guard’s .44 in plain sight as a warning to anyone who might get in his way. Although there were more armed men on the main floor, none of them tried to get in his way. Upon reaching the door that led to the street, Clint meant to ask where he could find Ki Dhang. He got a good idea of where he needed to go when he heard gunshots from the other side of Sharp Bend.

  Women screamed from inside the cathouse. Something cast a large shadow on the front window before the glass shattered from the impact of something large being tossed outside. Clint tensed while sighting along the top of his barrel. The man who’d been thrown outside was wrapped partially in the curtains that had been yanked from the windows and were slowly pulled aside by a bloody hand.

  “Hello there, Kurt,” Clint said while smiling down at the battered bald man cocooned inside thick layers of purple velvet. “This just ain’t your day.”

  “Adams! Thank God!” Kurt scrambled to free himself from the curtain and climb to his feet. When he saw Clint point the .44 at him, he quickly tossed away the gun that he’d almost forgot he’d been holding. “Them Chinese are out of their damn minds!”

  “What’s going on in there?” Clint asked.

  “They’re about to kill each other!” Kurt had plenty more he wanted to say, but was silenced by an eruption of gunfire coming from the first floor of Miss Tasha’s. Even Clint had to flinch as several pistol shots cracked amid the thunderous roar of a shotgun firing both its barrels in quick succession.

  Having reflexively dropped to one knee, Clint waited until the shots faded before standing up again. When he saw Kurt looking to him for instruction, Clint told him the first thing that came to mind. “Run. If I see you again, I’ll shoot you on sight.”