Furious (Nomad Outlaws Trilogy Book 3)

by Tory Richards

  He grunted. "I'm hiring a male bartender."

  I snorted. "That's discrimination!"

  He shrugged. "It's my bar."

  I thought for a minute. "You employ other women," I pointed out, trying to control my anger.

  His eyes moved over me long and hard, until I was squirming uncomfortably. I got the feeling that he could see right through my clothes, and my body began to react accordingly, against my will. I didn't want to be attracted to him, he was an unfeeling brute. But I couldn't deny that my nipples were hardening and a fire was building in my core under his dark, lustful look.

  "You want to strip?"

  "Sure," I said, lying through my teeth.

  "Then strip and show me what you got."

  Ohmygod! I hadn't expected that. What had I gotten myself into? I wasn't a stripper. I would never take my clothes off for money. But something in Beckett James' smugness, the dark challenge in his cold eyes, had pushed my buttons and caused me to react without thinking. Now I'd backed myself into a corner, and I could either tell him to go to hell and stomp out of there, or I could take my clothes off. The longer the silence stretched between us, the more I hated him and the self-satisfaction on his rugged features.

  And then I thought of something, tossing his smugness right back into his face. "Are you hiring me?" I challenged.

  His mouth quirked. "Not without checking you out first."

  Asshole! "What about as a server?"

  "I don't need another server, but I can always use another stripper."

  Major asshole! "So let me get this straight--you'll hire me as a stripper, but not as a bartender or a server? What happened to my being innocent and unable to fend for myself?"

  "I just reminded myself that you fucked Martin in the men's room. You're right. You're not as innocent as you look. And strippers are willing to give a little extra. You wouldn't need to go to the men's room, though; we have special rooms in the back for that."

  Oh, my God, I was going to explode! I knew about those private rooms but I'd never go into one for what he suggested. The man was insufferable. I no longer cared about getting my job back. I wouldn't work for Beckett James if he was the last man on earth. There had to be other jobs in Boulder. I opened my mouth to tell him once and for all that I hadn't had sex with Martin in the restroom, but then snapped it shut again. He didn't deserve the truth, or any more of my time.

  I whirled around, opened the door, and left with as much dignity as I could manage.

  I ran into Martin right outside the door, literally. Gasping, I stepped away from him and met his eyes. "Oh, Martin!" I rushed out, laughing nervously. "Were you looking for me?"

  There was a slight frown between his eyes as he took me in, focusing on my mouth, which I was certain looked swollen and slightly bruised from Beckett James' rough kiss. "Yeah, are you okay?"

  I glanced back at the door, pressing my lips. "Yes. Considering that the man in there is a big jerk!" I grabbed his hand. "Someone needs to knock him off his high horse, and teach him a lesson."

  "Hmm, good to know," he said, following behind me.

  At the time, I didn't think twice about his comment.

  I should have, though.

  Chapter 4

  Moody

  I watched the little spitfire storm out of my office, satisfied that she'd be gone for good. Bailey O'Brian and that fucking red mane lived up to her Irish temper. Her fighting spirit, and the lively sparkle of green fire in her eyes, had given me a fucking hard-on. I'd enjoyed our little back and forth sparring, even though she could never win against me. What had scared me was that fucking kiss. I'd meant it as a punishment for her slap. She wasn't the first woman to hit me, but she'd been the first one to pull something out of me that I hadn't felt in a long time.

  Normally when I punished a woman with a kiss, I didn't feel anything other than the need to cause as much pain and humiliation as I could. I kept it cold and impersonal, refusing to let it turn into lust. I didn't touch them except to subdue them. Most women hated that I could remain in control, thinking that my anger and roughness would eventually turn into hunger, believing that they were seductresses and that I couldn't resist them.

  But I always did.

  It took a lot to break through the self-control that I kept over my mind. Years of resisting my baser needs—except when I didn’t want to--was so engrained into my makeup that my response to Bailey's biting me had shocked me to the fucking core. When I'd felt her little teeth sink into my lip and I’d tasted blood, it had caused a spiral of sharp arousal to unravel in my gut. I'd recognized it, and for the first time in a long fucking time I'd been afraid.

  Because I’d wanted to give in to it.

  To her.

  And that just couldn't happen.

  Never again would I let a woman weaken me. Never again would I let a woman become so fucking important to me that she was all I thought about, all I wanted. All I needed. I would never again get to the point where I would do anything for a woman, where I would give her everything that she wanted, where I would give her so much power over me that I couldn't see the destruction coming until it was too late. Every time I felt an inkling of anything for another woman, I squashed it immediately, reminding myself of the woman that I'd lost my life to. Because that's what Maggie had taken from me the day she'd taken her own life.

  She'd fucking destroyed me.

  Bailey O'Brian would have become trouble, one way or another. I was already thinking about her and Martin fucking in the bathroom. The thought that he'd already had a taste of her, that he’d been inside her body, fucking pissed me off, mainly because I didn't like him. There was something about him that didn't sit right with me, but fuck if I knew what it was. The fact that he hadn't fought for Bailey when I'd been dragging her off showed me that he didn't deserve her. He knew my reputation and what it usually meant when I dragged a woman off to my office.

  I decided to go back out to the bar. My mouth turned down when I saw how rushed Tommy was filling orders. Fuck, he did need help, so I headed behind the bar. "Have you had a break?"

  He grinned. "You're not going to yell at me for letting Bailey help me?"

  I glared at him. "Don't press your luck. Take ten."

  "Thanks, boss."

  I watched Tommy take off for the break room, and then glanced out at the dance floor. I spied Martin and Bailey. She was facing me. He was behind her, his arms around her waist as she moved her backside against the front of him. It'd be a fucking miracle if he wasn't hard and grinding his dick against her ass. I got hard just from watching them, and that loss of control pissed me off. I wasn't going to let my dick run my life.

  She slowly lifted her eyes, the dreamy softness on her face revealing that she was fully into the music and the dance. She didn't know that I was watching them, but Martin did. The bastard nuzzled the side of her neck, shooting me a fucking grin. If he thought I was going to lose it and go after him, he didn't know me. I didn't care that Bailey was in his arms. I didn't care if he was rubbing his dick into her fine ass.

  I didn't care period.

  "Hi ya, boss." Alex, a perky little brunette that had been with me for eight years, set her tray down with a smile that showed off her perfect white teeth. She'd just recently got her braces off and was proud as shit of her new smile. I'd fucked her a few times in the beginning, but she was married with two kids now. Strictly off limits.

  I gave her a grunt and grabbed the drink order and started filling it. It was an easy order, a pitcher of beer and four mugs. I pushed the tray to her two minutes later.

  Marnie and Jackie both came up next. Marnie was my lead server, and she also did the schedules for the other staff, including the dancers. She'd been with me since the beginning. To look at her you'd never guess that she was a grandmother of four. Tall, slender, her platinum hair always perfect, her nails always manicured, she took good care of herself. She didn't have to work, her husband had left her a hefty life insurance policy when he'd die
d, but it gave her something to do, and she enjoyed the attention she got from the lonely truck drivers. I set her tray up with four beers and two whiskeys and sent her on her way.

  "Been busy tonight, but I've made good tips," Jackie said, trying to make conversation. She was new, so I gave her a pass. Most of the girls knew that I didn't do conversation. I fucked them if I wanted to and they were down with it, but talking was overrated. "Will you be here later tonight, boss?"

  Her tone got my attention. The seductive smile on her face backed up the invitation in her blue eyes. I hadn't gotten around to fucking her yet. Hadn't really felt the urge, but a look back at Bailey and Martin on the dance floor helped get me in the fucking mood. Jackie was pretty like all the girls working for me were, short and petite. Her small tits barely made a dent in the cropped top she was wearing. But that didn't matter, I never fucked facing them, and I didn't come inside them, even with a condom on. I did everything I could to keep it cold and impersonal, to show them that it was nothing more to me than a way to get off.

  ‘Course, the shit I'd done with Cindy I'd done because Bailey had been watching. I'd come looking at her, imaging what it would feel like sinking into her cunt. Fuck, I shook the thoughts from my head and gave Jackie a glare. "Do your job; you'll know if I want you later." She knew better than to press me. She flipped her bottle blonde hair over her shoulder and took off.

  Truth was, my dick was hard as fuck, but it wanted a little Irish redhead.

  Not going to happen, I said to myself, for the simple fact that I wanted her.

  I should never have kissed her.

  "Thanks, boss, I got it now."

  Ten minutes went by fast. I finished the order I was working on for Layla, another server who'd been with me for a while. She was a curvy little mocha-colored beauty who could give Halle Berry a run for her money. She was a single mother raising two sons on her own. "Thanks, boss." She took her tray and walked off. I watched the bounce of her ass as she moved through the crowd. Too bad she'd drawn the line of no hanky panky with the boss early on.

  I scanned the bar, noticing that it had cleared out some. The clock read one, another hour to go. Because of the type of bar we were, and because we were located just off the interstate exit, we were busy every night. Bikers that frequented the bar knew it was a safe zone, and if they couldn't refrain from fighting they were kicked out and banned. Long-haul truckers were allowed to park their rigs at the far back of the lot for the night, two nights max. After that, they paid a fee. I didn't have bouncers; we weren't a fucking night club. The regulars knew me, knew I'd fucking hunt them down and take care of them myself if they caused me or any of my employees trouble.

  A flash of red caught my eye, and I zeroed in on Bailey. She'd joined a table of women who were clearly celebrating something. I'd seen some of the women dancing, but they hadn't come with any males. I watched her interact with them, drinking in her sweet smile and infectious laughter, remembering how soft and full those fuckable lips had felt beneath my attack. She had no idea what she'd awoken inside me.

  Martin was a fucking fool for leaving her alone. If he wanted Bailey he'd better make his move fast, because I wasn't above taking a woman away from another man, as long as there was no ring. I'd use her and send her back to him. And the way I was feeling right then, there wouldn't be much left of her. She made the mistake of looking up to where I was staring at her from behind the bar. I held her eyes for a full minute before she looked away nervously.

  That's right, little girl. You know, don't you? Know what I could do to you. Know that you'd let me, too. You're running scared. But you know you couldn't escape me if I didn't want you to. Just be glad I'm willing to let you go tonight. Because if I ever lay eyes on you again, I'm going to take you and fuck you until you burn with the way my dick stretches out your pussy. Until I've put so much cum inside you, you can't wash my scent away.

  Yeah. Thinking filthy thoughts about what I wanted to do to her tight little body was keeping my dick hard enough to pound concrete.

  Hopefully after tonight I'd never see her again.

  Chapter 5

  Bailey

  It had been two weeks since I'd lost my job at the Naked Lady. Two weeks of pounding the pavement and going from one bar and restaurant to another to inquire about jobs advertised in the paper and online, only to find out each time that I got there that the position had already been filled, or the position had been put on hold, or the manager was out sick and could I come back? Blah, blah, blah! Okay, maybe I hadn't been pounding the pavement, because there were plenty of jobs out there, just none that I was interested in taking. I liked working in the restaurant and bar industry. I liked the fast pace, the people, and the money was good.

  If I wanted to take off my clothes, I could have found a job the first day.

  It was beginning to look like I'd have to venture outside of Boulder City, which wasn’t the best idea, because my car wasn't the most reliable. I'd bought it at a buy here, pay here lot and should have known better, but they'd had the Volkswagen beetle that I'd been looking for--a green, nineteen seventy-one little beauty that had been cosmetically refurbished by the prior owners. Apparently they'd skipped the engine, or anything else that kept the classic running properly. I'd had plans to start working on the engine after I'd paid it off and had the extra money.

  “Live and learn” had become my mantra the last few years.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and I was glad for the interruption even as I wondered who it could be. I checked the peep hole, surprised to see Martin on the other side of the door. We'd met up a couple of times for dinner and drinks since I'd lost my job at the Naked Lady, but nothing serious. He hadn’t made any bold moves on me. I couldn't figure him out. And now I was wondering how he knew where I lived, because I hadn't given him my address. What was he doing here?

  I opened the door with a smile. "Hi, what are you doing here?" I was a little taken aback at how serious his expression looked.

  "Can I come in? I need to talk to you." He was acting nervous, as if he didn't want to be seen.

  I frowned, because he was already pushing his way inside. "Sure. What's wrong?" I moved aside and closed the door behind him. "Come on in and sit down." I led him to the living room and the sofa, ignoring the warning tingle at the back of my neck. "Sounds serious."

  "It is. I'm afraid this isn't a social call." My grin disappeared at the sound of his words and the coldness in his tone that I hadn't heard before. "Is your friend Holly around?"

  I found it odd that he would ask. Maybe he wanted to make sure I was alone before he said what he had to say. I shook my head. "No, as a matter of fact she's late. She's usually home by six o'clock." It was now seven, and then I began to feel alarmed. "Why, has something happened to Holly, are you here about her?"

  The slow smile that spread across his face and the knowing look that appeared in his eyes were the first signs I’d had that I didn't really know this man, other than the fun, flirtatious side of him that I’d seen at the bar and on the few dates that we’d been out on. The fact that he'd asked about Holly and then got that sneer on his face when I'd said that she was late sent up warning flags. Had something happened to Holly? Was that why he was there? I was sitting next to Martin, and I fought the urge to move away, convinced that I was letting my mind run wild.

  "Kind of," Martin said, sitting back and crossing his legs. I wasn't sure that I liked this superior, slightly grim side of him. "What's your involvement with Moody?"

  I frowned. "Moody? Who's that?"

  Now he was the one frowning. "Come on, Bailey, you worked for the man. He owns the Naked Lady."

  Oh. I frowned. "Beckett James?"

  "The one and only," Martin said smugly. "He goes by his road name, Moody."

  That was news to me. Beckett James was the name on the job application that I'd filled out. I looked at Martin in surprise. "There's nothing between us. The man's a jerk. He fired me." I was getting worried.
"Martin, you're scaring me. What about Holly? Is she hurt?"

  "No, no, she's not hurt," he said quickly, and then in a more ominous tone, "Not yet."

  I felt as if he'd dropped a bomb on me. I could only stare at him, speechless, because he'd said the words so calmly, but with enough of a sinister edge in his tone to panic me. Who was this man? What had happened to the nice, easy-going man that I'd known for a couple of weeks? The one who was always smiling, attentive, and polite? I wanted to tell him to stop joking with me, that it wasn't funny, but my instincts warned me that he wasn't joking.

  It took effort to remain calm, when inside I was losing it. "What do you mean?"

  "It means I need you to do something for me. Moody has something I want, an SD card, and I want you to find it for me."

  I was already shaking my head. "I…I…He fired me! I haven't seen him in two weeks; I haven't even been back to the Naked Lady! How…I…I don't know how I can do that."

  "Stop shaking your head and listen to me," Martin demanded gruffly. I flinched, still trying to understand what was happening. He had totally blind-sided me into believing that he was a good, decent man. Now it appeared that he'd had an ulterior motive in gaining my trust. "You do everything I say, and your friend will remain alive."

  Alive! Oh my, God, this was not happening! My mouth opened as hot tears filled my eyes. "You have her?"

  He confirmed with an abrupt nod. "She's okay for now. Just a little frightened. But she's somewhere safe, and she will be released as soon as I get that SD card."

  I wiped my eyes but I couldn't control the trembling of my mouth. I loved Holly like a sister. I couldn't imagine what she was going through, knowing that she was probably terrified. All I knew was that I'd do anything to save her, and I owed nothing to Beckett James. "What do you want me to do?"

  His smile seemed genuine. "Good. I'm glad you're going to listen to reason. It's really very simple, honey. Just find the SD card and give it to me."