* * *
This was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done in her life, but Rose knew she was going to stay. She was choosing to believe in a man she didn’t know. Correction. Men she didn’t know. And none of them had given her a reason they’d taken an interest in her.
“So. Torpedo. Not Gavin Ferguson?”
He shrugged out of his suit jacket and glanced at her over his shoulder before turning to hang up the jacket. “I’m Gavin, but I may not answer to it. No one calls me Gavin, or Mr. Ferguson. Just call me Torpedo.”
“I’d ask how you got that name, but I’m half afraid to.”
The others snickered, the bastards.
“Well, it ain’t for the size of his dick,” Vicious offered. “At least, that’s what I heard. Don’t wanna see it.”
Shadow chuckled, raising his hands as if to surrender. “I’m still new to Bones. Known Torpedo for a few years, but not long enough to know that particular bit of information.”
“So, motorcycle clubs.” Rose hated sounding so ignorant, but she was so out of her element she had no idea what to say or do.
“Yeah,” Torpedo said, approaching her once more. “Let’s sit. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
This time, when he held out his hand to her, Rose took it. He closed his around hers gently but firmly, never looking away from her eyes. Even though she still had reservations, she liked the way his skin felt against her palm. They were the hands of a man. Work-roughened and callused. And so big his nearly swallowed her smaller one. Much like he would a child’s hand.
He guided her to the table and held a chair for her. Who did that anymore? Certainly not a biker. At least, that was her perspective. She expected more of what her fears had been from the beginning. That the three of them would try to have their way with her whether or not she wanted it. Rose wasn’t a complete innocent. She hadn’t had sex, but she’d fooled around a few times in high school. She knew without a doubt anything these men would be into would be so far out of her realm of experience she couldn’t even comprehend it. The thing was, neither of the other two had touched her other than to shake her hand and introduce themselves. Mr. Ferguson -- Torpedo -- hadn’t been inappropriate. Even though she knew it wasn’t the best idea, she wanted to hear what they had to say.
“I’ve read about Tyler Foley’s case. They proved he raped and beat five different women, but there were more like thirteen. According to the reports, he would establish a relationship with the women, then threaten to post videos on the Internet of them having sex if they filed charges against him. Does that sound about right?”
“Yes. At least, that’s the way it was with me. Only I never had sex with him. I think that was why he wasn’t as careful as he usually was. He got impatient.”
“Because he couldn’t get you on camera to set up his blackmail scheme.”
She shrugged. “I guess. He… liked young women. I was sixteen when he first tried to date me. My parents were older and didn’t think a man in his mid-twenties should be dating a girl my age. I was their only child, and both were very protective of me.”
“Where are they now?”
“They were in a car accident about a year ago. My father died at the scene, my mother a few days later.” Saying it out loud hurt even now, but Rose did her best not to let it show. She got the feeling that showing weakness would be a detriment to her with these men.
“So, is that when you started seeing Foley?”
“I guess. It was a few months later. I admit, I was lonely and scared. I didn’t like being on my own. I had to work so school was out as was a social life. My parents owned the house, but I still had all the other bills.”
“That here in Florida?”
“No. Ohio. The only reason I moved was to get away from Richmond after Tyler was sentenced. But, apparently, he followed me here.”
“He’s been keeping tabs on you, honey,” Torpedo said, sliding a tablet over to her. “Data, our intel man for both Bones and ExFil, pulled everything on you he could find. Including any hits he got from people looking for you. Richmond has fixated on you.”
“He blames me for his son being in prison.”
“Any idea why?”
“Because I called the police the night he assaulted me. He hit me, but I ran. Locked myself in my car. I was trying to get it started when he broke the window and yanked me out. He’d managed to rip most of my clothes off when the cops pulled up. I have no idea who called them. I tried to, but he pulled me out before I could say anything.”
“Did you leave the line open? Complete the call on your cell but didn’t get the chance to say anything?”
“I guess. I heard the lady say ‘911’ but I didn’t get to say anything to her before Tyler pulled me out. It’s possible they heard the whole thing. I was only in the courtroom during my part of the trial. I tried not to follow it at all. Made me have nightmares.”
“They’d have used your cell to track where you were and send help.”
“I remember the lawyers saying something like that. Yes.”
Torpedo took the tablet from her. When he did, his fingers brushed hers. Rose found herself wanting the contact. This was a man she was beginning to believe only wanted to help her. Still, she had to ask. “Why did you come after me? I know they told you I was fired. Why didn’t you just let it go?”
He was silent for so long, Rose wasn’t sure he would answer her. Finally, he reached back across the table and took her hand in his and squeezed gently. “I’m not really sure I can answer that. Not sure why my damned self.”
“Oh. OK.” Could she sound any lamer? What did he expect? He was holding her hand. Instead of it being an aggressive way to get her to come with him, now it just seemed intimate. Besides, the man really was too fine. Though she’d tried to ignore him before, she couldn’t help remembering how he looked naked. His friends had it wrong. He did indeed have adequate equipment, and a body that looked like it knew how to use that equipment.
He’d cleaned up nicely after she’d left. Obviously, the suit added to his appearance, but he’d also pulled his hair back. The sides and back had been cut so that he could look neat when his hair was up in a hat, or just pulled to the back of his neck. He had a good deal of stubble, but even that had been trimmed and edged. Though his hair was dark, it was streaked liberally with silver, making him look older than his facial features indicated. What woman wouldn’t be attracted?
“Look. I’m sorry about your apartment,” he offered. “I just wasn’t sure how to get you back here. You obviously weren’t coming back to work, so I took the only avenue open to me.”
“Why look into my background, though?”
“Why ask me hard questions?” He sounded irritated, but his friends, who had retreated into the other room but were obviously still listening, chuckled at his response. “Just accept my help, and we’ll talk about other stuff later. Can you do that?”
“Do I have a choice?”
The laughter from the other room was louder this time.
“If I say yes, will you just go with it?”
That made her giggle before she could stop herself. He looked uncomfortable with the line of questioning, which told her a lot about him. He was interested in her for whatever reason. She might be relatively inexperienced, but she was woman enough to know when a man was attracted. “Fine. But we will revisit this later. It’s important to me.”
“Believe me, honey, it’s important to me, too.”
Chapter Four
Could a woman be any more… beguiling? Ambrosia Gataki was the very embodiment of an ancient Greek virgin sacrifice. Which probably made him some kind of hideous monster, because he was keeping the exotic beauty.
They’d talked for an hour about her past. How she’d met Tyler Foley, the “incident,” and the subsequent aftermath. There were a couple of times he was sure she was going to break down and cry. Not because he thought the events were overly traumatic, though they were, but because he got
the sense she’d held everything inside for so long her emotions were overwhelming her with the need to get out. To her credit -- and his great relief -- she had contained the tears.
At some point, his brothers had returned to them, asking their own questions and exchanging angry glances with him and each other. No doubt they were all in on helping his little beauty.
Finally, he called a halt. They didn’t have all the information they needed yet, but she was becoming more and more pale, dark circles appearing under her eyes. Torpedo glanced at his watch to see it was after ten. “We need food,” he announced. “It’s past my feedin’ time.”
“Was just thinkin’ the same thing, brother.” Shadow grinned and went to the phone sitting on the bar. “Anyone got objections to pizza and beer?”
“I just want a Coke, if that’s all right.” Rose laced her fingers together in front of her, resting her hands on the table. She went by Rose, but he kind of liked the feel of Ambrosia in his mind. He got the feeling that, if he ever had a taste of her, he’d become addicted -- just as mortals were supposed to if they tasted the nectar of the gods.
“You can have whatever you want, baby,” Torpedo said, reaching to cover her slim hands with one of his. He tried to give her an encouraging smile, but was afraid it came out wolfish.
She sucked in a breath, her face flushing the second he laid his hand over hers. Torpedo didn’t miss the fluttering of her pulse at her throat or the way her breathing quickened. He nearly grinned. Could it be that his little virgin sacrifice was interested in him, too? He wasn’t about to bet the farm on it, but, with enough care, he might be able to seduce her.
This could get tricky. And what was his ultimate goal? He was afraid he already knew. Had known from the moment he laid eyes on her.
“Let’s sit outside while we wait for the food,” he said to Rose. He stood, urging him to come with him. Retaining possession of her hand, he led her to the balcony by the hot tub. The warm night air was relaxing, the breeze coming off the ocean, sublime. The moon shone brightly and, with the subtle ambiance of the hot tub lights sparkling under the water, made a decidedly romantic atmosphere.
They sat on a lounger meant for two. He still held her hand, but other than that, they didn’t touch. Torpedo could still feel her slight trembling.
“You know I’m not going to hurt you. Right? Not me or my brothers.”
“Do you have any idea how surreal this is? If I had any sense at all, I’d make some excuse to leave and run as far as I could.” She spoke softly, but he got the impression she wasn’t scared so much as she thought she should be scared. “I had plans to work as many hours as I could until my rent padding ran out then hop a train to Seattle or somewhere on the West Coast. Try to get as far away from the Foleys as I could.”
“You don’t have to do that now, baby. We’re gonna take care of this.”
“I don’t see how,” she said, giving him a little sad smile. “Richmond Foley has more money than God. If he decides he wants someone out of the way, it’s as good as done.”
“It’s been months since his son was convicted. If he had the means, don’t you think he would have already removed you from the equation?” Torpedo shifted so he could look her directly in the eyes. “He’s not nearly as rich and powerful as you’ve been led to believe. He’s a bully. It’s the one thing the man is good at.”
“Do you know him? Or are you getting all your information from your friend?”
“We’ve run into the man on a couple of occasions.” Torpedo couldn’t divulge much about the work ExFil had done in the past without Cain’s approval, but he could tell her enough. “We’ve worked for him before. He hired us once to do a job that turned out to go against our code. He deceived us into thinking we were doing one thing when we were really doing something else. When he tried to hire us for another job a couple of years later, Cain turned him down flat. He’d already passed the word onto other companies and, apparently, no one would touch him. We know how deceitful and vindictive the man can be. Firsthand.”
“So, you believe me? About all of it? Because no one else seems to. They believe everything Richmond has said about me, taking it as the result of the #Me-Too movement. He tells everyone that, had it not been for the movement, no one would have believed me. He says all this would have been a footnote that would have been dismissed before it ever got to trial.”
“Baby, there is no one in Bones, Salvation’s Bane, or ExFil who would believe a thing out of that son of a bitch’s mouth. He’s a deplorable human being.”
“Since we’re on the subject, I need you to explain to me why. Why are you doing this? You have to know I can’t pay you.”
He sighed. He knew this was coming again. He’d just hoped it would be after he’d had a chance to figure it the fuck out himself. “I wish I could answer that for you. I can tell you without hesitation that it’s not about money. You’re not paying for anything. I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do and because…” He trailed off, swallowing and clearing his throat, uncomfortable with the feelings inside him wanting free. “I have to. I need to.”
“Good God, man!” Shadow wandered out onto the balcony with the pizza. He set the boxes on the big table in the center of the area then tossed Torpedo a beer can before carefully setting an ice bucket with two Coke cans sticking out of the top on the table next to the pizza. “For all your blustering at your brothers for being idiots with their women, you’re really fuckin’ this to hell and back.” Once again, the only thing that saved Shadow from a beating was Rose’s soft giggle before she stifled it with a delicate cough behind her hand. “Just tell the woman you want to get to know her better. That you’re into her. That you want to go someplace and have passionate sex with her before fuckin’ her ever-lovin’ brains out. Anything but this infuriatin’ vagueness! Christ! You’d think you’d never been in the company of a woman you liked before.”
“Shadow…” Torpedo leveled his best don’t-fuck-with-me look on the other man. “You’re about two seconds away from a bloodbath. And I’m the vice-president. I can cull your ass in a heartbeat.”
Shadow simply shrugged. “Brother, that don’t scare me. All I gotta do is tell Bohannon ‘bout this little incident and he’ll be all up in your shit. Trucker, too. Seem to remember you getting’ all up in their shit over their women. They’ll protect me from Cain.”
“Fucker,” he growled.
Torpedo glanced at Rose, half expecting her to insist on leaving. Instead, she went to the table and sat, opening a pizza box and helping herself to a slice. “This is the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. You guys should dig in or I’ll do much more damage than you can repair.”
“You heard the lady,” Torpedo said, trying his best to recover, knowing his reputation as a badass was blown completely. At least it was for Rose.
As they sat down, Vicious and Shadow on one side, he and Rose on the other, Shadow nodded at him and said softly. “You’re welcome, brother.”
Torpedo raised an eyebrow, then promptly flipped him off.
They ate and exchanged friendly banter, getting to know one another. Even Vicious managed to behave himself. The more they talked and laughed together, the more Rose seemed to relax. Torpedo was more grateful to his brothers than he could say.
“I’m gettin’ more beer,” Shadow said. “Anyone else want something?”
Torpedo readily agreed, but Vicious waved him off. “In case we need to make a getaway back to the clubhouse tonight.” He shrugged at Shadow’s raised eyebrow. “Hey. You never know. One of us might need to be sober.”
The group fell into another comfortable conversation over the next hour. Rose asked them questions as they did her. Torpedo found himself falling deeper under her spell as he discovered she had a wry sense of humor and a sarcastic wit. When she told them how she’d met Torpedo earlier that day, she had Vicious laughing so hard he was wiping tears from his eyes, and he did, indeed, drink a beer after that.
“Torped
o, brother,” he addressed his friend. “You better hang on to this one. She’s one of a kind.” Vicious clapped Torpedo on the shoulder. “Miss Ambrosia Gataki, it has been my most sincere pleasure. If you decide to leave the vice-president of Bones in the dust, consider Salvation’s Bane. There will always be a home for you there.”
“You take care of our boy, little Rose,” Shadow said, taking her hand in his for a firm handshake. “He needs a good woman on the back of his bike.”
As they left, Rose looked to Torpedo, confusion in her lovely golden eyes. “I don’t understand. They think we’re together?”
He shrugged. “Probably because they can tell I want us to be.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Look, Rose. I know we didn’t get off to a great start. Let me help you with Richmond. I’ll prove I can be a good man to you. Give me a chance.”
She was silent for a long while, picking at the hem of her shirt. “I suppose it can’t hurt to get to know you better.” Her smile was soft and lovely. Just like the woman. “I guess it’s like meeting someone in a bar. Only this started out with you answering the door naked.”
God, she was beautiful! The moonlight seemed to bathe her in a golden light, highlighting the inky blackness of her hair. Blue highlights gleamed with the breeze that stirred her curls. It was all Torpedo could do to keep from threading a finger through one springy curl and tugging. “That’s about right. And now you already know what you’re gettin’.”
Her laughter tinkled merrily at his suggestive comment. “I should go home. I’ll call a cab.”
“You know, we’ve got plenty of rooms. You’ll be perfectly safe here if you want to stay. The doors lock and everything.”
“Somehow, I doubt something as simple as a locked door would keep you out if you truly wanted in.”
Torpedo (Bones MC 7) Page 4