Outlaw's Baby: Devil's Edge MC

by Naomi West

  Finally, I found him in a heated conversation with two other people. I took a deep breath and then strode into the room, trying to emulate Rip's careless nonchalance.

  All three of them turned to stare at me as I walked in. I feigned embarrassment and back towards the door again. “I'm sorry,” I said, putting a hand over my mouth. “I didn't mean to interrupt.”

  “Yes, you did,” Castor said, grinning dangerously at me. He came towards me, eyeing me from head to toe. “But you're a pretty little thing, so I guess I can forgive you. What can I help you with?”

  I blushed and ducked my head when he called me 'pretty', doing my best to act the naïve and demure female. It wasn't too difficult since it was basically how I normally acted. “I was looking for you, actually. You're Castor, right?” I slid my eyes over to the others, as though I didn't want to be overheard by them. I bit my lower lip.

  “Gentlemen, would you leave us alone for a minute?” Castor asked his lackeys. The others exchanged a glance, but they were grinning, and they didn't seem to think this behavior was abnormal.

  After a moment, it was just Castor and I alone in there. I boldly walked closer to him, making sure to sway my hips a little as I went. “I've heard things,” I told him. “I've heard that you're absolutely ... domineering in bed. And I need someone who's going to take charge of me, someone who can discipline me. I'm a very naughty girl.”

  Castor raised an eyebrow at me, but I could tell that I had piqued his interest. Indeed, he grabbed me and pulled me close to him, a hand coming around to squeeze my ass. I fought down an indignant squeak and reminded myself that this was what I wanted from him right now.

  “I work down on Sierra Street sometimes,” I lied. “The girls down there said that you sometimes go down there looking for companionship—but no one's seen you lately.”

  “I've been busy,” Castor said, shrugging a little. His eyes narrowed. “I haven't seen you down there before. And how did you manage to get in here?”

  “I've got a friend with the Gemini Riders,” I said, shrugging a little. “And I was just so desperate to meet you, to let you have me...” The words were sickening as they fell from my mouth, but I could tell he was buying every line of it, and I was grateful for that.

  Or at least, his hands were still roaming interestedly over my skin, grabbing and pinching at will.

  The thing was, I could tell that his hands were talented, and as the callused fingers smoothed across my bare skin, I couldn't help shuddering a little. He certainly wasn't an unpleasant man to have to try to seduce. He was definitely easy on the eyes…

  “I want you to take me right here,” I whispered boldly, leaning in to say the words against the skin of his jawline. “I'm so wet for you, I'm so—”

  “Uh, sir?” a man said at the doorway.

  Castor pulled away from me with a growl, fixing an angry look on the man. “What?” he snapped.

  The man cleared his throat. “Rosetta—”

  “What has that dumb girl done now?”

  “Well, she's… She's gone, sir. Someone has broken into your personal harem and...”

  Castor's face began to purple. He looked positively livid, and it was lucky for me that looks couldn't kill. Otherwise, I would have been dead on the floor already. I watched him with bated breath, hoping beyond hope that he would just decide he needed to look into this and leave me there on my own. I could only hope that I had bought Rip and Rosetta enough time that they had managed to get themselves out of there. Maybe I should stall longer…?

  I put a hand on Castor's chest, pouting a little. “Baby, I've waited so long to meet you, and—”

  Castor pushed my hands off him, giving me a withering look. “I have more important things to do right now,” he said. “I—” But then suddenly, something in his look changed, and he grabbed my hair, pulling my face in close to his. “Did you have something to do with this?” he growled. “It seems too perfect for you to arrive here and come to distract me just when someone else is breaking into my harem and stealing one of my women...”

  “I don't know what you're talking about,” I lied, but I knew that my erratic breathing was probably giving it all away.

  Castor scowled down at me, tightening his grip on my hair. “Oh really?” he asked.

  I swallowed hard, feeling tears prick the corners of my eyes. I was beginning to get the sinking feeling that I probably would not be meeting Rip at our arranged meeting point on time. And I had no idea what I was supposed to do then.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Rip

  I still didn't like the idea of leaving Liv on her own in the national headquarters, but I couldn't really see any other way of doing this. And she was proving to be a smart girl; I shouldn't worry about her. She would figure out some way to get out of there; I had faith in that.

  Rosetta was surprisingly easy to find. Easy enough to find, actually, that at first I thought there must be some sort of a trap.

  “Come on,” I muttered to her under my breath, holding out my hand to help her to her feet. “Cherri sent me to help you.”

  Rosetta's eyes got wide, and she followed me trustingly and without a word. “You're going to need a disguise,” I told her, pushing her sideways into one of the stock closets. I held out the backpack that Cherri had prepared for her. “Get dressed.” I turned my back on her, giving her some semblance of privacy.

  She dressed quickly, and I saw that Cherri had arranged for her to dress up as a dude, of all things. But with the girl's short hair and athletic build, there was actually a lot that was hidden by a thick beanie and an oversized flannel shirt. I nodded approvingly at her and then led her back out into the maze of hallways.

  We made it out of the compound easily. Again, it was so easy that I wondered just what I was missing. I paused before going through the last of the security measures, looking around to see if Liv might have beaten us down there. But she was still nowhere to be seen.

  “Cherri is waiting for you out front,” I murmured, pushing Rosetta forwards with a hand at her lower back. “This is as far as I'm going with you. I have to wait for my partner; she was distracting Castor.”

  Rosetta nodded at me. “Thank you,” she said, her voice hardly even a whisper.

  I nodded at her and turned back towards where Liv should be coming from. I wondered for a moment if I should go looking for her, but that seemed like a recipe for disaster. The last thing I needed was to walk in on her and Castor engaged in… Well, I could only hope that things hadn't gone that far, but if they had and he had made a quick move on her, I didn't need to see that. I would probably end up picking a fight with the man if I did, and the last thing I needed was to be picking a fist fight with Cat Zodiac's right-hand man.

  I waited and waited, glancing impatiently at my watch every couple minutes, but she still didn't materialize.

  Suddenly, there was a commotion down at the end of the hall. “That's him there!” one of the men shouted, beginning to run down the hall towards me.

  I swore under my breath. Clearly our mission had been compromised. I was torn between fighting them and trying to go after Liv and getting out of there and coming back for Liv. I doubted I could fight both these guys — especially since they probably had weapons on them — and still make it into the heart of the national headquarters to free Liv on my own. I no longer had the element of surprise on my side.

  I swallowed hard and made the decision to run out the front door. I hopped on my bike, revving the engine just as the goons flew out the front door of the headquarters building. Sure enough, one of them had a gun, and I was glad I hadn't stuck around and tried to fight with them.

  Instead, I peeled out of the parking lot, roaring down the street on the way back to the hotel. I could only hope that Cherri and Rosetta had at least made it out safely. I'd need their help to hatch a plan so that I could get Liv back. I only hoped I wouldn't be too late.

  Back at the hotel, I was relieved to see Cherri's car in the park
ing lot. That, at least, appeared to have worked out. Sure enough, she and Rosetta were there in the car.

  “Where's Liv?” Cherri asked, looking around a little as though Liv might somehow materialize beside me.

  “She didn't make it back to the meeting point,” I growled. “I'll need to go back for her—but I'll need to wait until the element of surprise is on our side again.”

  Cherri's eyebrows rose to her hairline. “Good luck,” she finally said.

  “Oh no,” I said, shaking my head. I pointed at Rosetta. “I helped get your sister back. You're going to help me get Liv back.”

  “I don't think so,” Cherri said, shaking her head. “I've got the two remaining packages, and I'm prepared to deliver them to Cat. But that's as far as my involvement in this is going to go. You're on your own for this one.”

  I scowled at her. “Cherri—”

  “Don't,” she said. “There's nothing that you can do to make me help you out. You don't have anything on me. Unless you want to go to the authorities and explain what your role is in all of this, but I'm sure you wouldn't be stupid enough to do that.”

  I frowned at her, hating the fact that she was right. There was nothing I could do to force her to help me get Liv out. I slammed a palm down on the side of her car and then turned and stalked into the hotel, trying desperately to think of ways to get Liv back.

  I wouldn't be able to just walk right into the national headquarters again. They had to have video surveillance in the building, and everyone would be on the high alert, looking for someone who fit my description. What's more, I knew Castor wouldn't let Liv out of his sight like he had Rosetta—not after this humiliation.

  I was so caught up in my thoughts that it took me a moment to realize someone was reclining on the couch in the suite, clearly waiting for me. I blinked at the man as he moved, sitting up and leaning forwards to stare at me. “You are in some serious trouble, Rip Stevens,” the man told me, a dark look on his face.

  I blinked in surprise at him, shaking my head a little. “What the hell are you doing here, Damien?”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Rip

  I woke up gasping from another dream about Liv. It wasn't even a very graphic dream — I had just dreamt of her trapped in a room there, pleading with me for help — but it had tugged at my guilty feelings nonetheless. It had been a week now since the fiasco at the national headquarters, and I still had yet to come up with a plan to get her out.

  Damien wanted me to go back home and forget about all of this, but I wasn't able to do that. I knew better than to outright disobey him, but we were stuck in a strange sort of limbo at the moment, tiptoeing around one another and both too stubborn to give in to what the other person wanted.

  “It's not just about Castor,” Damien said over breakfast, glancing up at me from the bagel that he was spreading cream cheese on. He shrugged a little. “I mean, Castor is undoubtedly the one who has Liv trapped, but it all goes back to Cat in the end. You know once she gets out, she'll be gunning for your life.”

  “She won't,” I argued, shaking my head. “She got her packages delivered. She got everything that she wanted. There's no reason for her to come after me.”

  “Cat Zodiac doesn't need a reason to go after you,” Damien said patiently. “And anyway, you have given her a reason. You showed up in her prison and directly defied her orders. She's got to be pissed as all hell about that.” He shook his head. “You've gotten yourself as mixed up in all of this as I'm going to allow. I'm sorry, but it's time we were headed back home.”

  I ducked my head a little, feeling like a chastised kid. “Damien, you don't understand,” I said, shaking my head. “I got Liv mixed up in all of this. I can't just leave her there with Castor; it's not right.”

  “You have feelings for her. I understand that,” Damien said. “But what you did was stupid. And although you enabled her to get involved in all of this, it ultimately was her choice. You have to leave her alone to deal with the consequences.”

  “...the notorious Cat Zodiac.”

  I whipped my head around, staring up at the TV which was currently spitting out the morning news. Sure enough, there was Cat Zodiac on the screen. And the headline? She had escaped from prison.

  I swallowed hard, my heart sinking. If she was out already…

  “We've stayed here for too long already,” Damien muttered, shaking his head as he watched the story as well. He eyed me consideringly. “I don't like the way the Gemini Riders has gone lately,” he said succinctly.

  “You're not the only one,” I muttered.

  “I know,” Damien said. He cocked his head to the side. “Now that Cat is out of prison, she's just as much a target as you are.”

  I frowned at him, wondering if he could possibly be suggesting what I thought he was suggesting. “Are you saying—”

  “If you're going to stick around here,” Damien said very deliberately, “you're going to need to take out your biggest rival.”

  “You want me to kill Cat Zodiac?” I hissed, looking around. I knew that she had had me followed before. If there was anyone around who could overhear this conversation… What Damien was suggesting was just…

  “You know you can do it,” Damien said, shrugging a little. “Strike now, while she doesn't expect it. She'll be feeling invincible; she just escaped from a federal prison. Before she can get her feet under her again, before she can sort out Castor and everything else—everyone who stepped up and took some of her power while she was in jail—you need to strike before she is ready for you.”

  I found myself nodding, even though I knew this plan was absolutely insane. Damien seemed to believe that I could do it, though. And if I took out Cat, maybe I could figure out some way to get Liv free from Castor before the chaos settled.

  “Okay,” I agreed. “Okay.”

  Damien smiled at me, the edges tinged with sadness. “I always thought you were smarter than all of this, Rip,” he said. “You never really struck me as the kind of brash and impulsive person who would get tangled up in something like this.”

  I shrugged a little, unable to meet his eyes. “Yeah, well.”

  “Cherri will be coming by this afternoon to help you brainstorm. She says Rosetta may have uncovered some things that could help you out.”

  I blinked at him. “Okay,” I said, surprised to hear that. “I thought Cherri was out of this as soon as the packages were delivered to Cat in prison. Now that Cat's free, can't she wash her hands of all of this?”

  Damien shrugged a little. “I suspect there's quite a bit of a need for revenge there. Anyway, she's in law enforcement. For all that she did to get Cat the packages, I imagine she also wants to set things right in the world.”

  I frowned at him and then shrugged as well. It would be good to have her help. Especially when I knew we could rely on Rosetta for insight into Castor's character and behavior.

  We went back upstairs after breakfast and settled in to wait for Cherri to arrive. My phone started ringing, and I stared down at the unfamiliar local number, debating whether or not I should answer it. It could be something to do with Liv, though, or something to do with Cat. Finally, I answered it, pressing the plastic to my ear.

  I didn't expect it to actually be Cat on the other end of the line, that's for sure.

  “Rip Stevens,” she said in her silky voice. “So nice of you to pick up my call. I have a deal to make with you.”

  I quickly changed the phone over to speakerphone, knowing that Damien would want to hear this as well. “What sort of a deal do you want?” I asked suspiciously.

  Cat laughed a little. “Well, as you may have heard, I've flown the coop. I'm out of jail. And that means that I'm here with your lovely little fuck-buddy, Olivia Harrell. And I have a feeling you want to continue to ensure that nothing too horrible happens to her.”

  I swallowed hard, trying my best not to let my temper get the better of me. “What sort of deal do you want?” I repeated, an edge to my vo
ice.

  “Well, I figured I'd make you an offer — her life in exchange for your life. We all know that she's innocent, and you, on the other hand … well. I'm feeling generous, and I think that you might be more of service to me than she is. She makes for good entertainment, but there's nothing like having a good, strong man by your side...”

  “Her life for mine,” I repeated flatly. “How could I ever believe that you were going to let her walk free, though? You weren't going to let Rosetta Velasquez free, even if Cherri and I delivered the packages to you in prison.”

  “Well, Castor was having a lot of fun with her,” Cat said dismissively. “I couldn't take away his fun.”