by Elle Boon
Tiana whimpered, bringing his focus back to her and off the little scenario playing out up front. “What’s up, little girl?”
“What’s going on?” Her voice was strained.
“Well, it goes a little something like this. You whistled for a cab, and when it came near, the license plate wasn’t fresh, and the dice you rolled wasn’t your lucky number,” King muttered.
“Did you just make a joke?” Traeger asked, steering the little car onto the highway.
“Whoa, why aren’t you pulling over?” Kailani asked, seeming to ignore King. “And in case you didn’t notice, this isn’t a cab.”
“This got the V8 engine?” he asked.
Kailani nodded. “Yes. It’s a nine speed auto. It’s supposed to be able to go from zero to sixty in under five seconds.” She looked out the side window.
“Well, we’re about to find out,” Traeger muttered.
King met his gaze in the rearview mirror. Knowing without words they had trouble coming, and they were going to be in a world of hurt if they didn’t get some assistance. “Digger, where you be man?” he asked, knowing the brother could hear him through their earpiece.
“I got eyes on you and that tail. Ps. If you don’t damage that ride you’re in too bad, can I have it?” Digger asked, eagerness ringing in his tone.
“Brother, you’re a shit. This little number is spoken for. Now, how bout you give a little assist with the fucker on my ass?” Traeger grunted.
“Oh, shit, that’s Rico or his men. If you pull over he might be more lenient on you,” Kailani whispered.
Traeger chuckled, but he shifted gears, not slowing one bit. “One day you’ll see just how much fun I can and will have, with that little shit you call brother, but not tonight. Tonight, we’ll get that one to safety. After that, you and I will figure out where to put you.”
Chapter Six
When King saw the shitshow that happened on the highway following the crash of Kailani’s brother’s vehicles, he knew Traeger wouldn’t be following him back to the clubhouse. He’d watched him with the woman, saw how he’d reacted to the torment written all over her face, and could see cold determination to keep her safe, and yeah, to claim her for his own. King couldn’t blame him. Knowing she’d probably suffered unspeakable things for god only knew how long, he wanted to kill the Trevino family too.
“Are your men okay?” Kailani asked.
“Digger and Coal are fine. They started that shitshow,” King answered.
“Do you belong to a cartel, or…” she trailed off.
“You think we are like them, like your family?” Traeger asked, his voice deadly.
She took a deep breath. “It’s a legitimate question. You were on our property skulking around and then kidnapped us, sort of.”
King laughed. “She’s got a point, but no, we’re nothing like them. We’re kinda the good guys. We came for her. You just got lucky.” He waved his hand at Tiana who’s eyes bounced back and forth between them.
“What do you mean you came for me?” Tiana asked, her voice sounded so young and naïve. “You said my sister sent you, but that makes no sense. We have no money.”
Kailani turned slightly in her seat, looking backward. “I think he means your family hired them to rescue you and just in time, too.”
Tiana shook her head; the movement nearly had her crashing into King. “Whoa, chill out. What’s got you bugging out like a crackhead?” King asked.
“Wow, you’re the sensitive one, right?” Kailani asked with a loud snort. “Don’t freak out on us now. Obviously, they came for you because someone cared enough to find you. Right?”
“Your sister barged into my club, and I just happened to be in the mood to play rescuer to her little sister,” King agreed. He wasn’t going to tell her it was because he also wanted to do all kinds of things that according to Ayesha might be illegal.
Traeger coughed, indecipherable words coming out of him.
King was glad because if they were anything like what he was thinking, then they were pretty much exactly what he’d been thinking about and that was getting in Ayesha’s pants, or getting them off.
“Alright, enough of the small talk. I hate to break up this little party, but more than likely, my brother has some sort of extraction on its way and a tracker on my car. I had planned to ditch this one and pick up one I’d bought, so you should probably get us off the highway and get in with your friends. I’ll hail a cab, and we can call it good. Yes?” Kailani asked.
“Digger, we’re gonna take the next exit. You and Coal see any tails?” King asked.
Traeger looked at King through the rearview. “King, tell them we’re going to split up. You’ll head north with Tiana, and I’ll go the other direction with the sister.”
“Wait, no, that’s not how this is going down. I have a plan, and it doesn’t involve taking a behemoth of a man along with me. Besides, I can blend. You totally can’t.” Kailani pointed out.
“Trust me, they’ll follow one or the other of us. If we’re in her car, they’ll follow the car, not you and the girl. I’m thinking she’s the target, not the sister. I can handle the brother, and once he sees the girl’s gone, well, he and I’ll have a talk.”
“No, he can’t make her a…target. She saved me,” Tiana cried.
King held up his hand, surprised the young girl quieted.
Kailani smacked Traeger’s arm. “You think you’ll have a talk with him?” She smacked his arm again. “Do you know what he will do to you, to me? He’ll have his men beat you until you can’t fight anymore, then he’ll have a talk with you. Only then will he have fun. He’ll get what he wants from you, through any means necessary. There are drugs that will allow him to get you to talk and do what he wants you to do. Anything, Mr. Trigger. After he’s done with you, he’ll do the same with me, only worse. So, how about we do not do that. Why don’t you and your band of merry men just go about your business and forget all about me. You take the girl and do your saving thing, while I do what I’d planned, and that’s get as far away from here as I possibly can. I never want to face my brother or father and their…men ever again.”
King grit his teeth at her outburst, watching his friend do the same. Poor Kailani was all he could think, yet he didn’t let her see the pity in his eyes. Tiana sunk back against the seat, her fear making her even more pliable. Which was good.
Traeger informed the woman she was to call him Traeger, not Mr. Trigger. He went on to explain what was going to happen. King wondered how the hell he took the backseat in the operation, but for the moment, he let Traeger have control. At least of his woman.
“Digger, at the next off-ramp, we’re ditching this car,” King announced through their link. He saw lights coming up, flashing their signal that told them it was Digger. Another came up behind them, also flashing their lights twice. Coal was the other driver, both MC brothers who’d been following, making sure to have their six in case shit went sideways.
He pulled his cell out. “You wanna give your sister a ring? She’s pretty worried about you.” He should’ve had her call earlier, only there was too much commotion.
“She really sent you guys after me? How…I mean, she’s just a hair stylist,” Tiana cried.
King grunted. “Yeah, well she’s a pretty fucking awesome stylist who has friends in low places. So, you want to make that call or wait ‘til we get back up north?”
Tiana took his phone; her finger shook while she placed the call. There would be no semblance of privacy. “Ayesha?” Tiana cried.
King couldn’t hear what was said on the other end, only heard the teenager next to him sob and promise she’d never do anything so stupid again. A couple minutes later, the little convertible came to a stop, and he was being handed back his phone. “She wants to…to talk to you.” Tiana hiccupped a little cry.
“Hey,” he murmured.
“Hey yourself. You did it,” she whispered.
King knew women. He especially knew ho
w women’s voices sounded when they’d been crying. “You okay?” he asked.
“It’s just that…I knew you’d get her.” Silence descended for long moments. “I owe you more than I can ever repay,” she vowed.
He could see small cuts on Tiana from the glass but didn’t want to frighten her sister. She could’ve been so much worse. “We’ll be back at the clubhouse in a couple hours. Tell Mack to have something for all of us to eat. I’m going to be starving.” He’d be hungry for more than food. However he’d push one of those needs down for the time being.
Traeger brought the car to a stop. Kailani looking as though she was ready to argue with his friend about their plans. King could’ve told her to save her breath. She’d learn really quick who was in charge, and it sure as shit wasn’t her.
He got out first, helping Tiana out, making sure she was steady before looking back at Traeger. “You good, brother?”
“My family will kill you all,” Kailani whispered.
Traeger got out, meeting King’s gaze. “Cosmo said I could crash at his place.”
King held his hand out, locking with Traeger’s. “Stay safe, brother.” He pounded Traeger on the back stepping away.
“Shit, do I really gotta kill this pretty little thing?” Digger asked.
Kailani gasped. “What, I thought you were the good guys?”
King tipped his head up toward the sky, glancing back toward the open passenger door. “He means your car. Digger has a thing for cars, which is why he drives a cage.”
Digger walked forward, holding out his hand. “Don’t mind them, I’m Digger, and surely, we can give this girl a pardon or something. I mean, what did she ever do to anyone?” Instead of taking Kailani’s hand, he went to the car, running his palm over the hood, murmuring softly to her. “It’s alright, girl, daddy’s here. I’ll see if I can’t save you. Seriously, I bet I can find the tracker and disable it if you give me like fifteen minutes, tops.” He pressed his hands to his chest in a mock prayer stance.
King walked away, shook his head, sighing as the other vehicle rolled up. Traeger tugged Kailani with him to that one.
“Why does he get to drive the nice car without all the baggage?” Coal asked as King neared with a visibly shaken Tiana, making her hide behind King as if she feared the brother. King smacked Coal upside the head.
“Come on, Tiana, hop on in and ignore him.” He glared at Coal. “Let’s move, we don’t want to stand out here all night.” Coal opened his mouth with what King was sure was something stupid to say, but King had his fill of stupid for the night. “Shut up before I hit you again,” King said.
Coal nodded. “This is me shutting up.” Coal made a zipping motion with his finger over his lips.
“How is he not dead yet?” Digger asked.
“He’s almost a master at computers, not as good as Keys, but close. I guarantee he has something in there that can find the tracker on her car.” King tipped his head toward the car.
Once they had the tracker off her car, they separated from Traeger with orders for his friend to report back to him every twelve hours. Of course King had a feeling it might be a little longer if his friend got busy.
Ayesha stared at the phone in her hand. She could feel the shakes begin in her hands. Her entire body seemed to start quaking. “Oh god, they did it. He got her back.”
“Of course they did.”
The woman named Mack had come to King’s house earlier and knocked on the door but wouldn’t come in. She’d introduced herself, patted her shoulder, and gave Ayesha a moment to get her shit together. She could’ve told Mack it would take more than a moment to perform that miracle. That had been hours ago. Now, with the news they’d gotten her sister away from Rico, a bastard who had nefarious intentions, she could feel her entire body begin to shake.
“You don’t understand. I honestly thought I’d never see her again,” she whispered, staring down at the phone.
“If King says you’re his, you can bet your sweet ass he’ll make sure you and yours are safe. Don’t fuck him over,” Mack said. “You hungry now?”
Her stomach growled, reminding her she hadn’t eaten anything real in days actually, coffee and donuts not counting. “I am actually. What do you have in mind?” She shook her head. Maybe that was why her entire frame felt as though an electrical wire was hooked up to it?
Mack stood up. “Come on, the guys will be back shortly. Let’s go see what we can rustle up in bulk for them.”
Ayesha froze on the top step. Her mind conjuring up a biker’s party and all the things she’d seen on shows like Sons of Anarchy. Mack turned back around.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I don’t know what’s expected of me?” Her sister was only sixteen, and god willing still a virgin. Ayesha would do a lot for her sister’s safe return, but whore herself out…god she didn’t think she could do that.
Mack tossed her head back and laughed. “Oh lord, the look you have on your face. Do you think you’re the dessert? Honey, trust me, ain’t nobody gonna expect you to be lying on the table with food on your naked body for the sampling. Or whatever else is running through that mind of yours. Now, if you want to do that, I’m sure the guys wouldn’t object. However, I think a few old ladies might get a little pissed if you did it when they weren’t here.” Mack’s eyes glinted with laughter.
“Am I that transparent?” She pressed her palms to her cheeks.
“Yeah, you are. But that’s a good thing. It means you’re not a mercenary hoe I’ll have to cut one day.” Mack turned around and sauntered toward the clubhouse, leaving Ayesha to stare at her back.
“Shit, did she just threaten to cut me?”
“Yep, and she’s real good with a knife,” Duke answered.
Ayesha didn’t yelp at the deep voice behind her, which she felt deserved a pat on the back. Instead, she raised her hand in the air, giving King’s brother the middle finger.
“You’re gonna fit in just fine, girl,” Duke called after her.
Did she want to fit in just fine? All her female parts said yes. Who was she kidding? Every fiber of her being said yes. Following Mack to the clubhouse and whatever waited there, she couldn’t wait to see her sister, and if she were being totally honest, King.
Mack stood inside the door, her toe tapping the concrete floor. “Alright, I’m not a cordon bleu chef, but I make a mean spaghetti and meatballs. How about you, what’s your specialty?” Mack asked, the door leading to a room she assumed must be the kitchen swung closed, making whatever she said next too low for Ayesha to hear.
She looked around the clubhouse. In the light of day, it looked less seedy than it had that night. Oh, it was still intimidating, but now that it was filled with a lot of men who lived by their own set of rules, and women who had very little clothing on, it appeared like any other bar she’d been to. Well, not any bar she corrected when she spied the raised dais with the metal poles, clearly meant for something other than holding the ceiling up.
“You know how to use one of those?” Mack whispered near her ear.
Ayesha shivered at the thought of getting up on the stage and shimming around the pole in front of a bar full of men. She wasn’t going to admit to the other woman that she’d taken a class on pole dancing, a class she’d excelled at. Nope, her lips were sealed. “Um, the kitchen?” she asked, turning away from the poles and the thought of showing King her skills.
“I asked if you had any culinary skills but lost you to the poles,” Mack teased.
She narrowed her eyes, staring at the taller, thinner woman. Did she have the hots for King and was fucking with her. “Do you have a problem with me?” she asked, doing her best not to be intimidated.
Mack got in her space, looking down. “If I did, there’s nobody in here to save you.”
The thought that Mack had been playing nice, because Duke had been within earshot, made Ayesha angry all over again. “I don’t need Duke, or King for that matter, to fight my battl
es, Mack.”
A very unladylike snort was Mack’s response.
“Listen, I thought you wanted my help making something for the guys to eat, but if you just brought me here for a girl fight, let’s do it.” Ayesha shoved Mack back, not willing to cower to the other girl. Her time of being bullied had ended in middle school, and those days were long gone. She may look and dress like a good girl, King’s words, but she wasn’t a delicate fucking flower. Living in some of the less than nice parts of LA had meant she’d learned how to take care of herself. Even in a fight. No, she wasn’t trained in some fancy fight school. What she knew was how to fight in the yard, where there were no rules. If Mack wanted to see who was gonna cry uncle first, she had better be willing to bleed.
A sly grin split Mack’s face. If she’d thought Ayesha was a girl who wasn’t used to the streets, she’s was in for a rude awakening. When Mack swung, Ayesha was ready, dodging the fist aimed for her face. With speed and the need to teach Mack some manners, she jabbed Mack in the stomach with her left fist, hitting her where the woman’s belly button was, following up with a quick upper cut with her right. Instead of pausing, she let her fists fly, not giving Mack a chance to hit back. Mack’s hands went up, trying to block Ayesha’s punches, her cry of alarm not fazing Ayesha one.
Ayesha followed her to the ground, her cries of stop going unheard by Ayesha as she straddled her torso, raining blows on her face. Hard arms came around her, lifting her away from Mack. “Yo, Rocky, she’s done. You won,” Duke said.
The soundtrack to the movie began playing loudly over the speakers. “Damn, it was just getting good. You right though, King will be back within an hour, and I’m pretty sure he’d be pissed if his girl was sporting smashed knuckles. Mack, you in trouble,” a male voice announced over the speakers, his exaggerated drawl over several words made Duke laugh.
“Keys, you got all that on video, yeah?” Duke asked.
“What do you think?” the one named Keys deep laugh sounded loud over the now quiet room’s speaker system.