“You’re late,” he said, with his words slurring and I tried to make myself appear as casual as possible.
“I’m sorry, I got kinda lost with the directions. I wasn’t sure where this place was.”
“This is my clubhouse, you know, the headquarters of our new club. This is going to be our home base. So, you better get used to it because you’ll be coming here often,” he replied and leaned towards me. His hand crept up my knee, my thigh and one finger grazed underneath the hem of my dress.
I felt cold all over. I knew what this kind of a meeting with Gunther might entail. I should have been prepared for it…but I just couldn’t get it out of my head that this was my brother’s killer. This man touching me!
His eyes were on my breasts as he drew himself even closer to me. He was watching me, expecting me to say something.
“Wow. I’m excited to see what you do with this place.”
“What? You don’t like it as it is?” His face took a serious tone and I gulped.
“No, I do, it’s nice…it’s umm…discreet,” I commented with a smile. Gunther stared at me for a moment and then looked up at the guys around him and he broke into a loud laugh, which propelled the others to laugh too. It was some kind of a joke.
His hand remained on my leg and he turned to me again.
“Of course, we’re going to build this place up. In six months, it’s going to look totally different. I’m going to build a fortress…a what is it? Fort Knox. A clubhouse nobody can penetrate…” His hand moved further up as he said those words, till he squeezed my left breast and I shifted in my seat.
He was making me sick, all the people staring at me now were making me sick too. They were sniggering and buzzing amongst themselves, but I could sense that Gunther had told them something about me. They were talking about me. That was the sense I got…or was I just being paranoid?
I smiled at Gunther when he looked at me.
“Can’t wait to see it,” I told him as his eyes flitted over my body again. He took in a deep indulgent breath, like he liked what he saw.
“Get her a drink!” he shouted, at nobody in particular. Then he leaned towards me again. I didn’t want him to touch my body…that was all I could think about. How sick it would make me if he touched me again.
“And you, Thea, I like you. If you play your cards right and make me happy, you could be in on it too.”
He was expecting me to be excited by this proposition, so I tried to force myself to smile.
“In on it?”
Someone had brought me a beer and was thrusting it in my hand. I had no choice but to accept it, though it felt to me like if I drank anything right now, I would gag.
“In on my success. You could be a part of my club. I could give you a job with us if you keep me happy. I’ll look after everything; you’ll be under my protection. You wouldn’t have to worry about a single thing in your life.” The look on Gunther’s face was like he’d just offered me a million dollars. How could I possibly refuse him?
I licked my lips, forcing myself to pretend to be excited by this, to be interested in him. So, I nodded my head and smiled.
“I’m humbled…” was all I could manage, and Gunther’s eyes narrowed on my face.
“Good girl. Good answer. Keep that up and you’ll be my Queen,” he said and grabbed my hand and placed it on his lap, dangerously close to his groin. Taking a sip of that beer was all I could do to stop myself from throwing up.
* * *
I wasn’t sure exactly how long I’d been sitting there next to Gunther, clutching my hand to his lap. People around him came to pay him ‘respects’, like he was the Godfather. It was quite laughable actually, because it was so evident that he didn’t naturally give out any respectable vibes. He was just a mad man with a God-complex.
But somehow, for some reason, he believed I was his so-called Queen. He’d already picked me to be his woman, and I knew I needed to get out of there quickly before the night took on an even stranger turn.
“I think I’m going to leave now, I’m quite tired,” I said, leaning in close to Gunther’s ear so he could hear me over the music.
“Go? Go where?” he asked, in a louder voice, attracting the attention of the armed bodyguards who seemed to be following him everywhere.
“Back to my place, my apartment. I have an early start tomorrow. Morning shift at the diner,” I said, I was making stuff up. With a weak smile on my face, I started to stand up from the sofa, but Gunther caught my hand again, like he’d done the last time, and pulled me down to his lap.
“You, my bitch, aren’t going anywhere! You’re here now, and this is where you’ll stay. I promised you, didn’t I? For fuck’s sake. I’m going to take care of you.”
His grimy hands were all over me now and my body shuddered. I wanted to scream. I was panicking. I wanted to cry, and I struggled weakly in his grasp to get away.
The bodyguards were standing around us, close to us, like they were totally prepared to manhandle me if they had to, to make sure Gunther got exactly what he wanted.
“And I feel blessed that you would offer me that, but my roommate…she’ll worry if I don’t come back in half an hour. She might call someone. And my job…I have to go over there. Even if it’s just to quit.” I was speaking too fast, too nervously. Gunther had to have known that I was making all this up, that it was all an excuse.
His arms remained on me while I writhed on his lap. My back brushed against his groin and I could feel his cock poking out of his pants. He was fucking turned on by this! He wanted me to keep struggling! This was what he enjoyed! So, I tried to calm myself down and turned to face him again, forcing myself to smile sweetly. I dropped my voice to a whisper.
“And this wasn’t what I was looking forward to tonight with you, Gunther,” I said, like I meant those words for his ears only. His eyes were still dark with desire as he glared at me, his grip still as tough as steel on my body. “I was hoping for a more private scene.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, and finally, it seemed like his grip on me was beginning to relax. I didn’t try to fight him, instead, I forced myself to draw closer to him. Make him think this was exactly what I wanted.
“I mean, just you and me…alone, without all this commotion and all these people.” I even ran a hand up and down his cheap plasticky suit jacket. Gunther grunted and I didn’t have to look down to know that his cock was stiffer than before. It was working.
I ran a tongue over my lip.
“Maybe next time, you’ll get the hint when I say I want to come see you. It’ll just have to be you and me, without people watching us all the time. Doesn’t it make you self-conscious?” I looked directly at his bodyguards, to drive home the point I was trying to make.
Gunther followed my eyes and looked at his men.
“I need them for my security. You don’t know, but there are a lot of men who want to see me dead,” he grunted a response and I rolled my eyes seductively at him and smiled again.
“Just a few hours, one night, just you and me alone. I’m sure you can manage that, can’t you, big guy?”
I stood up from his lap and this time he didn’t try to stop me. His men were in my way, but I turned to face them, holding my chin up defiantly at them. What were they going to do? I had Gunther eating out of the palm of my hand. Couldn’t they see that?
“Let her go!” he growled at them and they parted, and I stepped between them. Before I began to walk away, I turned to look at him again.
“I’ll be waiting for that message from you, you’ll arrange it soon, I hope. I’m not sure how long I can wait,” I said and ran a hand fleetingly over my hip, just a quick seductive gesture to drive home the point. Gunther’s eyes were still glazed over and I could sense him watching me as I turned and started to walk away.
I knew he was watching the way my ass swung in my tight dress. The men who were there to guard him made way for me to leave and thankfully, nobody stopped me on my way out. Within a few minute
s, I was finally out of that building, out in the dark street where I could breathe again. I really needed to breathe again.
15
Bones
I knew this was a fuckin’ bad idea. She shouldn’t have gone in there on her own, with no protection and no defense. From out here in the back of the van where we were listening in on the conversation she was having with Gunther and his pals; it seemed like a full-fledged raging party in there.
She was surrounded by danger. She wasn’t even armed. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t have gone in there in time and got her out of that place.
For over an hour, I had to sit there in the fuckin’ dark of the van with the guys, listening to her and Gunther make stupid conversation. Listen to him coming on to her. I couldn’t see but I could hear and that was enough for me to know he was touching her. That she was letting him touch her. I wanted to rip that asshole’s head off his body!
This was going nowhere. What were we gaining from this exercise?
Patch and Cash continued to insist that this was good information. That we were gaining insight into the inner workings of the Smoking Beards. Thea would come out of there with just the kind of intel we needed to plan an attack on them. Nobody from the outside could gain that kind of access to Gunther and his club and now we’d have all the details.
And then, while we sat there, listening in on the conversations, things took a rough turn. It had been over an hour and it seemed like Thea had enough. She wanted to leave. She was making excuses to Gunther and we all heard the struggle. He was holding her back forcibly. Were his men using physical force on her too? Maybe the others didn’t notice but I could hear the shakiness in Thea’s voice now. She was a little afraid too.
Gunther might force her to stay. He might force himself on her.
I jumped out of the back of the van. I was ready to go in there. Alone if I had to, but Cash and Rogue held me back.
“You’re going to ruin the fuckin’ plan, man,” Rogue hissed at me through gritted teeth.
“Her life is in danger!” I growled, jerking his hands off me.
“Give it a few more minutes. Give her a chance to get herself out of there!” Cash barked at us while they listened in more closely.
Thea soon enough, was turning this thing around. She was managing to convince Gunther that she had to go, that he had to let her go, that she needed privacy. That he had to make another plan for them where they could be completely alone…
I stood there, fuming, raging, losing my shit over her safety while the others exchanged high-fives because their plan was working. Thea was going to walk out of the clubhouse in a few minutes.
We were parked at a long distance but had a clear view of the door to the building which opened now. An orange glow spilled out on the street and a woman stepped out. It was her and I could feel my heart racing in my chest. She was unharmed but in a near rush. Clearly relieved to make it out of there in one piece.
A cab was waiting for her at the end of the street which we’d arranged for. I watched as she slid in and it took off.
“Get in, Bones, we’re leaving!” Patch called out to me from inside the van. It was over. For tonight. She’d made it out alive and without a scratch another night.
* * *
Just like the last time, Thea was riding the wave of her success this time too when she returned to the clubhouse. She got there first in the cab, while we followed her in the van.
“See, she’s a fuckin’ champ. She knew exactly what to say and do to turn that motherfucker around on his toes! Did you hear all the bullshit he bought from her?” Rogue was excited as we rode in the back. The guys were thrilled too that the plan had worked out. The whole way back to our clubhouse, they couldn’t stop praising Thea and what a good job she had done tonight.
“We thought she had it for a couple of minutes there, but that chick sure knows how to hold down the fort!”
“It’s good we didn’t let Bones storm the place and ruin the whole plan.”
“Thea wouldn’t have appreciated that!”
I had to sit in the van, listening to that shit the whole way. The others knew I was fuming and every now and then, Patch threw me a look of concern. I could sense he had something he wanted to tell me, but I didn’t want to hear it. I knew what he was going to say. He was going to lecture me on how the only reason I was acting this way was because I had feelings or some shit for Thea.
I just didn’t want that kind of responsibility on my hands. That was it! And none of these jokers were willing to see it that way. When they looked at Thea, they saw her as just one of them. One of the pack.
I saw her as naive. As someone an asshole like Gunther could take complete advantage of.
Once we reached the clubhouse, I jumped out of the van and stormed in, followed by the others. She was in there already and the drinks had started to pour.
Grimm, Bender and the other club members who hadn’t accompanied us on our mission tonight were already in the mood to celebrate given our little success tonight.
Success?
That wasn’t how I viewed it. I had no idea what there was to even celebrate. What exactly had we achieved?
But once Patch, Rogue and Cash came in behind me; the celebrations really began. Now they could congratulate her and praise her right to her face, and it seemed like that was exactly what she wanted to hear. She wanted to be told just how good of a job she had done tonight.
I grabbed a bottle of whisky from behind the bar counter and poured it straight down my throat, then carried it to a table at the far end of the room from where I could watch the rest of them celebrating, without actually participating.
Right now, I didn’t care what the others thought of me. I just needed to put some distance between her and me. All I could do was imagine Gunther’s disgusting hands all over her body. Feeling her up, touching her tits, feeling her legs…how could she fuckin’ do it?
I poured more whisky down my throat as I watched her.
She wasn’t even looking at me. It was like I didn’t exist.
“You brooding again?” It was Patch. This was going to happen sooner or later. He was going to find me drinking alone one of these days, staring at Thea.
“It might be best if you just left me alone for the night. You guys got what you wanted, didn’t you?” I grunted.
“I thought it was what you wanted too. Bringing Gunther down.” Patch sat down beside me, even though I didn’t want him to.
“Not at the cost of someone else’s life, someone who isn’t even a part of our club. Who hasn’t had the training…”
“You give her less credit than she deserves. That girl knows how to handle herself. You heard her in action tonight.”
“Anything could have happened tonight. She just happened to make it out of there in one piece.”
“Every day we go out there, we’re taking a fuckin’ risk to come back here in one piece. But this is the first time you’ve given a shit about someone else’s safety. That is the difference.”
Patch followed my gaze. I was staring at Thea across the room. She was in the midst of laughing at something Grimm had said. She had her head thrown back and her lips were stretched wide, her neck was long and slender. No other woman had looked more beautiful to me before. Even though she was in that slutty dress!
“Maybe you should cut her some slack, trust her a little and do something about the other stuff going on between the two of you,” Jeff’s voice broke through my thoughts again.
“What other stuff?” I snapped, turning to him. He shrugged. We both knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn’t like I was hiding it well. This was more than just about wanting to keep a random person safe from harm.
“Take it from me brother, we’ve been running away from the real deal for no reason. It’s not half as bad as we thought it is,” he said with a wink, but I wasn’t smiling. What did he know? Just because he’d found Samantha, who made him an expert in relationships?
> 16
Thea
Once again, Bones was brooding. Why couldn’t he just be pleased for me and the rest of his club for a change? He was sitting back there in the dark corner of the bar. I’d caught him talking to Patch for a while but now even Patch had walked away from him and Bones was all alone.
I mean…I always found the strong silent types; hot, but Bones was taking it to a completely different level. I’d never met anyone like him—who was this stubborn about what he wanted? Clearly, he was the kind of guy who wanted things to be done in his particular way and now he was in the middle of throwing a tantrum till he got it.
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him from across the room. He was watching me. I knew he was always watching me, but me rolling my eyes at him didn’t seem to make a difference. He just tipped the bottle of whisky back and drank some more. A cigarette burned between his fingers and he took a long drag of it straight into his mouth and the smoke blew out from his nostrils.
I could feel the alcohol going to my head too. I’d been drinking on overdrive tonight. After my latest experience with Gunther in that messed up place of his; I was just relieved to be back in the company of people I actually enjoyed hanging out with.
Granted, these guys from the Black Cobras weren’t exactly my best friends yet. It wasn’t like I knew them intimately…after all, this was supposed to be just a working relationship. Like it was supposed to be with Bones too. But I liked partying with them.
They had a good sense of humor. They treated me like one of them. They treated me with respect but knew how to toughen up when the need arose. I could now see exactly why Drake wanted to be a part of a club like this. I got the appeal.
And hanging out with these guys here made me feel closer to my brother for some reason. Like I could picture him here in the clubhouse, playing pool with us, drinking and making jokes.
Bones: The Black Cobra MC #4 Page 10