by Brook Wilder
I reached into the ice cooler and pulled out another one, popping the top before sliding it to him. “There you go.”
“Thanks,” he said, looking around. “I have to admit, I do remember coming here.”
Finally. “Still look the same?” I joked.
He grinned. “Still looks the same.”
That grin. Boy, he could make a lot of money off that grin of his. It turned my world on its axis when he grinned like that.
“I saw Siren today.”
I leaned a hip against the bar, looking around to make sure Red wasn’t slinking in the shadows. “You did. Looks like the meeting went well.”
Clayton looked at me in surprise. “How do you know?”
“Well, you are still alive,” I said cheekily, grabbing the shot glasses and placing them in the sink to keep my hands busy. Having Clayton here was both a bit unnerving and good at the same time. I was glad that he remembered our earlier encounter, but it still wasn’t him conceding that he was Amelia’s father. Emily had told me how she had run into him yesterday and he had gotten a glimpse of Amelia. She had chastised me for showing him where I lived.
I hadn’t told her about the stalker and knowing that Clayton knew where I lived gave me a sense of security, even if it was false security.
“I have to tell you something else,” he continued, gripping his beer in his hand.
“Okay,” I answered, filling up the sink with water. “What do you need to tell me?”
He leaned forward, his forearms resting on the bar top. “The Jesters are setting up a temporary clubhouse on this side of the border.”
So, it was starting. I was glad that my hands were in the suds of the sink water so he couldn’t see them shake.
Another thought came to me at that same moment, however, and I drew in a breath. “If something goes bad, will they look after my sister and Amelia?”
“Look at me, Cora.”
I did, seeing the intensity in his eyes that nearly took my breath away. “Nothing is going to happen to you. I swear it.”
He couldn’t promise that any more than I could. “Just tell me they will take them in,” I urged, needing to know that there was a way out if this went ugly.
His jaw clenched. “They will. I will make sure they will.”
Relief flooded through my body. “Thank you.”
“I will text you the address. If anything happens that you can’t control, you go there.”
I gave him a curt nod. I hoped not to need their protection, but it never hurt to have that in my back pocket, just in case.
“Cora!”
Red’s voice filled the air and I cringed. I had successfully avoided him for the most part tonight, the bar being so busy and all, but knew he was going to seek me out eventually.
“That’s Red,” I said with false cheerfulness, my heart hammering in my ears. “I will be right back.”
Clayton’s gaze narrowed as I hastily wiped my hands on the rag and walked to Amy. “Red is calling for me,” I told her. “I’ll be back.”
“Take your time,” she answered cheerfully as she splashed tequila into the glasses before her. I swallowed and walked through the door toward the back of the bar, my palms growing sweaty. I had dreaded this encounter between us, knowing that he wasn’t going to change the way he was just because I had become a mother.
I couldn’t say no. If I did, he would likely fire me, which would mean I couldn’t help the resistance in their plans any longer.
I couldn’t fight him. The last thing I needed was to be laid up in the hospital and leave my daughter and sister vulnerable.
All I could do was survive.
Red was leaning against the storeroom door, his crude eyes cutting a path over my body. “What took you so long?”
“We are busy,” I shot back, wiping my hands on my jeans. “Making you money.”
He grabbed my hair and I cried out, surprised at his sudden show of violence. “Get your whore ass in here. I’ve waited long enough.”
He threw me into the storeroom before following me in, not wasting any time pressing his large body against mine. I could feel the evidence of his arousal pressing into my belly and nausea rose in my throat. I could do this. I could give him what he wanted and then move on.
He would only have this opportunity until the resistance could take him down. Then I would watch with a large smile on my face as he suffered. I started to lower myself to the floor, but he grabbed my upper arms roughly, pulling me back to a standing position. “No,” he said, his voice harsh. “I want something more tonight.”
Oh no. He couldn’t mean that! “I’m on my period,” I blurted out.
His grin only grew wider as his hand grabbed my breast roughly. “Do you fucking think I care? Maybe I will bury my brat in your stomach this time, Cora. You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
Tears sprang to my eyes as he licked the side of my face, his hand sliding down to unfasten the button on my jeans. I couldn’t do this. I didn’t want to do this. I would rather die than have Red rutting between my legs.
The door suddenly burst open and I looked over Red’s shoulder to see Clayton standing there, my heart leaping into my throat. The dark expression on his face caused me to shiver inwardly, seeing the way his murderous gaze was on Red’s back.
He was going to kill him.
“What the hell?” Red said, pushing off me and turning around. “Who the hell are you?”
Clayton’s expression had transformed into a sloppy drunk, leaning against the doorframe with a grin on his face. “I thought this was the shitter.”
“It’s not,” I said hurriedly, finding my way around my startled boss. “But I can show you where it is.”
He slung his arm over my shoulders immediately, steering me out of the storeroom. “Hell, I can’t even get my feet to walk.”
I was embarrassed and hurt that he had seen me like that, wondering what was going through his mind and what he must think of me.
We got around the corner toward the bathrooms and he pushed me against the wall gently, every bit of the drunkenness gone from his expression. “Are you okay?” he asked softly, his beautiful eyes searching mine.
No, I wasn’t okay. I wanted to fold against his body and cry my eyes out. “I’m fine.”
His expression grew dark again. “How many times?”
I knew what he was asking, but I didn’t know if I wanted to share that with him. It made me feel like I was scum, like I should have fought back more than I had. He would think the worst of me. “Never to that point,” I forced out. “But he made me do other things to him before Amelia was born.”
There was that tic in his jaw, the look that scared the daylights out of me. “What about the other girl?”
“I don’t think so,” I said, my tongue thick in my mouth. If Red had ever approached her for anything, Amy had kept it to herself. I hoped she hadn’t, for her sake.
He swore under his breath and before I knew it, his hand came up to my cheek, caressing it lightly. “I’m so damn sorry.”
His soft words nearly tore me in two. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know,” he answered. “But I still want to kill the bastard for even thinking he could fucking touch you like that.”
Suddenly I wished we hadn’t had that one-night stand, but many more after it. I wished that he had been there when I had found out I was pregnant and that we could have made a different life than the one we were leading right now.
I wished I could see this side of him more often, feel the sudden rush of tenderness that he was making me feel.
But this wasn’t my fantasy world. Clayton didn’t even like me and the only reason he was here was to get the information for his biker club, nothing more. He had said so himself; he didn’t even believe that I was telling the truth about Amelia.
Why did he have to complicate things like this?
His eyes grew darker and I swallowed, my fractured memories of us together starting
to swirl in my thoughts. I didn’t remember much, but those eyes, they could pierce straight through you. Did they lighten when he was happy and not under all this stress?
Did they ever laugh? Did he ever laugh?
I wanted to touch his chiseled jaw with my hands, feel the rough stubble of his beard growth against my fingers. I wanted him to kiss me with those full lips of his, make me forget about what Red had done, about my life in general for a while.
Most of all, I wanted to trace that tattoo on his back again, to kiss my way from his shoulders until he groaned with pleasure.
Something must have shown on my face for his nostrils flared and he cupped the back of my neck, pulling me toward him. He was going to kiss me.
Clayton was going to kiss me.
The sound of a crashing pot from the kitchen broke me out of the trance and I pushed at his chest, putting some distance between us. “We can’t.”
His look shuttered. “You’re right. We can’t.”
His words tore through me like a knife and never had I wanted to shove words back in my mouth more than I did then. Collecting my thoughts and ignoring the way my body mourned the break in contact, I cleared my throat. “Can you stay until closing?”
A hint of a smile crossed his lips. “I will be really drunk by then. Are you worried that he will try again?”
I shook my head. “No, I have something for you. Something I found that I think will be beneficial to your club.”
His eyes lit up with greed. “I can hang around then. We will have to continue this drunken bit, though, or else he will get suspicious.”
I gave him a small smile. “Just follow my lead.”
Clayton looked as if he wanted to say more, but instead motioned for me to continue back the way I came. “Your lead it is.”
I walked away from him, biting my lip in the process. This night had taken a strange turn, there was no doubt about that.
I returned to the bar and served the next round of patrons sitting in my section, ignoring the worried look from Amy as I did so. Clayton’s question had brought up a great point and now I was itching to ask her if Red had ever forced her to do things like he did me. She was a pretty woman, far prettier than I was.
Had she been forced to pick up the slack while I was out with Amelia? Had she endured her own personal hell with him?
Clayton made his way back to the bar and instead of seating himself in Amy’s section, found a stool at the end of mine, drunkenly giving me a thumbs-up as he did so. I pushed another beer toward him, and he took a healthy swallow, nearly polishing off the entire thing. I imagined beer was not what got him drunk anyway but Red didn’t know that, and I really had to give him the piece of evidence I had found so that he could pass it along.
That and I was grateful that he would be here at closing, in case Red retaliated against me. I didn’t want to be forced into that storeroom any longer. I was biding my time until the moment I could leave this bar and leave Red behind, whether he wound up in jail or died.
I didn’t really care which one, to be honest. He had forced me to do things that I didn’t want to tell anyone about, making me feel like I was worthless in life.
He deserved whatever he had coming to him and I wondered if it was going to be delivered in the form of the biker at the end of the bar.
Chapter 10
Halftrack
I took a measured sip of my beer, slouching my body to make it look like I couldn’t hold my head up from the alcohol. Cora had even lined up a few empty shot glasses in front of me, filled with water to simulate that I had overindulged in the rum behind the counter as well.
Inside, I didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy from the beer I had been drinking but more pissed from what I had witnessed tonight. Now I understood what her uncomfortableness was from, why she had chosen to go with me that night a year ago rather than stay at this bar.
Her fucking boss was taking advantage of her.
When she had disappeared from the bar, I had decided to follow, wondering if I could catch a glimpse of any of the activity that was coming from this bar in terms of the cartel.
Instead I had heard Red’s angered voice and decided to investigate.
What I saw wasn’t something I would forget anytime soon. I wanted to pull his head back and slit his throat for even thinking he could touch a woman like that, and it had taken all I had not to do just that. This was the only link to the cartel and if I killed him, it would set us and the resistance back months of work.
But the terror in Cora’s eyes had made me want to do so. That fucking asshole. He was the reason I was hanging around right now. I didn’t give a shit about the list she had or how it would help us.
No, I wanted to make sure he didn’t lay a hand on her again, not in my presence. What would happen after I wasn’t around?
I didn’t want to think about that.
“Last call,” Cora called out to the remaining bar patrons, picking up the glasses from the bar and putting them in the sink.
I watched her every move, pushing the beer bottle toward her so she could chuck it in the trash. She was leaving with me tonight, whether she liked it or not. I had gotten rid of the stalker but now there was someone bigger on her tail, someone that I didn’t trust as far as I could throw him.
The man in question walked out at that moment, standing near the swinging door and watching his two bartenders finish closing the till and count the night’s money.
But I didn’t think he was there to just watch them. No, he was intrigued about me still being here, likely trying to figure me out.
Well, I was about to give him a reason to hate me even more. Sliding off the stool, I forced myself to stumble to the right, grabbing the bar with a low chuckle.
“Are you all right?” Cora asked anxiously, playing the timing perfectly.
“I’m fine,” I mumbled, reaching in my pocket for my bike keys.
She hurried around the bar, sliding her arm around my waist. “No, you are not.”
“Call him a damn cab,” Red barked from the other side of the bar. “Damn drunkard.”
I balled my fist to keep from launching at him, leaning heavily on Cora. “Tell him you are taking me home,” I whispered, clutching at her waist.
“I’m taking him home,” she called out, propping me against the bar to reach for her bag. “Cabs aren’t safe for someone this drunk. You know they will dump him out after robbing him and then we will have the cops sniffing around the bar.”
I watched as Red considered her statement, finally waving a hand at her. “Get him the hell out of here.”
Cora slung her bag over her shoulder before wrapping her arm back around my waist. “Come on,” she hissed, moving me toward the door. “Before he changes his mind.”
We stumbled all the way to the door, and she pushed it open, forcing me through the doorway. Instantly I straightened, grabbing her hand. “Where’s your car?”
“Around back,” she stated breathlessly. “Thank God I decided to drive it tonight. This way.”
I followed her around the side of the building, and she unlocked a small four-door car that had seen better days. “Get in,” Cora stated, opening the door.
I did the same and she started the engine, pulling out of the parking lot a moment later. Once we were on the street, I loosed a breath. “Good job back there.”
“You too,” she stated. “I don’t think Red even knew what was going on.”
Hell, I hoped not.
“Reach into my bag,” she said after a moment. “There’s a piece of paper in there for you.”
I did as she instructed, unfolding the paper and looking at the words in the passing streetlights. “What am I looking at?”
“A list of the deliveries,” Cora stated. “I found it under the drawer in the register. I think this is when the fentanyl is being delivered.”
“Damn, you are brilliant,” I said, not believing the chance she had taken in stealing this. Reaching for my cell, I p
ulled it out of my pocket and took a few pictures to send to Chains later. “Have you sent this to Siren?”
Cora shook her head, her hands gripping the steering wheel. “I haven’t had a chance. I will have to put it back before Red realizes it’s gone.”
Before I could open my mouth, I looked in the mirror. “I think we are being followed.” It was too late at night to have another car following our every move.
“What do you want me to do?” Cora asked, a tremor of fear in her voice.
I thought for a minute. If we drove to her place, we would be putting her and the baby in danger. I couldn’t let that happen. “Take a right at the next street. We will head to my place.”
