by Jessica Ashe
“Then maybe you should get some sleep.”
“Fuck that. I need a drink.”
My stomach’s still in knots from the fear that I might have to ‘hit the streets’ for work. What I need is Tanner, but he’s at the bar tonight. Oh well, two birds, one stone and all that.
Sadie gets far more dressed up than she needs to for a dive bar like Hard Times, which means she plans on hooking up tonight. So do I, but fortunately I don’t need to brave the cold evening air wearing little more than a boob tube and a short skirt. Not that I’m completely covered up—I’m showing enough skin to distract Tanner.
The bar’s practically deserted, so Tanner notices us as soon as we walk in. He immediately stops whatever conversation he was having with one of the customers and starts making us drinks.
I act cool and casual, assuming Tanner won’t want any public displays of affection, but he reaches over the bar and kisses me passionately on the lips. For a blissful moment, I forget where we are and kiss him back so intently I’m almost climbing on the bar to get closer to him.
“Don’t mind me,” Sadie says dryly.
“Yeah, Tanner,” the man at the bar says. “We don’t need a reminder of how happy you are.”
“You’re lucky you don’t have to share an apartment with her,” Sadie says to the stranger. “I get very loud reminders of how happy they both are. Do I know you?”
Sadie’s never that subtle when she wants a guy, but she’s usually a bit more inventive than the ‘do I know you’ line.
“You do look a bit familiar,” the guy replies.
I think this time Sadie’s right. I have seen him before. I’ve been looking at so many young men’s faces recently at work that they blur together right now.
Oh shit, please don’t tell me Sadie’s chatting up one of the suspects I’m investigating? That would not be good. Not good at all.
“You were in here a few months ago,” Sadie says. “When I was in here celebrating taking the bar exam.”
“Oh shit, that’s right. Tanner kicked me off the table so you could sit down.”
“If it were up to me, I would’ve sat on your lap.”
“Looks like the table’s free now,” the guy says, motioning to a dark corner.
Sadie smiles and grabs her drink. “Don’t wait up.”
“Should I be worried?” I ask Tanner once they’ve cozied up in the corner. “He looks a little rough around the edges.”
Tanner laughs. “Sadie can handle Daron. Anyway, aren’t you dating someone a little dangerous-looking?”
“Yes, but I know you’re not actually dangerous.”
Tanner’s smile fades slightly.
“I meant that as a compliment,” I clarified. “Or would you rather I still thought of you as some big tough guy.”
Tanner leans over the bar and places his hand on the back of my neck, pulling me towards him and whispering in my ear. “Stay here until after closing tonight, and I’ll show you just how tough I can be.”
I shiver, and I don’t know if it’s because his breath is faintly caressing my ear or I’m just wondering what he’s going to do next. Tanner isn’t dangerous or violent, but he is tough. Tough and firm. Aggressive. Passionate.
“When are you closing?” I whimper.
“Midnight.”
“I’m not sure I can wait that long.”
“I’ll make it worth your while. I’m going to have you coming so hard Sadie will still be able to hear you from her bedroom.”
I cross my legs and clamp my thighs together. I look like I need to pee, and it’s not helping anyway. I’ve never needed sex this much before. It’s not even the sex, I just need to feel him on me. I want to climb over the bar and drop to my knees on the sticky floor and take him in my mouth. When did I become so trashy? I suddenly feel like one of those girls I used to sneer at and look down on.
“We could go to your office?” I suggest. “Please don’t make me wait.”
Tanner looks me in the eyes and smiles. “I’ll fuck you when I’m good and ready. For now, I’m just going to taste you.”
“That’ll do,” I say, relieved. I head towards his office at the corner of the bar, but he grabs my arm and pulls me back.
“Here.”
“Here?”
“You’re already wet, I can tell.” Tanner grabs my hand and pushes it down towards my thighs. “Touch yourself and give me a taste.”
“Can I go in your office?”
“No. I said here. Do it now, or I won’t give you my cock later.”
Can I do this? I look around the bar. Sadie is preoccupied, and the handful of people here aren’t paying me any attention.
No, this is ridiculous. I can’t touch myself in the middle of a bar. That’s not the kind of person I am. I don’t do things like that. Besides, Tanner is not going to withhold his cock from me. Is he?
He looks serious, even slightly angry. Like he’s challenging me not to.
Fuck it. I can do it quickly. Absolute worst comes to worst, it would just look like I’m rearranging my panties.
I keep staring at Tanner, trying to pretend we’re the only two people in the room, as I lift up my loose skirt and touch my panties. They’re drenched. I don’t think I’ve ever been this wet without being touched.
I slip a finger underneath and quickly slide it inside me.
I can stop now. That’s all I need to do for Tanner. My finger is covered in my juices already. I don’t need to slip a second finger inside.
I do it anyway.
“How much do you want my cock right now?” Tanner growls. “Your fingers can’t replace my huge meat inside you.”
“Fuck me, Tanner. Please.” I lean on the bar and push my fingers in deep, massaging my front wall, until my legs get weak and I come to my senses.
I pull my fingers out of my pussy and try to casually rearrange my skirt. I don’t look around to see if anyone noticed what just happened. I’d rather not know.
Tanner grabs my hand and smells my fingers, before hungrily sucking the juices off them.
I think I’ve done enough. There’s no way he can resist me after that.
“Can we go to the office now?” I ask desperately.
“I told you, not until—”
Tanner looks up at the door, as it slams open and a few loud men walk in. I don’t look around, instead keeping my attention focused on Tanner. My mind control hasn’t been working so well lately, but this time it does.
“Office. Now.” Tanner gives me a shove towards the office door and I willingly oblige.
About fucking time.
Chapter Seventeen
Tanner
As if I didn’t hate Jay and his two idiot friends enough already, they’re now getting in the way of my sex life.
I’m seconds away from leaving the bar unattended to go fuck Elena in my office when they walk through the door. I must get her out of here. They can’t be trusted around women at the best of times, but when the woman in question happens to be a cop… I shudder to think.
“Office. Now.”
Elena quickly heads back to the office and barely notices the three criminals approaching the bar. I can still taste her juices in my mouth and it takes all my willpower to stay behind the bar and do my job. I’m not just serving them drinks—I need to work my way into their little crew in time for the next job.
“What’ll it be?” I ask.
“Beer,” Jay replies. He usually speaks for the three of them, so I grab three bottles of lager and hand them over.
“$15.”
“Keep the change,” Jay says as he slaps down a twenty on the bar.
“Thanks.” I want them out of here, but not until we’ve had a talk about Friday’s job. “Glad one of us is feeling flush,” I mention casually. “This place is fucking deserted.”
“And I bet none of these cheap bastards bothers to tip,” Jay says, apparently forgetting that this is the first time he’s tipped me in about six months.
<
br /> “At this rate, I’ll be out of a job in a month.”
“A man like you will always find work. You have talents.”
“True,” I reply. “Although I don’t really like the idea of charging women for sex. I’m old-fashioned like that.”
Jay lets out a dirty laugh. I’d rather sell my body for sex than be part of his little crew.
“Those weren’t the skills I was referring to. You can handle yourself. People like me always need people like you.”
“Yeah, well, if anything comes up, let me know. I’m fucking desperate.”
I walk away and go grab some empties from the tables. I can hear the three of them discussing me. Best not to seem too eager. He’s going to call me over anyway.
“Tanner, come over here a minute. Got something I want to discuss with you.”
I wish Daron weren’t working with these idiots, but at least they’re easy to manipulate. Daron is more intelligent than these three combined. He could easily leave the crew, if that’s what he wanted. He’s not a hardcore criminal. Deep down, he’s a good guy, and I pray he realizes that before he gets himself killed. I made his brother a promise, but I can only do so much.
“What’s up? More beer?”
“Nah, we have a proposition for you. Let’s go somewhere more private. Your office free?”
“No, um, I’ve got someone back there. A girl.”
Jay laughs loudly again. “Fuck me, do you ever give your cock a rest? Surprised it hasn’t fallen off by now. All right, I suppose this place is quiet enough as it is. We’ve got something big planned for Friday.”
“What kind of big?”
I don’t usually ask many questions, so I’m going to have to keep it vague or they’ll get suspicious. Even idiots have limits to their stupidity. I think.
“High risk, high reward. Very high risk, very high reward. Look, you know the deal. We’re going to be packing, and this time we’ll be going in with the safeties off. You up for it?”
Jay knows I’m tough. He’s seen me stare down the barrel of the gun without flinching. I never ask many questions. I’ve shown up and done what I’ve been told. This time I need to know what’s going on if I’m to keep Daron—and myself—safe.
“I’m up for it,” I reply.
“Thought you might be. You military lads aren’t scared of a few bullets flying around.”
“I’m never scared. I’m always prepared though. Military lads are a bit like Boy Scouts in that respect. You got a plan?”
“We’ve got intel on the Adams brothers.”
“What kind of intel?”
“They meet once a month. Different location each time and slightly different day, but once a month without fail they get together. This time, we’ve got the details.”
“How?”
“We got fucking lucky. This guy owed us money and couldn’t pay. We were debating which of his fingers to break first when he blurted out information that was worth far more than his debt.”
“Lucky him.”
Jay shrugs. “We still broke two of his fingers. He was a fucking faggot.”
I nod, as if I understand that logic. I swear to God, one day I’m going to make up for the shit I’ve said and done over the last year. At this rate, it’s going to take me a decade.
“So you’re going to hit a storehouse while they’re distracted?”
“No. This is bigger. We’re going to hit them.”
“Are you insane?” I take a deep breath to look appropriately shocked. “You think you’re going to take them out? Do you have any idea how heavily guarded they will be?”
“You know them?” Jay asks suspiciously.
I quickly consider my answer. I’ve not been in Chicago for long, but I do run a bar. A pretty shitty bar at that. It’d hardly be surprising for me to know a bit about the Adams brothers.
“I know of them. They’re dangerous.”
“They’re fucking softies. They used to be dangerous, but they’ve run this city for too long. They’ve forgotten what it takes to maintain control. Ten years ago, that guy would never have given us the information. He’d of rathered we kill him. They don’t deserve to run the city anymore, so we’re going to take it off them. Like I said, very high risk, very high reward. If you’re not interested…”
“I’m interested,” I reply, perhaps a little too keenly. “I’m just saying, you can’t go in all guns blazing. You won’t even get through the door.”
“I fucking realize that,” Jay says angrily. “They’re meeting in an old warehouse. I’ve done business there a few times before, so I know it well. We’re going to get there before the meeting starts and hide out.”
Shit, that’s not a terrible idea. They’ll be able to kill the Adams brothers without having to go through the guards first.
But then they’ll be slaughtered. We’ll be slaughtered.
“How will we escape?”
“We won’t. We burst out and kill the brothers. Probably take down a few other guys too. Can you imagine the chaos? I’m telling you, once we’ve taken out the leaders, the rest of them won’t know what to do. You can do a bit of crowd control. Maybe take a few people out yourself. They’ll still outnumber us, but we’ll be the ones in control.”
“It’ll be a shootout,” I reply with a shake of the head.
“Once we’ve taken out their boss, there’ll be no reason for them to shoot us. These people need to take orders from someone and they’ll look up to us.”
“I get what you’re saying.” I fucking don’t. “But people don’t think rationally when bullets are flying through the air. You’ll create a panic and probably get killed.”
“All right then, Boy Scout, what do you suggest?”
It’s bad enough I’m going on this job to keep an eye on Daron. Now I’m fucking planning it for them. Legally, I think I’m already considered a co-conspirator. Might as well dot the i’s and cross the t’s.
Frankly, I don’t give two shits if Jay kills the Adams brothers. He’s crazy If he thinks he can take over the gang that easily, but what do I care? I just want to get Daron out of this mess alive.
“You need to get the brothers by themselves,” I say, “or at least not with their entire crew around them. It won’t be just guards. Most of the higher-ups in the organization will be there, and they’ll have their guards too.”
“This is our only chance,” Jay says aggressively. “The brothers don’t exactly share their location on Facebook. We might never see them again.”
I look towards the door of my office where Elena is waiting patiently for me to go in and screw her. Why am I standing here trying to help some criminals kill some more intelligent criminals? If she heard even half of this conversation… being dumped would be the least of my problems.
If Jay knew a cop was sitting in the office right now… it’s not even worth thinking about.
Cops. That’s it.
“Call the cops,” I say straight-faced.
Jay laughs awkwardly until he realizes I’m being serious. “Why don’t we just hand ourselves in and save them the trouble? Fucking hell, Tanner. I thought you military boys had some wits about you.”
“Here’s what you do. Call the cops and let them know what’s going on. But only do it just as the meeting starts. That way, the brothers show up like normal and the meeting kicks off for a few minutes before the sirens start blaring.”
“They’ll have an escape route,” Jay says. “And the brothers wouldn’t be stupid enough to bring any incriminating evidence with them. They'll be as clean as the head of my cock when your bit of skirt has finished sucking it.”
I nearly lose it. It’s only the fact that my ‘bit of skirt’ is twenty yards away that I manage to keep my cool.
“The brothers will make a getaway,” I agree. “And we’ll be outside waiting for them. When they drive off, we follow them. With all the police around, I bet they even drive at the speed limit and stop at all the stop signs. More to the point,
wherever they go they’ll be secluded. At most, they might have two guards and a driver. Five people are a lot easier to deal with than thirty.”
“Tanner,” Jay says, shaking his head slightly. “Tanner, Tanner, Tanner. Explain this to me. Why the fuck haven’t you been on our team this entire time?”
He breaks out into laughter and slams another $20 bill down on the bar. “Three more beers.”
I walk over to grab three more bottles, when the door to my office opens and Elena steps out.
“Tanner? What’s going on? It’s getting kind of lonely in there.”
“Give me two minutes. I’ll be right there.”
She goes back into the office, but it’s too late. The guys spotted her.
“Nice one, Tanner. Wouldn’t mind a go on that ass myself.”
I slam the beers down on the bar. “Take these and go.”
“What?”
“I’m closing early. As you can see I’ve got business to attend to.”
I turn the music down and order everyone to leave. They grumble, but I couldn’t give a shit. Daron is the only one who looks happy to go home, and that’s because it doesn’t look like he’s going home alone tonight. If Sadie is half as entertaining as Elena, he’s going to be in for a fun night.
I can’t go on like this forever. I can’t be a criminal and mess around with Elena at the same time.
Fortunately, it’s not a difficult decision to make.
Just this one last job, and then I’m out. I’ll try taking Daron with me, but if he won’t go, he’s going to have to look after himself.
I’m devoting all my energies to the beautiful woman waiting for me in my office. She’s going to get everything I have to give.
All nine inches of it.
Chapter Eighteen
Elena
“About fucking time,” I yell, as Tanner comes storming into the office. “What’s going on?”
Tanner doesn’t say anything. He just pushes me up against a rickety old desk and kisses me hard. His tongue slips between my lips as his hands squeeze my breasts hard, pushing them up and out of my bra.
