"Ransom," Stretch barked, shooting a glance at one of his boys as he grabbed each woman by the arm and hauled them away from the van. "Lock these bitches up somewhere." He handed the women off to the other man and turned back to the van. "Now what about the fucking guns?"
I breathed a sigh of relief that the girls were out of harm's way and kept my eyes on them as Ransom led them as far as the office and then forced them to sit on the floor. I was sure that I wasn't the only one. We would make sure that they made it back home again.
"Show us what you got." Hank stepped up next to Toledo and looked inside the van. A big smile spread across his face and he looked back at Stretch, nodding his head with satisfaction.
Demon and Trip stepped out from behind their hiding places. "How about we show you what we got?"
I knew that was our cue. We came out shooting, and I watched as Toledo's men pushed him into the van, jumped in behind him, and slammed the doors closed. In the next instant the squealing sound of tires on concrete could be heard as the driver backed up, forgetting that the bay doors were closed, and rammed into them.
I smirked and fired my weapon, hitting my first intended target right between his mother-fucking legs.
Chapter Sixteen
Holly
It was early when I made my way downstairs, the time of morning when darkness gradually gives way to light, and things are still quiet. Someone else was also up, because I could smell the enticing aroma of coffee before I even made it to the kitchen. My lips curled up in a smile as I took in the sight of Loco sleeping against the bar, his mouth hanging half-open and drool running out of the side and onto his arm where he laid his head. Chewy was prone on the sofa with Cherry, one of the club girls, splayed out on top of him.
Well, that answered my question about whether or not the men had returned. I wondered what time they'd made it back, and if everyone was okay. No news was good news, I guessed. They’d obviously kept quiet because I hadn't heard a thing once my head had hit the pillow the night before.
When Sax and I had been together, he had always returned, as most of the men did, wound up with adrenaline pumping through his veins in response to whatever danger the club had faced. Fucking their women or fighting a brother was their go-to outlet for relieving that stress.
I wondered where Sax had spent the night, then immediately pushed the thought aside. I had no claim over him anymore, even though I knew it would kill me to see him with another woman. Just because we'd fucked a few times since I’d come home didn't mean anything to men like him. These bikers liked sex and plenty of it, and I'd hardly said no to him. I didn’t have it in me to deny Sax.
I stepped into the kitchen and halted abruptly, my heart dropping at the sight of Sax leaning against the counter, minus a shirt, his jeans half-opened as if he'd put them on in a hurry and hadn’t bothered to do them up. The denim outlined his thick, powerful thighs. His hair looked wild, as if someone had been running their fingers through it, and he was barefoot. And plastered right up against him was Goldie in all her near naked glory.
My first thought was that when the club was on lockdown, the club sluts were told to stay clothed, which she clearly wasn't. The little boy shorts she had on were lacey and tucked up her butt crack. The tiny string tied at her back suggested that she had on some kind of top, but it had to be miniscule, because I couldn't see any signs of it from my viewpoint.
"I know you need relief, baby. The girls told me how it is when you guys return from a fight. I'm here for you."
As she attempted to entice Sax, she rubbed her breasts over his naked chest, her hands roaming over his torso as she leaned in to kiss the side of his neck.
"I'll let you fuck me in the ass if you want."
Sax just stood there, his arms at his sides.
I was frozen in place, fighting the tears and hating myself, because this was all my fault. I deserved to be punished for pushing him away. This was karma getting even with me. I watched as Goldie's hand roamed down his side to the front where his jeans were open. I held my breath, not sure how I would react if she wiggled inside to touch his cock. I couldn't see if Sax was hard or not. I didn't want to know.
"You have a big cock, baby." She was saying all the right things to turn him on. "Let me suck it." She dropped to her knees, and that's when Sax noticed me standing there.
There was a flicker of something dark in his eyes before the look on his face turned savage. It was a look that I was familiar with, one that I’d seen before when he’d come home from dealing with trouble in the club, the same look that always warned that he was going to take me hard and fast up against the nearest surface. His hand fell down to Goldie's hair, pulling her head away from him. Her gasp echoed through the kitchen as she stared up at him with open-mouthed confusion.
"Don't let me interrupt. I'm just here for coffee." I don't know where I found the words, but I knew that I couldn't continue to stand there and do nothing.
Goldie reacted with a gasp as she looked my way, and then covered her initial reaction with a knowing smirk. She was learning fast from the other girls. She already had her slutty bitch expression down pat.
"You're not interrupting anything," Sax grated.
"Yet," Goldie smiled. Her hand began to roam up his leg on the outside of his jeans.
Why wasn't he pushing her away? I wanted to scream for her to take her hands off my man, but everyone knew that we were no longer together.
"Let's go back to my bed, baby."
Oh, God...he'd spent the night with her?
"Shut it," Sax growled.
I felt sick inside. I couldn't take the sight of them together any longer and made my way to the coffee maker. Cups had already been laid out, so I filled one and fixed it the way I liked it. As I was taking my first sip, I glanced up at the clock over the sink to see that it was only six o'clock. I should probably start making breakfast.
I purposely kept my back to Sax and Goldie, praying that they left.
"Get up and go put some clothes on," I heard Sax demand. "I'm sure you were told the fucking rules when we're on lockdown."
I heard Goldie make a disappointed sound and could just imagine the pout on her face. Wordlessly she left the kitchen, leaving behind a trail of stale perfume. I wondered how many times Sax had been with her, if he was fucking the other club girls, too.
Suddenly I felt his presence behind me, and then his warm breath against my neck as he leaned in. "You sent me into her bed," he whispered into my ear. "It's your fault I'm putting my dick in other bitches."
I closed my eyes tightly, as if it would keep out his hurtful words. I felt my heart race and wondered if it was the caffeine. What he was saying didn't make sense to me. "Then why are you still fucking me?" I found the strength to ask, keeping my back to him.
"You should be asking yourself that question, Baby," he grated in a cold voice. "You make it so fucking easy."
I sucked in my breath because, God, he was right. I'd made it all too easy for him, and my only excuse was that I'd never stopped loving Sax, had never stopped wanting him. Down deep I knew that once he discovered the level of my deceit, he wouldn't want anything to do with me, and then it would truly be over.
I should have never come back.
"Look who I've got!" Annie breezed into the kitchen with a bright-eyed Ava in her arms. "I heard this little munchkin when I was passing your room."
My heart warmed at the sight of my daughter. "She was still sleeping when I came down for coffee." I had planned to bring it up to my room to drink.
Sax stepped away from me, and I immediately felt the cold air replace the warmth of his body. "Hi, baby." I leaned forward to kiss Ava on her forehead. "Thank you for bringing her down." I set my cup down and reached for her.
"I changed her for you." We exchanged smiles before Annie turned her attention toward Sax. "Good morning."
"Morning." He turned and poured himself a cup of coffee.
"I bet she's hungry." Annie ran a fin
ger gently over Ava's chubby cheek.
"She's always hungry, aren't you, baby?"
"I can't wait to have one of my own." Annie’s gaze moved back and forth between Sax and me. There was a question in her eyes that she wisely didn't ask.
"Are you and Colton trying?"
Annie nodded. "Yeah, it's time. We've been married eight years."
My eyes widened with surprise. "I didn't know that." I arranged Ava against my cocked hip, knowing that she would let me know when she was ready to eat. Her curious focused behind me as she watched Sax at the coffee maker.
A sigh escaped Annie. "Yeah, we got married when we were still teenagers, and he was in another MC. With everyone starting to have babies around here...." She let her sentence trail off with a shrug.
"You won't regret it," I said, forgetting about Sax for a moment. "Having a little mini you or Colton running around, knowing that he or she is part of you both, it just makes your life feel complete. I can't imagine life without Ava. She brought me back from a dark time." It was true. Finding out that I was pregnant after the sexual assault had helped me to heal and move on.
"Baby." Colton walked into the room and went straight to Annie, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Colton was a handsome man, but at the moment he looked like death warmed over. His hair was sticking up everywhere, and his eyes were bloodshot. He was slightly pale, too, and I noticed that there was a bloody bandage wrapped around his ribs beneath his cut. I refrained from asking what had happened, knowing that it wouldn't do any good. “Club business” would be the standard reply, though I was certain that Annie knew the details.
I could see that Colton was okay, so I asked instead, "Did anyone else get hurt?"
"No one who matters," Sax muttered.
He and Sax exchanged silent looks that spoke volumes before Colton said, "No worries, honey."
Annie made a sound of annoyance. "If you say so. Doc's been in with Snake since you returned."
"He'll be okay, Babe, swear." He crossed his heart and reached out to run his finger down Ava's nose. "Good morning, little darlin'."
Ava giggled and reached out for his finger.
"You sure got yourself a cutie here."
My heart swelled with pride. "Thank you."
"She looks just like her mama."
If there was a compliment in there somewhere, I didn't hear it in Sax's cold tone. I met his eyes in surprise that he'd looked at Ava long enough to come to that conclusion. It was true, though, Ava looked just like me. If she had any of her father in her I couldn't see it, which pleased me immensely. If her daddy turned out to be one of my rapists, I wouldn't be reminded of him every day when I looked into my daughter's face.
Ava pulled Colton's finger toward her mouth, but Annie quickly snatched it away. "You don't want that nasty old finger in your mouth, sweetheart."
He gave Annie a look of hurt. "I washed my hands after I took my morning piss.”
"Good to know," I laughed along with them. "But you might want to be careful of the teeth Ava has coming in."
"That must hurt," Annie smiled knowingly.
A soft laugh escaped me as I rubbed noses with Ava. "That's why starting today I'm weaning her off breast feeding."
Loco walked into the kitchen at the tail end of my statement, a smile spreading across his face. "Always wondered what breast milk tasted like."
Annie and I exchanged amused glances before I decided to call his bluff. "Would you like a taste?"
His eyes flicked down to my breasts, and then over to Sax. Sax was glaring angrily at Loco. "No thanks. I like my dick right where it is," he joked, moving on to the coffee maker.
"Well if you change your mind, I have a bottle already pumped in the fridge."
"Where's the fun in that?"
Annie slapped Colton behind the head. "What?" The teasing gleam in his eyes revealed that he already knew what. He gave Annie a wink.
Oz poked his head into the room. "Church in five. Bring me coffee!" With that he was gone.
"I'll fix him one." Annie moved next to Loco, shooting Colton a look over her shoulder. "I'll fix you one, too, Baby."
That left Sax and me staring at each other. "You going to attend church without a shirt and boots?" I ran my gaze over his torso, trying not to be obvious about it. The sight of him took my breath away and got my libido running. Sax had always been lean and muscular, but he'd added some bulk since I’d been gone. There was a prominent bulge in his pants, but I knew from experience that it wasn't a hard-on.
"My shirt and boots are out in the bar."
His smirk told me that he'd caught me ogling him. He looked tired. I hadn't noticed it before. I didn't want to think about the possibility that his tiredness was a result of a night spent in someone else’s room and someone else’s bed.
"You can have your room back, Sax. Ava and I can sleep somewhere else."
He ran his hand over the whiskers on his lower jaw, his eyes not leaving mine. "No, use it. Plenty of other places for me to lay my head."
No doubt. Ava was beginning to whine, a clear sign that she was hungry. Sax's eyes moved to her, and my heart jumped at the tiniest sign of softening in his hard gaze. It happened quickly and was gone, but I knew what I’d seen.
"How old is Ava?"
His question caught me off-guard. "Six months."
Ava was gnawing on her little fist, and I knew that if I didn't feed her soon, she was going to let out a wail that would wake everyone in the clubhouse.
"From the looks of it, you'd better feed her."
With that, he left me standing there.
Chapter 17
Sax
By the time we’d finished with the Knights, we didn't get back to the clubhouse until two. Snake and Colton weren't the only ones who came away with wounds from the confrontation. LD's VP, Cappy, got hit in the shoulder, and Trip lost one of his soldiers. During the ten-minute long shootout we took out Stretch and his brother, Hank, and the few of their men. The fact that none of Stretch's other blood brothers had been there meant that there was more trouble to come.
I glanced around the table. Not all of us had gone to fight, and it was clear which of us had. We hadn’t gotten much sleep, and it was apparent in the bloodshot eyes and haggard expressions. Some of us had come back and gone straight to the bar to drink away the angst and the adrenaline required to take another man's life, while others had fucked the images out of their heads.
I'd done neither.
I'd spent the night in Goldie's bed after ignoring her invitation for more and sending her away.
"We're not waiting for the fucking Knights to come to us," Demon growled from where he sat at the head of the table.
He looked disheveled and rough, and if I’d had to guess I would have said that he'd done a whole lot of fucking his woman and drinking before coming down. It didn't look as if he'd gotten any sleep.
"Once the Dunlap brothers find out about Stretch and Hank, they'll come gunning for us," Chewy said, speaking aloud what we all already knew in our guts.
Stretch's blood brothers included Screw, Hank, Radar, and Freak. Freak was the youngest at about eighteen, and seemed to be MIA. He hadn't been seen since we'd used him as a bargaining chip to strike a deal with the Knights that required them to stay out of our territory and stop causing trouble. They'd been quiet until recently.
"That's what we want," Cole said, leaning back in his chair with a semi-smirk on his tired face. "Pissed off assholes make mistakes."
"Makes them dangerous, too," I added.
Demon and several others nodded their agreement.
"We're not going to give those fucking bastards time to catch their breath. We're going to hit them hard and fast and without mercy, especially now we know they're dealing in flesh, too."
The mother and daughter that Toledo had tried to get rid of had gone to Trip's clubhouse with him and his brothers. They couldn't very well return home, knowing how badly Toledo wanted to get rid of t
hem. They weren't safe. Trip was going to help them sort shit out.
Demon cut his eyes to Dancer, one of the brothers who hadn't come with us to the warehouse. Dancer had been an Explosive Ordinance Disposal Specialist in the army, or EOD Specialist. The brother was on the small side, thin and darkly tanned at about five-feet-four, with blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. He liked being outdoors and working with his hands. I knew that he was twenty-eight, but he didn't look a day over twenty. Poor asshole still got carded when we went to places that didn't know him.
"What do you have?"
I didn't see any of Dancer's usual cockiness show through in response to Demon's inquiry, which was good, considering the seriousness of it. He took a minute to think before leaning forward and folding his hands on the table.
"Got some C-4. I can rig up some remote detonators."
"We'll need Molotov cocktails, too,” I suggested. “For the drive-bys."
Demon showed his agreement by giving me a nod. "Gonna start out by hitting their porn studio, give them a taste of their own medicine. When they come running to see what the fuck is going on we'll pick them off."
"What about the cops?" Reid questioned.
"What about the cops?" Cole returned with a grin. "Won't be any cops showing up at their studio. At least not until later."
Reid wasn't convinced. "How do you know?"
"The studio is a fucking trailer in the desert, Brother, twenty miles from anywhere. Hell, they use fucking generators for power," Oz laughed.
"So why the fuck we wasting time on a dump?" Loco's question was valid.
"To send a fucking message, asshole, and the porn business is lucrative. Any place they're making money is a target."
Loco held his middle finger up at Chewy. "And how do we get to this place that's out in bumfuck nowhere without being seen?"
Demon crossed his arms and looked at Oz. "Tell em what you found out, Brother."
"While some of you were out having fun last night, I was here on the computer. Found out the Knights have tapped into an evil business venture that sick fucks in the world thrive on. They're making a shit-ton of money with very little coming out of their own pockets."
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