Mixed with Trouble: A CASH BAR NOVEL

by Faiman, Hayley

  Gracie’s eyes widen slightly, then she shakes her head as if to gather her thoughts. “You put my baby in danger. This is your fault. She’s covered in blood because of you.” Gracie lifts her hand and points at me. “You don’t even have the decency to take care of this shit. No, all you do is take her into the back and wet your dick. You are fucking pathetic.”

  Honest to God, I have never seen Gracie so pissed in all of my life. Not even when Fish cheated on her constantly. She’s beyond reason at this point. If she doesn’t hear what she wants, I’m afraid she’s going to try and rip my cock off.

  “Mom,” Lea warns.

  I lift my hand and shake it, signaling for her to be quiet. Apparently, that’s the wrong thing to do in front of Gracie. Her eyes narrow and she opens her mouth to speak, but I beat her to it.

  “What I’m not going to do is talk to you about Lea and me and what we were doin’. I’m not going to embarrass her like that in front of a bar full of people. Gracie, you need to take your ass somewhere and cool the fuck down. I’m dealing with the situation, and before tonight is done, it will be handled.”

  Skinner appears out of nowhere and I’ve never been so glad to see the man before in my life. He doesn’t say anything, instead, he slides his arm around her shoulders and firmly pulls her into his side and guides her away without a word.

  Turning my head, I look back at Lea who has tears swimming in her eyes. Fucking wonderful.

  “None of this was your fault,” she whispers.

  I lift my chin, my lips tugging into a smirk. “Know that, Tiny. Your mom needs to lay the blame somewhere. I’m the easiest person to blame right now, I’m cool with that. She’ll get over it.” I shrug.

  “How? Why? How are you cool with what just happened?” she asks.

  Closing the distance between us, I take a step toward her. Reaching out, I slide my hands around her hips and tug her against my chest. Dipping my chin, I touch my lips to hers.

  “I’m cool with it because normally Gracie is sweet. Right now, she’s scared, and I don’t fuckin’ blame her. Seeing you with someone else’s blood on your body, knowing that you could have been hurt, that scares me too, Lea.”

  She wrinkles her nose, looking cute as shit as she stares up at me. “Did you just admit you were scared?” she asks.

  Lowering my face, I press my lips against hers, but I don’t deepen the kiss. “Only to you, babe. I would only ever admit that shit to you, my woman, my confidant.”

  Lea’s arms lift and I feel her fingers slide through my hair at the nape of my neck. “God, Mitchell. You know just what to say to make me fall even deeper in love with you, don’t you?” she breathes.

  I don’t respond, slanting my head, I take her mouth, driving my tongue deep inside of her, tasting every single part of her sweetness.

  Once I’ve satisfied my current craving for her taste, I break the kiss and catch her gaze with my own. “I got some shit to do, Lea. Go get cleaned up, wait for me naked in my bed. I’ll want to taste you and fuck you, properly, when I return.”

  She shivers in my arms, causing my lips to turn up into a shit-eating grin. Slowly, she lets her hands fall from around the back of my neck and takes a step back.

  Her eyes never leave mine and I don’t turn away from her immediately, I can sense that she has something more to say to me.

  “Be careful, Mitchell,” she whispers.

  Keeping my smile on my face, I throw her a wink. “Always, Tiny. See you soon,” I call out before I turn and make my way out of the clubhouse and toward the warehouse. I have some fucking sick bastards to torture and kill.

  LEA

  When Baby is out of the clubhouse, only then do I let out my breath in a sigh. Glancing around the room for my mom, I frown when I don’t see her. Deciding to go toward the bedrooms in search of her, I slip through the crowd, hoping that nobody tries to stop me.

  I make my way to the guest bedroom, glancing in, not expecting to see anyone, but I pause at the sight in front of me.

  Coda is on the bed, his eyes closed. One of the girls that walked into the clubhouse with all of the children, she’s sitting at his bedside. She turns to me, her eyes wide and she looks scared as hell.

  “Is he okay?” I ask, ignoring her frightened gaze, choosing to focus on Coda.

  There’s a moment of silence before she finally begins to speak. “He will be. Seems he lost consciousness and then hit his head on the floor. He will be okay,” she says, her French-accented voice soft and delicate.

  “I’m Lea,” I offer, taking a step inside.

  She looks at my bloody hands, then my face, before she gulps. “Camille,” she offers.

  “The man that did that to him, it’s his blood,” I explain.

  Camille doesn’t say anything right away, her eyes searching my body. Turning back to Coda. “What’s his name?” she asks.

  “Coda,” I answer. “He’s one of the nicest men I know.”

  “Is he your lover?”

  I snort. “No, I belong to someone else.”

  Saying the words aloud should make me feel dirty, belonging to someone shouldn’t feel as good as it does. This isn’t the dark ages, but in this club, in this life, belonging to someone, it means something special. There is pride in being one of these men’s women.

  “Did he buy you?” she asks, her voice almost too soft to hear.

  Shaking my head, I sink down in the chair next to the wall. “Not at all. That’s not what these men are about. I mean, don’t get me wrong, they aren’t saints. But they freed all of you because they don’t believe in that shit, they’ve been helping women escape since I was a little girl.”

  She nods once, her gaze shifting from me to Coda. “I’m supposed to be watching him, making sure nothing happens,” she whispers.

  “Do you need anything?” I ask.

  She shakes her head, her eyes still on Coda. She’s done talking to me, and I don’t blame her. Standing, I walk over to the door, pausing before I leave.

  I bite my bottom lip, watching them for a brief moment. I don’t feel jealous at watching her touch his hand, but I do feel a sense of overwhelming protectiveness.

  “This world, inside of this building. It isn’t like the regular world. These men aren’t like regular men either,” I try to explain.

  Camille turns her head slightly, her eyes finding mine and holding them before she speaks. “I don’t belong in the regular world, not anymore.”

  Her eyes are haunted, her face blank of any kind of emotion and it sends a chill down my spine. “Come and find me if you need anything. I’ll be around,” I whisper.

  Turning from the room, I don’t wait for her response. I decide that I’m not sure I want to hear her response. She’s obviously been through some traumatizing shit. Honestly Whitley or Hayden, one of the other girls, would be better at talking to her about that. I can offer nothing as far as guidance, or advice.

  Making my way toward my mom and Skinner’s room, I pause just outside of the door. I can hear murmurs inside. Lifting my hand, I touch the outside and press my ear against it, but I can’t make any of the words out.

  “You’re gonna hear something you really don’t want to fucking hear, little one,” a voice says from behind me.

  Jumping, I straighten my spine and turn around to face the man behind me. He’s grinning, his eyes dancing as he looks down at me.

  “You good, Lea?” Snake asks.

  Nodding, I look behind my shoulder to the door, then back to him. “I am. My mom thinks all of this is Baby’s fault,” I whisper.

  Snake lifts his hand, his finger touching the tip of my nose as his lips twitch into a small smile. “She’ll be okay. Skinner will straighten her out, she’s just scared. We all say and do shit that we don’t mean when we’re terrified.”

  “Coda’s going to be okay?” I ask, changing the subject.

  He nods. “Got a woman lookin’ after him.”

  “I think she’d cry if he actually woke up. C
amille is scared, Snake.”

  He shakes his head once. “She’ll be good. She’s gotta get used to this place, she ain’t leaving anytime soon.”

  “You don’t mean to make her a club girl, do you?” I gasp.

  He arches a brow disapprovingly at my question. I’m sure I’m not supposed to know about the whores, or at least not talk about them. But whores are the bane of every woman in the life’s existence.

  Including mine.

  I have no doubt that Baby will disappoint me at some point and when he does, it will include a whore. No doubt at all. I don’t want to admit it, I don’t even want to think about it, but that is the cold hard truth of it all.

  “Not that it’s your business, but no,” Snake snaps.

  I shrug. “I just thought women who stayed here were whores or Old Ladies, no stray cats,” I smirk.

  Snake’s eyes widen, then he begins to chuckle. “Fuck, Lea. I missed your smart ass.” He lifts his hand, wrapping his fingers around my shoulder and squeezing gently. “Go wash that fucker’s blood off your body and wait for your man. He’ll be done soon and he’ll need you when he is.”

  Without another word, his hand falls from my shoulder and he turns and walks away from me. I watch for a moment, then decide to do exactly as he and Baby suggested. I go in search of a shower to clean this guy’s dried blood from my body.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  BABY

  My chest fills with pride as I walk into the warehouse. Pride for my brotherhood, pride for my woman’s strength and pride that in a short time these two fucks in front of me will be dead and sent to Hell.

  Both Martels are hanging from their wrists by hooks that we have in the ceiling. Typically, we tie people to chairs, but the Martels are special, therefore they get special treatment. The room is filled with several brothers, including Free, Keys, Crooner, and Snake who walks in just after me.

  “Well, it’s your rodeo for a while, Baby, what’re you gonna do?” Snake asks.

  I glance from the ground to Martel Senior. He has a bandana tied around his mouth to keep him from shouting, since he screamed the whole way here from his hidey-hole south of Alberta. For whatever reason, he thought going into hiding would save him.

  Luckily, for us, we have Keys who sniffed that safe house out in about two seconds and watched Caron and the men leave from there before he sent our crews to storm in.

  “You thought that you were safe to do what you wanted, right? That you wouldn’t be held accountable for your actions, for your trade?” I ask, not expecting an answer, at least not yet.

  Lifting my chin toward Ice, I wait for him to tug the bandana off from around Martel Senior’s mouth. He spits immediately, trying to hit me, but much like the man that he is, he comes up short.

  “I always get what I want, always,” he sneers.

  I burst out laughing, dramatically throwing my head back before I straighten and my face goes hard as I stare at him.

  “You wanted to be strung up in our warehouse. You could have asked, we would have done it without all of these theatrics,” Snake drawls.

  Martel’s eyes narrow, but he doesn’t reply. Crossing my arms over my chest, I tilt my head to the side.

  “So, now that you aren’t going to be able to control us, what’s your play?” I ask.

  He shifts his gaze to the side, his eyes glancing at his oldest child then brings them back to me. “You’ll never get away with it. My son is a senator, no way will the world just accept that he disappeared.”

  “So, he was your insurance policy?” I ask on a chuckle.

  “Sorry to tell you, Martel, but that’s a pretty shitty plan,” a voice announces as he walks into the clubhouse.

  “Holy fuck,” Martel whispers, his bravado immediately washes from his face.

  I chance a glance over to Senator Martel and he looks green, like he’s about to puke. Would suck if he did because he’d asphyxiate on it before we got to the good stuff.

  Governor General flicks his gaze from each Martel and then turns slightly to face Snake. He has been our in, our protection, and a very well paid one at that.

  He keeps us out of jail, but he is our trump card. We never wanted to use him, which was why we have spent the past year trying to find a way to get rid of Senator Martel and his cunt of a sister without having to call him in.

  Snake and Free tried to call him more than once before Lea came back and I always said, no. I was willing to deal with her, maybe forever, as long as the brotherhood wasn’t in jeopardy and our single favor wasn’t used.

  When everything came to light, Snake made an executive decision and called Governor General Walsh. He didn’t want to take any chances, and although we’ve been diligent as fuck with this whole situation, we wanted to be assured that when we deal with the Martels that this is fucking done.

  “End them, I’ll make sure the senator is found dead in his house.” Walsh flicks his eyes over to Martel Junior. “Such a sad way to die, suicide. Mental health is such an important part of today’s society. You’ll be a prime example of why we need to take better care of ourselves, Martel.”

  Martel, who still has a bandana wrapped around his mouth between his lips to keep him from talking, starts to jerk and move against the hook, his entire body swinging.

  “That one,” Walsh says, lifting his chin toward Martel Senior. “I don’t give a fuck about him. His body can disappear for all I care. The world will not mourn his loss.”

  Snake dips his chin, then grins. “We’re good to transport our product from now on?”

  Walsh chuckles. “I get my cut, we’re good, as long as people are never transported.”

  “Never,” Snake agrees. “The children in the clubhouse, the three women?”

  “I already have a van ready to take them to safety. Hopefully we can find their families, if not, I’ll make sure they’re properly placed.”

  Walsh walks away without another word. I watch him go, wondering if we can trust him with the women and children. He is, after all, a politician.

  “Already got Keys hacking into his system to ensure that the children and women are properly taken care of,” Snake murmurs.

  “Thank fuck,” Free says, taking the words straight from my mouth.

  We all turn toward the Martels with smiles on our faces.

  “No,” he screams, his voice so high pitched I wonder if he has any balls at all.

  “Shoot Junior in the mouth, or hang him. It just has to look like a suicide, it won’t be investigated,” Snake announces. “Baby gets Senior.”

  I watch in fascination as Ice tugs the bandana off of Senator Martel’s mouth and then with zero hesitation, Free shoves his gun in the man’s still parted mouth and pulls the trigger.

  The room is quiet until Free removes his gun from Martel’s mouth. He turns around with a shrug of his shoulder.

  “We don’t have to worry about that fuckwit anymore. Someone go tell Walsh that he’s ready to go.”

  I chuckle, taking a step forward toward Martel Senior as I remove my knife from my waist holster. “Now, wasn’t it you who said they’d fuck my woman?” I ask. “Kidnap her and use her?”

  He shakes his head, tears streaming from his eyes. For some badass human trafficker, he’s a fucking pussy. Pressing my knife against his dick, I grin.

  “You know Lea used my straight razor to cut the dick of the man who tried to take her for you. He’s still bleeding in a chair in the corner, watching all of this go down,” I whisper.

  “Don’t, please,” he whimpers.

  I hear liquid trickling on the ground and glance down to see that he’s pissing his pants. “Fucking shit, you’re the biggest pussy human trafficker I’ve ever seen in my entire goddamn life,” I spit.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

  “You’re only sorry that you were caught,” I explain. “Keys has already started to gather your records, the encrypted ones. We know that you’ve been trafficking women for your rich sick friends
for years.”

  He whimpers, but I’m tired of hearing his shit. I will never understand how someone can sell children the way that he did. How he can hurt them that way, for money and sick fantasies.

  Fuck that.

  Snake chuckles behind me. “Bring the fuck over who thought that he would infiltrate my clubhouse and take one of my protected women,” Snake shouts.

  A couple of the guys bring over a still bleeding man tied to a chair and set him down right in front of Martel.

  “Take the dead body outta here, too,” Snake orders.

  They dip their chins, then start to remove Senator Martel’s lifeless body from the hook it’s hanging on. We watch in silence as the body is removed, leaving only two men in front of us ready to die, instead of three.

  “Finish him, Baby, that way you can go back to your woman,” Snake says.

  Nodding, I press the knife that’s still against Martel’s dick a little deeper. I feel it slice through his trousers, then it makes contact with his skin just as he begins to scream.

  Looking down, I watch as the blood begins to spurt as my knife slides deeper into his groin. Once my knife is deep inside of him, all the way to the handle, I begin to saw up his torso. He jerks and moves, trying to get away from me, but there’s nowhere for him to go.

  “You deserve a much more painful death than this one, but honest to fuck, I just want my woman,” I say, keeping my voice low and even as I begin to gut this bastard like a fish.

  Sawing up his body, I relish in his screams, a little disappointed when he passes out from the pain. Blood and guts cover my body by the time my knife reaches his throat.

  “I think he’s dead,” Crooner calls out.

  Turning my head, I’m sure I look fucking crazy, I can feel the blood covering my face. “He didn’t suffer enough,” I growl.

  “He didn’t, but not sure anyone could suffer enough for the sins that he had beneath his belt,” he states.