Lean In: Royal Bastards MC Pittsburgh, PA

by Deja Voss

  “She’s way too fucking good for you, Lean,” Brass says. I shoot him a middle finger over my shoulder, even though everything he’s saying is absolutely true.

  “We’re going to make this alright, babe, I promise,” I whisper to her. “I don’t care what it takes, we’re gonna get your sister here. I don’t care how much it costs. Everything is gonna be alright.”

  I turn from her and give my father the look. “Meeting in the war room in one hour. I want everybody there, no exceptions. Get some prospects in here to clean up Bags. Have the girls start working on a proper wake.”

  I pick up Mani, cradling her in my arms and carry her down the hallway and back to my bedroom.

  “When I say stay put, I fucking mean it,” I say to her as I set her on the bed. “That’s not something you should’ve seen.”

  “It’s my fault,” she stammers. “Please, I know this was retaliation for what happened yesterday. They’re not going to stop until they get what they want. You have to let me go back.”

  “Over my dead body,” I growl. I set her down on the bed and grab my cut from the closet.

  “That’s what I’m afraid of. Stefano and Catarina are out for blood now. Nobody is safe as long as I’m here.”

  “I don’t think you know who you’re messing with, babe.”

  She looks like she wants to believe me, but years of hurt and brainwashing can’t be undone by a few words out of my mouth.

  “You know what this means, right?” I say, holding my leather in front of her. She runs her fingers over the patches. “When I put this on your body it meant that for the rest of my life, it’s my job to take care of you.”

  She runs her fingers over my face. “That’s what Stefano and Catarina promised me, too. I saw your business card, Lean. I know what you do. Who’s to say you’re not going to get tired of me someday and sell me?”

  “Sell you? Babe, when I claim something as my own, I don’t share with anybody. No buys, no sells, no trades, you understand?”

  “Why me?” She doesn’t look like the weak girl I picked up off the floor yesterday, but a beautiful woman who just realized she’s got a power over me stronger than anything I’ve ever felt before.

  “Because I knew the minute I laid eyes on you, I needed you more than you need me. Don’t know why. I don’t always have the right words. But I know how I feel, and I know more than anything in the world I had to put my claim on you, and I’ll spend every fucking day of my life making sure you don’t have to worry about a thing.”

  I press my lips to hers, taking in the taste of her lips for the first time. My fingers trace her neck, feeling her heart beat faster as I explore her mouth with my tongue.

  I’m in way over my head. I never cared so much for a bitch before. Never wanted to make things perfect. Never thought about anything beyond a one night stand. I know in this instant I could have her for the rest of my life, every damn day I live, and it wouldn’t be enough. This woman is in my soul. She’s a part of me now.

  I pull her shirt up over her head, and she falls back on the bed, smiling up at me, her long curly hair sprawled out all across my comforter. I want to kiss away every bruise on her body, every mark, every scar. I want to take away every ounce of pain those people made her feel.

  I bring my mouth to her nipple, swirling it with my tongue until she starts to moan.

  “Anybody ever kiss you like that before?” I ask, looking up at the wide grin forming across her face.

  “Never,” she says.

  I won’t make her relive the hurt of her past unless she wants to. I won’t make her tell me what went on in that house unless it makes her feel better. What I will do is make damn sure she never feels anything like that again.

  “Nobody’s ever going to kiss you like that but me, babe. You’re mine now.”

  My lips travel down her stomach, gently nipping at her flesh. I slide down her pants as I crest her hip bones, running my tongue up and down them as she bucks her hips in the air.

  “I’m gonna worship every inch of your body until you beg me to stop,” I say. “I’m gonna make damn sure you never want for anything again in your whole life.”

  Her pussy is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, dripping wet and waiting for me to devour it. As I press my lips to her clit she groans so loud, I about jizz in my jeans.

  “Mine,” I say, smiling up at her. “Mine to kiss. Mine to lick. Mine.” I tease my finger up and down the lips of her cunt, dragging her wetness until I can’t resist any longer. Her hips writhe as I slide a finger inside her. “Does that feel good, love?”

  Because it feels really fucking good to me. Just touching her turns me on more than anything I’ve ever experienced. Making her feel good is better than anything I could possibly imagine.

  She moans softly as I slide my finger in and out of her, feeling the walls of her pussy tremble with my movements. I can’t get enough of her taste, and as I flatten my tongue on her throbbing clit, she wraps her legs around my head like she’s trying to suffocate me, like she’s losing all control, and it drives me fucking insane.

  I kiss her trembling thighs, watching her come down, watching her blink her eyes open and smile at me like we’re sharing some inside joke. That’s what this all is. Two people who are fucked up beyond belief finding something in each other that nobody else in the world could’ve ever offered us.

  I want nothing more than to drive my rock hard cock into that perfect pussy, but I know it’s time for me to go. Right in this instant isn’t good enough. I’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure Mani doesn’t have to worry another day in her life.

  “You’re the best thing that’s every happened to me, Mani, and I’m gonna make damn sure I’m the best man I can be for you.”

  “Just be honest with me,” she says, puling me on top of her and kissing me on the lips.

  “I would never tell a lie to hurt you, babe. I’ll never do wrong by you. You don’t have to worry about me.”

  “I worry about the things you won’t tell me.”

  I know I can’t tell her everything about me, my life, and the club, so I just nod. “Everything I do is to protect this patch and take care of my family. And now that you’re mine, that means you too. And your sister, Mani. we’re gonna make sure she gets everything she needs.”

  She shakes her head and smiles, pulling me in for another kiss. I wish I could spend the whole day with her, never leave her side again, but I’ve got a dead brother to deal with and a war brewing. It’s gonna have to wait.

  “We’re gonna take care of everything, babe. I don’t know how long it’s gonna take, but I don’t want you to worry. We’ll get this place locked down like a steel trap. You gotta promise me you won’t leave the clubhouse til I get back.”

  “Are you gonna get mad if I talk to Gin?” she asks.

  I laugh and shake my head. She winks at me and I can’t resist pressing my lips to hers again. “As long as I don’t find you two in bed together, you can talk all you want. Nobody gets to touch my girl, understand?”

  “You sure this is something you want to get into? I’m kind of a lot.”

  She giggles as I run my fingers up her stomach and squeeze her tits one last time before I have to hit the road. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” I say.

  She has that sadness in her eyes that I know means she’s worried. I know the only way I can make that go away is by getting her sister back. I don’t know what today’s going to entail. It will be bloody. It will be intense. But I’ll risk it all for her.

  “You’re my hero,” she whispers as I walk out the bedroom door. It means so much to me, I know I gotta do whatever it takes to do right by her.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lean:

  The war room is thick with smoke. All my brothers sit around the long oak table, nobody really saying much of anything, just the occasional grunt or groan. You can cut the tension in the room with a knife. When somebody attacks our family, we turn into a bunch of
wild animals, thirsty for blood, and right this instant, it’s as if we’ve all been chained up for a week without a meal.

  The Gallos are going down.

  “Slick’s on his way,” my dad says, clearing his throat. “He didn’t plan on taking both of them, but he said he can make arrangements for the sister. Said he knows a family out West somewhere who can take em in.”

  “What?” I stammer.

  “Son, you think we can just go in there guns blazing and take the girl and we all go on our merry fucking way? We’re dealing with some major shit here. As long as Mani is under this roof, we’ve got a target on our back. It ain’t fair to us, and it sure as shit ain’t fair to her. The only way she’s gonna have a fighting chance at a normal life is to be as far away from this fucking city as possible.”

  I pound my fist off the table so hard, I skin my knuckles. “No.”

  “Stefano and Catarina’s operation runs way deeper than you know, brother,” Hunter, our tech guy, says. “We’re talking deep corrupt pockets all over the city… fuck, all over the world. Those two are just the tip of the iceberg. Every one you take out, another one pops up. I don’t like what they do as much as anybody here, but we’re gonna need a lot more manpower than we have at our disposal to take them on.”

  I can taste the blood in my mouth. “You’re right, it’s more than just Mani and her sister. It’s a fucking skin operation. They’re selling fucking women. Can any of yinz rightly sleep at night knowing that’s going on in our backyard?”

  Everyone at the table looks around nervously.

  “It ain’t gonna be easy, but I’m in,” Rowdy says, smiling at me and nodding. “This city could use a fucking clean up.”

  “I don’t want to deal with your sorry ass moping around the house over some bitch,” Lazarus says. “Count me in.”

  Brass grunts as he pulls his bowie knife out and stabs it into the table with a wide grin.

  “This is for Bags, and Mani, and Ella, and every last woman the Gallo family ever fucked with. If this ain’t what being a Royal Bastard is all about, I don’t know what the hell I signed up for,” I say.

  My dad taps his rocks glass down on the table loudly. In all the chaos I kind of forgot who was in charge here. He clears his throat and everyone shuts up instantly.

  “I’ve been a member of this club for forty years of my life. Been president the last twenty. I watched a lot of good men lay their lives down for this patch. There’s only one thing in the world I love more than our brotherhood, and that’s the fucking city of Pittsburgh. Everybody here’s just trying to make a living, trying to take care of their own. If these sick rich assholes think they can just snatch women up off the street to line their own pockets, it’s time for somebody to put a fucking stop to it.”

  He winces as he takes a sip of his bourbon. “There’s a reason why everybody respects us Bastards, and it ain’t just because we got the money and the guns. It’s because we got the power, and at the end of the day, we always use that power to fight for what’s right. If this is something you want to do, we gotta make sure we know what we’re fully up against. I want names. I want addresses. I want connections.”

  “I’m on it,” Hunter says, flipping open his laptop.

  “We’re not going in there guns blazing,” my dad says. I look at him like he just sprouted a second head. Bruiser’s MO has always been guns blazing. Act first, deal with the wreckage later. “We need to play the long game. Hit them where it hurts, until it hurts so bad they self destruct. When all this is said and done, we’re gonna come out of this smelling like a rose. We’re gonna have leverage so powerful, this city is going to be ours for the taking.”

  “I don’t have time for a fucking long game,” I say. “We need Ella out of there today. I know they’re going to use her to try and hurt Mani. It can’t wait.”

  “You and I will take a ride over there and see what we can do,” he says. “The rest of you make sure this place is secure. Everybody and their old ladies and kids in, nobody leaves this place til I say so. Start finding me anybody with any ties to Stefano and Catarina. I want politicians, I want investors, I want cops, I want em all. We’re gonna line them up one by one and knock em down.”

  My heart is racing. This is bigger than any strip club money laundering business. This is bigger than the guns. Bigger than the typical street crime we deal with on the regular. This is the first time in the history of the Royal Bastards that I’ve felt like I had a bigger purpose, and fuck if it isn’t better than any drug I ever put in my veins.

  The room is electric by the time we walk out, everybody buzzing at the idea we’re going to make damn sure Bags’ life wasn’t wasted, and it’s not gonna be just some petty little revenge job.

  “This ain’t like you dad,” I say to my father as he puts his arm around my shoulder.

  “Well it ain’t like you to give a shit about anybody but yourself.” He fishes his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and taps one out, lighting it up as we walk outside into the parking lot. “Guess the old DeCico’s are finally growing up.”

  “You still think we’re gonna get that casino tag, don’t ya?” I know there’s a lot more to this than just doing the right thing, because my old man would never let a disaster go to waste. As long as Mani and her sister are alright, I don’t give a fuck what his intentions are.

  “We’re getting a lot more than a casino tag, boy. We’re gonna own this whole fucking city. And maybe I’ll even be around long enough to get some grand babies.” He straddles his bike and looks over at me as he revs the engine. “Now follow my lead. Let’s get this ball rolling.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mani:

  “It’s all my fucking fault,” I say. I haven’t moved from the marble floor in I don’t know how many hours. I am so dehydrated, tears aren’t even coming out of my eyes. My voice is raw, it’s painful to talk. I keep replaying the incident over and over in my head, and it seems so surreal. In the matter of seconds, I went from having the best mother in the world, a loving step father, an amazing little sister, and a blossoming career with the Pittsburgh Ballet, to absolutely nothing. And it’s all my fucking fault.

  Catarina hasn’t left my side since the incident. The police have been in and out all night, asking me questions about who could’ve possibly put the bomb in my car.

  At this point, it doesn’t matter. It was meant for me, and because I was too lazy to move my car, my mother and step dad had to perish. If I knew the last time I saw my mom would be to quickly throw my keys at her from the balcony, there’s a million things I would’ve done differently.

  I don’t know much about my step sister. She hasn’t lived in the house since my mother married Guilian, only coming around for holidays, but she always intimidated me with her intelligence and business sense. She has this worldly way about her that makes me feel like the ragamuffin from Ambridge I know deep down I am. When you’re raised up poor and thrust into a life of luxury, you always feel a little bit out of place. Couple that with being a teenager, and it makes for a whole lot of awkward growing pains.

  I’m comforted by her being here, though. When the cops start asking me questions about my step father’s business associates or where he keeps his records, she’s quick to tell them to leave me alone.

  Truth is, I don’t know much about what he did for a living. Just that when he married my mother, she never had to work another day in her life, and I didn’t have to worry about trying to function on an empty stomach every day. Guilian was the best thing that happened to us, and he was the closest thing to a father I ever knew.

  Catarina rubs my back. “Relax, Mani. Everything’s going to be okay. I’m sure my father’s will was airtight. It’s not like you and Ella are going to end up homeless. Stefano and I will do whatever we can to make sure you have everything you need. He’s talking to the lawyer right now.”

  I haven’t even thought that far ahead. I don’t know the first thing about surviving on my own. I don�
�t know how to pay bills or even what kind of bills there are that need paid.

  “I can get a job. I can do whatever I have to do,” I say.

  “You don’t worry about anything. Come on, sis, why don’t we try and eat something. You have to be starving.”

  Hunger is the furthest thing away from my mind right now. The smell of the smoke from the fire from the bomb that burned my parents to a crisp is still burning in my nostrils. I reach for the garbage can Catarina brought me, and throw up some weird burning goop before flopping back down on the ground.

  “It’s okay, baby,” she says, rubbing my back. “It’s all going to be okay. I’m here. We’re going to get through this.” I can’t believe she’s so composed right now. Part of me is overwhelmingly thankful. I certainly couldn’t deal with the police, lawyers, and funeral directors on my own.

  Part of me is curious as to why she isn’t more upset about her father being blown up into a million pieces in the driveway.

  I guess we all grieve in our own ways.

  Stefano’s leather boots sound heavy on the marble floor. The click clack stomp stomp reverberates through my body. I look up, and he’s standing over the two of us, his hands on his hips, his face covered in something that looks nothing short of rage.

  “Catarina, a word,” he says.

  “I’m so sorry about your dad,” I say.

  “You’re going to be real sorry, mia bella,” he says. “Real, real sorry.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  A loud shrieking sound wakes me from my slumber, and for a minute I don’t remember where I am. In the pitch dark, I could be in the closet or the basement. I could be shoved in the drawer again, but I’m way too comfortable. These sheets are way too soft.