“So, I’m assuming you heard the latest threat against Charlie then since she mentioned being sold?” Gordon asked. Iceman tipped his head to indicate he had. “For some reason this Sheri Lynn woman thinks she will be entitled to anything you leave behind, and that it’s just a matter of having you killed off with proof of death before she gets what she considers her money.”
“Why the hell would she think...” I started to ask, but was cut off by Spinner.
“Fuck me runnin’” he grumbled out as he scoured over something on the computer in front of him. “I think I just came across the why of it all.”
“Did you ever see that woman, like really see her from close up, Charlie?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “I only ever saw her from a distance.”
Spinner turned the monitor around so we could all see what he was looking at. It was the picture that Gordon had, no doubt, been discussing that showed Sheri Lynn with a biker from The Tribe leaving my old condo. I gasped slightly when I finally got to take in the woman’s features that were so like my own.
“Are we certain that Lulu had a boy that died all those years ago?” Spinner asked while looking directly at Shameless.
“Son of a bitch!” Shameless yelled out as he stood and moved to get closer to the screen. “That’s definitely the bastard Luanne was cheating on Brazen with too. You don’t think…” He started to say, but then glanced back at me.
“That is my sister?” I asked aghast. “You’re telling me my own sister has been trying to have me killed for over a year, plotted my death well before that even, and that she’s still gunning for me? Does she know we’re sisters?” I shook my question off with the movement of my head back and forth. “Never mind, that was dumb. Obviously she knows because she thinks she can gain access to anything I leave behind. That means she thinks we’re family, right?”
“Her dad certainly would have known who you were, so yeah, she probably did too.” Someone was speaking the words, but they were somehow disembodied as my entire world seemed to flip in on itself once more. Not only did I recently find out my mom was apparently a cheater, and that I would have had a sibling if they hadn’t died due to complications from a car accident, but apparently my sibling had not died. I had a sister, and she looked a whole lot like me. She was also in on a plan to kill me for money they thought I would bring in. Oh yeah, and she was willing to sell me to some sick fucker who wanted to rape me, do other unspeakable things to me, and film my death too. Yeah, that was a comfort. Learning you had a sibling out there who wanted you dead in the most horrific way possible sucked. Knowing that same sibling was the person your own husband had been with on the side, or more to the point that you had unknowingly been the side piece in the scenario even though you had the marriage certificate… Ugh, I couldn’t wrap my brain around this shit.
A tug at my ribs pulled me from the swirling thoughts that were eating at my insides. “Darlin’, I need you to come to the here and now with us.” The words were whispered into my ear, and I turned to see the concern written all over the face of the man who was still holding me close to him. “You back now?”
“I never went anywhere,” I admitted, the words barely a whisper from my lips.
He tapped on my head lightly. “You were gone in here for a little while, darlin’. We were trying to ask you questions, but you were checked the fuck out. Not that anyone blames you for that, all things considered. This has all been a hell of a shock.”
“I think ‘hell of a shock’ is an understatement at this point.” I explained as I glanced back around the room at all the faces watching us, and the sympathy etched in each of them. “What do I do now?”
“We can try a few different approaches. The best option would be to use you as bait to lure them out and see if they try to pull a snatch and grab on you.” Gordon started to say, and was abruptly cut off.
“Fuck no!” Rage snarled at the FBI agent. “All they need is a fucking open shot at her. I get that they want her for this trafficking business, but let’s be real, if it comes down to selling her off, or just letting this bitch sister of hers inherit the money after her death, what do you think they’re going to go for?” He paused for a moment to let that sink in. “Kidnapping her out from underneath an MC she’s protected by would be the harder of the two options. Waiting for a quick headshot though wouldn’t be that tough.”
“Jesus,” Gordon hissed out.
“It don’t sound pretty, but he’s right,” Shameless put in.
“I know he is, and this is why there’s option B. I was going to meet with the woman and have procured fake identification for her so that she can access the insurance policy. I’m offering her the money from that in exchange for your life.”
“How much was the policy on Josh, because the only one I knew of was only a million dollars. It wouldn’t have been enough to pay off his damn condo.” I sighed. “Plus, they think I have some huge trust fund left to me from my dad. I still don’t know the details about that beyond the fact that something might possibly exist.”
Iceman coughed then. “We can discuss the logistics on that when their aren’t more ears than necessary in the room, but I will say it’s a healthy sum, and sure as fuck beats a payout from the insurance policy. The real question is how they knew about it, because only a select few inside the club knew. It was part of the reason Shame tried tracking you down after your father died.”
“How did my sister manage to find me when you guys lost me?”
Shameless shook his head. “I told you before, I was off on business when your dad passed. We got the news a little slowly, and when business wrapped and I went to find you…”
“I was already gone.” He nodded.
“She must have already known about you, and followed along, or had someone in The Tribe on you all along.”
“We need Ghost up here,” Iceman stated quickly. “What happened with him when you called previously?”
“He had some shit going down with his daughter and the club there. Said he’d be along as soon as he could. I think there was a grandbaby involved,” Rage informed him.
“Jamie had a kid?” Iceman asked.
“Nah, it’s a complicated situation, man.”
“Okay, well, whatever it is, we need Ghost here ASAP. Probably wouldn’t hurt to have Hopper with him, because those two will know a fuck of a lot more than we do about The Tribe.”
“What if there were an option C?” I asked.
“What do you mean?” Rage’s voice when tight when he spoke while he tightened his grip on my body once more.
“Well, what if you use me as bait, but in a way where they think I’m already dead anyway?”
“What the fuck, Showgirl?” Rabbit asked, just as confused as everyone else in the office seemed to be.
“It worked once before when,” I glanced at the two LEOs still in the room before using the codename I had developed for Bishop. “When Blackhawk faked my death and took pictures they believed it. Why don’t we do the same thing? Only this time, we have the local sheriff come to collect my body, and take me to the morgue or wherever you take the dead around here. Then we can set a trap when they come to verify that I truly am dead. Gordon can play his part by putting word out that my body was found.” I smiled big, because I knew I was on to something when I saw a few eyes light up in response to my plan. “My sister can’t claim shit of mine unless she comes to identify the body, and prove somehow that she’s my blood relative so that will put her in arms reach. Then all we have to worry about is finding whoever the hell her father is.”
All eyes were on me and I thought Rage would cut off my circulation if he squeezed me any harder to him. No one said a word for a solid few minutes. Iceman finally broke the silence. “Can we have people on standby, watching? We could tap into some video feed to the room where she is taken and the whole nine yards beyond? If not, then it’s a no from me. We’ll be putting that cunt too close to our girl without any help, and I won�
��t trust in that. We’ll also need someone inside the transport that comes to pick up her supposedly dead body, because we don’t know if there will be eyes on the ground before the Fed makes the announcement about her death. Obviously, they already know where she is.”
“How do you know they know where she is?” Gordon asked.
“We had a few rats in the nest. There were a couple of folks who were ousted recently for their shit attitudes, and decided to take tidbits of information with them when they went.”
“How much information was given, how many rats are we talking, and are you sure you flushed them all out?” Gordon asked in rapid-fire succession.
“Considering the video I received this morning, I’d say you still had some close.”
“It’s handled,” Iceman explained.
“I need more than that,” Gordon began, but was cut off by Iceman.
“You don’t need shit about our club business. We’ll take your help, but I don’t fucking trust your story. You may be telling the truth, but then again, you may be working with the enemy. We have no way of knowing. So, you’ll get what we give you, and we’ll be watching.”
Gordon took his ball cap off and slammed it to his knees in frustration. “This is the kind of shit that will get her killed,” he stated angrily while stabbing one of his fingers in my direction accusatorily.
Surprisingly, it was the Sheriff that jumped in then. “Hey now, let’s tone it down.” He looked right at the agent before telling him. “Remember you were invited into their house today to try to solve a problem, and not the other way around.”
“If we don’t trust one another here, someone dies.” Gordon spoke in his no-nonsense way.
“If we trust you, and you’re lying someone dies,” Iceman stated coolly.
Chapter 14
Knowing the day you are supposed to die is unnerving, even if it isn’t real. A week went by as the guys made plans, and things were set into motion that would eventually make it appear as though I died in an accidental overdose. I wondered why we had to wait, but as the guys informed me, it would look suspicious if we flushed out the rats from the club who were gunning for me only to have me turn up dead the next day. The plan was that I should die three weeks later. I wasn’t sure I could wait around on edge for three solid weeks. One down, two to go still sounded like two too many.
“Charlie, I need to introduce you to Savannah here. She’s going to be taking over Sasha’s parts and needs to learn her routines.” Mel, the little pixie of a dancer from Ruby’s explained to me, pulling me out of my morbid thoughts of my impending fake death. Fake or not, it sucked to think about.
“Sure, why is she taking Sasha’s choreography?” I asked just as the front door opened and Rage came barreling in with the woman in question behind him. She had her bags with her and a prospect followed behind them with even more bags.
Sasha glanced over and noticed me watching the strange processional. “Thanks so much for coming to get me, baby,” she cooed at Rage. He immediately turned on a dime and faced her. His finger flew in her face quick as a flash to point out the seriousness of what he was about to say. “You don’t fucking call me anything but Rage, ever. Are we clear?” He gave her a moment to respond with a hesitant nod. “You will stay the fuck away from me. You won’t talk to me unless it is absolutely necessary. We will not tolerate any bullshit drama. Tallie and Jezzie were just tossed out for that shit recently, and I won’t hesitate in doing the same with you.
“My vote on you moving to the clubhouse as a BRAT was a firm and decisive no, but other brothers here wanted a chance at your pussy for some fuckin’ reason or other. They are the reason you are here. Not me. You don’t fuckin’ come near me. You don’t start drama. You suck dick and fuck when you’re asked – and make no mistake, it will never be by me – and maybe you get to stay. You fuck up, cause unnecessary drama, I will be the one to boot your ass out.”
The dumb bitch reached out to touch Rage’s arm, but he stepped out of her way while scowling down at her. “I thought you only left me alone because I worked at Ruby’s.” Her voice was low, and unsure.
He laughed then. “If I had ever wanted you, I would have taken you from Ruby’s and either moved you here as a BRAT or something else. I didn’t do that. The thought never once crossed my mind. Get this infatuation you have with me out of your head now, because it won’t be tolerated by me, my woman, or my club.” Sasha looked up at him, with hurt clear in her eyes before she shifted them to me and nodded. I kind of felt bad for her being so publically humiliated by a crush, but she really brought it on herself.
“Get her set up in the BRAT’s wing. Tallie and Jezzie’s old rooms have been cleaned down, and either should be ready for her.” Rage ordered the prospect that was still standing there with her luggage.
Rage sauntered his fine ass over to the makeshift stage the guys had set up in the corner, complete with a pole for when the dancers came to the clubhouse to entertain. He hopped right up on the stage and zeroed in on me like I was the only person around. “Hey, babe,” he called out just before his arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into the thick wall of muscle he called his body.
“Hey yourself,” I tossed back at him in a seductive tone that had him quirking a brow at me.
“You ladies about done here?” He asked, again only looking at me as he asked.
I smirked. “We were just starting actually.” He heaved out a heavy sigh, and rested his head on my own then as he whispered into my hair, “that’s a damn shame, darlin’, because I was going to whisk you off to the bedroom and get some personal instruction in how you move.”
Holy hot flashes! My body was suddenly doused in the unforgiving flames of arousal. “Damn you!” I huffed out as I slapped my hand against his very firm pectoral muscle. He just chuckled.
“Looks like I get to pregame with a show. I’ll be over there,” he pointed to the bar where several other men had also gathered. “Watching,” he added as he glanced down into my eyes with a heated look that almost had me canceling practice with the girls today. Had it not been for the new girl, I certainly would have.
How in the hell was a woman supposed to concentrate on teaching an exotic dance routine to someone with the man she wanted to have sex with so desperately standing around taking in the show? I glanced over, watching his tight ass in those body hugging jeans move across the expansive room, away from me, and my resolve was set. I was going to use this opportunity to tease the absolute fuck out of him, and then maybe I’d get what I’d been wanting since the first day I watched that same tight ass moving in front of me at Renegade Ruby’s.
I started working with Savannah through the slowest, most seductive dance I’d probably ever choreographed for a strip routine. It was stunningly beautiful though, the movements in tune with The Way You Look Tonight by Adelita’s Way. Savannah picked it up quickly, worked through the routine, and incorporated some of her own signature pole moves into the seduction. That girl worked that pole like it allowed her to defy gravity. I was in awe until she came back down, and we moved through the last few moments of the dance that would transition into the far more upbeat Notorious, also by Adelita’s Way. We moved, swayed, shimmied, and shook our asses across the stage, and worked up a sweat while doing it.
“Fuck my life!” One of the guys called out. “Please, tell me they’ll be together on the stage like that at Ruby’s tonight!”
“Get your eyes off my woman, Fox!” Rage called out as he moved across the room, hopped on the stage, and announced that practice was over as he tucked his shoulder into my belly and slung me up and over. It was a complete caveman move that was cheered on by all his brothers. Hell, Mel and Savannah were cheering me on too. I didn’t waste the opportunity presented to me either with my head slung down over his back I reached out and smacked my hands into the globes of his firm ass, and latched on, digging my fingers in.
“Woman, you need to stop now, or we won’t make it back to the room before
I strip you down and take you.”
I didn’t listen to the warning, and instead dug my fingers in deeper to the meaty part of his ass while his brothers hooted and hollered from behind us. The man sprinted across the rest of the floor to the stairs that led up to the bedroom he’d been sharing with me for the past week. Then he managed to climb the stairs two at a time all the while with me draped over his shoulder. I was truly in awe of his strength, because even though I was in excellent shape, I would have definitely been winded by doing what he was.
It didn’t matter though. The man took me straight back to my room and set me down on my bed none to gently before he moved back over to lock the door. He hadn’t even turned back to me before his kutte was coming off and being draped over the chair in the corner. Once his eyes locked with mine though, I became a puddle of hormones begging him to take me in any way he wished. “Strip!” He ordered on a growl and I obliged.
It wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen me totally naked just a week before. Granted, it felt like a lifetime ago, and that was an accidental viewing of me in all of my glory. So, I decided to give him a bit of a show instead. I slowly began to remove my shirt, teasing tiny little peeks of flesh momentarily before raising the shirt further up my body. When my bra-covered breasts were finally exposed I pulled the shirt over my head and sat up on my knees on top of the bed. My bottom lip was pulled seductively between my teeth as I discarded my top and ran my hands slowly back down my chest, stopping to slowly rub around the taught nipples that were trying to peek out from behind the satin cups of my bra.
While I was putting on my little show Rage was watching as he tugged off his boots, socks, and unbuttoned his pants. As his zipper came down I was tugging the yoga pants I’d worn to practice in down my own legs. His shirt came up and off, giving me the beautiful view of his sculpted chest and abdomen along with the dusting of hair that road across his chest and trailed down his belly into the pants that were now sliding down his thick, well-muscled legs.
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