Petros (Royal Bastards MC)

by Esther E. Schmidt

  Chapter Three

  ***Petros***

  The way her eyes glaze over? I recognize and have seen it lots of times. Mainly in people who know their last moments on this fucking earth are ticking away; and they’re perfectly fine with it too.

  Normally I wouldn’t care. Not even with a bitch my cock enjoyed to take very damn much. But there’s something about this woman. I have no clue what it is but it’s as if her nails drag over my skin, shaking me with awareness and the need to make her mine.

  I shake my head in an effort to clear it. Where the fuck did that thought come from? Never. Not going to happen. Like I said, I don’t care if her pussy is golden, I won’t ever have an Old Lady, nor will I have the same bitch in my bed like I had Sadie warming it for weeks on end.

  Women get the wrong idea, even if I’m clear as fuck about shit. And we all know where keeping a woman warming my bed got me the last time; minus a VP and a lot of shit to deal with. Even if I have a better man as a VP now, and handed Sadie over to the New Orleans Chapter to deal with…I still expect a call from one of the Royal Bastards MC Chapter any damn moment to have news who finally caught Hart. See? Useless shit to deal with.

  Not to mention this woman is mere leverage. I need to deal with it as such, if only to disconnect with her before I lose my shit and fuck her again. I loosen my grip and let my hand slide into her hair to fist it. I drag her head back and cage her in with my body to make sure she stumbles until her back hits the wall.

  “Answer. My. Fucking. Question. Where the fuck is your father?” I all but spit in her face.

  Still her face holds no sign of fear and I have to admire her for it because I’ve had grown men piss their fucking pants by just looking at them. Yet, this woman? Her upper lip twists in anger and I can tell she’s grinding her teeth.

  “Talk,” I bark in her face to see if I can rile her up some.

  I’m a mean motherfucker, what can I say? My cock is harder than the morning wood I woke up with. This woman is in a league of her own and I might be a tad sad to see her go by the end of the day, or maybe tomorrow, whenever her asshole of a father gives me the damn money.

  “Don’t know, don’t care,” she finally snaps. “But when you find him? You can put a bullet in his head for all I care.”

  I narrow my eyes at the woman while I process her words. Fuck. I should have done some more digging before I jumped the gun at snatching up the daughter. This fucker had the picture-perfect American dream, so I figured he’d do anything to keep his dear ol’ daughter safe and sound. Guess I made a fucking mistake a-fucking-gain.

  “Will do if the fucker doesn’t hand over what he owes us,” I state and flash my straight white teeth in a careless smile.

  She doesn’t look impressed, though. I tilt my head and take a moment to let every detail on her face sink in. Her eyes are all puffy and red. Suddenly I remember hearing her crying through the door when I woke up. I wonder why, did it have anything to do with the anger she holds toward her father?

  “Earlier, you were crying. Why?”

  Pain and regret fill her gaze and I swear her eyes start to water but she blinks a few times and I can see it all being shoved behind a blank stare. “My mother, she died yesterday.”

  My chest squeezes in understanding for this woman and I’m damn surprised since little affects me. Certainly not shit some bitch I don’t know went through, but somehow this woman manages to get under my skin.

  My voice is gruff when I offer her my words. “Sorry to hear that.”

  She’s startled by my response and swallows hard. I bet she’d rather have the anger and confrontation instead of sympathy. Tough fucking luck, she’s experiencing first-hand life controls the living and will flip balance between right and wrong, good and evil, when you least expect it.

  Knocking on my door rips us from staring into each other’s eyes. I step away from her and stalk to the door, flip the lock, and open it to find Helix standing before me. I’m about to ask what’s up when I see the worry edged on his face.

  “New Orleans Chapter called, you need to call back but that’s not priority right now.” Helix drags a hand over his face. “The Prez of Iron Grims MC demands a meeting.”

  Hate flashes hot through my veins. “Let the fucker demand what he wants. It’s not going to happen.”

  Boone—the asshole Prez of Iron Grims MC—and I have gone head to head on several occasions. We have a truce in place but it’s as thin as a used condom.

  “I’ve told him the same thing but the fucker is at the gate demanding to see you. He’s got six assholes with him blocking the entrance,” Helix sighs.

  “Be right there,” I tell him and close the door.

  I grab my guns and slide them into my shoulder holster, one on each side. Kinsey eyes my movements as I gear up but doesn’t say anything.

  “I have to deal with some shit. Stay here till I get back. And I fucking mean it because I don’t need some bitch rushing out the door while I have another MC knocking at it itching to start a fucking war to expand their turf. Got me?” I growl, giving her a little too much information, but she strikes me as a smart little bitch who functions better with information than to be put in place without knowing why.

  And no, it doesn’t have anything to do with little IQ or being submissive by nature. It’s all about being a leader or a follower and knowing when to be on the right side of things to prevent shit from escalating. Kinsey crosses her arms in front of her chest and says nothing, though her eyes are spitting fire my way in the hopes I flame up and die. Sorry, darlin’ I’m not that easy to kill.

  “You know where the bathroom is. I suggest you take a nice hot shower to relax before we hash out the issues at hand.”

  “You know,” she drawls. “You went from ‘not going to happen’ to ‘be right there’ in the blink of an eye. You’d do good to grow some backbone in the next few seconds before you face those other guys outside. First impression and all,” she snickers and stalks toward the bathroom.

  Fuckin’ bitch. Acting quick, I spin her around and smack her into the wall right beside the bathroom door. I curl my fingers around her delicate throat. “The first impression he got from me was my knife slicing through his sergeant-at-arm’s neck because the assholes tried to interfere with our run, killing two of my guys in the process. Don’t blabber your fucking mouth over things you don’t know shit about.”

  She stumbles out an apology but it’s the way she holds my stare while doing it. I can see her double take on the words she’s processing but she stays strong nonetheless.

  Kinsey swallows and the feeling slides through my palm along with her rapid heartbeat. “Even more reason to straighten your spine and focus.” The words are barely a whisper and somehow…she’s still making an effort to stand up to me—while one action of my hand grants her to either take her next breath or prevent her from it—this shit is making my cock hard.

  “Not at all fazed by what I just mentioned to you, huh?” I snicker, lowering my lips until they’re a breath away from hers.

  I can feel her pulse pick up some more underneath my fingers. “With what happened yesterday, how I woke up this morning, what you just told me…I’m allowed to use it as an excuse to still be in shock, right?”

  The corner of my mouth twitches. “You tellin’ me you’re a wallflower normally and when life kicks you in the balls you turn into a ballsy bitch?”

  She leans forward, her lips touching mine. “Something like that.”

  My mouth slams into hers so hard it knocks her head against the wall as our teeth clash. Fuck. The taste of blood doesn’t stop me from tongue fucking her mouth and the way she digs her nails into my biceps and swirls her tongue around mine indicates she isn’t fazed by it either.

  The sound of gunshots rings through the air. Now this? This stops me from taking her mouth. I pull back and give her a glare of warning. “Stay here.”

  Her head bounces up and down a few times very quick before I’m out the
door. Fucking Boone and that asshole temper of his. I have a gun in each hand when I stalk out of the clubhouse. One arm raised straight ahead and aimed right at the fucker while the other stays slack beside my body.

  “You rang?” I bark.

  Boone tucks his gun back into his holster at his back and smirks. “I was done waiting.”

  Anger is making me fire the words back at him in rapid speed. “Then you shouldn’t have come here at all. We have an agreement, one stating you’re not to come into our territory without our permission.”

  “You’re interfering with our business, I’d say you didn’t give me any fucking choice,” Boone snaps.

  Now this spikes my attention. “No damn way will I ever be bored enough to interfere with your business, Boone. What you’re spouting out is bullshit. Now if you don’t mind…fuck off, I have other matters to deal with.” I turn my back on him—confident enough with my brothers having my back—as I start to stroll back to the clubhouse.

  “Alvin Glensley.” Boone’s voice makes me stop dead in my tracks.

  I spin around to face the fucker again with his clean shaven, baby face. “What about him?”

  I try to act indifferent but the name of Kinsey’s father coming from this fucker’s mouth instantly puts me on edge.

  “The asshole owes me twenty grand. He surpassed three deadlines, including a beating he took two weeks ago, he was supposed to pay up two days ago. He didn’t…reason enough to give the final warning. But when I wanted to let him know his wife paid the interest…the fucker was nowhere to be found. One of my guys saw one of yours swinging by the asshole’s house, hence me showing up here and questioning why the hell you’d be dippin’ your dick in my business.” The fucker shrugs as if he didn’t just mention he killed Kinsey’s mother.

  “Hate to break it to you, but it’s the other way around,” I growl. “I have a signed contract; Alvin belongs to me. Any money he has is mine and mine alone, so you stay the fuck away from him and his family for that matter.”

  Boone tilts his head. “Ah, makes sense with the prospect hanging around his house and the daughter gone missing.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The fucker went by Kinsey’s place? I’m never one to show any emotions. Even when a gun is shoved against my temple. I’m a firm believer of the whole ‘shit happens for a reason’ statement. When it’s your time, it’s your time. Right now, I wish Boone’s time was up, but I can’t kill him where he’s fucking standing. On my property. It’s too messy.

  “Good talk. Now get your ugly ass out of my territory seeing you ain’t got any business to be here, nor am I interested in anything else you might have to say.” I dismiss him but when I start to turn, his words make my ice-cold stare hit his face.

  “Not until I get my money,” Boone snaps. “You either share a cut or I’ll keep going after him. And I will be the one who will find him first. I’ll make fucking sure. Then you won’t have any cut of this fucker’s money ‘cause I’m taking all and ending the fucker, and the rest of his petty family since I don’t do second chances.”

  “I don’t owe you any fucking loyalty in this, asshole. Need I mention the fact Alvin lives in my territory? I’m the one with the signed contract for the debt he owes Royal Bastards MC. I advise you to step a-fucking-side or,”

  “Or what? Risk a war? Fucking bring it. You think we’re scared of the Royal Bastards? Fuck, no. We might not have a lot of bodies to outnumber yours, but we’ll go on a damn killing spree to stand up for what we’re owed. And this Alvin asshole owes us twenty grand. As I said, we wiped away the interest when we wiped away his wife, but the twenty grand still stands. You can either buy us out, split the cash we get from him when we find him, or ignore us and face the consequences. Either way I’m not backing out of something Iron Grims is owed.” Boone lifts his chin and I want nothing more than to connect my fist with it.

  Helix steps up next to me and leans in to whisper, “Tell him we need to vote on it, get him the fuck outta here and we’ll decide how to handle this asshole later.”

  I give a curt nod and as Helix steps away, I tell Boone, “I have to bring it to the table. I’ll contact you when we’ve discussed it.”

  “Can’t decide shit on your own, old man?” Boone snickers. “Fine. I’ll call within twenty-four hours.”

  Old man. Even if this whole issue wasn’t between us, I’d like nothing more than to put a bullet in his fucking baby face. I’m not fucking old. Compared to him? Sure, because he just got his cheeks wet and doesn’t have the experience that comes through the years. He’s around the same age as Kinsey. I hit pause on the very thought and instead of thinking of her, I watch Boone and his guys get on their bikes and ride off.

  “I think it’s time we chop off his head, put it on a stake to make a statement to all assholes not to come here and demand shit,” Helix mutters beside me and I can’t help but bark out my laughter.

  “Sounds like a plan to me. I only have hate for Boone. Hell, I hated his father before him when he was the Prez. Seems being a hothead and an asshole runs in the family. Come on, spread the word, church in fifteen minutes,” I tell Helix and smack him on the back.

  I stalk into the clubhouse and head for my room. At least the door is still closed and when I’m inside, I can hear the shower running. I lock the door behind me and stroll into the bathroom. A smile slides over my face when I realize she’s left the door to the bathroom unlocked.

  The smile slides right off like the water sliding down the drain when I see her sitting on her ass underneath the shower with her head leaning on the tiles, eyes closed. Without thinking I reach out, water crashing down over me.

  “Kinsey,” I snap.

  Her eyes flash open and I swear her ass lifts a few inches off the floor due to shock. “Holy shit, you scared me.”

  “And you almost gave me a fucking heart attack,” I snap, suddenly angry at the way my heart leaped out of my chest by finding her like I did.

  Her hands go to her head. “Can you please not raise your voice to full volume? My head is killing me and I couldn’t find any aspirin. I’m also really thirsty and feel like shit, and…”

  “Woman, you have a hangover. Stop complaining and get out of the fucking shower. You need to get your ass into my bed. I’ll get you some aspirin and something to drink.”

  “Apple juice?” she croaks. “Do you have apple juice in your house? And does that man live next door to you? The one who was just here asking for you to come and handle something? Small apartment you have, you don’t even have a kitchen…or do you share a house with the other guy who was at the door? Wait, the leather thing you’re wearing, do…”

  “Woman,” I growl again. “Stop questioning shit and do as I say.”

  I spin around, stalk out of my room, and head for the kitchen. Her questions play around in my head and it makes me chuckle that she doesn’t even know where the fuck she is and she has only seen my room. She won’t be finding out more any time soon. With Iron Grims killing her mother and wanting her father’s head on a platter if they don’t get their cash…her life is at risk if she steps foot outside the damn building.

  “Is it raining inside, or what?” West states with his eyes wide.

  I grab some apple juice from the refrigerator and a bottle of water before I face him. “Make yourself useful instead of askin’ idiot questions. Ever heard of a damn shower?”

  “Your ma never told ya to take off your clothes first?” The prospect chuckles.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I grumble and ignore the asshole as I stroll back to my room.

  I grab the aspirin and place the drinks on the bedside table. Kinsey strolls out of the bathroom with a new towel in her hands. She’s wearing one of my shirts and it leaves her legs bare. Legs I would like to shove open to bare her pussy and feast on it. I didn’t get to taste her pussy yet, and the craving to have her flashes hot through my veins. Shit. She’s only supposed to be leverage.

  I should keep
my distance and place her in another room. I make a mental note to discuss in church what we’re going to do with Kinsey. Distance, I need it. Even more when I realize this woman just made me go into the fucking kitchen to get her a drink. When was the last fucking time I brought a woman a drink? The other way around? Hell yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be.

  I watch how she drapes the towel over the pillow before she lays her head on it. I clear my throat to get her attention. “Stay in my room. I have a meeting. I’ll come back when I’m done.”

  She whispers a soft “Okay” and closes her unique eyes. Fuck. What am I going to do with this woman?

  Chapter Four

  ***Kinsey***

  I’ve slept for over two hours and I’m glad I didn’t take the aspirin before I went to sleep because I can now take it and doze some more. Glad to say I’m feeling somewhat better. Well, as long as I don’t think about what happened yesterday, and let me tell you…that’s a little hard to do when you’re in a stranger’s bed.

  The bed of a man I met yesterday…and dammit, I’m ashamed to admit I have no clue how we met or how I got here. Where the hell ‘here’ even is. Shit. Yes, I should be freaking out, but instead I want to hit the pause button on my life—put everything on hold—and doze off. Or should I run? I glance to the window but notice the lock. Yeah…I mentally hit the pause button on escaping too.

  From the corner of my eye I see my bag. Winning! I dash up and a wave of dizziness surges along with me. Okay, maybe going slow is the smartest thing to do. I grab my bag and slide back underneath the covers. Seems I was smart enough to have my favorite body lotion in my bag, and why the hell is the remote to my TV in there too?

  The first thing I do is grab my body lotion and rub it onto my skin. I feel better with every inhale of my favorite scent and being wrapped in the comfort of it. Sometimes it’s the smallest of things that can give you a boost. My body lotion is exactly what I needed to feel more like myself.