by Lane Hart
I have to let her go to get up to grab my phone from my jeans and check. “Almost six,” I tell her when I find the device.
“I need to go check on Cooper,” she says as she scoots to the edge of the bed. “Oh, but first I need a quick shower and change of clothes.”
“I’ll get dressed and then bring your things inside,” I tell her when I pull on my jeans.
“Thanks,” she says, flashing me a smile as she watches me get dressed with obvious appreciation in her eyes. The look she’s giving me is nearly enough to make me hard again.
“You’re kind of amazing, you know that?” I tell her.
“Oh, that’s just those endorphins talking,” she responds.
“The endorphins don’t have anything to do with me wanting to kiss you a million times for helping my friend.”
“In that case, I’ll take you up on that offer after my shower and check-up.”
“Deal,” I agree with a smile.
After I bring in Isobel’s guitar case and luggage, she takes off to the shower. Since there’s nothing else to do at the moment, I lay back down in bed and wait for her to return to me.
Maybe she’s on to something about the orgasms causing addiction, because I already need her again.
At first, when I saw her the other night in the bar, she was irresistible. I wanted her before she spoke a word to me just because she was gorgeous and had the voice of an angel.
Now, I just want to be with her, to get to know her better, to keep her. The more time we spend together, the closer we get.
If Isobel ever finds out that we met because of her father, though, she would never forgive me.
I hate that asshole so much, not just for blackmailing me and the guys, but for forcing me to involve her. It’s not fair to Isobel. She’s so sweet and kind, and here I am, sleeping with her and trying to figure out how to keep her around long enough to convince her to go back to nursing and make amends with her father.
The problem is, she sees too much. She took one look at me and the rest of the Savage Kings and knew I didn’t belong. How am I supposed to keep manipulating her without her noticing?
Somehow, someway I need to convince her to do what her father wants.
“So, I had an idea!” Isobel says when she bursts back into the room, hair wet and fully dressed, interrupting my inner musings.
“Oh yeah?” I ask as I sit up and throw my legs over the side of the bed.
“The guys are all cranky and upset. They need some comfort food; and since Cooper seems stable, just sleeping things off for now, I can cook for them!”
“You’re gonna cook for us?” I ask.
“Yeah. Who else will if I don’t?” she questions.
“Well, there’s always fast food,” I point out. “We’re grown men. We can fend for ourselves. Or send Cedric out.”
Pulling out her tiny pink notepad and pen from her purse, she says, “I’m making a list, and then I’m going to the store. It’ll be a great morale boost.”
“Fine, but I’m going with you,” I tell her.
Unfortunately, a few minutes later when we walk out of the bedroom, Torin’s voice booms from the dining room, calling for a meeting.
“Just a second,” I tell Isobel, leaving her at the back door so I can go talk to Torin. “Hey, man, I was about to head out with Isobel to grab some groceries,” I tell him as everyone starts gathering around.
“Send Cedric with her,” our president says. “Jade is calling to give us an update, so we need you here in case we need to take a vote.”
“I don’t know…” I start.
“The prospect can watch her back,” Torin assures me. Since he’s already wound tight, I doubt he’s going to bend on this. Isobel and Cedric could probably go and get back by the time we adjourn, so I cave.
“Fine. Just give me a second,” I tell our president before I grab Isobel’s hand and pull her out the back. “I need to stay for a meeting. Do you think you’ll be okay going with Cedric?”
“Yeah, sure,” she says without hesitation, just like I predicted. Isobel’s a tough girl who doesn’t scare easily.
“He’s probably hanging around outside,” I say. And just as I thought, we find the kid leaning his back against the side of the van with his head bent over the phone in his hand.
“Just playing Tetris on my flip phone. No one can track me,” Cedric tells me in a rush when he sees us approaching and straightens up.
“It’s fine,” I reply. “But I need you to put the phone away and go with Isobel to the grocery store. You mind?”
“No, sir,” he answers, slipping the flip phone into his baggy jeans front pocket.
“Good. Watch her back and your own,” I tell him. “And take off your cut.”
“What?” he asks, reaching up to sweep the front of his thick black hair straight back and out of his eyes.
“Take off your cut and leave it here before you go,” I clarify.
“Wait, is this a test?” he asks, looking between me and Isobel.
“A test?”
“Yeah, you know,” he replies. “Like if I take off my cut, I fail. But if I don’t do what you told me to do, I fail…less?”
“No, dickhead. This is not a test,” I assure him. “There are people out there taking out Savage Kings’ establishments. I don’t want you drawing any attention to yourself right now. Got it?” I ask. I hate to get angry at the kid, but that’s part of being a prospect, building up your confidence and growing a spine so that by the time you earn your patch, you won’t let anyone speak down to you again.
“Oh, okay,” Cedric says. He still hesitates a few more seconds before he finally slips his arms out of his cut and hands it to me.
“Good. Thank you,” I tell him as I take the leather. “You’ll get it back as long as you bring her back to me in one piece. If anything happens to her, I’ll take it out on you five times over. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” he agrees with a nod before he opens the driver side of the van and climbs inside.
“A little harsh there, Sax,” Isobel turns to me and says.
“We have to put the prospects through their paces, see if they have what it takes. It’s tradition,” I assure her. “Eventually, he’ll stop letting us treat him like a dog and he’ll get his patch.”
“So it really is all just a test?” she asks me with a grin.
“Sort of,” I agree with my own smile before wrapping my arm around her waist to pull her to me and cover her curved lips with mine. “Be careful. Have Cedric call me if anything comes up.”
“We’ll be fine,” she says. “Now go, they’re probably ready to start the meeting or whatever.”
“Okay,” I say as I reluctantly make my feet start back to the house, even though I would rather be going with Isobel. It’s not safe for anyone to leave the group until we find out who is behind the attacks, but she’s right and a good meal is what the guys need.
The van pulls away, and then I slip back inside and stand in the corner of the dining room since all six of the chairs are taken.
“Now that we’re all here,” Torin starts from his seat at the head of the table and then winces. “Except for Coop. I’m gonna call Jade and put her on speaker.”
He gets her on the line and then pushes the speaker button and lays his phone down in the middle of the table.
“Hey, guys. Sorry you’re dealing with all of this shit today,” Jade says. “We still haven’t had any luck tracking down family members of Jenna Higgins. None of the other dancers seem to know much about her. They all said she’s only been at Avalon for a few weeks. Can you try to get more information from Cooper?”
“Ah, yeah,” Torin responds. “But it may be tomorrow. He’s had some hearing loss and been pretty out of it. Sax’s nurse gave him something to help him relax and now he’s sleeping.”
“Okay, well, just tell me if you find out anything else. Maybe Reece can do some digging?”
“Sure,” Reece agrees. “D
o you have a date of birth?”
“Yeah, it’s December fifth, nineteen-ninety-nine.”
“I’ll let you know what I can find.”
“Thanks,” Jade says. “As far as who is responsible, we still don’t have any answers for you, which I know is frustrating. But I think you’re doing the right thing, laying low. My deputies haven’t seen anyone suspicious at the clubhouse or the Jolly Roger, but I’ll keep them posted just in case.”
“Can you give us any updates on the explosives?” War asks.
“The ATF has taken over, as you probably guessed, and they’re not telling us much other than that the bombs were homemade with remote triggers, so we’re probably dealing with a group that has a military background. Most of the homemade shit usually doesn’t even detonate, much less work with a long-distance remote.”
“That’s a good point,” Torin says. “Anything else?”
“The DEA is looking for you guys,” Jade informs us. “Agent Wesley is acting like he just wants to sit down and talk about potential suspects, but I don’t trust him. If you point him in the direction of suspects and the feds find them first, they could provide incriminating evidence against the Kings in exchange for a deal.”
“Exactly,” Chase says. “Fuck that. We’re sitting tight and don’t have anything to say to anyone.”
“You’d be smart to get a lawyer.”
“Ah, yeah, we sort of know one,” Torin replies.
“The woman who was looking for Cooper?” Jade asks.
“Yeah, we’ve hired the firm she works for in the past, but I don’t recall if she worked personally on any of the cases. Either way, she seems to have a relationship with Coop, so that could help us.”
“Or it could be seen as a conflict,” Jade points out. “Maybe you should get her to refer you to someone else in her firm. That way she can still keep you in the loop, but it puts some distance between her and the MC.”
“Good idea,” Torin agrees. “Anything else we need to know?”
“I’ll have the incident reports for both buildings tomorrow so you can get them to your insurance company, and they can get to work on the claims,” Jade tells us. “Do you plan to rebuild?”
“We’re going to vote on that as soon as we hang up,” Chase tells his step-sister.
“Sorry. None of my business. I’ll be in touch when I find out more,” she says and then ends the call.
“So?” Torin asks as he picks up his phone and glances around the room. “What does everyone think about rebuilding?”
“Yes to both,” Dalton speaks up and says first. “Avalon is our biggest money maker and Gabe’s tattoo shop is a big draw for tourists. Everyone wants to get inked by a Savage King.”
“Thanks man,” Gabe says with a nod in his direction.
“Yes to both,” Abe answers. “You can never go wrong with a titty bar, and the shop is everything to my baby brother.”
“Yes to both,” Chase agrees. “In fact, Gabe, what do you say about a bigger building so that you could bring in a few more artists?”
“Hell yes,” Gabe replies. “I would love the help, and I think we could triple the revenue with two more artists taking walk-ins since I’m usually booked up.”
“That’s a damn good idea,” Torin says. “And if we have to rebuild anyway, we can have a contractor add the space for more chairs. All in favor?” he asks, and everyone answers in agreement. “Anyone opposed to the rebuild of Avalon?”
“Maybe there’s room for improvement in the rebuild of Avalon too,” I suggest.
“How so?” Chase questions.
“Well, you would have to talk to the dancers, but aren’t virtual shows sort of hot right now?”
“Virtual shows?” War repeats, his brow wrinkled in confusion.
“Do you honestly never look at porn online?” Miles asks the club’s father figure.
“Why do I need porn when I have a gorgeous woman in my bed?” War throws back, making Miles roll his eyes.
“Anyway,” Reece says. “I think what Sax is referring to is the type of live porn when guys sign on to watch hot girls take off their clothes and…touch themselves while the audience watches.”
“Exactly,” I say. “It’s not much of a stretch from stripping, right? Maybe even better for the dancers because they don’t have to deal with the men getting handsy in private rooms or whatever. I bet we could build a few apartments over top of the new Avalon for production.”
“That’s pretty brilliant,” Chase says. “And those sites charge by monthly memberships, right? If we had a few thousand subscribers for, say, five girls, we could have a shitload of new profits coming in. The only expenses would be to pay the women and set up the tech, which I’m sure Reece could do with his hands tied behind his back.”
“Easily,” Reece responds. “I’d need a server room with some hardcore firewalls and shit. Then we’d be in business upstairs and downstairs.”
“Sounds like we can make the best out of a fucked-up situation,” Maddox concludes.
“We’ll cut out a percentage of the new Avalon’s profits for Jenna’s family,” Torin says. “It’s the least we can do for them since she died in our club.”
“Agreed,” Chase says, followed by everyone else’s approval.
“As soon as we get everything settled with the insurance company, we’ll have a contractor start rebuilding,” Torin assures us. “We’ll all feel the hit on our next quarterly payout, but we’ll get through it. Just be patient, not only with the money side of things but with vengeance as well. We did what we had to do with the Russians; but if this is them hitting us back, we’ll have to be careful going forward. No more innocents are going to die on my watch.”
“Amen, brother. At least shit can’t get any worse than this, but the Kings will always endure,” War mutters, echoing everyone’s sentiment.
And as the solemn mood fills the room, I can’t help but think that they have no idea just how worse things can get for them thanks to the evidence the governor is holding over my head.
Chapter Sixteen
Sax
“I bought you something,” Isobel whispers from behind me as I finish washing up the dinner dishes at the kitchen sink.
“You bought me something? Wasn’t cooking dinner for all of us enough?” I ask.
“It’s not much,” she says. Wrapping both of her hands around my waist to rub their way up the front of my shirt, she says, “I’ll be in bed with it when you finish up here,” before she walks away.
Never in all my life have I washed dishes as fast as I did then. In fact, tomorrow I’ll probably need to rewash them. We really need to get a dishwasher put in here.
When I slip into our room a few moments later, I’m only a little disappointed to find Isobel sitting up in bed, still wearing her clothes.
“You thought I would be naked, didn’t you?” she asks with a grin.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll be naked soon enough,” she promises, which is all it takes for my cock to start swelling down my jean leg.
“That’s good to know,” I tell her as I flop down on the mattress next to her on my side.
“Are you ready for your present?” she asks excitedly.
“Yes.”
Reaching beside her on the nightstand, she grabs a tiny blue notebook with matching pen that looks similar to her pink one.
“This is your bucket list,” she says when she places it in front of me on the bed. “Now you have one so you can start putting down all the things you want to do or see before you die.”
“Thank you,” I tell her, sitting up to place a kiss on her cheek.
Positioning my back against the headboard, I pull the pen free and open up the notebook to the first blank page.
“Well, I wanted to kiss you, so that’s one I can check off,” I say as I scribble “Kiss Isobel” on the first line and put a check mark beside it. “Then I went skinny dipping, which is something I had never done before but always wante
d to do,” I add, checking it off as well.
“Now add ‘travel around the world on your boat’,” Isobel instructs, so I jot it down. “What else?” she asks.
“I’ll need some time to think about it.”
“There must be some ideas on your mind, no matter how farfetched or impossible or silly. Just write it down, Sax. Then find a way to make time to do it!”
“Okay,” I reply with a heavy exhale before I write down the thing I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid.
Isobel tilts her head to the side to read it aloud. “Find a shipwreck. You mean like pirate treasure?” she asks with a smile.
“Not to try to find gold and get rich or whatever, but just to study it. I think it would be pretty cool to find a piece of history at the bottom of the ocean.”
“Oh, I get it,” Isobel says. “You’re a closeted history dork.”
“No, I’m not,” I scoff indignantly, causing her to giggle. Finally, I admit the truth. “Okay, so maybe I am a little bit.”
“That’s sort of adorable,” she says. “I knew you weren’t cut out to be a Savage King. You want to be a savage pirate instead.” A giggle escapes her curved lips before she adds, “You already have the boat and one-eyed cat. Oh! You should totally get a tiny little black patch for Willy to wear!”
“You think you’re hilarious, don’t you?” I tease right before I launch myself at her, pulling her back down on the mattress and pinning her underneath me while I squeeze her sides, tickling the shit out of her.
“Stop! Stop! Truce, Captain! Please!” Isobel squirms and laughs.
“Thank you,” I tell her when I finally relent, hovering over top of her. “I’ll try to check off as many items on my bucket list as possible. And now I know not to let anyone ever read it,” I joke before I steal a kiss from her lips. And then another until we’re both naked and losing ourselves in each other’s bodies.
Chapter Seventeen
Isobel
The next morning, as soon as I wake up, I slip quietly into Cooper’s room to see how he’s doing. From the moment my palm touches his forehead, I can tell he has a fever.