by Jamie Begley
Neither Ice nor Jackal would tell the club for that very reason. Unless it concerned the club, they would be left out of the loop until it did.
Then there was Zoey’s lack of common sense toward a possible stalker. That troubled him. Which was another reason he was ready to take on the man who was twice his size.
“They’d probably run away from you, too,” Max scoffed. “You can’t even hold on to a bitch in heat. Tilda dumped your ass, didn’t she? If you couldn’t hold on to the bitch, you for fucking sure aren’t going to be able to handle a dog the size of a thumbtack.”
“Let’s get one thing straight, brother. If I wanted Tilda, the whole club would know. Just like they know Hannibal is mine.” Recklessly, Stump didn’t think first before speaking. “I’m not the one who had to go running to another state to fetch her back.”
Max’s face grew so red that even the whites of his eyes assumed the color. “Are you comparing my wife to a dog?”
“You tell me. Does Casey bark when she comes?”
Stump was prepared for the fist that Max struck out, catching it before it could pound into his jaw. Using the force of Max’s swing that had him off balance, he thrust him backward, sending the brother into the men behind him.
Jackal and Ice caught him, restraining him before he could strike again.
“Chill! Max and Stump, back room… now!” Ice roared out when Max wouldn’t stop struggling.
Stump picked up Hannibal, tucking him under his arm. The dog’s mouth peeled back in a snarl when Max walked past him toward the office.
“I’m going to cripple you so badly that the mutt will be the one carrying you,” Max promised, giving him a threatening glare.
“You’re the one who’s going to be drinking those cheeseburgers you love through a straw if you don’t quit insulting Hannibal.”
“Cut it out! Shut your dog up or I’m going to ban him from the club. I have to listen to enough of that shit at home.” Ice slammed the door shut, his expression daring them to continue arguing.
“Quiet, Hannibal.” Stump took a seat at the long table, setting his dog down next to his chair.
The dog stopped barking to lay on the floor.
“What’s up?” Max asked, taking the seat next to him.
“I need one of you to volunteer to keep an eye on Zoey, and one you to take a job for Creed. He has a client who’s refusing to pay.”
When Creed’s customers couldn’t pay, they often took off, trying to hide from the huge amounts they owed. Stump had done a couple of those jobs for him. The money could range from a few hundred into the millions, depending on the reason that Creed had been hired. He would launder millions of dollars or represent businesses who were so shady a reputable bank wouldn’t touch them. It didn’t matter if his clients had paid him millions of dollars in fees, if they left him owing twenty dollars, Creed would hunt them to the ends of the earth to pay up, or they died by his hand.
“I’ll do Creed’s. It’ll be quicker,” Max chose before Stump could open his mouth.
“I want Creed’s job. I’m trying to find work. I don’t have time to babysit the kook.”
“I thought Max’s boss offered for you to come back?”
“He did. I told him to fuck off.”
“Good. Then you have plenty of time on your hands to keep an eye on Zoey.”
“That’s bullshit! Why does Max get the choice of jobs?”
“Other than he asked first? Creed doesn’t want you. He told you to lay off Zoey.”
Stump gaped at Ice. “Don’t tell me he follows Zoey?”
“No, he’s her neighbor. By the way, he said to tell you that the next time you let off a fuck you bomb in his neighborhood, he’s going to deduct your pay from the club’s profits.”
When Creed threatened to cut off his payday, he meant business. The fucker didn’t have a funny bone in his body.
“Fuck me. The longer I know that bitch, the more she becomes a pain in my ass,” Stump complained to the men who showed no sympathy.
Max snickered. “I can’t think of another brother who deserves to babysit that kook as much as you.”
“I can,” Stump grumbled.
He might be complaining to the men, but other than sitting on his ass and being bored to death, Zoey would be easier to deal with.
“Jackal is used to dealing with kooks.”
Jackal didn’t react because the enforcer didn’t have a leg to stand on. The entire club knew the attractive blonde was nuttier than a fruitcake.
“If Zoey sees me hanging around, she’ll know we’re trying to protect her,” Jackal explained.
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Penni said Zoey won’t accept her or the Predators’ help in dealing with the situation. Penni and Grace don’t want Zoey upset with them. She’s enough to deal with, with who’s stalking her and getting hurt.” Jackal rolled his eyes at Penni’s reasoning.
“How am I supposed to protect her without Zoey complaining to them anyway?”
“You’re good at improvising when you want to. Pretend you’re into her. Use Hannibal if you have to, or hire her for yourself. You need all the help you can get. It’ll be a freebie. The club will pay.”
Ice turned his gaze to Max. “I’ll send you the contact information you need. Get it done. I want you back here in case Stump needs backup.”
Max stood when Ice nodded to the door, leaving a silent message.
Stump started to get up, too, but Ice stopped him.
“Jackal was showing me the security footage. You need to watch to see what you’re up against.”
Jackal picked up the laptop that was laying on the table then took a seat next to him. Opening it, he cued the footage.
“Penni told Jackal the date when the first flowers were delivered. That’s what this is.” Ice came to stand behind their chairs.
Stump watched as someone got off the elevator wearing a bulky hoodie. You couldn’t tell if it was male or female with their head lowered and their shoulders hunched over. Whoever it was, they were smart enough to hide their face and height from the security camera.
The person was holding the flowers as they walked down the hallway toward Zoey’s office. Once there, they bent down to place them against Zoey’s office door. He watched as the concealed figure then walked back toward the elevator, still keeping their face hidden.
“Damn, you have any footage after leaving the building?” Stump asked, pushing his chair forward so he could search for any details that would help identify the person.
Jackal brought his fingers to the keyboard, switching footage to see the person walking out the door, still avoiding the camera’s lens.
“This footage is from this morning.” Ice explained what he was about to see.
“Fuck.” Stump didn’t take his eyes off the computer, watching the elevator opening for a second time.
“And… it becomes even more fucked.”
The firefighter getting off made no attempt to cover the face mask, since the helmet made it impossible to identify.
Stump watched as the pretend firefighter carried the flowers toward Zoey’s office without hesitating, then put a key into the lock and easily opened the door. Disappearing inside, the firefighter came out twenty seconds later with the old flowers as well as the green plastic that had been wrapped around the new ones they had carried inside. Leaving Zoey’s door open, whoever it was then turned toward the stairwell and went through that exit.
“I have the footage from the stairwell,” Jackal said before Stump could ask.
Jackal had already keyed into where the faux-firefighter moved faster running down the steps.
Stump stiffened in his chair when he saw Zoey come into view. She didn’t even have time to look back before a gloved hand shoved her off the landing, then jerked the door open to another floor.
“That explains how she fell.” His hands clenched on the table at seeing how much visible pain Zoey was in as she got back to her
feet. Glancing up, her confusion was obvious as to what had happened.
Stump and the other two men watched as Zoey then hobbled down the stairs and her futile attempt to open the locked door at the bottom.
“Why doesn’t she go through the lobby door?” Ice asked from behind him.
“I asked her that. She said she panicked with the fire alarm going off,” Stump responded.
“She looks calm to me, other than looking scared as hell,” Ice voiced the same thought that was going through his mind. “Whatever it was, it saved her life. Show him what’s waiting on the other side of the door.”
Stump had seen some scary shit in his life, but none had made his blood as cold as what he was watching on the monitor in front of him.
“Not going out that door saved her life. Why didn’t he just take her out in the stairway?”
“He wanted her hurt before he used the sledgehammer on her. That’s why he pushed her down the steps. She wouldn’t have been able to fight back as hard. He didn’t use the sledgehammer in the stairway because he wanted to obliterate her, and he wanted room to move.”
The men watched the rest of Zoey’s journey up the flight of stairs that she had just walked down.
“Son of a bitch,” Stump cursed, seeing her walking past a restroom that the firefighter came out of just after she passed to sneak back inside the stairwell.
“If he had turned the other way and saw her, she wouldn’t have escaped,” Ice vocalized what they all were thinking.
“She didn’t even notice,” Jackal observed, keying yet another segment of footage to see her attacker unjamb the door before opening it and casually walking outside. “That’s all I have. Whoever it was, they blended in with the other firefighters and I lost sight when they moved out of range of the camera.”
“Whoever it was will be going back.”
“I agree, which is why I want her watched. I don’t want my wife nearby if that lunatic goes off the deep end.”
“Me either,” Jackal agreed. “I tried to convince Penni to take an early vacation, but she won’t. If you see anything suspicious, I want to know.”
“If one more yellow rose shows up, Grace won’t be going on a vacation. She’ll be looking for another job.”
“You two are full of shit.” Stump rose, swaggering to the door with Hannibal trailing after him. “Grace and Penni won’t leave until they’re sure Zoey is out of danger. I saw the look on their faces in the emergency room. They already had a plan for the Predators to protect her. If Grace quits her job, or Penni goes on vacation, your interest in protecting Zoey drops to nil. The only way either of you can make sure your old ladies are safe is to find who the hell is stalking Zoey.”
“How are we supposed to that?”
“I don’t know. That’s why you’re the president. You figure it out.” Stump stepped out of the church room, leaving the door ajar just to piss them off.
Despite what he had said about leaving Ice to figure it out, he grabbed a beer from behind the bar and settled back in the recliner to take out his cell phone. Settling Hannibal next to him, he pulled Zoey up on the Internet. Drinking his beer, he watched several of her YouTube videos, memorizing the faces of people who were nearby as she made them. Subscribing to her channel, he then switched to viewing her other platforms, following her on Twitter and Instagram after creating his own account.
It was two a.m. before he stopped to take Hannibal out. Taking a cigarette out, he smoked it as the dog relieved himself while thinking about the research he had done on Zoey. He could understand why she was so popular. She was charismatic, witty, and charming to her female and male followers.
Unconsciously shaking his head, he blew the smoke past his lips and mulled over her sharing every moment of her day, except when she was with her clients or at home. She was a fucking open book, except for her past and her evenings. She was a victim waiting to happen.
Flicking the cigarette into the yard, he called to Hannibal to come inside.
“You want some company tonight?” Crush called to him from behind the bar as he turned toward the hallway that led to his room.
“Sure.” Stump didn’t wait for her, going to his room.
He was taking his shirt off when Hannibal started growling the moment she came into the room and closed the door.
“Cool it, Hannibal.”
Crush didn’t move from the doorway. “That dog hates me.”
“Do you care?” Sitting down on his bed, he took off his boots.
“Depends on if he’s had his shots.” Hips swinging back and forth, Crush walked toward the bed to kneel at his feet, shimmying between his thighs. Then she started to provocatively unbutton his jeans before taking out his hardening cock.
Stump tossed his cigarettes, lighter, and cell phone onto his nightstand, watching as Hannibal trotted haughtily to his bed that was in the corner, laying down and ignoring what was happening on Stump’s bed.
“He’s had his shots. He would be the one that got sick if he bit you.”
“I wouldn’t insult a woman when she is about to go down on you.” Her lips parted to show gleaming teeth poised over his cock.
He brought his hand to her hair, using it to lower her mouth closer to his throbbing cock. “You won’t hurt me. You want my dick too badly for that.”
Crush licked down the long shaft, playfully teasing him.
“Quit playing and start sucking. I don’t have all night.”
She immediately started sucking him into her mouth.
Spreading his thighs wider, he let her have it as he lowered his back to the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He just wanted to come so he could get some sleep, knowing it was going to be an hour before he could.
He didn’t use the club sluts often, preferring to find women who he didn’t have to share with the club. The women he dated for a few months were useful to hang out with, relieving his needs and providing home-cooked meals. When they started talking about rings and weddings, he would start doing things that irritated them into breaking up with him. A woman wasn’t vindictive or catty when they were the ones ending the relationship.
He wasn’t above using his dog to achieve that goal either. Tilda hated it when he brought the dog to her house. The more she complained, the more he brought him. He would have given Hannibal a steak if he hadn’t run away when she broke up with him.
Stump didn’t make a sound as he came in Crush’s mouth.
Giving a final swipe with her expert tongue, she stood and took off her clothes before climbing onto the bed and splaying her legs open.
“I’m fast, but not that fast. Give me a minute to recover.” Rolling off the bed, he kicked out of the jeans that were at his feet.
“You could give me a little tongue action,” she urged breathlessly.
“That’s not gonna happen.”
“Come on, Stump, I did you.”
“Crush, have I ever gone down on you?”
“No….”
“Have I ever with any of the other bitches?”
“We don’t talk about—”
He cocked a mocking brow at her.
“No.”
“My mouth doesn’t go near where six other brothers have been. I’d rather eat out of Hannibal’s bowl than eat your pussy.”
Crush went to her knees, glaring at him. “If you don’t want to fuck, then you can screw yourself!”
Stump was sliding a condom on when she started to get off the bed. He shoved her back onto the mattress.
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to fuck you; just that I wasn’t going down on you.” He brought his fingers to her pussy, stroking the wetness he found. “You don’t need my tongue when my cock can make that greedy pussy of yours satisfied.”
Crush’s eyes went to his rapidly hardening dick before coming back to his.
“I said I needed a minute, not an hour. Relax. I always give you a good ride, don’t I?”
“Your ego is as big as your dick.” Crush arched und
er his roving fingers. “One day, a woman is going to ground that ego underneath her heels.”
Stump removed his fingers, sliding his tall body between her spayed legs to thrust inside the creamy pussy. Using his hips, he shoved until he bottomed out.
Mewling, Crush scored her nails down his back in deep grooves.
Grabbing her hands, he pinned them to the mattress as he ground himself deep inside of her. Then he dropped his weight down on her, making Crush mewl louder as she tried to release them from his tight grip.
Their bodies heaved against each other as they fucked. The sexual frenzy cast a sheen of sweat over their naked bodies.
When she started screaming, Stump heard a whimpering coming from Hannibal’s bed. Releasing one of her hands, he covered her mouth to silence her.
“Stop it. You’re hurting Hannibal’s ears,” he hissed, coming with her.
She sipped his hand away, jerking out from under him. “You care more about a dog than having sex with me? You fucking asshole!” Her arms shook as she furiously put her clothes back on.
“He counts; you don’t,” he replied coldly, reaching for his cigarettes before lighting one. Then he half-rose to push a pillow behind his back.
Crush gave him a withering look as she started for the door.
“Oh, Crush…?” Stump stopped her before she could get out the door. “Don’t forget your heels.”
12
Dear Mom,
Why don’t you respond to my letters? I check the mail every day when I get home from school. I wouldn’t even mind a postcard if that’s all you have time for. Do you think I’m still mad at you because you didn’t get Bandit? I’m not. I could never stop loving you. Please, Mom, just call. Please.
xoxoxoxox
Love,
Zoey
Slowly walking across her bedroom, Zoey reached for the brace, putting it back on. She removed it to do her exercises and shower. The pain level had decreased after a few days, making it easier to get around her small house.
Penni had driven her to the doctor a few days ago, patiently waiting outside until she came out. Then Grace had volunteered to drive her the next day to the orthopedist appointment that her primary doctor scheduled. Despite her protests, they then took turns driving her to the physical therapist who taught her some exercises to help her recuperate.