HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC

by Sophia Gray

  “Oh yeah. Those are nice. I’m going to need both hands for this.”

  I tried to get free again, but he was too strong and he had me pinned down with his knees now. He pulled off his belt and wrapped it around my wrists, cinching them tightly together as I continued to flail around on the bed. He laughed at my efforts and pulled me upward using the belt. It felt like my wrists were on fire as the leather chafed with the movement.

  “You’re a little fire ball. I like that. It’s going to make this all the more fun for me. I’m going to fuck that defiance right out of you.”

  I felt numb as he looped the belt around the bed post and wound it back around to latch it tightly. It felt like the circulation in my hands was being cut off as they tingled and ached. I tried to remove myself from what was happening to me as he slipped down and slid off my shoes before moving back up to unfasten my pants. It was like this was all happening to someone else as I looked on in horror.

  “Your body is so damn tight. It’s going to be a real pleasure fucking D’s girl. He thinks he has his thumb down on everyone around here, but he doesn’t. Pretty soon there will be a new boss in this place, and I’ll be his second in command. D don’t know shit about what goes on behind his back. He can’t even keep his pussy safe from me.”

  Something inside me broke as I realized that Ringo was one of the guys that Arthur has been talking about the night I talked to him. It was if some sort of inhuman strength came over me, and I began kicking at him wildly. He stumbled backwards, giving me just enough time to heave my body upwards and bring the belt he had looped around the post up and over it.

  Everything happened too fast after that. He was coming for me, attempting to throw his body on top of mine to pin me down when the belt suddenly loosened around my hands a bit and I was able to grab the metal lamp that sat on the bedside table. It didn’t even feel like me who was doing it as I swung it heavily, clipping him alongside the head and sending him reeling backwards onto the floor.

  I jumped from the bed and removed the belt. He was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding heavily from where I had hit him. I hurriedly got my pants pulled back up and slipped into my shoes, wrapping my shirt around me tightly as I fled toward the door and toward the stairs, spotting my purse still laying on the floor near the elevator and grabbing it as I ran. I was outside on the sidewalk before I even knew how I got there.

  Cowering in a corner of the transit bus, I rode to the stop near my house and walked the few blocks home, letting myself in and dead bolting the door. My heart was still racing and I felt sick from the gas fumes on the gag he had used as much as from what had almost happened to me. Why had I done this to myself? Was it not bad enough that my father was dead? I had to get involved with the likes of the Black Aces and get assaulted too? Stripping off my clothes, I looked in the mirror. I didn’t recognize the girl looking back at me.

  After a hot shower, I climbed into bed and slept, feeling like the failure that I was. I had to walk away from this. No way could I go back there now. For all I knew, Ringo might even be dead. I might not have to answer to the authorities for that due to the Black Aces’ code of not involving them in club matters, but I would certainly have to answer to D. Given the options, I would have rather dealt with the cops.

  Chapter Eleven

  The day after the assault, I awoke in a panic. It was almost after noon already. I couldn’t believe I had slept so long. I felt a complete sense of panic as I climbed out of bed, very aware of the aches and pains that I felt from the tussle with Ringo. Looking into the mirror, I was shocked at how I looked. My lip was swollen. I had a black eye and a larger bruise on my cheek. My breasts were bruised. My wrists were raw where the belt had rubbed. Even my shoulder was marked from his grip on it.

  Tears fell down my face as I thought about how close I had become to getting into something that I might not have ever recovered from. For that matter, I had hit him pretty hard. I might have to pay for even defending myself. It wasn’t like it would be up to the cops. I was going to be tried and sentenced by the club, not impartial jurors.

  More importantly, I didn’t know what to do next. A part of me now was more resolute than ever to bring the Black Aces to their knees and make them pay for my father’s death. Another part was terrified of what might happen to me in the process.

  It was true that I had developed feelings for D, that I didn’t believe he was involved, but it was still his club and he had done plenty for which he should pay. It wasn’t as if any feelings were mutual anyway. He had none for me. He just intended to possess me and no one else was to touch his belongings. After a bit of brooding and feeling sorry for myself, I was no surer of what to do than I had been.

  I decided to try to feel out what I was looking at with the club by calling Knuckles.

  “Hey, Knuckles. How are things?”

  “Same as always. Bunch of drunks blowing their money on slots and sluts.”

  “That’s a lovely sentiment, Knuckles.”

  “Ah, you know I didn’t mean you. What’s up?”

  “I’m supposed to be covering for Cynthia the next few days, but I think I’ve come down with something. D said that it wasn’t that big a deal that I fill in for her anyway, so I think I’m going to just stay home until my next shift at the bar if that is okay.”

  “Ain’t no sweat off my balls. Just get yourself better. I ain’t got no time for anyone spreading germs around this place.”

  “Thanks. Nothing else going on over there?”

  “Nope. Ringo come through here this morning looking like someone decided they’d finally had enough of his mouth. He was looking for you, but didn’t say why. Something I need to know?”

  “No. Not that I can think of. I’ll see you in a few days.”

  I hung up the phone and sat down on the sofa, considering my options. Ringo was alive, so I didn’t need worry about being responsible for killing a club member. I doubt that D was going to do anything to me if Ringo told him the truth about what happened, and I didn’t see any reason he would admit what he had done, so the only person I needed to worry about was Ringo and that was enough.

  The real question was if I could go through with this. I was in way over my head with everything here and didn’t know how I was supposed to pull this off. I thought it would be so easy to just go in and find the answers I needed, but it was anything but that. The Black Aces stuck together. I had learned a little here and there, but nothing substantial enough to do anything with.

  I had deluded myself temporarily into believing that I might be able to get close to D, to gain his confidence and find out the things I needed to know. I could see now that there was no way that would ever work. He was too smart and was obviously only interested in me on a physical level.

  And now I had one member who would definitely be gunning for me to pay for what I did to him. If he had assaulted me just for rejecting him, there was no telling what he might do to me for having clocked him with a lamp. I did the only thing I knew to do. I retrieved the burner phone and called my contact at the DEA and told him everything.

  “Get out of there. You are in way over your head. I was afraid this would be too much for you. I know you want your father’s killer brought to justice, but you are putting too much at stake by setting yourself up for the same fate.”

  “I knew this wouldn’t be easy. I just want to know what happened to Dad.”

  “I know you do, but you can’t even get the detectives working his case to help you. The only reason I am willing to help you is to try to keep you as safe as I can and hopefully bring them down for something. Lord knows I haven’t been able to nail them for the drugs they import and distribute. As much as I’d like to bust them for that, I’m not in for giving up a civilian to do it. Get out of there.”

  “There are some strange things going on in there. Ringo was talking about how D doesn’t know everything, and Arthur told me that there are some rogue members. I don’t have details, but it sounds
like D isn’t as much in charge of things as he believes he is. I know he had some sort of problem with missing money, and now they’ve found Jack Knife dead.”

  “Wait. What? Jack Knife is dead? How?”

  “I’m not sure really. They are laying if on some gangbangers in central, but I think it has something to do with the missing money at the club. I haven’t been able to put the two together yet. Then again, D took me to a cabin looking for him. He has, like, a whole BDSM dungeon set up in the basement of the place. D said he takes a lot of the rich society types up there for fun and games. There is always a chance that a husband with enough money to pay a banger had him ended.”

  “Could be. Too many balls up in the air to really know at this point. Look, you do what you feel you need to do. I’ll keep helping you all I can, but if you think it is getting too hot, you need to get out. If you don’t think you can bring them down, get out. Okay?”

  “Okay. I am at the house for a few days. I am pretty banged up from the incident with Ringo, and I don’t want D to know about that just yet. It seems that Ringo hasn’t told, I’m guessing because he doesn’t want D coming down on him for assaulting one of his girls. So, I just have to figure out a way to make sure I don’t tangle with him again if I stay.”

  I left out the fact that I seemed to be a bit more than just one of the girls. I might not be the girl I’d like to be to D, but there was definitely something there that I had to consider was more than he had with them.

  “I’ll trust your judgement, but my advice is to just let it be. Get as far away from there as possible, and try to get your life in order so you can move past this. Your father wouldn’t want you putting yourself in danger.”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  “Alright, just keep in touch.”

  “I will.”

  I hung up the phone, still no more certain than I had been, but I was already in and it was hard to get regular agents into the club. I decided that the best thing was just to lay low for a few days, and then make a decision. I put the burner phone back in its place and pulled out the files I had on members of the club. Then I went to the kitchen to find something I thought I could keep down to eat. I settled for some cream of chicken soup and a glass of water.

  That was all I did for the next couple of days. I used the files and info to remind myself why I had come here and what I was doing. Most of these people had a very long history of violent crimes. Many of them had committed multiple felonies, and some, even murder. Drugs were a way of life with most of them, either doing them or distributing them. In addition to the small-time business they did around the club, they worked as part of a larger supply chain.

  While I had no intention of getting too heavily involved with trying to bring down the drug trade, it had been a part of my deal with the DEA agent that I would find out what I could in the course of things to feed him as much intel as I could about it. My father’s murder wasn’t a part of his crime folder, but if my attempt to resolve that open case landed him a drug bust in the process, he was willing to give it a shot by helping me.

  After a couple of days of reviewing the information on the club I had been given to help me with finding his killer, I felt a renewed sense of determination. I was going to find out who killed him and they were going to pay for what they did, even if it was D himself. My sexual attraction to him was just a natural reaction, and I would keep that in check from now on. My focus was right back to getting justice for my father.

  The Black Aces MC would be coming down and I was going to be the one who brought them to their knees, no matter what I had to do. I wasn’t about to let them get the better of me. Putting everything back into place in its hideaway, I went to make myself some breakfast and plot my next move.

  Chapter Twelve

  By the following day, I had a clear sense of purpose. I knew exactly what I needed to do to solve my father’s murder. No more of this toying with the underlings of D. I was going to set my sights high. Despite his treatment of me recently, I still felt there was something there, something I could exploit. Whether it was just an appreciation for our sexual chemistry or actual feelings he had for me, I could get to D. I just knew I could.

  I had gone into the casino fully prepared to sleep with whomever I had to sleep with to get answers, but the truth was that the only person I needed to sleep with was D. Not only would it gain me his confidence, but it would also gain me the confidence of those under him. If he trusted me, they would. Better yet, they would not be inclined to sleep with me if I was deemed D’s girl exclusively.

  He wasn’t an easy sell, but I had seen dents in his armor and those were exactly what I’d be exploiting to my benefit. I was more determined than ever. D and his MC were going to regret the day any of them ever laid eyes on me or my father. My thoughts were disrupted by the ringing of my cell phone. I looked at the display and saw that it was the casino calling.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Janessa. It’s Knuckles.”

  “What’s up, Knuckles?”

  “I just wanted to give you a heads up that D has been looking for you.”

  “D? Why is he looking for me?”

  “He said he thought you were filling in for Cynthia, and it wasn’t like you to bail after making such a fuss about doing it.”

  “I wasn’t expecting to get sick when I agreed to fill in, and he is the one who said it didn’t matter. Did you tell him that I’ve been sick and called in because of that?”

  “I told him. Like I said, I’m just calling to give you a heads up. I’m not sure what is going on with him, but he seems to be really on edge. I’d watch it if I were you. Are you coming in tomorrow for your bar shift?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be there. Thanks for calling me, Knuckles.”

  “No problem. See you tomorrow.”

  I hung up the phone and stood looking at it for a moment. The warm, fuzzy feeling for D was all gone now, and I felt only the same sense of determination I had felt from the moment I had finally learned the truth about what happened to my father. I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting him get to me again. He could bed me all he liked, as long as it got me closer to my goal.

  That wasn’t to say that if I had to sleep with him again, I would hesitate. I was very much aware that sex was a weapon to women in that club. It was how they made their living. No one paid them the big tips they were given just for serving drinks. That money was made on their backs. In essence, they were no more than legitimized hookers. It served their purposes and it would serve mine. They needed food on their tables, and I needed a head on the chopping block for my father.

  I felt a sense of calm. My purpose restored, I began formulating my plan for bringing down the Black Aces MC. It was the same plan I had started with, but this time I wouldn’t lose my way. I wouldn’t let myself believe that the members of the club were somehow nice guys or misunderstood. They were thugs, killers, dealers. They were going to find that they had tangled with the wrong woman before all was said and done. D would know that more than any of them.

  Walking into the bedroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t like the face that I saw there. It seemed I had somehow hardened overnight. It wasn’t the face of innocent little Janessa, instead, it was the knowing look of a woman who would not stop until she got her due. I knew that I would never be the same again once this was done.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Janessa, open the door.”

  “I’m sick, D. You don’t want to catch what I have.”

  “You aren’t fucking sick. I know what happened. Let me in.”

  I took a deep breath and opened the door. I didn’t look as bad as I had a few days ago, but I was still sporting some yellowish brown bruises and chafed wrists. I looked at D standing on my doorstep with a blank expression.

  “Goddamn it. This is why I told you to stay behind the fucking bar, Janessa.”

  “What do you want, D?”

  “I want you to tell me exactly what
happened.”

  “I thought you said you knew.”

  “I know that you tussled with Ringo outside the elevator but by the time security caught it and got down there, you were gone. They went to his room, but you weren’t there, and he was laying on the floor with a nasty head wound. Other than that, there is video of you running from the building. Now, I want the rest of the story.”

  “It’s none of your concern.”

  “Everything that happens in my casino is my concern.”

  “That what this is about? Tarnishing your precious casino?”

  “Tell me what happened, Janessa. Now.”

  “Or what? You going to do worse to me than Ringo did?”

  “Janessa, I’m not playing games with you. Tell me what happened.”

  I studied his face. He was angry. If I was going to stay at the club and keep snooping, I needed Ringo dealt with, and D would certainly read the riot act to him about touching me. Even if it wasn’t personal to him, he couldn’t afford to have one of his own club members assaulting the help.