SOULLESS (Black Thorns, #2)

by Franca Storm

  Something flashes in her eyes then. Something I don’t get. The next thing I know, she’s folding her arms across her chest and barking at me, “You haven’t been around. You don’t want to see me.”

  Whoa.

  “What?”

  “You heard me, Neil,” she bites back, real aggressive.

  And right then, I know. She’s back. This is the old Rox talkin’.

  I can’t help it, a huge smile spreads over my face.

  “That’s funny to you?” she fumes.

  “What’s changed? You’re back to your old self?”

  She blushes beet red and shakes out her hair nervously. What the hell? “Rox?”

  “I…I guess being around a bunch of hard-ass bikers brought out the hard-ass in me again.”

  Her explanation makes sense, but I know she’s lying. I can read her too well. “It’s something else. What?”

  “Nothing, Neil. God! Drop it, will you? Why did you really call me in here? You’ve been avoiding me for weeks now and you suddenly say we need to talk?”

  “Rox, I been avoiding you for your own good. When we’re ‘round each other, shit gets—”

  She holds up her hand. “Yeah, I know.”

  I blow out a breath, not getting why she’s shutting me down here, but knowing I do got something to talk to her ‘bout. “The club’s had a bunch of leads on Kent’s location, but none of ‘em have panned out. Even this last one I had Runner check out a couple of weeks back turned out to be nothing again. And we ain’t managed to get no more since then.”

  She nods, getting it. “Are you sure you want to do this, Neil? The last time my association with Malcolm came up, you didn’t react well.”

  “This is business. I got it locked down.”

  She sits forward in her chair. “I can give you several suggestions on where he might be holed up.”

  I reach for my desk drawer to pull out a paper and pen.

  And then her words stop me, “But I want you to bring me in on it.”

  My eyes narrow. “No fucking way.”

  “I won’t let you do this, Neil.”

  “Do what?”

  “Murder Malcolm and all the others.”

  Fuck. Who the hell told her? “Is what it is, Rox. Now, give me the intel. Yeah, babe?”

  She shoots outta her chair and yells, “There’s another way! Murder is not it!”

  I’m outta my chair, too, at her words and rounding my desk. “Another way?” I thunder, pissed that she’s acting like I got a choice here, like I wanna do this shit, or something. “You think I wanted this? I wanted outta the club. You know that. I wanted to leave all this bullshit behind. I wanted you. You and our kid. But that weren’t in the cards, was it? Kid died and you got hurt real bad. Just cuz you were with me.” I tug at my hair. “This is killing me, Rox! Having you here in my club. So close, but knowing you ain’t mine. And I fucking want you to be mine! Taking you in that alley was a big mistake, cuz now it’s all I can fucking think ‘bout! You’re driving me crazy! But I gotta keep you ‘round me. Gotta keep you here protected! ‘Til we can be together safely. So, yeah, this is what I’m fucking doing! You better believe it is!”

  I blow out a breath. “Don’t make it harder, babe. Please. Just give me the intel you got on Kent and let me do what I gotta do.”

  I scrub my hand over my face, tryin’ to get my shit together and calm the fuck down. Hadn’t planned on losing my temper with her, but the woman pushes all my buttons. Knows how to get under my skin like no one else, especially now the old Rox is clearly back.

  “I’m sorry,” she says softly.

  What? She’s caving? Apologizing? I pull my hand away from my face and see that she’s standing right in my space now, looking up at me, her expression soft and…needy?

  “Rox? What—?”

  She lunges at me, knocking me back against the desk, her lips crashing down on mine, her legs wrapping ‘round my waist. Reacting on instinct, I cup her ass, holding her up and supporting her weight with my good arm. Her fingers tangle in my hair, tugging wildly as her lips assault me with a rough kiss. Jesus Christ.

  I can’t hold back.

  But, before I can do a damned thing, her legs come down, her hands leave my hair and she shoves me into the radiator.

  “Fuck, babe. Ain’t gonna let a man catch his breath, are you?” I choke out as my back jars against it.

  Her hands are back on me a second later, sliding off my cut. Her fingers grip the hem of my black t-shirt and I help her pull it over my head. It’s kinda awkward and slow to do with my damn injury, but that don’t seem to give her any pause at all.

  Her gaze darts to my Rox tattoo and emotion wells in her eyes. “I love this,” she chokes out.

  “I wanna see yours again, babe.”

  She wipes away her tears quickly and tells me, “Soon.”

  And then her mouth is on me.

  “Ah, shit,” I breathe as her lips smother my chest.

  She pulls back and looks into my eyes. “You’re the only man I’ve ever loved.”

  “Same, babe,” I tell her, not sure where she’s going with this, cuz this intensity from her just came outta nowhere.

  “I still love you. So much. What you said…it hurts me, too, that we aren’t really together, Neil.” Her fingers are all over my chest, setting my skin on fire, making my cock strain painfully against my jeans. “You know that, right? How much I love you?”

  “Yes,” I gasp as she cups my cock through my jeans. “Yeah, I fucking know it, babe.”

  “Good,” she says, pulling her hand away and making me groan at the loss. “That’ll make this easier.”

  What? Make what easier?

  Before I can get the words out, I feel something snap to my left wrist. I’m so shocked, especially since my brain is barely functioning—hardly any blood rushing there right now thanks to her sudden assault—that I fail to react in time, before I feel the same thing happen to my right wrist.

  I glance down to see that both my wrists are cuffed to the radiator behind me.

  What the fucking hell?

  “I’m doing this, because I love you, Neil,” she tells me, before her hand dives into one of the front pockets of my jeans and fishes out my cell phone. She rips out the battery and tosses it and the phone across the floor in opposite directions. “This will buy me more time.”

  “Rox, what is this?” I demand, tugging at the cuffs roughly. I curse as they bite into my skin and instantly regret moving my injured shoulder at all.

  Fine. I can do this one-armed then.

  The haze of sexual heat has completely gone now and anger is quickly revving up within me at her crazed actions.

  “I told you I’m not going to let you work down that list, Neil.”

  “What?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t let me help you. I asked you anyway, a moment ago, just in case. But I knew your first instinct would be to protect me and keep me out of it.

  “Rox!” I roar, struggling against the cuff on my good side. “Stay the fuck outta it!”

  “Can’t.”

  She reaches for the Desert Eagle holstered to my right hip. “You ain’t taking that.”

  She steps back. “You’re right. I won’t need it to get out of here. All the boys are pretty well distracted right now with the stunting thing I started outside.”

  She set this all up? “You ain’t going nowhere! You feel me?”

  She smirks at me. “Doesn’t look like you can do much about that right now.”

  “Argh!” I roar. “Get these fucking things off me! Now!”

  “Stop. You’ll hurt your wrists,” she says, winking at me.

  Fucking bitch! She’s throwing the words I said to her once right back in my face. “This is payback for the time I cuffed you to my truck?”

  She shakes her head, her amusement gone all of a sudden. “No. This is me saving the man I love.”

  “What?”

  Her eyes bore into mine intense
ly. “I don’t want you to blacken your soul for me, Neil. That’s what will happen if you work your way down that list.”

  “It’s the only way we can be together, Rox!” I scream at her, losing my shit completely now, cuz she’s gonna fuck up our only chance to be together.

  She shakes her head sadly and crosses to my desk. Fuck, I didn’t lock the drawers!

  She opens the top drawer and shuffles ‘round inside. And then she pulls it out. A piece of paper. The hit list.

  She looks it over and she nods to herself. “I know most of these guys personally. And the couple that I don’t, I know of. I know people who know them.” Her gaze snaps to mine. “Malcolm’s at the top, huh? No surprise there. I’ll take care of him first.”

  “No! You ain’t doing shit!”

  “I’m afraid I am, Neil. It’s the only way to protect you.”

  “You don’t protect me! I protect you! Fuck!” I roar, bucking against the cuffs wildly.

  She pockets the list and walks back to me. “That’s what you never seemed to get, even when we were together. I know you tried and, for a man like you, that was pretty amazing, Neil. And I know you did it for me. But you never quite made it to the realization. We protect each other, you idiot!”

  “Every fucker on that list is way too dangerous for you to go anywhere near!”

  She scoffs. “Please. You forget that I dealt with your dad.”

  “And he almost raped you!” I scream at her.

  She flinches and hurt plays on her face. I hate seeing it, but I gotta do anything I can to stop her here.

  Her eyes narrow as she gets herself in check. “But he didn’t. Besides, I let my guard down that day, because I thought he was a friend of my dad’s. I won’t make that mistake with any of these assholes on your list.”

  “Rox! I’ll pick these fucking cuffs. You know I got a talent for it. And you won’t know what’s hit you. Or you can let me go now and I’ll chalk this up to you not being in your right fucking mind, cuz of all the shit that’s gone down lately.”

  She eyes the cuffs and I think she’s gonna cave. But then she looks back at me and says with a smile, “They’re not mine, Neil. They’re yours.”

  “What?”

  “I took them from your bedside table earlier. I looked up the make and, apparently, they’re virtually impossible to pick. The cuffs to end all cuffs. Your practice cuffs from your thief days.”

  “Then I’ll rip this damn radiator off the fucking wall!”

  She laughs. “Okay, sure. You’re strong, but you’re not the Hulk. Besides, you only have one good arm right now. You’re still recovering from the bullet wound in your shoulder.”

  “You ain’t never seen me lose my fucking temper!”

  Her eyes flash at my threat. “I’m not letting you work the list, Neil! You’re not soulless! But that’s how you’ll end up if you murder all of them. And I’m not losing you! I’m not!”

  “What you gonna do then, huh? What’s your big plan, huh?”

  “I’m going to do what I do best.”

  “Racketeering shit? That ain’t gonna work on guys like ‘em.”

  She grins. “You never did your research on me, did you? You just went with what Trigger’s files told you. I have a lot of pull with guys like these—several of them personally. I will take care of it.”

  “The only way to take care of it is to fucking kill ‘em!”

  “They’ll wish they were dead,” she says, returning to my desk and rifling through the drawers again.

  “What? What’s that mean, Rox?”

  She don’t answer. Instead, she comes back to me with one of my leather riding gloves. “I was gonna use my panties, because that would calm you down a bit. But it’ll be uncomfortable riding without them on. Too much chafing, you know?”

  What’s she talkin’ ‘bout?

  I open my mouth to ask and instantly regret it as she pushes the glove into my mouth, gagging me.

  She snatches my t-shirt off the floor and rips it into pieces so quickly that I barely got time to notice it before she ties it ‘round my mouth, using it to hold the gag in place.

  She steps back and tells me, “This is so the boys don’t hear you calling for them to let you out. It’ll buy me more time.”

  I scream at her through the gag, losing control and fighting against my restraints like a wild animal. Her eyes widen when she sees the feral look in my eyes. Yeah, she’s scared. She better fucking be.

  “This is the only way, Neil. I love you; that’s why. But you’d never listen to me. It’s not your fault. It’s just the way your alpha male mind is wired. And I can’t lose you to all this darkness. You’re not Skinner, but this list—what you and my dad were gonna do—would be leading you right down his path. I can’t allow that. I’m gonna fix this.”

  I shake my head at her, growling through the gag as I watch her walk to the door.

  She stops with her hand on the doorknob. Looking over her shoulder at me, she says, “We’ll be together, baby. I can’t stand another day without you with me. You’re my first love and, as much as I’ve tried to move on like you wanted me to, I can’t. Not from you. I know you’re pissed about me cuffing you, but just remember why I’m doing it. For us.”

  Fuck me. Her words cut into me like a rusty fucking blade. And, hell if they don’t burn out some of my rage here. Jesus. She really is my fucking undoing. Nobody can get inside my head like she can.

  In the next second she’s gone. I hear her doing some shit to the lock outside; probably fucking it up.

  Argh!

  Chapter 16

  ~Roxana~

  I roll up the door of my storage unit and step inside. I flip on the light and pull the door back down behind me. I can’t risk anyone passing by and seeing what I’m doing. The last thing I need is the cops showing up.

  I walk to the far back of the small space and kneel down in front of a large gym bag. I unzip it and pull out what I need. My old leathers, my helmet, the keys to my Triumph, my hip holsters, two Glocks, a burner phone and a couple of credit cards.

  I dress quickly in the leathers and stuff my credit cards into my leather jacket pocket, along with some extra ammo. Then I secure my holsters and firearms.

  I pull on my helmet and then cross to the right side of the storage unit and rip off a large drop sheet. I smile when I take in the sight of my gorgeous bike beneath it.

  It’s been a long time since I’ve ridden. I’ve missed it, more than I’d let myself admit.

  As I lock up the unit and start wheeling my bike outside, I send a text to Malcolm: We need to meet. Alone. Tonight. RJ.

  I’ve just made it outside when my phone buzzes with a response: Name the place. I’ll be there.

  I mount my bike and settle myself on it before texting back: You don’t come alone and hell will come down on you.

  He knows me well and he won’t doubt my word there.

  Sure enough, he texts back: Believe me, being alone with you isn’t something I’m gonna pass up. No tricks. Promise.

  I text back: The Drunk Tank.

  He returns: I’ll be there at 11pm.

  Good.

  I take a deep breath and then gun my bike.

  ***

  I stagger back to the booth in the shithole pub in the bad part of town, clutching the orange juice that I just ordered.

  I feel weak.

  I’m not surprised. I’ve just spent the last ten minutes throwing up in the bathroom.

  It’s the middle of the night. Why can’t morning sickness stay in the damn morning?

  It’s a good thing I showed up here half an hour ahead of my meet to scope out the place. I had to. I never know with Malcolm.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket. I reach for it, groaning at the effort of even reaching into my leather jacket pocket to pull it out.

  I read a text from Ralph: I’m in position. Got you covered.

  Phew. The way I’m feeling right now, I actually need the backup. And Ralph is
great backup. He’s a huge guy and he knows how to fight. He taught me. It’s also comforting right now, with everything going on, to have my long-time friend here with me. Friend is an understatement. He’s more like a brother to me. We were close and ran things in Brockford together for the longest time. But, with me relocating to another city a few months back, this is the first time we’ve been anywhere near each other. He’s watching me from the shadows of the bar now, making sure to keep hidden so Malcolm doesn’t spot him and realize that I brought backup with me.

  I stow my phone back in my pocket and breathe a tired sigh. God, I really need to sleep. Like, right now. But I can’t. Not yet. I need to deal with this situation first.

  Shit. I need to get a grip before Malcolm shows up. I can’t show weakness. Hopefully, the awful fatigue will just pass, like it did last time when I was pregnant. It just hit me in short spurts and never lasted very long.

  I’ve known for a while now, but I guess it just hadn’t seemed real until I’d told my dad. I could tell by his intense reaction that he wasn’t pleased by it. He’s worried about the timing, just like I am, because we have dangerous threats hanging over our heads at the moment. Actually, I think it’s a little more than that. He’s worried about what it’ll do to me if tragedy strikes again and I…and I lose this baby like I did last time. I bet the fact that this baby was conceived in an alley during a misguided act of passion on mine and Neil’s part isn’t sitting well with him either. God, we acted like a couple of hormone-driven teenagers.

  I don’t know how the hell I’m going to tell Neil. I have no idea how he’s going to react. Seeing as though he’s pissed at me for cuffing him in his office, I can’t imagine that it’ll be a favorable reaction. Not to mention the fact that this is all my fault. I completely forgot about taking that damn pill. Who does that? Shouldn’t that have been my first priority? My mind was in a whirl at the time. I was a mess. I wasn’t myself. Neil had suddenly reappeared in my life, my ex had threatened me and shot Neil and I was staying at the clubhouse, of all places. Argh. It was a messed up situation.