They got to the meeting room and they all stepped in. Kane slammed the door behind them and Trigger nodded.
“Sit.”
Everyone did, eyeing each other carefully.
“First things first.” Trigger set his gun on the table, reached in to his pocket and pulled out a knife, lay it down next to his favorite weapon, the one that had given him his name. “Everything out in the open.”
King watched as Kane and Ace set guns on the table too, then he pulled out his own. Jax didn’t move an inch and Trigger glared at him.
“Where’s yours, Hamill?”
Jax shrugged again. “I don’t have one.”
“Bullshit,” Kane said.
“Truth. I don’t carry.” Well, I haven’t since going to prison, anyway.
“Yeah, OK,” Trigger said, thinking what a pussy Hamill was. “So. You have our man.”
“Yep,” King said agreeably.
“Is he OK?” Kane said, going for agitated and angry. Trigger had reminded him that Warren was, in actual fact, his cousin and as such, it’d be good if he appeared to give a shit about the little prick. It was crucial that King think that the Fallen Angels really, really wanted Warren back, that King held something with value and weight.
“Yep.”
“You beat him up, you asshole?” Kane growled. “I swear, if you laid one finger on him…”
“He’s fine,” King said. “I have no interest in hurting the kid, since it’s damn obvious that he’s clueless about everything.”
“Yeah.” Trigger leaned back. “We didn’t share anything with him. Just in case, you know.”
“I know.”
Silence descended again and they all glared daggers at each other.
“So how about we lay it all out, huh?” King said. “You boys tipped your hands when you sent those three assholes after Gabi, as you fucking well know, so no hiding what you want or what your intentions are.”
“Fine.” Trigger shrugged. “I want to make sure that Torres shuts the fuck up and stays that way.”
“And if she says that she will?” Jax spoke up now.
“Nuh-uh,” Trigger said. “I need more than that.”
“Like what?” King said. “Besides her ‘disappearing’, I mean.”
“Well, I don’t know.” Trigger’s blue eyes narrowed. “What can you promise me?”
“That she’ll never say a word,” King said. “Not to the cops, not to her friends, not to anyone. I’ll vouch for her.”
“Not good enough.”
“Why not?” Jax said.
“Because I don’t fucking trust any of you,” Trigger said, all coiled up and ready to pounce.
“The feeling’s mutual, believe me,” King said dryly. “What guarantee do we have that you won’t hurt Gabi at some point in the future?”
“You don’t,” Ace said quietly. “We can give our word, just like you give yours, but that’s all it is… just words.”
“You aren’t men of your words, I take it?” Jax said, his eyes blazing.
Trigger grinned. “Words don’t get shit done, man. Actions do.”
“Actions also get people killed when they don’t have to end up that way,” King pointed out. “We should try to figure this out before anyone else dies.”
“Anyone else?” Trigger said in a low, almost-silent hiss. Usually when he spoke like this, it terrified the crap out of grown men, but King wasn’t a guy to be too freaked out by a scary voice. “Did somebody die, Kingston? I didn’t hear about a body turning up.”
“Yeah. Somebody definitely died.” King held his eyes. “Look, I don’t give a shit about Santos, OK? He was your man and he was screwing you over and he knew who he was dealing with. His risk, his neck, his life. You’ll handle your people how you see fit, MacGee, and I’ll have no opinion about any aspect of your business… until it comes in to my yard and affects my people and my friends. Now, Gabi Torres is my business, you get me? She’s an innocent who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and she wants nothing more than to pretend that it never happened. So what do you want?”
“I want to talk to her personally.” Trigger grinned. “Here, in this room.”
“Not gonna happen,” King said,
“Then I guess we’re at an enpast,” Trigger announced. “Until I talk to Torres in person, that is.”
Kane barely restrained himself from sneering at his President’s stupid, tough-guy declaration.
We’re at an impasse, you fucking moron. Jesus.
King blinked at Trigger, decided to let the vocab lesson slide and did a bit of backtracking instead. “Why do you want to talk to Gabi yourself?”
“I’m big in to having people make me promises to my face,” Trigger said. “I like to see their eyes when they tell me something.”
“And if she swears to never say a word and you believe her?” Jax asked.
Trigger shrugged again. “Then we negotiate how to get Joker’s kin back and we all go home.”
“And that’s it?”
“As far as I’m concerned, yeah.”
Jax and King glanced at each other, neither one liking the suggestion, but realizing that on this point, Trigger was pretty unshakable.
“If she comes to see you, then I stay with her,” King said, his voice quieter than before. “You’re not alone with her for even one second. Non-negotiable.”
“Fine.” Trigger’s eyes glittered. “But it’s just you.”
“I have my people in the parking lot outside,” King countered. “But it’s you and me and Gabi in here.”
Trigger pretended to consider that, pretended that he gave an actual fuck about any of this charade. “OK. Fine.”
King got to his feet, picked up his gun. “I’ll talk to Gabi and let you know what she says.”
The other men stood too, grabbed their own weapons.
“You do that.” Trigger tucked his gun against the small of his back. “You come back in two days, Kingston, and we talk then and hammer out the details of the meet. If we can’t figure it out, then it’s open season on the whore.”
“Got it,” King said coolly.
Nods all around and then Jax and King saw themselves out; they hit the parking lot and took some deep breaths, relieved to be away from the stomach-churning smell of cum mixed with flowery perfume and B.O. and beer. They didn’t say one word until they were back in the SUV and then they looked at each other.
“What do you think?” Jax said.
“I think he wants to intimidate Gabi in person,” King said. “Veiled threats…maybe not so veiled, actually. He wants her to know that he’s seen her face, that he knows who she is, what her voice sounds like. It’s psychological warfare, plain and simple.”
“And? You going to tell Gabi to do it?”
King hit the highway, pointed them towards Denver-proper and kicked the SUV up to sixty-five, feeling the urge to get the hell away from the clubhouse. Everything about Trigger and his boys made his skin crawl.
“I don’t know.” King checked the rear view, made sure nobody was following them. “It’s up to her, really.”
“You going to recommend that she do it?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I think I will.”
Jax was silent; he knew that King would never tell Gabi to go toe-to-toe with a killer if he could see any other way to get this done. “So you really think this is the only way, huh? To make sure that she’s safe and that this all goes away?”
“Yeah, I do.” King checked behind them again, saw that it was still all clear. “Seeing her in person is a big deal for MacGee for some reason, and I didn’t get the feeling he was going to back down about it. This is the only way forward, as far as I can see.” He glanced at Jax. “What did you think?”
Jax sighed. “I think you’re right. Unfortunately.
”
“Yeah, ‘unfortunately’ is the word.” King slowed down as they hit the city limits. “Now we have to talk to Gabi about this, huh?”
“And Aidan.” Jax pulled out his phone to call Sarah. “Don’t forget about him.”
King grimaced. “One guess who I think will be harder to convince.”
**
“No way.” Aidan’s tone was clipped, cold, final. “No fucking way.”
“Aidan…”
He turned on Gabi now. “No.”
She glared right on back at him, hands on her hips. “Don’t you snap at me, Aidan. This isn’t your decision… it’s mine.”
“Wrong,” he ground out. “It’s ours.”
“Oh, yeah?” She narrowed her beautiful eyes at him, eyes that had been so hot with lust just an hour earlier. “Ten seconds ago when you said ‘no fucking way’, it sure as hell sounded like you thought it was all yours. Now you wanna share, huh?”
Aidan ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up on end. “Gabriela… baby…”
“Don’t you ‘baby’ me, Carter,” she said. “Now’s not the time.”
King and Jax exchanged uncomfortable looks as Gabi and Aidan continued to glare at each other.
“Uh,” Jax said. “Maybe we’ll leave you two to discuss this? Privately?”
“No need.” Gabi’s eyes swung back to the other two men. “I’m doing it.”
“You – what?” Aidan said, stunned. “Gabriela…”
“What?” she said sharply.
He paused, really taking in her anger now and he took it down a notch. “We need to discuss this more. All of us.”
“Why?” She shrugged, her long hair falling over her shoulders, still tousled and tangled from their marathon sex session. “We weren’t there and if King and Jax say that this is the only way forward, I believe them.” She stared at Aidan, her head tilted in a challenging way that made him crazy; he wanted to kiss that defiance right off her sweet lips. “Don’t you believe what they say?”
Aidan shut his mouth and tried to gather his thoughts. Yeah, he totally believed King and Jax and yeah, he hadn’t been in that room with the Fallen Angels. If his friends were reporting back that this was the only way, then he was more than inclined to believe it. But not believing it wasn’t the fucking point – not liking it was.
“Gabi?” King’s unruffled calm was like a soothing balm over all the tension in the room. “You sure you want to do this?”
“Yes.” She sounded exasperated now, but the men heard the fear beneath her bravado. “If Trigger wants me to promise my silence to his face, I will.”
“But you get that he’s all about scaring you. Right?” King ran his huge hand over the back of his neck, watching her closely. “I’d be right there the whole time, but don’t kid yourself, hon. The man is as intimidating as fuck and he wants you to know that he’s seen your face.”
She shrugged. “He’s seen it already, though, hasn’t he?”
The men paused.
“What do you mean?” Jax said, guarded.
“I mean that he sent three men after me at Curves, so he knew my name. I’d lay money on the notion that has my address, my driver’s license photo, my passport info. I bet he had me followed around, spied on.” She tried to look tough and failed pretty miserably. “You think I don’t know all of this?”
“Yeah, OK.” King took a deep breath. “But he’s going to bait you, Gabi, try to upset you. He wants to play with you, like a cat plays with a mouse. He wants to get inside your head.”
“I know.” She looked down at her bare feet, trying to hold back her shivering. The thought that she’d actually be in the same room as the man with that friendly, amused voice, the one that she’d heard him use just before shooting a man between the eyes, was nothing short of terrifying.
She didn’t want to meet his eyes, had no desire to enter his domain. She wanted to stay away from his whole world – and yet somehow, she had fallen in to its dark heart. Now she had to fight to climb out again and she’d do anything to make that happen.
Aidan saw her shaking and he felt his anger fade a bit. If King and Jax said this was the way to handle this and Gabriela wanted to trust that, then he’d go along with it. On one fucking condition.
“OK.” He turned to King. “I’m in the parking lot outside.”
King eyed him. “No rushing the meeting room?”
“No.” Aidan sucked in air as he contemplated how much he hated just standing still. “No. I stay put with your team.”
“Yeah?” King’s skepticism was evident in that single word.
“Yeah.”
“Really?” Now Gabi was eyeing him like he’d grown a second head. “You’d stay outside? Not cause any trouble?”
“I’d stay outside.” He paused. “Well. I’d stay outside as long as you were safe. If anything happened, I’d go in shooting and ask questions later.”
“You all would,” Jax said quietly. “Tank, Lilly and Knox would be there with you and they don’t have any problem with blowing the clubhouse doors off and storming the damn place. If anybody objected too strongly to their actions, the team would make sure that nobody was left standing.”
“I know.” And Aidan did know; King’s Men were brutal and decisive when they had to be. They’d never draw first blood, but they’d finish anything that Trigger and his asshole members started.
“OK, then.” Gabi turned back to King. “When do we do this?”
“I’ll go back and speak to Trigger the day after tomorrow.” King caught Aidan’s eye. “Alone.”
Aidan sighed, nodded reluctantly.
“He and I will hash out some details, OK?” King said. “As soon as I know anything, I’ll call you and I’ll keep my police contacts in the loop.”
“Alright,” she said softly. “Thank you, guys. You’ve been acting like it’s no big deal, but I know that what you did today was dangerous.”
“It was no problem, hon,” Jax said. “Now, I’ve got to get home. Noah is begging for me to barbecue some burgers and he’s driving the ladies crazy.”
The all laughed a bit at that and the tension in the room lessened. King and Jax gave Gabi hugs on their way out the door and nodded at Aidan. Gabi locked the door behind them, turned to face Aidan, her arms crossed. She knew it wasn’t completely settled between the two of them, but she wasn’t sure how strenuous or specific his objections were going to be.
“OK.” She leaned against the wall. “It’s just us now. What do you really want to say?”
He regarded her silently, his handsome face both angry and loving. Then without any warning at all, without even a change in his expression, he strode across the room, covering the distance between them in seconds. She barely had time to gasp when he slammed his body in to hers and his mouth descended.
His kiss wasn’t gentle, not at all. The force of it pushed her back in to the wall and Gabi felt an odd combination of shock and lust – she’d never felt so taken by a man and she found that she loved it. Everything in her responded to him and without even thinking about it, her hands rose to clutch Aidan’s shirt, to pull him closer and tighter.
Without a word, barely releasing her tingling lips, Aidan undid her jeans roughly, yanked them down and off her legs. Her panties followed, then her shirt and bra. She was naked and up against the wall, panting and soaked and open. He kissed her again, his tongue going hard and deep and all she could think about was his cock doing the same thing between her swollen lower lips.
“Aidan,” she whispered as his restless mouth traveled down her throat. “Aidan…”
“What do I really want to say, baby?” he growled. “I want to say that if anything happens to you, I’m gonna lose my fucking mind.” His hand moved down her stomach, plunged between her legs and started rubbing. “I’ve wanted you for so l
ong and the thought of anything happening to you now…” He captured a nipple between his lips and she groaned. “I need you safe. Close.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to me.” Her head fell back as his fingers slipped inside her. God, she was so wet already, so full of need. “I’ll be fine.”
Aidan made a feral sound in his throat and spun her around to face the wall. His heavy body held her in place and she both heard and felt him fumbling with his belt buckle, the snap on his jeans, the zipper, and then his hard length was pushing in to her lower back. She arched, wanton and wild, almost desperate for him to be inside. He’d barely touched her but she was ready for him, so fucking ready.
“Gabriela.” Her name was torn from someplace deep and dark. “Baby… I need you. I need you safe.”
“I’m safe,” she said between gasps, slowly losing her mind. “I’m with you.”
His hands caught hers and moved them up the wall over her head. Aidan swept her unruly hair over one shoulder and planted hot, wet kisses on the exposed skin, his hands covering hers above them. When he nipped the side of her delicate neck, she gave a cry and closed her hands under his, loving the pleasure-pain.
Aidan licked the red spot he’d made on her golden flesh. “Don’t move one inch.” His voice was husky and rough. “You stand just like that until I get back.”
Then he was gone and she felt cold without his solid weight behind her. She longed to cover herself, to close her legs, but she didn’t. She stood there, shaking with need until he came back from the bathroom.
He stopped right behind her. “Fuck, Gabriela. All stretched out naked on the wall and spread open like that… you look like nothing but beautiful temptation.”
“You’re tempted?” she managed to get out between her heavy breaths.
“You have no idea.” The rip of foil now, a pause, then he was on her. “So gorgeous and all mine.”
“Yes.” His large hands were on her curved hips, angling her to take him. Gabi was achingly aware of the fact that she was totally naked and he was still clothed, and that made her feel strangely vulnerable. “I’m yours.”
Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3) Page 14