by Nina Levine
He was right; the list that held King’s enemies was long.
“Who’d you hear this off?” King asked.
Bones rested back against his seat and spread his arms along the couch. Shaking his head, he said, “Nah, I’m not giving you that, but I will tell you that it’s come from a few sources, and their info is usually reliable as fuck.”
The scowl on King’s face would usually scare most people into giving him what he wanted, but Bones had been dealing with us for long enough that he wasn’t as affected anymore. That, and the fact King had gone a little soft on him lately. King’s guilt over what happened to Nitro with his uncle mixed with the fact it was Bones who helped save him, led to King going easy on him since then.
“So what the fuck has this got to do with Marx?” King demanded. “Marx is tied up with whoever wants us gone? And they’re trying to get to us through our drug trade? That doesn’t make sense. We deal far and wide with the coke. They’d struggle to take that from us.”
“Plus we have other shit going on that gives us a nice income,” Hyde threw in. “There’s never a shortage of assholes asking for our help and paying us well for it.”
My thoughts were the same as Hyde’s. Storm was often called in to clean up the messes that people made. We were the cleaners you called when you wanted to ensure no one ever found out what you’d done. And so long as you had the cash, we took the job on.
Bones shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just telling you what I’ve heard.” Standing, he said, “I’ve gotta get back to work. I’ll call if I hear anything else.”
King rested his back against the couch and scrubbed his face.
When he didn’t say anything, Hyde said, “You think this is Gambarro?”
King stared into space for a few moments, deep in thought, before glancing at Hyde. “No. This doesn’t feel like Gambarro.”
“Why?” Hyde asked.
“This feels like it’s been set up for a while. The shit with Gambarro isn’t that old. It only began because of Kick and what we did for him. My gut’s telling me this is bigger than that.”
“So we need a list of names of everyone with a grudge against you, and we start working through that list until we figure this shit out,” I said.
King blew out a frustrated breath. “Fuck.”
The meeting with Bones was meant to shed some light for us and help us nail down Marx and his plans. Instead, it only gave us a fuckload more questions and no answers.
21
Hailee
I raised my glass and clinked it with Leona’s. “Thank fuck this week is almost over,” I said before taking a long sip of my cocktail.
Saturday night had finally come around, and after a long day of giving massages I was ready to let my hair down and dance all night.
Leona hit me with a smile as she sipped her coke. She was still hoping like crazy that her hubby knocked her up the previous night, so she wasn’t on the hard stuff. “You deserve that drink after living through that dinner with your mother.”
“Damn, girl, you have the best smile,” I said, engrossed in that rather than what she’d said about my mother. Truth be told, I didn’t want to think about my mother that night.
A woman’s voice sounded from behind us, breaking into out conversation. “Now that’s the kind of chick you wanna keep close. Someone who isn’t afraid to give out a compliment to her friends.”
I turned to find Monroe smiling at us. “Oh, God, you’re not gonna try and get me to drink another Jägerbomb with you, are you?”
She moved next to us at the bar and placed her purse on the counter. With a quick wave of her hand, she said, “You don’t know what you’re missing.” She watched as I took another long sip of my drink. “Bad day, honey?”
“No, today was good. It was the week that was off.”
“Is your band playing tonight?”
“No. I’ve been sick this week, so we cancelled the couple of gigs we had booked.”
Her eyes twinkled. “You really should let me buy you a Jägerbomb. Guaranteed to kill off any lasting germs.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “You love that shit, don’t you?”
Doug leant across the counter at that point. He’d caught the last bit of our conversation. “She loves that shit almost as much as she loves pierced dicks.”
Leona almost choked on her drink. Her eyes widened a little as she said, “Oh, wow… Goodness.” She wasn’t a prude, but she certainly wasn’t as adventurous as some in the bedroom.
“Oh, honey,” Monroe said, eyeing Leona, “you really should try a pierced cock at least once in your life. I finally found one recently and let me tell you, best sex I’ve ever had.”
“Uh, I’m married,” Leona said a little hesitantly.
“You reckon he’d get it pierced for you?” Monroe asked, deadly serious.
Leona’s eyes bulged. “God, no. I’m not sure what Jerry would do if I even mentioned it.”
Doug placed a Jägerbomb on the counter for Monroe, and glanced at Leona. “Babe, just ignore Monroe. She could talk about pierced dicks all day every day, and thinks every man should have one.”
I grinned at him. “What do you think, Doug? Would you get a piercing?”
His eyes met mine and he hit me with that slow, sexy smile of his before saying, “What makes you think I don’t already?”
Monroe almost spat out her drink. “Fuck, dude, have you been holding out on me?”
Pushing off from the bar, he said, “You’ll never know.”
Leona sipped her coke and said, “I think he likes you, Hailee.” She’d never been to this pub with me before, so she didn’t know our history.
Monroe skulled her drink before saying, “Oh, he does, honey. I’ve seen the way he looks at her. But then again, Doug’s a flirt from way back.”
I shrugged. “We nearly slept together once. It was best that it didn’t happen.”
Arms circled my waist and warm breath hit my neck as a deep voice rumbled in my ear, “Who did you nearly fuck once? And should I be keeping my eye on him?”
My belly instantly fluttered and my legs swayed. Turning, I looked up at him, taking in the dark desire burning in his gaze. “Hello,” I murmured, unable to form more words because he had me all tongue-tied.
Devil’s gaze pierced me. “You didn’t answer my question. Who did you nearly fuck?”
Oh, God, he was jealous. The way he held me like he never wanted to let me go, the burn in his gaze, and the way he demanded an answer, all screamed his jealousy.
Placing my hands against his chest, I said, “Do you really want to know? Or should we just take this home and I’ll show you that you’re the only man I’m into these days?”
He thought about that for a moment. Shaking his head, he forced out, “I don’t want to know.”
Taking hold of my hand, he dragged me away from the girls, through the Saturday night crowd and to a corner table in the pub. By the time he sat down and pulled me onto his lap so I straddled him, my breaths were coming hard and fast.
“Fuck, De—”
He cut me off when he pulled my lips to his and kissed me. It was our roughest kiss yet, and it erased all thoughts from my mind except for those about him.
When he ended the kiss, my heart was almost beating outside my chest. “What was that about?” I asked, wondering what the hell had gotten into him.
He moved his hands to my thighs and ran them up my legs and under my dress. “Fuck if I know, darlin’. Jealousy isn’t usually a problem of mine, but the thought of another man with you just about sent me fucking crazy.”
I didn’t love jealousy, and was glad it wasn’t the norm for him, but I adored what I could hear in his voice. The fact he wanted me so much and didn’t want to share me made me feel special. No one had ever made me feel that wanted.
Reaching for his jeans, I popped the button and slid the zip down. My fingers worked fast, and I soon had my hand wrapped around his dick.
He
watched as I stroked him, his eyes closing for a brief moment before opening again and meeting my gaze. “You’re gonna give me a hand job in public?”
Lust sizzled along my skin. Bending my mouth to his ear, I said, “No, I’m going to fuck you in public.” His sharp intake of breath made my pussy clench. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t get him inside me fast enough. The pub was packed that night, and noisy as hell. We sat in the darkened corner, and I figured most people were too busy doing their own thing to even realise what we were doing.
He ran his hands up my back as our eyes met again. “You’re going to fuck me here on this chair for everyone to see?” Disbelief coated his words.
I continued pumping his cock, loving the hiss that escaped his lips. “You should stop doubting me and start getting on board with this. I’m wearing a dress and no underwear. It’s the perfect opp—”
“Fuck,” he rasped as he ran his hands further under my dress to reach for my ass. When he realised I wasn’t lying about wearing no panties, he said, “I’m on fucking board. Never let it be said I ever doubted my woman.”
I grinned as I pressed my mouth to his. Half kissing him, I said, “I like it when you call me your woman.”
He gripped my ass cheeks. “And I like it when you show me your dirty side like this. There should be more sex in public as far as I’m concerned.”
“I’ve never fucked a man in public before you.”
“Baby,” he growled, “I never wanna hear those words or any words like them out of that mouth again. The less I have to think about you with another man, the fucking better.”
I melted against him. “I like it when you call me baby, too.”
“So we’ve established I should call you my woman and baby a lot fucking more, especially if I wanna get fucked in public. Can we move to the part of this night where my dick finally gets inside you?”
“Such a way with words,” I murmured as I positioned my pussy over his dick, making sure my dress covered everything.
“Fuck,” he groaned as I sank down on him. His hands left my ass so he could hold my hips, and he bent his head so he could suck my neck.
I held his biceps as I fucked him, my fingers digging into his skin while my pleasure built. This whole fucking-in-public thing was something I could do a whole lot more of. I’d been hesitant when we’d had sex in the staff room weeks ago, but the thrill of it all made me want more.
“Jesus, Hailee, I want to bend you over this fucking table and pound my fucking dick into you while everyone watches,” he rasped.
My breaths quickened. I was coming out of my skin, unsure of how much more I could take. “I’m not sure I won’t scream when I come,” I panted, my pussy pulsing as I fought my release.
I was so close.
So fucking close.
I never wanted it to end, though. Devil felt too good inside me like this. I was greedy for him in a way I hadn’t been yet.
He bit my neck and then licked a line along my skin until he met my mouth. “Scream, darlin’. I don’t give a fuck if everyone knows you’re riding my dick.”
“Fuck,” I moaned as I dug my fingers into his arms again. “You are so fucking dirty.”
He’d been letting me take the lead, but suddenly he stole it back. Gripping my hips, he moved me up and down on him while thrusting his dick in hard. Anyone who was watching would know what we were doing.
His mouth found mine, consuming me with a savage kiss. Between that and him fucking me the way he was, my orgasm shattered through me. I tried like hell to slow it, but Devil was a force that couldn’t be stopped. He wanted to make me come. And I fucking came.
I buried my scream in his neck, sucking him hard while I orgasmed.
When we were done, his eyes found mine. “I’ll never doubt you again, baby.”
I kissed him one last time. “Stop calling me baby or else I’m gonna wanna go again right here, right now.”
His lips spread out in a huge-ass grin and his arms wrapped around me. “You’re gonna get us kicked out of this joint, baby.”
I rested my forehead against his. “You’re killing me here.”
He tightened his hold on me. “Woman, you killed me the first fucking night I met you.”
I stared at my grandmother with wide eyes. “Uh, you do realise this could all go to hell, don’t you?”
She flicked her wrist at me as if to say, “Hush, child.” She then said, “Aaron needs to understand you’re serious about Dominic. Lunch together will do them good.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but I think a little more time apart might help him come to terms with our relationship. Let him see how strong we grow as time goes on.”
She’d just informed me that she’d invited Aaron to lunch at our home that day. After she’d already invited Devil. Aaron had been loud in his disapproval of Devil, and I didn’t see him backing down anytime soon. But Gran always had her own views on things, and she disagreed with me on this.
The sound of someone at the front door interrupted us. A moment later, Aaron entered the kitchen, flowers in hand. Passing them to Gran, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Lunch smells good.”
“She’s made your favourite. I’m pretty sure it’s to bribe you into being nice.”
His eyes narrowed at me. “Are you going to give me bad news or something?”
“Something like that,” I muttered.
“Hailee,” he said in a warning tone. “What’s going on?”
A knock on the front door saved me, and I ignored his question to go answer it.
Devil’s eyes trailed down my body as I walked towards him. The screen door was the only thing separating us, and I was fairly sure by the glint I saw in his eyes that it was possibly the only thing stopping him putting his hands all over me.
I didn’t open the door straight away. Staring at him through it, I said, “I’m not sure you’ll want to come in.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
I sighed, frustrated at my Gran, but more so with Aaron for making things difficult. “Aaron’s here. Gran invited him because she thinks you two need time to get to know each other.”
He stepped forward, a look of determination on his face. “Open the door, Hailee.”
I hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“Open it. No one’s stopping me from seeing you. Not even your brother.” His voice was forceful, and while I loved his stubbornness, I also feared the fireworks that could erupt when he and my brother were in the same room.
Reluctantly, I let him in. His hands moved straight to my waist so he could pull me close for a kiss.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” Aaron bellowed from the other end of the hallway. As he stalked our way, I felt Devil’s body tense, and I commenced silently chanting in my head for peace between these two.
My grandmother appeared in the hallway. “I invited him.” She took the Gran-tone she’d liked to use when chastising us as kids.
Aaron slowed, shock registering on his features. Turning back to face her, he said, “You support this relationship?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“You do know he’s a biker, right? And that his club is tied up in some bad shit.”
“Fuck,” Devil swore under his breath.”
I held him next to me when I sensed he was about to move towards Aaron. Anger vibrated off both of them, scaring me a little. I hoped Gran knew what she was doing.
“I know all of that, Aaron, but I also know that Dominic is the best man I’ve ever seen with my granddaughter. She’s smiling like I’ve never seen her smile, and confident in a way she’s never been. He makes her happy. And as far as him being a biker, since when do we judge people, Aaron? I thought I helped raise you to be better than that.”
“You would judge bikers the same way I do if you were in the line of work I’m in.”
Gran’s voice softened a little when she said, “And you’ve been perfect your entire life, then? Never done something you w
eren’t proud of?”
Aaron had turned to look at Devil right before she said that, and he froze at her questions. His face paled, and instead of answering her, he stalked back into the kitchen.
“Way to go, Gran,” I whispered.
“She sure has a way of getting her point across,” Devil said softly enough so that only I heard him.
I looked up at him. Touching his cheek, I said, “Okay, you good to do this? I don’t think it’s gonna be fun.”
He nodded. “Nothing worth anything in life is easy, darlin’.”
He led me into the kitchen while I held my breath a little.
God, please don’t let this turn to shit.
22
Devil
Bronze and I managed to make it through most of dinner without trying to take each other’s heads off. And then Hailee’s asshole neighbour happened.
Jean had just served dessert and I’d taken my first bite of the best pavlova I’d ever tasted when the fight next door started.
“God, does he ever lay off her?” Hailee muttered, pushing her chair back to stand.
Bronze quickly stood, too. “Sit back down, Hailee. I’ll go over and see what’s doing.”
Screams came from the house next door. The kind that came from a woman terrified for her safety. It was the first time I’d heard them since hanging out at Hailee’s home.
I pushed my chair out. “I’ll come with you.”
Bronze scowled. “I’ll go on my own.”
“You should both go,” Jean said. “He’s been drinking today, Aaron. You might need the help this time.”
The guy sounded like a real piece of work.
I followed Bronze outside and across the yard to the neighbour’s house. We didn’t exchange words until we reached the front door. The screams had stopped, so Bronze took a moment to say, “You think you can control your urge to punch him? Because the last fucking thing I need here is you letting loose and him filing a report against us.”
My fists clenched by my side. Lifting my chin at the door, I said, “Let’s just get this shit over with so we can get lunch over with and then you can go home.”