So Hot MC Boxset

by Blair Grey

  “You were a boy scout?” I’d had no idea. “Wow, boss, you’re a man of mystery, aren’t you?”

  “I suppose I am.” He pulled out his cell, tapping in a text. “Okay. I’ve got the girls bringing me one man at a time. After you hear the second bike pull up, you wait only a couple of minutes, then you get Cane over here.”

  “You got it, boss.” I hauled ass up to the office, calling Sarah. “Hey, I’m going to be calling Cane in just a minute. I want you on the line in case he asks for proof that you’re here. I’m going to say some rough shit about you. Don’t take it seriously.”

  “I get it. You’re going to make him think you’re mad at me for causing all the trouble and you want rid of me. I did get your text while ago. And how’s my dad doing? Is this plan of his dangerous for him or you?”

  “I can’t tell you that. You know how this stuff works, baby. You only need to know what you have to know.” I called the number Carl had given to me. “Okay, stay quiet until I ask you to say something.”

  “Got it.”

  “You’ve got Cane here. Who’ve I got?” he answered my call.

  “You have an upset strip joint owner here.” I wasn’t about to give him my real name. “Calvin from the Executive Viper, Cane. And I’m tired of dealing with the fallout my partner has caused. Frankly, I want rid of her. So, I was thinking that you and I, being the businessmen that we are, could make a deal.”

  “What kind of deal?” he asked, sounding interested.

  “I want to keep the girls my partner stole from you. I know the deal you’ve already asked for. I would rather get rid of my partner, than the women who actually make me money.” I tapped my fingers on the desk, trying not to seem too anxious to make a deal with the man. “She’s told me that you were the man we threw out on opening night. She’s told me that you wanted her in exchange for what she’d taken from you.”

  “Yeah?” he asked.

  “Yeah. And I wanted to know if that deal was still on the table.”

  “It might be.” He got quiet and I could tell he was going someplace private to talk. The noise in the background faded away as he left wherever he was. “I do want to clear something up though. If this is some kind of a trap that you’re setting, you should know that my MC didn’t have shit to do with those fires you had today. I don’t know who did that, but I can swear to you that it wasn’t us.”

  “I see.” Now, I was sure the fires were the work of someone I called brother. “This isn’t a trap, Cane. This is me wanting to make things right with my business and yours. I don’t want her here anymore and I don’t want to have to replace seven strippers. I would like to keep them and hand the bitch over to you to deal with. She’s pissed me off for the last time.”

  “When can I have her?”

  I smiled as I knew I had him right where I wanted him. “I’ve got her here now. I can’t promise you that she’ll be around tomorrow though.”

  “And what about her old man?” he asked. “He’s the president of the Iron Cobras. He’s not a man to be fucked with.”

  And yet you killed his wife.

  “He’s not happy with his daughter either. She went behind both our backs to take your girls. We both told her not to do that. The fact is, he knows she needs punished and he just can’t bring himself to do it. I would punish her myself, but she’s not worth the effort to me. From what she’s told me, you would like to teach her how to act the way a female needs to.”

  “Would I?” he sounded a little iffy about it. “I mean, yeah, I would. So, you’ve got her now?”

  “I do.”

  “I want to talk to her first. Is she going to be a complete bitch about me taking her? I don’t want to have to drag her ass out of there.”

  “I’ll let her tell you. Sarah, get your ass over here and tell this gentleman that you will go willingly with him.”

  “Um – uh,” she mumbled. “I guess I’ll go with you.”

  “You have to tell me that you want to. I’m not going to get accused of taking you against your will. Not with who your daddy is.”

  “He’s mad at me anyway for not doing what he told me to do. But if you have to hear me say it, then here it is. I want to go with you, Cane. But only if you promise to let the girls I gave jobs to here, keep them,” she still fought for their jobs.

  I wasn’t sure how smart that was. “Mind your business, Sarah. Those sluts are mine to worry about. You just worry about making things right with Cane.”

  “Sorry, boss. I’ll go with you, Cane.”

  “Good. When can I come get her?” he asked, sounding enthusiastic about things now.

  “I’ll shoot you a text as soon as I have her ready for you. I’ve been a bit rough with her. She’s got to be cleaned up.” I fought the urge to cuss the mother fucker out. He would be getting what he had coming to him soon enough though. “Talk to you soon, Cane.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Suddenly, I remembered that he couldn’t tell a soul where he was going. “Hey, keep this between you and me, okay. I don’t need this getting out that I traded her to you.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m not an idiot.” He ended the call and I quickly ended the call with Sarah too.

  I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how three-way calls went. She called me right back though. “So, you hung up on me, Axel. Do you think he bought it?”

  “It sounds like he did. We’ll have to wait to make sure he shows up though. How’re things going over there?”

  “It’s chill here. I’m just playing games on my phone in the bedroom you left me in. Everyone’s asleep here already. The day has taken its toll on everyone,” she informed me.

  “But the guards are awake, right?” I was sure my MC brothers hadn’t fallen asleep on the job.

  “It’s so quiet in the house that I have no idea. I think I’m the only one awake, but I haven’t left the room to be sure of that. Why?”

  “Just stay locked up in the bedroom. If things go accordingly, this will all be over tonight. I’ll come get you if that’s the case. That way you can spend the remainder of the night in your own bed.” I would feel better with her in her own place anyway - once the bad guys were out of the picture. “Try to stay awake just in case Cane wants to talk to you again before he comes here.”

  “Will do.” She sighed. “If you come get me, promise me that you’ll stay tonight with me. I kind of need you, Axel. This is all pretty upsetting to me.”

  I would have to make things right before I did that. But I would do my best to do that. “As long as things go right, I’ll do that, baby.”

  “K. Be safe.” She ended the call.

  As I put the phone on the desk, I stared out the window as I heard the first motorcycle pull into the dark and empty parking lot.

  And here we go.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Sarah

  As I sat cross-legged on the bed, I played the game I’d been trying to beat on my phone for the last hour or so. It somewhat distracted me from worrying about my father and Axel. But I wasn’t concentrating hard enough to beat the level I’d been stuck on. “Damn. Lost again.”

  Something at the bedroom door took my attention, then I watched as it opened. I’d locked the door, so it being opened didn’t make much sense. Johnny peeked in through the partially open door. “I saw the light on and just wanted to be sure you’re okay, Sarah.”

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” I moved a little to get more comfortable on the bed. “Axel told me to stay awake in case I had to answer my phone.”

  Nodding, he ran one hand through his thick dark hair that hung to the nape of his neck. “So, how’s it working with Axel on that strip joint?” The smile that curled his thick lips was a little creepy. “To be honest, I never saw you working in a place like that. You’re better than that, Sarah. Your mother wouldn’t have ever agreed to let you work there. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah.” Now that I knew my mother had made friends with most of the peo
ple in my father’s MC, I knew the man in front of me must’ve gotten to know her well before she was killed. “How well did you know my mother?”

  “She and I were pretty close. I talked to her a lot about my girlfriend who died in a motorcycle wreck. I’d been driving when a truck came into the lane we were in. The driver never even looked to see if anyone was there.” He looked up as if seeing his dead girlfriend on the ceiling. “We lived here when we were together. That’s part of the reason I won’t stay here now – you know, why I rent it out to vacationers most of the time.”

  I had the idea I was sitting on the bed he and his late girlfriend had shared. “Was this your bedroom, Johnny?”

  “Yes, it was.” He held up his keychain. “I still have the key to it. I hope that doesn’t freak you out or anything.”

  It did a little. But something else began to freak me out even more. I’d never heard of his girlfriend dying. I’d been around the members of the MC a lot when I was younger. It wasn’t until I left for college that I lost touch with them all. From what I remembered Johnny didn’t have a girlfriend. He’d messed around with the girls I called Iron Cobra groupies. “I’m sorry, Johnny, I don’t remember your girl at all.”

  “She and I met after you left town. We were only together for about a year when she was killed. The year after that, I decided to run for club president. I needed to do something to get her off my mind. I just kept thinking about what we would’ve been doing, you know?”

  “Sure.” I knew he’d ran against my father and Dad had won the presidency. “So, my father took the spot you wanted.”

  “Yeah.” He frowned but only for a moment. “He’s best for that job though. Everyone knows that. I watch him a lot though. That way I can understand better what a president has to do. When the next election comes up, I’m vying for president again. I hope he doesn’t get pissed about that.”

  “I think he’ll understand.”

  He closed the door behind him as he moved to take a seat at the end of the bed. “I hope so. I don’t want to make an enemy out of a man like Carl. He’s fierce in many ways. Even when Lisa died, he stayed a lot stronger than I thought he would. I’d offered to take over the presidency after her funeral. You know, temporarily, so he could grieve.”

  I’d had no idea he’d done that. “My dad, being the man he is, I guess he didn’t want the time you offered him. He’s not the grieving type.”

  “Yeah.” He traced a red rose on the blanket covered in them. “Her name was Lane. She liked being in this house. She liked the way it smelled, and the old decorations too.”

  “That’s nice.” I had no idea why he was telling me all this. “Most young people don’t like things that are old.”

  “She wasn’t young. She was about your mom’s age. I have a thing for older women.” He smiled as he looked off to one side.

  Johnny was around thirty. Mom was in her mid-forties when she’d died. “So, Lane was in her forties, huh?”

  He nodded. “She had long legs, dark hair, and eyes, a real beauty. It was a shame to have lost her.”

  “I bet it was.” It began to dawn on me that he might’ve liked my mother in more than just a friendly way. “Johnny, did you and my mom go places together?”

  “Sometimes.” He grinned as he looked at me. “I liked to take her places she’d never been before. Places your father wouldn’t let her go to.”

  My heart sped up as I thought about my mother going to Horney’s Babes with some man from my father’s MC. “Like strip joints?”

  “Among other places.” He traced another flower. “Your mom liked it out here.”

  “You brought my mother out here? To this house?” The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as fear began seeping in.

  “Sure. Lots of people from the MC have been here. We’ve had cookouts and stuff here. Your mom made herself right at home too. She’d get into the kitchen and cook up a storm. The woman could really cook.” He fell back on the bed.

  I scooted up toward the headboard a bit, not sure what he was doing. Pulling my knees up, I wrapped my arms around them, making myself into a ball of sorts. “Yes, Mom was an awesome cook. I miss her pancakes the most.” I rested my chin on top of my knees.

  “Your dad had it all. He was the luckiest man alive, in my eyes. I envied him.” He cocked one brow as he looked at me. “You know what I’m saying, Sarah?”

  I was pretty sure he’d been hot for my mother and had wanted my father’s job as president. So, I was sure I knew what he was saying. “Yeah, I get what you’re saying, Johnny.” And I was getting the idea that it was he who’d had my mother murdered. “Can I ask you something personal?”

  He sat back up. “Sure.”

  “Did you like my mother for more than a friend?” I had to know. I had to be sure he’d been the one to set my mother up.

  “Aw, Sarah, come on, you know I can’t answer that the way you want me to. All I need is for your father to want to whip my ass for having a crush on his wife.” He laughed. “But she was a real beauty. And she was such a wonderful woman. My mom died early in my life. My grandmother finished raising me. I never knew my father. I grew up with strong women, and your mom was the strongest.”

  I didn’t want to look into his dark eyes anymore. So, I scanned the room and what I saw in a picture frame took my breath away. Johnny was with a woman with long dark hair in the picture. But Johnny had no hair. “You shaved your head?”

  He looked at where I was looking. “Yeah. Lane asked me to after she saw a couple of other guys in our MC had shaved their heads. It was a fad, I guess. I’d kept it shaved for a couple of years. I started letting it grow back after your mom died. I sort of did it for her. It bothered me a lot that she’d committed suicide. We’d spent so much time together talking that it upset me that she hadn’t confided in me about being depressed or unhappy with her life – her marriage. Lisa had told me more than once that I had a nice head of hair and it was a shame that I’d shaved it all off.”

  The fact he’d dropped a little hint about my parents having a bad marriage wasn’t lost on me. But I had other things to worry about. Like the fact that he’d told me he had taken my mother into strip clubs and the fact that he’d had a clean-shaven head back then too.

  I wasn’t one to go off half-cocked, so I had one more thing to ask the man, “Johnny, you know the trouble I’ve gotten myself into with hiring the girls from Horney’s Babes. So, you wouldn’t mind me asking you if you’d ever taken my mother to that place, would you?”

  “That dump?” He laughed then got off the bed. “Why would I take her there? The Irish Reapers own that heap. We are bitter rivals. Your dad would’ve skinned me alive if I would’ve taken her there.”

  “But he was okay with you taking her places?” I had to ask because I just couldn’t see my father being okay with that.

  “Well, he didn’t know about all the places she and I went. She’d take her bike most of the time. We’d meet places. I didn’t want any jealousy to come between me and Carl.” Heading toward the door, it seemed he wanted to end our conversation.

  “So, my mother was kind of skirting around behind my father’s back then?” I really had a hard time believing that.

  Johnny stopped his retreat to turn around to face me. “I wouldn’t say that about her, Sarah. It wasn’t as bad as you make it sound. She knew I wasn’t a bad guy. She knew I needed someone. So, she met me sometimes without your father knowing. But then she stopped. She told me she didn’t feel right about it.”

  “And how’d you feel about that?” I had the feeling he felt quite a bit of anger about that.

  Shrugging, he shook his head. “How was I supposed to feel about it? I was disappointed that she didn’t want to spend any more time with me, that was for sure. And the real kicker was that she had kept on hanging out with other men in our club. So, why was I the only one she felt she couldn’t hang out with anymore?” He sighed heavily. “It hurt. You know?”

  So, my mother
had hung out with other men too. “I’m sorry, Johnny. This part of my mother is new to me. She never hung out with anyone when I was still living at home. I feel like you’re talking about another person.”

  “She did change after you left. Lisa changed a hell of a lot.” He opened the door. “To be honest with you, I thought your father might’ve had a hand in Lisa’s death. She wasn’t spending her time with him. She spent it with other people - other men.”

  I didn’t believe him at all. My hand inched around my back, shaking as I contemplated taking the knife out of my back pocket, then plunging it into his thick neck. “Is that so?”

  “Yeah. I’d better let you get some rest. I know you’re probably worried about your dad. I just thought I’d check in on you. Night, Sarah.” He closed the door and I heard him locking it back up from the other side.

  Getting up, I went to push the dresser in front of the door. I didn’t want that man coming back into the room. Something wasn’t right and I knew it.

  My cell rang, so I stopped trying to move the heavy dresser as I went to the nightstand to pick it up. Seeing Axel’s name on the screen, I answered it, figuring Cane wanted to talk to me again. “Yes?”

  “You need to get out of that house, Sarah. I left my keys under the seat in my truck. Sneak out of there and get into my truck and go to my house. You can use the garage door opener to get inside my place.”

  “Why?” I thought he’d figured out Johnny’s role in my mother’s murder. “Is it about Johnny?”

  “Just get the fuck out of there now!” I heard something that sounded like a smack then the line went dead.

  A knock came to my door. “Sarah, you okay in there?” It was Ralph, the one man who Axel had told me I could trust besides him and my father.

  “Not really.” I went to let him in, opening the door, I stepped back. “Come in. I think I need your help, Ralph.”

  Things were beginning to make sense now, and all signs pointed to Johnny being the man behind my mother’s murder.