by Lane Hart
“Yes,” Roman says without a second of hesitation before I even finish the question.
“Even though getting involved might drag the entire MC into seven feet of bullshit with another MC?”
Sighing heavily, Roman asks, “Do you think she is in imminent danger? Yes or no?”
“Fuck if I know!” I shout in anger, and then I’m shaking my head. “Yeah, I think she lied to try and keep the giant off of her. She said she would handle it…”
“Meaning she would fuck him to keep her job at the sleezy strip club even though she doesn’t want to?” Roman guesses correctly. My jaw is clenched tight as I picture her being at his mercy, and I nod once.
“Well, fuck,” our president grumbles.
“That’s where I’m at,” I agree. “Fucked.”
“Since there could be blowback for the MC, we’ll have to tell the rest of the guys,” he says, making my head snap up to finally look him in the face again. “If they vote for a search and rescue mission, you going to handle the rest?”
“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion.
“Reece said she’s working two jobs because she needs the money to pay her brother’s way through college. If we put our necks on the line to bring her ass back here, are you going to help her with the finances until she finds another job?”
“She won’t leave Cape Cartwright,” I tell him. “And if she did, he might try and follow her.”
“That’s why the whole table needs to understand all of the consequences,” Roman explains. “But I already know they’re going to want to help.”
“Why would they risk everything for me?” I blurt out. “They don’t give a shit about us nomads.”
“You three stopped being nomads years ago. The second you put our patch on the back of your cuts, you became one of us. You, Hugo, and Abel have already risked everything when we avenged Tessa, then when we killed the bastards running the porn studio, and again when we all stood up to the police chief who tried to take us out because of his beef with the twins. This brotherhood works both ways. And if any man at this table refuses to help you now when you need it, then I’ll put in the transfer to ship them out of town myself.”
“You would really transfer a brother if they don’t agree to do this bullshit for me?” I say in disbelief. “What if it’s Winston? Or Verek?”
“I’ve known those two and Marcus longer than anyone else. They won’t vote no,” Roman replies.
“Guess we’ll see.”
“Yeah, I guess we will,” he agrees, his jaw ticking as if he’s not as confident as he claims. But I believe him. If Roman says he’ll do something, he will. I just didn’t think he would ever risk so much of the club for someone like me.
“Thank you,” I tell him sincerely. “I wish I didn’t give a shit about her…”
“Don’t apologize for loving someone. It’s not a weakness. It’s a strength. Knowing how to make sacrifices for someone else makes you a better man.”
“Even if they wouldn’t do the same for me?” I ask with a non-humorous chuckle as I try and covertly wipe the corner of my eye on my shirtsleeve.
“Especially if they wouldn’t do the same. That’s the difference between being a selfish man and a selfless King.”
Chapter Thirteen
Rita
“There’s my girl!” Leroy exclaims when I come up to the bar to put in an order. The customer’s request goes out the window when the tall man scoops me off the floor and plops me right down on his lap.
“Hey, guys. How’s it going tonight?” I ask, tensing up as he holds me like a child and coughing around the clouds of smoke from the bikers’ cigars and everything else they’re smoking.
The rest of the room disappears when Leroy’s hand cups my chin roughly and forces me to look at him and only him. “I had a chat with your old man yesterday,” he tells me. “You’ll be free of that asshole in no time.”
“Yeah? I bet you’re right,” I agree. “I’ll check with, um, my attorney tomorrow, and see if everything’s back signed.”
“You do that,” he says, running the point of his nose down my throat and into my hair, sniffing loud enough for me to hear it over the sound of the loud music. “I can’t wait to take you home with me.” I freeze when his tongue licks the same path back down my neck. “You won’t be able to walk for the first week.”
“Ha!” I choke out a fake laugh. “But I have to be able to walk so I can work, you naughty boy!” I grab his hand on my waist to try and stop him from moving up the inch or two to my breast.
“You won’t need to work like a dog when you’re mine,” he says, thankfully pulling his mouth from me to look at my face. “Your only job will be to keep my bed warm and put food in my belly so I can put a baby in yours.”
Oh, hell no!
“But I have bills to pay! I have to work, silly!”
“No, you don’t,” he growls, his hand tightening on my side and my face. “I’ll give you everything you need while you give me everything I need from your beautiful body.”
“You’re hurting me, Leroy,” I grit out as his fingers dig painfully into my ribs. “Let go. Let go!” I shout as I try to pry his hands off of me. “I belong to someone else, remember? Until the divorce…please. It’s not right for you to touch me until I can be yours!”
The big man groans and presses me down on his hardness under my bottom, making me think my lie about wanting to be free from my “husband” isn’t going to work anymore. But then finally, he stands me up on my wobbly feet and slaps my ass.
“You’ll be mine soon enough. The wait will be worth it for both of us,” Leroy mutters. “Once you’re my wife, I can have you whenever I want.”
Oh great! I just thought he wanted to fuck me, not marry me.
Giving up on the drink order I was supposed to be retrieving, I hurry away into the women’s restroom, needing a moment to collect myself. I lock myself in a stall, then lean my back against the door as I stare up at the brown water stains on the ceiling, wondering how the hell I got myself into this mess.
I never did anything to encourage Leroy. He just came in a few weeks ago with the rest of the MC and claimed I would be his, as if I didn’t have a say in the matter.
And when you’re twice the size of a normal man, I guess there’s no one to stop you from getting whatever you want.
Out of all the thin, pretty strippers, why would he pick me?
It’s the same question I asked about Nolan when he started coming in every night, trying to get me to dance for him.
I didn’t understand him then, and I still don’t today.
Maybe Leroy was drawn to me with my above average height and weight because a petite woman wouldn’t be able to survive a pounding from him.
I’m not sure if I will either.
As Lila, one of the other waitresses, said, I should start preparing for him by trying to fit a baseball bat inside me so he won’t hurt me as badly.
I don’t want to prepare my body to take his enormous penis! I don’t want a single inch of him anywhere near me! Not that my preferences were considered by any of the members of his MC. They didn’t ask; they just took what they wanted before I could even protest.
At least Leroy has been gentlemanly enough to respect my fake marriage to another man. I bet he would be pissed if he found out his friends had already had me before him.
But the flimsy lie about being married won’t hold up much longer.
And since I would have to leave not one but two jobs, and I don’t currently have the money for even a full tank of gas, much less to up and leave town, I’ll have no choice when Leroy drags me back to his place like a caveman and never lets me leave again.
At least Nolan will be safe.
I shouldn’t give a shit about the other biker’s safety; but for some reason, I do. Just because he didn’t want to see me again, doesn’t mean he deserves to end up in the hospital or worse, end up in the morgue.
Chapter Fourteen
Nolan
“Now, on to more pressing matters,” Roman says during our weekly Savage Kings MC meeting. “There’s a woman in a city a few hours away who has ties to one of our brothers. She’s in trouble with a member of another MC and needs our help getting out of town. We’ll need to vote on whether or not we, as a group, will come up with a plan to extract her from the situation, regardless of the consequences afterward.”
“Which brother?” Cannon asks as soon as Roman is finished talking.
“Does it matter?”
The blond surfer boy and his twin Conrad both stare down the table at me with the same sullen look on their identical faces, which is freaky as hell.
“It’s Nolan, isn’t it?” Cannon says. “Goddamn it. I had this feeling that he was going to bring shit down on us. Didn’t I tell you?” he asks Conrad, who nods his agreement.
“Wait a second,” Hugo says. “You’re going to help Rita? Again? Are you out of your mind?”
“I get it,” Abel says. Grinning, he asks, “You thought about it as a chick, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did,” I agree, facing down all of surprised, annoyed faces of the men at the table. “If you have a wife or a sister or even a mother, then imagine her being forced to screw the biggest, baddest motherfucker you’ve ever seen because he won’t take no for an answer.”
“So big they don’t even make leather cuts large enough to fit him!” Abel adds.
“Seriously?” Cannon asks.
“Seriously.”
The twins look at each other. “Well, fuck. We’re in,” they say simultaneously.
“Anyone opposed?” Roman asks, the grip on his gavel tightening until his knuckles are white.
I hold my breath because I don’t want anyone to get booted from the chapter just because my dumbass wants to save a woman who doesn’t want anything to do with me.
Marcus raises his hand. “Will we get to kick some ass?” he asks.
“It’s more than likely,” Roman answers.
“Then count me in!” he replies excitedly.
“Me too,” Leo says softly. “Sorry I gave you up the other day. He was scary as fuck, and I figured you had done something to deserve a beating. No hard feelings?” he holds out his fist in my direction.
“I get it. We’re good,” I tell him, bumping his fist with mine.
“I’ve got a newborn and an ole lady who is on a hormone rollercoaster,” Winston starts, making my stomach drop because he’s going to bow out of this one. I fucking knew it. “If something happens to me, ya’ll better take damn good care of them.”
Roman grins and sighs in relief as he reaches over to squeeze the shoulder of his right-hand man. “You know we will, but nothing like that is going to happen on my watch if I can help it.”
Verek cracks his knuckles. “These fuckers sound like they need to be neutered, just like the ones who hurt Tessa. You know I’m in.”
“Then let’s come up with a plan to get this done and keep everyone at the table breathing,” Roman says, lowering his gavel with a told-you-so smirk in my direction.
Rita
Friday night is as crazy as ever in the strip club.
The men show up after a hard week of work, ready to drink themselves into a stupor and see lots of tits in their faces.
One table in particular, a bachelor party with a group of, like, nine guys is the rowdiest of them all. Lila and Meg are both trying to keep up, but they can’t seem to get the beers to their table fast enough. They’re loud and disrupting the entire show. Which is why I’m not surprised when one of the members of the Rebel Henchmen MC goes over and tells them they need to settle down or they’ll need to leave.
When I hear the one with curly auburn hair stand up and say, “How about you make me, motherfucker!” I brace for impact.
“Shit’s about to go down,” I tell Joe, our bartender, as the scuffling, pushing, and shoving starts. I decide to wait it out at the bar. Meg and Lila have the same idea when they come up beside me.
“We’re about to lose all those great tips because of Brutus,” Lila huffs.
“Sorry it came down to a pissing contest,” I tell her with a sympathetic smile.
“Oh, Rita!” Meg exclaims. “That reminds me.” Reaching into her front apron pocket, she pulls out a small, sealed envelope with my name handwritten on the front. Offering it to me, she says, “This is from one of the guys at that table.”
“Which one?” I ask in surprise. “None of them look familiar,” I say as I watch a few fists go flying before the little round table goes down along with all of the drinks on it.
“Shit,” Lila huffs.
Curious, I decide to open up the envelope while waiting out the fight, knowing it’ll take the three Rebel Henchmen MC members on security at least half an hour to get the other five of their men out here to deal with the rowdy ones, if the eight of them can take those nine. It’ll be a nice reprieve from the MC’s usual grabby hands.
The seal peels right up and inside is a small piece of paper that says, “Meet me outside the back door” and is signed by…Nolan?
I glance up at the group of rowdy men again, searching him out, certain I haven’t seen him in here tonight. Oddly enough, most of the guys are wearing plain tees with jeans like something is missing…maybe a leather cut? Are these Nolan’s MC brothers?
“I, ah, need to step outside for a minute and get some air,” I tell the girls.
“Yeah, go for it,” Lila replies. “This is going to take a while.”
“You sure you want to miss the show? These new boys are hot!” Jenna says.
“Ah, yeah. I’ll be right back,” I agree as I leave my drink tray on the bar and slip into the kitchen, heading for the back door.
As soon as I open it and step down from the stoop, I nearly run into Nolan in the darkness. Management really should fix the light out here.
“Jesus!” I exclaim as he grabs both of my upper arms to steady me. “What are you doing here?” I ask him. “Are those your friends in there raising hell?”
“Ah, yeah,” he replies.
“Do you know how long it’s going to take us to clean up the mess they’re making?”
“You won’t have to worry about the mess,” he says.
“Yes, I will!” I tell him, pushing him away to go back inside.
“Rita, wait,” Nolan says, grabbing my elbow to turn me back to him. “Have you fucked him yet?” he asks in an almost growl.
“What? Who?”
“Leroy!” he exclaims. “Unless there are some other assholes trying to screw you?”
“Oh,” I mutter in understanding, wrapping my arms around my waist. “No. Not yet. Not that it’s any of your business! I told you I would take care of it and he wouldn’t bother you again!”
“No,” he says simply.
“No what, Nolan?”
“No, you’re not going to take care of it. I am.”
I bark out a laugh as I look him up and down. “You’re a tough guy, but not even you could take Leroy.”
“Good thing I don’t plan to do it on my own,” he says. “Now, are you coming with me or not?”
“Coming with you?” I repeat. “Are you nuts? I’m working!”
Sighing heavily, Nolan looks up at the sky for a moment before lowering his eyes to mine again. “Rita, I can help you! You don’t have to be with the giant if you don’t want to. You can stay with me at a safe house in Myrtle Beach until you find another job or two, however many you like. I’m trying to help you.”
My arms fall as I stare at the man who I thought loved me, the one who made me believe he cared to the point I practically let him move in with me. Then, just as suddenly as he showed up in town, he disappeared just a few weeks later without a word.
“No,” I reply with a shake of my head as I swallow around the knot in my throat, remembering those first shitty months after he left, the waiting and wondering. “I don’t need your help. I’m not trading one prison for a
nother.”
Nolan chuckles loudly in the quiet night. “Funny choice of words. But I’m not asking you to give me anything in exchange for my help. Trust me, the last thing I want is to be wrapped around your little finger. I’m not getting fucked up with you all over again.”
“I…what…no!” I stammer, not even sure how to respond to that. I turn back to the door to leave, but Nolan slams his palm over it above my head, pressing the front of his body into my backside.
“I can’t leave you here with him. He’ll hurt you,” he whispers, his lips near my ear. “I can give you the time, money, and resources to start over some place new. Why do you have to be so stubborn about this?”
“Why do you want to help me now of all times?” I ask without turning around or even moving. I’m afraid to breathe and can’t figure out if it’s because I want Nolan to leave or I want him to stay.
“Because not even you deserve to be that asshole’s fuck doll.”
The air rushes out of me, my lungs deflating at the reminder of what my future holds. Damn him for coming here like some white knight on a horse, as if he can slay the dragons. He thinks there’s just one big one, when there are eight. This idiotic plan of his isn’t going to work. “If I leave, he won’t stop until he finds me like he found you. You can’t stop him or the seven other guys in his crew that’ll have his back.”
“You’re right,” Nolan agrees, making my shoulders slump in disappointment. “I can’t take him out on my own. But there are a lot more Savage Kings than there are…whatever the hell they are. If they want a war, then we’ll call in every patch in the country.”
“Why would anyone be crazy enough to risk their life for me, a woman they’ve never even met?” I ask when I spin around to face him. God, he smells good, like leather and motor oil, the masculine combination oddly just as delicious as I remember.