“Slam,” Knox said, “Tommy is roughed up.”
“But not dead,” I said. “And he’s ready to put it hard to Chief Richards. It’s like we’re taking someone he killed and throwing the body at him.”
“Fucking shit,” Uncle Jakey said. “This is why I don’t do this stuff.”
“Give me a goddamn minute,” I bellowed. “The guy fucked me. And I have a plan here.”
“Okay,” Knox said. “Let’s hear it out.”
“I take him to Chief Richards. I call and say I’ve got something on drugs. Chief will always take my call. He’s fucking rock hard twenty-four-seven trying to get me for good. When I show up with Tommy, Chief will shit himself. I make it known I know what he did to me with Tommy. Then Tommy starts ratting on everyone in his group. Chief has no choice but to follow through on it or else Tommy will tell the truth. Shit, I’ll bring in my lawyer if I have to on it. Chief will have no leverage on us then. And we’re giving him a gift in a way, you know? He can then take his witness and do what he wants. But I make it known the Reap is on to him. It’ll clear the air for all of us without violence. Without getting into trouble.”
I took a drink of piss warm beer and pushed the glass away. I rubbed my chin as the rest of the table looked at each other.
“I like it,” Matteo said.
“I second that,” Liam said.
“Smart,” Ari said. “It’ll send a shockwave through the department. You know Chief has a group of guys that know what he did.”
“So now we’re getting all fucking strategic,” Uncle Jakey said.
“It’s the only way to survive,” Knox said. “Keeps us out of prison. Keeps the club legit. Slam’s got something here, Uncle Jakey. We need to vote.”
Uncle Jakey waved a hand. “Fuck it. There ain’t no vote. Slam, get it set up. Make it happen.” He leaned forward and pointed a finger at me. “But if this goes south, your ass is back in prison.”
“I’ll take that,” I said.
“Good. This better put that fucking prick of a chief in our pockets. We need it.”
“Even if he’s not in our pocket,” I said, “he’ll understand not to fuck with us anymore.”
“Make it happen,” Uncle Jakey said. “Now, Matteo, Liam, Elijah, I need you three down in Portsriver for some action on fights.”
Uncle Jakey spouted off some more orders and gave Matteo twenty large to bet on some fights.
Chapel came to an end and I stayed for a little bit of a longer prayer session.
So did Knox.
He sat next to me. “She’s gotten to you.”
“Fuck off,” I said.
Knox put a hand to my wrist. “There’s nothing wrong with it. When you find the right pussy, get it. Get it for life, brother.” Knox then looked at me. “Just make sure you don’t fuck all this up because of her. I’ve never seen you not take a violent response.”
I looked at Knox. “I’m supposed to stay out of trouble and that’s exactly what I’m doing here. End of discussion. This is going to make life easier for the Reap. That’s my worry. Shit with Belle doesn’t matter. I haven’t lost my way.”
Bullshit, Slam. You’re so far off the fucking path, even a compass couldn’t come close to helping you.
I stood up and had to get away from Knox.
“Bro?” Knox called out when I got to the door.
I looked at him. “What?”
“It’s a great fucking plan,” he said. “I like this side of you.”
“Yeah? I don’t.”
That was the truth. I was better off slamming people’s fucking heads into walls and windows. I was better off fucking anything with a wet slit and night to kill. I was better off picking fights, getting arrested, and living beyond the edge of being an outlaw.
The last thing I needed was to feel domesticated. Or that I gave a shit about anyone.
But that’s exactly what was happening to me.
Fucking Belle.
twenty-six
(belle)
*NOW*
It had been hours since he left. I waited in bed for two hours. I even took a post-orgasm nap. Those were the fucking best, right? Except mine came crashing to an end when I had a dream about my mother. I saw her walking down the sidewalk. I charged after her, calling for her. I got close enough to touch her arm. When I did, she was ice cold. But I didn’t care. It was my mother! I pulled at her arm and she turned around. All I wanted to do was hug her. Tell her I loved her. Bring her back with me from my dream.
That’s when it became a nightmare.
My mother turned and there was a gunshot hole in her forehead.
She opened her mouth… and I woke up.
That’s when I started to cry.
Bringing that entire thing back to life in my mind and telling Slam was hard. I had taught myself a long time ago to push the story away. To never think about it because there was no resolution. Nothing would bring her back and nothing would justify what had happened. The truth was that I expected my father to get hurt. He was the cop, not my mother. He was the one who should have been shot at and attacked. Not my damn mother.
I got dressed and tried to watch TV.
I drank a cup of coffee.
I stood outside on the balcony off my apartment.
There was nothing I could do to ease how I felt.
That’s when I found the bottle of vodka.
That was the one thing to chase away the memories. I’d be drunk by the time Slam came back and then we’d fuck. He’d finally take the last sliver of innocence I possessed. We had been so close before. He rolled me to my back and… what? What was he going to do to me?
That would never happen again. I would never let that moment slip by again. That’s why I would be drunk. No emotion. No memories. Nothing.
I would give Slam everything I had to offer.
I twisted off the cap to the vodka bottle and threw the bottle back. I took a big gulp and it burned like fire.
But I liked the feeling.
It made me think of Slam.
He was fire… I was gasoline… and we would explode together… forever…
twenty-seven
(slam)
*NOW*
I was at the back of his house. Of all fucking places to be. It was a nice kept yard with a bright blue shed, white trim, and even fucking flowers all around it. Shit, the place looked normal. Knowing what I knew about Belle and her mother, it was almost haunting to be there.
When the back door finally opened, Chief Richards emerged with a bottle of booze in his hand. He was in his uniform pants but only had a plain white t-shirt on. His gut pressed against his shirt and bounced as he walked down the steps toward me. That couldn’t fool anyone though, Chief Richards was a tough man.
“The fuck you want?” he growled at me.
“Peace offering,” I said. “Like I said on the phone.”
I took out my smokes and offered him one. He declined. I lit up.
It wasn’t like me to not have my motorcycle so I almost felt naked as I stood there. About ten feet away from me was a pickup truck. It had a black tonneau cover on it. Inside that cover was Tommy. It had to be hot as fuck so I didn’t have much time to shoot the shit with the chief before showing him my peace offering.
“A peace offering would be your ass in prison for the rest of your life,” Chief Richards said.
“You’ve always had a hard on for me. Why?”
“Because you’re a punk. You don't belong in this town.”
“I won’t argue that. But I’m here. And you need me.”
“I need you? You and your friends have been a problem for years. I’ll get what I want out of this.”
I nodded. “Okay, Chief. I won’t argue that. But you need to pick better friends. You need to pick better witnesses.” I leaned in with a grin. “And you need to pick better ways to set up the Reap.”
I took a drag and blew
the smoke in the chief’s face. He waved his hands and gritted his teeth.
“What do you want, Slam?”
“You called me the right name.”
“Call it a peace offering,” Chief said.
I walked him to the pickup truck. I popped the back down and reached into the bed, grabbing Tommy’s legs. I looked at Chief Richards as I slid Tommy’s body out of the truck and right to the ground. Chief jumped back and let out a spew of fuck’s and it only got worse when Tommy started to kick and thrash.
“He’s alive?” Chief yelled.
“Yeah,” I said. “What do you think… I’m a murderer?”
For the first time in a long time I saw Chief Richards flabbergasted. He did a triple take as he looked at me, at Tommy, back at me again.
“What…”
I put a foot on Tommy’s chest. His hands were tied behind his back. His mouth gagged tight. Sweat covered his face, along with the bruises and cuts from the punishment he took. Whoops.
“Here’s the fuck of it all, Chief,” I said with a smile. “Tommy has two stories to tell. Two completely different stories to tell.”
“What the fuck are you trying to prove here?”
I leaned against the pickup truck and finished my smoke. I flicked the butt deep into the woods next to the gravel driveway.
“Hell of a setting out here,” I said. “You could get a lot done.” I looked at the chief. “You know, landscaping.”
I had the chief on the ropes. He kept looking down at Tommy.
“Tommy has a story that involves telling the truth. See, he knows if he does anything wrong, the consequences are really bad. Ain’t that right, Tommy?” I pressed the tip of my boot to his throat. He screamed and nodded. “So what that means is if you fuck with Tommy… or you fuck with me… he’s going to tell the truth. You and your boys are going to go down hard for setting me up. You tried a back door deal with Tommy. He took your word and you got me locked away for a little while. Isn’t that right?”
“My job is none of your fucking business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You fuck this up, Chief, and Tommy talks.”
And what do you want?” Chief Richards asked.
That’s when my plan suddenly changed. I already had the chief eating out of the palm of my hand.
Now it was time to claim his daughter as my own once and for all.
I tossed Tommy onto the deck and looked as Chief Richards slowly climbed the steps. He looked like a beaten man. Years of trying to be the tough guy looked as though it had caught up to him in about five minutes.
The truth was known now and it couldn’t be taken away.
“He’s your problem now,” I said to Chief. “Do whatever you need to do. This is an understanding, too.”
He looked right at me. “You’re venturing into deep waters, Slam. Deeper than you think.”
“No, I’m not. I’m righting the wrong. I can’t rewrite the past, but I can sure as fuck try to set up the future.”
“And here I thought you were all about outlaw violence.”
I opened my leather cut and showed the chief my gun. “I still am. But I was told by my lawyer to stay out of trouble.”
“Beating up a man… tying him up… kidnapping… that’s not staying out of trouble.” Chief Richards thumbed at Tommy.
“Then arrest me,” I said. “And watch what Tommy does. You think your department can be scary? Nobody fucks with the club. The Reap is bigger and more powerful than you’ll ever understand. This town can easily function with everyone working their own path, but sometimes together.”
“You’re haggling my wife’s murder with this shit?”
I let out a laugh. I stepped forward and put a hand to Chief’s shoulder. “I’m just telling the truth again. You’ve fucked me my entire life and now I get to fuck you.”
“That’s not how this works,” Chief Richards said. “You’re not going to be some goddamn retriever, bringing me bodies so you could try and muscle me.”
“No, Chief, I’m no dog. I am an outlaw. I’m not afraid to do what is necessary. I hope you’re the same. You never answered my question either.”
“What one was that, Slam?”
I looked him dead in the eyes. “Are you capable of committing murder?”
On the drive back to the clubhouse I called Knox.
“How’d your meeting go?”
“Do you remember that guy we worked with a few times to hack into shit?”
“Ricky?”
“Yeah. Him.”
“What about?”
“We used him to access prison records for Hammer and King. Didn’t we also get him to find out some legal dirt?”
“Yeah. That was a long time ago.”
“Think he’s turned for the better?”
“No,” Knox said with a laugh. “A guy that goes that deep in life never comes back.”
“Good.”
“Why, Slam? What the fuck are you up to?”
“I have another plan.”
Knox sighed. “You know what? Enough with these plans. Go out and get into trouble. I liked you better throwing punches around rather than ideas.”
“Knox, listen to me,” I said. “I need you to get in touch with Ricky. I need information on someone. It’s going to be something dark. But it’s personal.”
“It involves Belle,” Knox said. “Goddammit, you fell for her. You were supposed to fuck her and dangle her in front of Chief Richards. Now you’re working out other deals…”
“I’m doing what I need to do, Knox,” I said. “This is going to set the Reap up for a while.”
“Suddenly you’re a visionary. I like it.”
“Get me my info,” I said.
“Before I do that, just tell me one thing.”
“What?”
“Do you love Belle?” Knox asked.
I didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
twenty-eight
(belle)
*NOW*
I was drunk.
I wasn’t sick drunk, but I was drunk enough that all I could think about was sex. I stripped myself naked and put on a silk bathrobe. Then I sat on the dining room table and waited for Slam. The bottle of vodka was next to me. I had put a good dent in it. Not that it took much to get me drunk.
This was it though. This was my night. Slam was going to come back to me and he was going to fuck me. I couldn’t wait any longer. My entire life I had waited to feel truly loved and that’s what Slam gave to me. He made me feel that way.
So I was going to give myself to him. In a way I had never done with another person. Ever.
He called before he came over, giving me time to let my mind run wild. With an outlaw like him, it was going to be something wild. It had to be. Me holding onto those mountain sized shoulders as he thrust inside me.
By the time the apartment door opened, I was already soaking wet.
He came into the apartment and shut the door.
“What is this?” he asked with a smile on his face.
“My gift to you, Slam,” I said.
To me, my words were straight as an arrow but I figured I was probably slurring. Nothing like a drunk chick waiting and willing, right?
I lifted my feet up to the table and spread my legs. I pulled the robe up my legs and showed Slam my bare pussy. I was aching, wet, ready for him.
“Holy shit,” Slam said.
“I’m ready for you,” I said. “I want you inside me.”
He walked toward the table. A new image flashed into my mind.
Slam unzips his jeans. He reaches for his cock and pulls it out, stroking it to life. A second later, he touches me with it. A wild tingling pressure shoots through my body. I get nervous. My heart races faster than it ever has in my life. Suddenly, I start to tense up. Slam thrusts forward, opening me. There’s no battling him now. He’s made for me. He’s made to destroy me and love me at the sa
me time.
Slam reached for my face when he got to the table. He planted a kiss on my lips and then licked his own lips.
“Drinking,” he said. “You’re drunk.”
“Doesn’t matter. I want you to fuck me.”
Slam stepped back and touched my knees. His hands eased up my legs a little. He stared at my pussy. There was no hiding how wet I was. I was almost dripping. He couldn’t get away from me.
“Fuck, babe,” Slam said.
He took another step back.
To my shock, he grabbed my legs and slid them off the table. He then closed the robe. He touched my face again and opened his mouth to say something. I quickly slapped his hands away and stood up from the table.
I shook my head. The room spun for a few seconds.
“No,” I said. “I need you, Slam. I need you to fuck me right now.”
“No you don’t, Belle,” he said. “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re thinking. I came here to tell…”
I jumped at Slam. My nails grabbed the back of his neck and I pulled myself up, getting to that wild mouth and even wilder tongue of his. His hands caught the middle of my back and we started to kiss.
Slam turned and walked me to the wall, slamming me against it. I let out a cry and put my head back, feeling his teeth and tongue go to my neck. He kissed hard and fast, going for me now.
“Yes!” I cried out. “Fuck, yes!”
His left hand cupped under my ass, over the robe. His right hand cut into the robe and he touched me. Two fingers touched my center. He rubbed, hard, and then thrust two fingers into me.
“Oh, shit,” I groaned.
Just the feel of his two fingers were intense to my body.
I was so tight. I was so…
“Goddammit,” Slam growled and took his hand away.
He stepped back again and put his hands flat against the wall. I looked at him, my lips trembling. Both sets of lips trembling.
“You’re fucking drunk, Belle,” he said. “This isn’t how…”
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