by RB Hilliard
“The one and only. Word is he was close to toppling the entire operation when he went missing. My guess is he got too close, and they figured out who he was, which makes sense whether Gamble’s actually the one running the show.”
Steele let out a caustic laugh. “Fuuck, this just gets better and better.”
“Unless your girl can ID him, however, this is all conjecture.”
“Luciana,” Steele corrected.
“Huh?”
“Her name is Luciana. Send me a photo, and I’ll have her take a look.”
“Have you talked to Mom yet?”
Steele noticed Montana suspiciously loitering outside his office. “Not yet. Look, I’ve gotta go. Thanks for looking into this for me. Send the pic over, and I’ll get Luciana on it.”
He ended the call and motioned for Montana to enter. As usual, she looked like a scared little rabbit.
“Talk,” he ordered.
“LuLu’s in trouble,” she said.
Dario, he thought, fear punching through him. “Where is she?”
“In the downstairs hallway,” she answered. He took off out the door and nearly ran into Taz and Ax.
“Dario’s got Luciana,” he said as he raced past them.
“Where?” Ax called after him.
“The downstairs hallway!”
“Wait!” Montana yelled, but Steele was already at the top of the stairs. He drew his gun, his heart pounding like crazy, as he flew down the stairs with Ax and Taz close on his heels.
He hit the hallway and pulled up short when he came face to face with four, very pissed off looking women.
“What the hell?” Ax barked.
“I tried to tell you,” Montana panted from behind them.
Steele glowered at her. “You said she was in trouble.”
Flinching, Montana replied, “You didn’t let me finish.”
Steele stared at his boots and took three deep breaths. When he felt he had a grip on his temper, he lifted his eyes to the four women in front of him, and asked, “What the fuck is going on here?”
_______________
LuLu took in Arlan’s irritated expression as well as Ax and Taz’s pensive ones, before narrowing in on a guilty-looking Montana. She appreciated the girl’s concern for her, but did she have to alert the biker brigade?
“I asked a question,” Arlan clipped.
“We were just talking,” she answered, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. Three sets of eyes swiveled to her, their bitchy jaws dropping in surprise. “Isn’t that right, girls?”
“That’s right,” Shelly, Treena, and Zoe replied in unison.
After helping to clean the kitchen, LuLu slipped downstairs to Arlan’s room to use the bathroom. On her way back upstairs, she was ambushed by the three women in the hallway. Shelly did all the talking while the other two stood behind her looking very uncomfortable. As expected, they blamed her for Hannah’s death. Shelly lit into her about not being able to conduct a proper burial because of lockdown—which was something LuLu felt horrible about—and was in the middle of telling LuLu why she needed to leave when the guys appeared with guns blazing.
Glancing over Arlan’s shoulder at Montana, LuLu said, “Montana must have misunderstood the situation.”
“Montana, did you misunderstand the situation? Think carefully before you answer.” His deceptively quiet tone made the hairs on the back of LuLu’s neck stand at attention. He knew she was lying. Damn Montana. She had no idea the girl was even there.
Montana shot LuLu an apologetic look before answering, “Shelly blames LuLu for Hannah’s death. She wanted to scare her into leaving.”
“Thanks for ratting me out, bitch,” Shelly hissed.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” Ax growled.
“Enough!” Arlan shouted, and the four women, including LuLu, jumped. His glare hit on Shelly. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I get that you’re upset about Hannah. We all are. So what? That gives you the right to break house rules and do whatever the hell you want?”
Not sure what he meant by house rules, LuLu felt he was being a tad bit harsh. She really did have it handled and attempted to tell him as much. “Arlan—”
Piercing gray eyes flicked to her, and she swallowed the rest of her sentence. His frigid gaze returned to Shelly, and he ordered, “Explain yourself.”
At his scary tone, Shelly broke into tears. LuLu moved to console her, but his growly “One more step, Luciana, and I’ll spank your ass,” stopped her in her tracks. The man really was infuriating. She shot him a dirty look, but given his current mood, she didn’t dare defy him.
Movement in the hallway announced the arrival of Buck and an older man in a wheelchair. LuLu’s face flushed with embarrassment. She hated being the center of attention, especially when she could have shut the whole incident down on her own.
Shelly stopped crying long enough to say, “Everything was fine before she showed up. Now we’re back on lockdown and Hannah’s dead because of her. Who is she, anyway? No one’s ever seen her before. Even the guys don’t know who she is. No one wants her here, and you’re too blind to see it.” The entire hallway stilled. Stupid girl, LuLu thought.
Rage burned brightly in Arlan’s stormy, gray eyes. “Who in the fuck are you to question me?”
Shelly began to stammer. “I just, uhhh, thought that—”
He cut her off. “Get the fuck out. I mean it, get your shit, and go.” His gaze swung to Treena and Zoe, and they both flinched. “You, too. Get the fuck out.”
Wait; what? “No! I was handling it!” LuLu exclaimed.
His eyes shifted to her, and she could see that he was barely holding it together. “I get that you don’t understand how things are done around here, but when a club girl insults an Ol’ lady, she’s no longer welcome in the club. This bitch thought she could corner my Ol’ lady and push her the fuck out? Fuck her! They chose to back her move, fuck them. I want you all out!” he shouted. The girls scattered up the stairs in tears while everyone else stood there with their mouths hanging open. “Shows over. Luciana, in my room, now,” he growled.
LuLu caught Ax’s eye and motioned for him to do something. He offered her a look of sympathy but didn’t budge. So much for being her bodyguard. Not knowing what else to do, she followed Arlan down the hallway and into his room.
The door had barely clicked shut behind them when he turned on her. “Don’t you ever fucking undermine me again.”
The hateful look on his face, coupled with his icy-cold tone, was more than she could stand, and she snapped. “Undermine you? I told you I had it handled! If anyone was doing the undermining, it was you.”
He started pacing. “I fucking thought Dario had you! I thought I was going to get there too late! Then I saw you standing there—” His words faded to a frustrated growl. “What is it with the bitches in this club? No one fucks with my woman!”
Conflicting feelings whirled within her. She wanted to kiss him and kick him at the same time, which made absolutely no sense.
The pacing stopped, and just when she thought they might have an actual conversation, he said, “You know what? Fuck this. I don’t fucking need this shit right now,” and walked out the door.
Gahhh! He didn’t need this? Well, neither did she. Fury burned through her as she stormed around the room gathering up her things, the entire time cursing him and his need to control her. She’d finished packing and was sitting on the foot of the bed with the burner phone in her hand when the tears finally came. Caught in a sea of emotions, she tried to reason through them all, but couldn’t. In the end it came down to one thing—she didn’t want to leave. Arlan frustrated her beyond words, but he also made her happy. If she walked away now, it would be over. She knew it deep in her gut. But how could she stay with a man who didn’t value her? Feeling somewhat defeated, she curled onto her side and contemplated what she should do.
Chapter Eighteen
A KNOCK AT the door made Luciana jump. It took a
moment for the grogginess to clear. How long had she been asleep?
“Hold on!” she called out as she reached for the phone and checked the time. Shit, it was almost four in the afternoon. She’d been out for hours. Why hadn’t someone come to get her? Probably because they’re not allowed down here.
It took her a moment to pull herself together enough to answer the door. She was surprised to find Buck standing on the other side with his hands in his pockets and a sympathetic look on his face. When she offered for him to come inside, he not-so-gently explained that Arlan would kill him if he did, and laughed when she rolled her eyes.
“So, why are you here?” she asked.
“Because my Ol’ lady’s a pain in my ass,” he grumbled. Her brow shot up, and he laughed. Then he explained. “Montana ran her mouth to Reyn about what happened. Reyn sent me here to tell you she wants to talk and is waiting for you at the top of the stairs.”
Her face flushed with embarrassment. “This whole thing is silly. Shelly was upset about losing Hannah and it was blown way out of proportion. Montana should never have said anything to Arlan. He way overreacted, and I feel horrible about it.”
Shrugging, Buck said, “You’ll have to take that up with your Ol’ man.”
She bristled at his curt response. “Do you disagree?”
“It’s not up to me. Steele’s the boss. You’re his woman. Someone fucked with you, and he took care of it. I would have done the same. If you have a problem with how it was handled, talk to him about it.” As if realizing he was being harsh, he added, “Club life is an adjustment, especially when you’re new to it. Talk to Reyn, she’s good with that kind of shit.”
He stared expectantly at her, and she really didn’t feel as if she had another choice. “Fine, lead the way.”
Reyn greeted them at the top of the stairs with a huge smile on her face. “Finally,” she gushed. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming!” LuLu didn’t have the heart to tell her she didn’t want to. She tried not to gawk as Buck planted a porn-worthy kiss on Reyn’s lips before disappearing back downstairs. Reyn gave her an assessing look before declaring, “Oh, God, you’re pissed. Did Buck say something? If so—”
LuLu waved her off. “It’s not Buck. Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not in a very talkative mood right now.”
“I get it. Men are shits. How about a drink?”
LuLu thought about it for a second and decided that a drink sounded like a great idea. “Do you have any wine?”
Reyn smiled. “Girl, they’ve got a whole cellar full of booze in this joint. What’s you’re poison?”
With the help of Tiny—who really was a gentle giant—and Ego—who she thought should have been named Leonardo because he looked exactly like a young Leonardo DiCaprio—they collected four bottles of wine. They also collected Lucy, Aimee, Sage, three bags of chips, and five wine glasses. Being that the bedrooms were too small, they ended up in the upstairs living area.
LuLu poured the wine, and Reyn gave the first toast. “To our new queen.”
“To our new queen!” the other women shouted.
“Speech!” Reyn called out.
“Speech! Speech!” the other three repeated.
Glaring at Reyn, LuLu took a gulp from her glass. “Well, let’s see, thus far I’ve managed to get Hannah killed, three girls kicked out, and Arlan so angry that he walked out on me. I’m batting zero for three, and I don’t know about you, but I consider that to be a pretty sucky queen.”
_______________
It took Steele a good while to calm down enough to think clearly again. Luciana was right to be angry with him. When Montana said she was in trouble, he didn’t ask questions, he just reacted. He let fear take over, and he rode that fucker all the way to the finish line. He’d taken a long ride on his bike and was trying to figure out how to walk back his decision to kick Treena and Zoe out when Ax and Taz rolled in from their visit with Hannah’s brother, Jonas.
“How’d it go?”
“Are we talking before Taz made him piss himself or after?” Ax asked.
Steele shot them an amused look. “Let’s go with after.”
Taz gave him a devilish smile. “Young Jonas saw the error of his ways and deeply regrets threatening the club. He apologized profusely—like about twenty times—and even shed a few tears.”
Chuckling, Steele asked, “Jesus, what did you do to him?”
Ax snorted. “We tied him to a chair and Taz acted like he was going to cut the fucker’s junk off. You should have seen it. Taz had his fly unzipped and was grabbing for it when he started crying. Then he pissed all over himself.”
“Hey, boss, we’re heading back out,” Loco announced from the doorway.”
“Who’s going with you?” Steele asked.
“Jake and Sledge.”
“Call me the second you have him.”
“Will do.”
“So, how did things end with LuLu?” Ax asked, once Loco was gone.
“Like shit,” he grumbled.
“Well, you did kind of lose your cool, ya know.” Steele shot him a dirty look, and he laughed.
Of course, Taz had to chime in. “I, for one, thought it was greatly entertaining. I especially liked the looks of shock on everyone’s faces when you called her your Ol’ lady.”
“Okay, okay, I might have overreacted. You can stop busting my balls about it.”
“Might have?” Ax asked through his laughter.
“You still kicking the girls out?” Taz asked.
“Shelly’s out.” He turned to Ax and said, “Do me a favor and text Treena. Tell her to grab Zoe and meet me in my office at ten tomorrow morning.” He waited for Ax to send the text, before telling them what he’d been thinking. “This whole thing’s got me unnerved. We’ve got a dirty cop—who’s way too squeaky-clean on paper, the guy he supposedly killed—who might actually be a missing undercover agent, and fucking Dario—who we know isn’t smart enough to be the ring leader.”
“So, the undercover cop got made and the dirty cop offed him,” Ax stated.
Steele leaned forward placing his elbows on the desk, and sighed. “The last thing we want is to be involved in a fucking drug sting. We need to get Dario to talk to his guys and get them to back off Luciana.”
Taz’s brows shot up. “You’re willing to forgive him for Hannah?”
“Fuck no, but we’ve got to play the long game on this one. Once the dust settles, he’s a dead man.”
“Have you shown LuLu the picture yet?” Ax asked.
“No. I meant to, but then the shit with the girls happened.”
Taz glared at his phone. “Well, according to my wife, the women are upstairs getting hammered right now. Shit, I gotta go find my kids.”
Ax shot up from his chair. “This I’ve got to see.”
“Fucking hell,” Steele grumbled as he fell into step behind them.
Laughter poured from the upstairs living area as they stepped into the room. Steele slowly took in the scene. Lucy, Reyn, LuLu, Aimee, and Sage took up one half of the sectional. From the looks of it, they’d killed three bottles of wine and were currently working on a fourth. The other half of the sectional was angled toward the women. On it sat Arson, Ink, and Chopper. On the table in front of them was a tower of empty beer cans and a bottle of Jack.
Luciana spotted him standing there. Their eyes connected, and she scowled before looking away. Bothered that she was still mad at him, he stalked over to where she was sitting. Ignoring her quiet protests, he lifted her off the sofa, scooted in under her, and lowered her back onto his lap.
“You’re not invited to my party,” she slurred. Jesus, she was drunk.
“What if I told you I was sorry,” he whispered in her ear.
“Hold up, everyone!” she shouted. Her hand shot into the air, and Steele had to grab her before she toppled off his lap. She’d definitely been overserved. Once the room quieted and all eyes were on them, she said, “Shhh, everyone. Arlan’s about to
apologize for being a monumental ass to me. I don’t want you to miss it.” She smiled sweetly down at him as the room broke into hysterical laughter.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he asked.
“You better believe it,” she said and giggled when he kissed her.
_______________
Two shots of Jack later and Steele was headed downstairs to his bedroom with his woman in his arms. His woman. He’d watched her with the group, seen it with his own two eyes; everyone loved her. She’d captured their hearts with her soft smiles, quiet demeanor, and funny sense of humor—just like she’d captured his. He thought back to earlier this afternoon and the way she’d protected Shelly. At the time, it pissed him off, but it also made him proud. She wasn’t afraid to speak her mind or to call him on his bullshit. She was funny, witty, gorgeous, and sweet; the perfect woman for him.
Outside the bedroom door, he paused to punch in the code.
“How come there are no women members in the club?” Luciana asked, tugging on his cut.
“This is a biker club, not a book club, babe.” The tease earned him a slap on the chest.
“There’s a word for that, you know. It’s called dis-cremation.”
Laughing at her drunken mispronunciation, he pushed through the door. “I’m pretty sure that’s not what it’s called.”
“I’m pretty sure it is,” she argued.
As he lowered her to the bed, his eyes hit on her packed bag, and the laughter died in his throat. “Going somewhere?” he asked.
Her back hit the mattress, and she let out a dramatic exhale. “I was thinking about it, but then I fell asleep.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m too drunk to go anywhere.” He was thinking about pushing for more when her head lolled sideways and her eyes found his. “You’re a hard man to love, Arlan Steele.”
Shocked speechless, he just stared at her, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it through his entire body, as the weight of her words settled in his chest. Was she actually admitting that she loved him, or was this just a slip of her inebriated tongue?
“Take a load off,” she ordered, slapping the bed beside her.