by Jamie Begley
“Neither. It’s a shipment of black tar heroin. Ramos has a buyer, but the drugs accidently ended up in Queen City when the dumbass carrying it had to drop and hide it before he got arrested. Now Ramos has to come to town to sell it or take a loss, and Ramos doesn’t like to lose money.”
“Where does King come into this? No one sells drugs in Queen City without his approval and giving him a slice of the pie.”
“Ramos doesn’t give a fuck about doing either,” Rabbit answered. “He’s going to sell the drugs then leave without giving King his cut, which means the shit is going to hit the fan.”
“What if King just ignores Ramos, lets him slide under his radar?”
“Ramos has been trying to branch out from New Mexico. He’s testing the waters, so that wouldn’t be a smart move.”
“Dammit.” This was not what she’d wanted to hear. “What’s he going to do?”
“No idea. Maybe you should roll over and ask him tonight.”
Evie ignored his smart-ass comment. “Who’s buying the drugs?”
“A man named Morin.”
“Where’s he from?”
“No one knows. He’s the wildcard. He’s dealt with Ramos before, but that’s all the information on him I could find.”
Evie nodded her head, biting her lip.
“Anything else?” Rabbit started to stand.
“No, I think that will do it. If you hear anything else…?”
“You’ll be the first to know. Bye, Evie.”
“Bye, Rabbit.”
Evie watched her old friend leave, sick to her stomach. King was so close; Evie hated that this one deal could wreck it all. She had to stay to make sure the deal went through without a hitch, and if not, that King didn’t have a new enemy at the end of the day.
She paid her ticket then got up from her table and went outside. She then walked the three blocks back to Penni’s apartment, making sure no one had followed her.
She waited until she was inside the apartment and was certain Penni wasn’t home before she called Shade. He wasn’t going to be happy with what she had learned. She was going to have to buy King some time to clean this mess up.
Shade answered the phone on the first ring.
“Can you talk?”
“Hang on.” She heard him talking to Lily in the background before the sound of a door opening and closing came across the line. “Go ahead.”
Evie explained everything she had learned. “He’s getting out of the business, Shade.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“There’s a deal going down that could go bad. I have to see how it ends to know if he can walk away clean.”
Silence came from the other end.
“Shade, he’s not involved in the deal; someone’s trying to piss on his doorstep.”
“If he cared about Lily, he’d let them piss then hose the door down after they left.”
“Give him a chance. He’s trying.”
“Evie...”
“Please, Shade?”
“What do you care?”
She didn’t say anything for a minute. “I don’t want to see Lily hurt, either, and losing her dad would hurt her, Shade.” She had played the only card that would work to save King’s life and that was Lily. If that didn’t work, she was out of options.
“Let me know when the deal goes down and what happens. Do you need me to send a couple of brothers down as backup?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Tell me the truth.”
“I’m good, I swear. If there’s any trouble, I’ll call.”
“Okay, you better. I won’t be happy if you get hurt.”
“I won’t.”
“Later.”
“Bye, Shade.” Evie disconnected the call, running her hand through her thick hair.
Going to the computer, she researched Ramos and Morin for two hours. When she was finished, she cleared the computer of all her searches.
She and King had started rotating apartments. They usually stayed at his penthouse, but when Penni was out of town with the band, she preferred to stay at her apartment. Both of them were more relaxed with their guards lowered on neutral ground.
Evie went to take a shower, dressing in jeans and a t-shirt. She wasn’t going to the club tonight; he would have Henry come by to pick her up after it closed.
She had settled on the couch with a movie she had rented when Penni came in all smiles. “What are you doing tonight?”
“I was staying in until later tonight when King got off. Why?”
“Because Vida, Sawyer and I are going clubbing tonight. Want to go?”
“Yes. Where are we going?”
“Flying Champion.”
“I’ll get changed.” Evie started to go to her room.
“Evie? Can I borrow an outfit?” Evie stared at the blushing woman. “I don’t have anything like… I mean…”
Evie held her door open. “Come into my room, the spider said to the fly,” Evie joked. “I have just the outfit.”
It took them over an hour to get dressed between trying on different clothes and doing their hair and make-up. When they were done, they stared at themselves in the mirror.
“Are you sure this is decent?”
“I never said it was decent. If you wanted that image, you sure as fuck shouldn’t have asked to borrow my clothes.” Evie was wearing her red leather skirt that was even shorter than her black one, which was on Penni. Both wore high heels, but Evie wore a black sequin top that flashed every time she moved while Penni wore a white leather halter top that left a V of flesh bare between her breasts. They had glued the material down so she didn’t have to worry about her breasts popping out. Evie could just imagine men’s horny gazes on the beautiful girl, hoping for a flash of tit they were never going to see.
Evie grabbed both their purses from their closets to swap them out. Dumping the contents of them into the smaller ones wasn’t easy, though.
“Why do you carry so much shit around with you?”
“I forget to clean it out.” The girl shrugged. Evie counted five fingernail files, six polishes, three checkbooks, four packs of gum, and two granola bars.
“You could live out of that purse.” Shoving Penni’s wallet and keys into the smaller purse, she was about to close it when she hesitated and opened her own again, taking out a small package and placing it in the one she was lending to Penni.
“Was that a condom?”
“You never know when you need to be prepared.”
Penni burst out laughing, stopping suddenly when Evie tossed her work purse to the side. “Be careful.” As the gun Shade had let her have slid out, Evie barely caught it in time.
“Penni, you were supposed to keep it close in the apartment, not pack it around with you everywhere.”
“It makes me feel safer.”
“It doesn’t me. You would have to dumpster dive to find it in that purse of yours. I’ll put it over here for now.” Evie placed it under the couch cushions.
Penni looked down at her phone. “Vida and Sawyer are downstairs. Ready?”
“Let’s go have some fun.”
Chapter 17
King picked up his ringing phone. “Yes.”
“She’s at the Flying Champion with Vida, Sawyer, and Penni,” Lou informed him. He was one of his best men, handpicked to keep an eye on Evie while she was in town.
“She’s having a busy day.” Lou had also called him earlier that day to tell him of her meeting with Rabbit before she went back to the apartment she shared with Penni.
“They’re drawing attention.”
“What kind of attention?” When his phone pinged, he took the phone from his ear, touching the screen. He gritted his teeth when he saw how Evie was dressed. His hand clenched around the phone when he put it back to his ear. “If anyone touches her, you’re fired.”
“How in the fuck am I going to do that? You told me not to let her see me.”
“I’m on my way
.” He motioned to Henry to get the car. She had texted him two hours ago, saying she wouldn’t be able to see him tonight. However, he had thought she had a headache or wasn’t feeling well.
“Going somewhere?”
King hadn’t noticed Jackal coming down the steps from the VIP room until he spoke to him. Jackal had used him to book an hour of Juliet’s time. Hell, the woman had been begging to give it to him for free for the last six months. Instead, Jackal had paid for his pleasure so the woman wouldn’t get any ideas that there was anything more to it than just sex.
“Seems my girl wants to play in someone else’s playground tonight.” King flung his phone down angrily while he gathered his papers.
Jackal reached out, snagging his phone before King could stop him. He stood staring down at the phone, stone-faced. Lou had snapped the picture while Evie and Penni had been dancing, and both women were dressed to get laid. King crushed his cigar between his teeth, thinking about the picture.
“They’re at the Flying Champion?” Damn, he was good to figure that out from the picture.
“Yes, it seems they went out with Vida and Sawyer, too. Where in the fuck are Kaden and Colton tonight? Can’t they keep better control of their wives than that?”
Jackal didn’t reply, setting King’s phone down on the table then taking his own phone out of his leather jacket. “Brother, where are you?”
King got up from the table.
“You cool with your wife partying at the Flying Champion?” Jackal moved the phone away from his ear, disconnecting the call. An evil smile came to his twisted lips. “They didn’t know. I wonder which is the most pissed.”
King picked up his paperwork. “Me.”
* * *
Evie raised her arms in the air, thrusting out her hips, jumping up and down to the beating music.
Penni repeated her moves across from her as the beat escalated in the song. They grinned at each other as they danced, having a good time. Evie couldn’t remember being so carefree, trying to think of the last time. Probably since she was younger than Penni, just graduating high school.
When Sawyer and Vida joined them on the dance floor, the women tried to out-maneuver each other to see who could dance the most seductively. Evie gave up when she saw Vida’s moves; the former stripper had them all beat with her natural sultriness Yet, Penni gave her competition, also. What the girl lacked in skill, she made up for in enthusiasm.
Evie tossed her hair, her eye catching a grim face watching them.
“Shit!”
“What?” Penni asked.
“King’s here.”
“Who cares?” Sawyer said, wiggling her hips and thrusting her ass out. “We’re modern women; we’re allowed to have fun without men telling us what to do.”
“I’m glad you feel that way, because Kaden and Colton are here, too.”
Vida almost tripped, and Sawyer’s ass quit shaking to the beat.
“Where are they?” Vida asked.
“Waiting for us at the table.”
“I’m going out the back door,” Sawyer moaned.
“What happened to I am woman, hear me roar?” Evie asked sarcastically over the loud music.
“It went out the door when I saw Kaden’s face. Vida and I told them we were going out to dinner, not clubbing.”
Penni laughed at the women as they stood frozen, no longer dancing. Her eyes were on a good-looking man leaning against the bar, giving him ‘come hither’ looks.
Penni piped up, “It can’t be that bad. What can they do?” The three women stared back at the innocent woman which brought another laugh from Penni.
“Hold me back,” Evie told Vida.
“Okay, I’ll stop. But seriously, you three should see your faces. What do you want to do?”
“What can we do?” The three women filed off the dance floor, heading back to their table. Penni peeled away, going to the bar and flirting shamelessly with the man she had been ogling.
“Traitor!” Sawyer seethed.
Evie made sure she was the last in line coming to the table, deciding to brazen it out when she saw his coldly-furious face.
“King!” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her breasts against his chest.
“What are you doing here?”
“Penni begged us to come out with her. She said she would go alone if we didn’t, so we came out to make sure she was safe,” Evie flung Penni under the bus without qualms. She also noticed Vida and Sawyer both nodded at her explanation.
“This is a meat market.” King’s steady gaze didn’t move from her face.
“I know! That’s what we told her. You know how innocent she is; we were protecting her.”
Penni’s seductive laughter could be heard over the crowd.
“Is that her practically forcing her tongue down that man’s throat?” King’s sarcastic question showed he wasn’t impressed with her explanation.
Evie was going to kill Penni.
“She’s had too much to drink. I need to go get her.” Evie turned on her heels; she was going to slap the girl silly when she got her hands on her.
“That won’t be necessary.” King reached out, grabbing the waist of her skirt and holding her in place.
“Why not? I promised Shade to—” The sentence died abruptly as she noticed several large men were cutting a swathe through the crowded nightclub. Evie swallowed hard. Fuck. The Predators had invaded the nightclub and were heading for the bar. Unsuspecting, Penni had her back to them while she kissed the man who had placed his hand on her ass, pulling her to him.
Evie watched, fascinated as the bikers surrounded them. She couldn’t see what was going on with her friend surrounded by the large bikers, and she didn’t like that one bit. “Why are they here?”
“They must be protecting Penni.”
“She needs protection from them.”
A second later, the crowd parted so Evie could see Penni arguing with the one who had a scar on his face. He made a comment, and Evie could see from Penni’s face it was bad.
“Uh, oh,” Evie said when she saw Penni starting to hit him with her purse.
“Why is she hitting Jackal with her purse?” King asked her.
“She has a little bit of a temper,” Evie answered.
Penni continued to hit the biker who raised his arm to protect himself while jerking her purse out of her hand. The purse, which only had a simple snap closure, immediately flew open, spilling the contents of the purse onto the floor.
As Penni dropped to the floor, picking up the scattered contents and putting them back in her purse, her face blushed bright red when Jackal took the foil packet out of her hand. Penni got back to her feet, jerking it out of Jackal's hand before putting it back in her purse.
“You ready?” King picked up her purse from the table.
“What? I can’t leave Penni when—”
“Ice is going to make sure she gets home safely for me.” As King maneuvered her through the crowd, she looked back at Vida and Sawyer, who both seemed to have their hands full of angry husbands.
“King, you’re overreacting.”
King didn’t say anything, leading her through the doorway to his car. Henry watched their approach with a grin.
She slid in the car, turning back to King who slid in after her. Her mouth snapped open, ready to give him hell then closed it just as quickly when she saw the expression on his face he was no longer attempting to hide. Her instincts had her scooting away from him, hugging the opposite door as Henry closed his.
King leaned back indolently against the expensive leather, smoothing out his pants with an elegant hand. “Why didn’t you tell me where you were going?”
“I don’t have to tell you what I do every minute of the day.”
“No, only when you meet middle men and fuck around on me.”
Damn.
Evie gathered her temper. “First off, I resent your lack of trust. Secondly, I served in the military with Rabbit. I h
eard he was in town, and we met for lunch. That was it. Penni wanted to go out; I went with her. I had no intention of fucking around tonight.”
King picked up her purse that was lying on the seat between them. Opening it, his hand reached inside, pulling out the condoms. “Then why did you need these?” He put them back in her purse, closing it then handing it to her.
“I don’t owe you any explanations,” Evie said, looking out the window.
“Yes, you do.”
After the car had pulled up in front of King’s building, Henry opened the door for them. They walked through the lobby in silence. The ride in the elevator was filled with tension.
Inside the penthouse, King went to the bar, pouring them both drinks while Evie stood stiffly by the couch, shivering at King’s cold attitude. She had never seen this side of him. She had seen his arrogant and stubborn side, and she had seen him run his club with a business attitude, always maintaining a professional façade. But not this cold, detached side.
The man standing across the room from her, unbuttoning his shirt to show his muscular chest, was a man who had fought his way up from the streets, willing to do whatever it took to take what he wanted.
“I think this is partly my fault; I did not make myself clear. I expect a certain type of behavior from my woman, and one of those is not to fuck other men when she’s mine.”
“I’m not yours.”
“Yes, you are. You don’t want to admit it, but you are, Evie. All mine.”
When Evie shook her head, King set his glass down on the bar. She expected him to grab her, so she tensed, preparing to fight him. Instead, he went to the window.
“Come here.” Evie dropped her purse on the counter, moving to stand at the window, staring out like he was.
“That is my city. I own every person in it. Most don’t know it, but I do. Just like you.”
Again, Evie started to shake her head, yet in the next instant, he had moved so fast she didn’t have time to react. He jerked her top and bra from her body then ripped her skirt away. Evie trembled as she stood naked in front of him, only wearing a black thong that barely covered her shaved pussy.
He pressed her back against the window. “You put this tat on you, showing you belong to The Last Riders, but I’m going to pay Colton for a cover-up. My name will cover it because you belong to me now.”