by Lilly Atlas
It was impossible to spend time with these guys and not pick up on the fact that something was going down on Friday, but that was as far as it ever got. Every last one of them was completely tightlipped about any club information.
She hadn’t eaten anything all day, unable to bear the thought of food. The few sips of beer she’d forced down mixed with the acid in her empty stomach, causing a gnawing pain.
Emily wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the details or not, but that didn’t matter. She had to try and find something. This morning she’d received a picture via text of Johnny, bruised, bloodied and obviously going through some kind of withdrawal.
His battered face looked so awful Emily spent the next half hour crying, grateful Jester hadn’t been around. It was one less lie she had to tell him.
Not that that would be of any comfort to him in two days when she disappeared.
“Did you hear me, Emily?” Marcie’s voice permeated the cloud of despair threatening to engulf Emily.
Emily blinked, and dragged herself back to the here and now. “I’m sorry, Marcie, I’m terrible company tonight.”
“Everything good with you and Jester?” There was legitimate concern in Marcie’s voice, which only served to make Emily feel worse.
She swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat, and gave Marcie what she hoped was a convincing smile. “More than good. I just have some family stuff weighing on my mind.” It was the truth, or as close to the truth as she could safely get.
“I’m sorry to hear that, girl. We haven’t known each other long, but I hope you know you can talk to me if you need to. Us ol’ ladies need to stick together around here, what with all the testosterone and whores flying around.” She winked.
Emily forced an unconvincing laugh. Marcie was a doll for making such an effort to cheer her up, but nothing could accomplish that this evening. “Thank you. I appreciate your concern. I’m just not quite ready to put it out there yet.”
Marcie nodded, and tipped her head back to drain the last of her beer. “Fair enough.”
The doors flew open and a hoard of loud, boisterous bikers spilled out into the bar area, much more animated than the group that had gone into the meeting room. Things must have gone well.
Marcie, ever bubbly, giggled and hopped off her chair as Hook drew near. He wrapped his arms around her, leaned in close, and Emily was near enough to hear him whisper in her ear. “Let’s go home, baby, I’ve been dying to see what you’ve got on under that skirt all night.”
Yes, they all needed to leave.
Emily glanced down at the pieces of ripped beer label that sat on the bar in front of her, unaware that she’d been picking it off.
She was so caught up in her own head, she didn’t notice Jester approach her from behind until he enveloped her in his strong arms.
“They ain’t got nothing on us,” he whispered, nodding in the direction of Marcie and Hook, who shared a passionate kiss. He nipped her ear lobe before drawing it into his mouth and sucking briefly. “To be continued.”
Normally, she’d love his affectionate mood and teasing, but tonight it fell flat. “You heading to the garage?”
Jester frowned down at her. “You trying to get rid of me?”
Yes.
“No, of course not.” She took his hand and gave it a squeeze.
He stared at her with an unreadable expression. “Everything okay with you, babe?”
She cleared her throat. “Me? Yes, of course. Just…just a little tired tonight.”
“You want me to take you home? I can come back and work.”
“No!”
His eyebrows drew down.
This was not going well. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. “I’m totally fine to hang out here while you get your stuff done. It’s no big deal.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Ok, babe, but if you want to go, just come find me in the garage.”
The clubhouse was emptied in record time, none of the guys bothering to linger when the alternative was booze and an abundance of naked women. Marcie and Hook remained, having spent the time making out like teenagers. One prospect milled around behind the bar, cleaning up, but that was it.
“You guys walking out?” Hook asked as he steered Marcie toward the door.
“I have about twenty minutes of paperwork to get done. Jaz has been riding my ass all week, so I’m just going to run over and take care of it now.” He turned toward Emily. “You sure you’re okay to hang here? Jacko should be here the whole time.”
Shit. She hadn’t factored in the prospect behind the bar. He was missing a front tooth like a jack o’ lantern and the poor guy was teased mercilessly. He’d only been prospecting for about two months, according to Jester, hence why he was stuck at the clubhouse cleaning when the rest of the guys were at the strip club.
“I’m good, Jester. Go! The faster you get over there the faster we can get home and on to other activities.” She gave him a wink. It was nearly impossible to continue the façade of the happy girlfriend when she felt like crawling out of her skin with nerves and guilt.
Jester smiled as he bent down to lay one on her. “I like the way you think, baby.” He turned and exited, heading toward the garage.
“Bye, girl,” Marcie said as she gave Emily a tight hug. “Call if you need a girlfriend.”
“Thanks, Marcie. You two have a good night.”
“We plan to.” Hook bobbed his eyebrows as Marcie rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, dragging him out the door.
Alone with the prospect, Emily glanced at her phone. Nine fifteen. Jester said he’d be twenty minutes, so Emily gave herself until nine thirty to hopefully have a five-minute buffer. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck to the side. The muscles were cramped from prolonged tension.
“Damnit!”
“Something wrong?” Emily asked.
“I forgot I have to bring these crates to the storage room out behind the garage. You mind if I leave you here for five, ten minutes tops?”
Her heart sped up. Hell no, she didn’t mind, in fact she insisted he leave. Finally, something was playing out in her favor. “Oh please, I’ll be totally fine. Don’t worry.”
“Thanks, Emily. Ten tops.”
She nodded and absently waved him off, her attention on the upcoming task. The second the door clicked shut, Emily darted toward the meeting room, almost dropping to her knees in relief when the door swung open and granted her entry to the chapel.
A round clock on the wall read nine eighteen. Each second ticked by louder than a gong in her mind. Less than ten minutes to find information she didn’t know where to begin searching for.
Chapter Twenty
Emily stood in the doorway to the meeting room trying desperately to ignore the voice in her head screaming at her over and over what would happen if she were caught.
There wasn’t a single acceptable excuse for her presence, and most likely she wouldn’t walk out of this building alive if she were discovered snooping. She shut down the voice. She had to do this regardless of the possible consequences. Johnny’s life was in her hands, and while he may have decided his own life was worthless, she’d still fight for him.
Her right hand began to ache and she forced herself to unclench her fist. Five angry red crescent shaped gouges marred her palm, one dotted with blood. The pain barely registered, her brain too full of fear for any other sensations.
Emily scanned the room for something, anything that could contain the information she needed more than her next breath. The clock read nine-twenty. Two minutes since the prospect left her alone. In her haste to explore her surroundings, Emily almost tripped over a long, laminated cylindrical object on the ground.
Heart pounding like a runaway stampede, she retrieved the object. Her hands shook and she fumbled with the rubber band holding the tube closed. Once she worked the blasted rubber band off, she unrolled what appeared to be a large map of Cr
ystal Rock onto the table.
The document was a schematic of some sort, but she couldn’t make sense of what it meant. There wasn’t time to waste deciphering it, so she whipped out her phone and snapped a photo of the entire map. Later, when she was alone, she would attempt to interpret the meaning.
With clumsy hands, Emily struggled to return the map to its rolled up state. Her phone chimed in the pocket of the denim jacket she’d thrown on over her dress, and she let out a small shriek. One hand flew to her chest, over her racing heart, and she dropped the map and shot the rubber band into the corner of the room.
“Shit!” she muttered to herself as she sneaked a peek at the phone.
Text from Snake. Again.
It was crunch time and he was turning up the heat. The clock on the wall read nine-twenty-eight. No time to read the text. Her chest heaved and her breaths came in short, insufficient gasps. Where the hell did the rubber band go?
From her pocket the phone vibrated again, mocking her. Any time now, Jacko would walk back into the clubhouse. If Emily was found in this room it was all over, and there was a very good chance it would literally be over for her if they discovered what she’d been up to.
Black spots swam in front of her vision as her breathing grew more erratic. Finally, she caught sight of the rubber band peeking out from under the table. Emily rolled the map up as fast as possible, not caring that it was sloppy and shoved the rubber band around the cylinder. After tossing it under the table close enough to where she’d stumbled upon it, she bolted out the door.
The very second the meeting room door clicked shut behind her, the main entrance to the clubhouse cracked open.
Shit!
Getting caught just outside the meeting room was only one step away from being caught inside.
She stepped away from the door. Her right knee buckled, but she slammed it back and held her ground. In her chest, her heart galloped as though she’d been running for her life, and sweat ran down between her breasts as they rose and fell with the force of her breathing. All things Jacko would pick up on, if he weren’t totally oblivious. Not a chance she could take.
Emily yanked her phone from her pocket and slapped it to her ear. She began paced in front of the double doors, tightening her thigh muscles with each step to keep her legs from collapsing. She elevated her volume in feigned anger and spoke to no one. “If it was working, I wouldn’t be calling again!” she shouted, putting some huff and frustration into her voice.
Jacko made eye contact with her and she mouthed, “Sorry,” before she pointed to the phone and rolled her eyes.
He waved her off. “No worries,” he mumbled and resumed his duties behind the bar.
“You’ve been to my apartment three times to fix it, and it’s still not working. This is the last chance, if it’s not resolved after this I’m switching my service.” She pulled the phone away from her ear, let out an aggravated sigh, and pretended to jam the end button. After a quick prayer that he fell for it, she turned toward Jacko and rolled her eyes again. “Damn cable company.” She fanned herself. “They get me so flustered and pissed off. I know I shouldn’t let them get to me, but they keep screwing up my service.”
Jacko was quite obviously not interested in her problems, but he also didn’t seem remotely suspicious of her actions. Goal accomplished.
With a shaky breath, Emily returned to the barstool she’d occupied earlier, and chugged her now warm beer.
Since Jacko was busy sweeping the floor, and paid her no attention, Emily opened Snake’s text to see what threat he’d made this time.
Nice to see you today Emily. Loved the dress. Gave me all kinds of naughty thoughts.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose to attention and she shivered. Jester had been right about the dress. She’d never wear it again. Knowing Snake had noticed her body in the dress and commented on it made her want to burn the thing.
The door opened again and Jester strode in. She flinched and shoved the phone in her pocket. His eyes zeroed in on her immediately. He’d notice something was off. Unlike Jacko, Jester was observant, especially when it came to her.
With just a few steps of his extended stride, he was next to her and kissing her like a starving man. Her head spun as he stole her air and fired her blood.
“What’s wrong?” He whispered against her ear when he broke the kiss. “You’re shaking. I should have taken you home.”
Emily forced her lips into a smile and stroked a hand up his chest. “I just want you.” Normally it was true, she wanted him constantly. But tonight, the picture on her phone was all she could think about. She had a compulsive need to understand what it was before she sent it to Snake and betrayed Jester.
“You have no idea how much I want you. I can’t go much longer without being inside you, so we need to leave now.”
Words that normally flooded her panties and warmed her heart left her cold. A bone deep exhaustion crept over her and she leaned against Jester for support. “Let’s go home.”
“Babe.” His body was relaxed against hers. “You sure you’re okay? I’m not asshole enough that I can’t go one night without if you’re tired.”
“I’m good,” she lied. “Promise.”
He studied her for a second more and she held her breath. Those warm brown eyes seemed to stare into her soul. God help her if they could, because he’d find nothing but betrayal and regret.
As the pair left, Jester called back to Jacko over his shoulder. “See ya, prospect. Too bad you got stuck on house duty tonight. Rest of the guys will be buried mouth deep in stripper tits by now. Ahh, but such is the life of a lowly prospect.”
On any other night their banter would have made her laugh, but tonight she couldn’t even drum up a chuckle.
“Looks like you’ve got your own cross to bear, man.” Jacko fired back with a wink for Emily. “The little woman keeping you chained to the house? Won’t let you go play with the boys?”
Never one to be outdone in the ribbing department, Jester laughed. “That may be, prospect, but she’ll thank me real nice for all the orgasms I’m about to give her. Takes some of the sting out of it.”
Jacko lifted his hands in surrender, conceding defeat.
Jester gave her a curious look, no doubt wondering why she didn’t appear to enjoy their byplay.
“Maybe I am a little off tonight. I’m sorry, I’m just feeling a little out of sorts.”
“Come on then, babe. I’ll tuck you in and tell you a bed time story.”
Despite her morose mood, a warmth settled in her stomach and she allowed herself one second to enjoy being cared for by Jester. After all, the sun was quickly setting on their time together.
***
An hour later—once Jester was finally asleep—Emily crept from the bed toward the bathroom with the stealth of a ninja. She’d retrieved her phone from the dresser on the way and held her breath as she closed the door without making a sound.
The toilet lid was down, so Emily used it as a seat while she pulled up the picture she’d snapped in the clubhouse. After several minutes of staring at it she felt her stomach drop to the floor. The map itself was confusing, but she was able to zoom in and read the hand written notes in the margins.
The details were still fuzzy, but Emily got the gist. They were planning to steal a huge sum of money from the Grimms, on Friday, at this spot indicated on the map.
Oh my God.
Her chest tightened until she couldn’t draw in a breath. She bent her head between her knees and tried to inhale without making any noise. Jester couldn’t find her in here like this.
Silent tears coursed down her cheeks and her body shook so violently she had trouble maintaining a grip on her phone. Despair overwhelmed her.
Snake could not get his hands on this map. If Snake found out what the No Prisoners were planning, the retaliation would be nothing less than devastating.
He would kill them.
All of them.
Lila�
�s man could die. Marcie’s husband could die. How would she ever live with herself knowing she was responsible for harming these amazing women’s husbands? She couldn’t. That was the bottom line. She wouldn’t survive the guilt of knowing she caused something horrible to happen to Striker or Hook, and it would be horrible, she had no doubt.
And the most horrifying thought of all, was the very likely possibility of harm coming to Jester. Every cell in her body wanted to protect him, to stay with him.
She’d fallen in love with him over the last two weeks. She wasn’t under the illusion that they could maintain any form of a relationship after tomorrow, but she was completely in love with the man. Her mind refused to contemplate what would happen to him if Snake knew what the No Prisoners had planned.
But the alternative was Johnny’s life. She would be sentencing her brother to death. Her only living relative, her flesh and blood, would cease to exist any longer if she didn’t hand over the information to Snake.
She was dying inside. The extraordinary weight of this decision ate at her with each second that passed.
As she stared at the wall of Jester’s bathroom an idea began to form. She needed time to flesh it out, something she was short on. She and Johnny would have to leave immediately and start over somewhere new, but they’d survived a move like that once before and could again.
Agony sliced her heart at the thought of moving and never seeing Jester again. She wanted to shove the pain into the dark corner of her mind and avoid it for now, but she forced herself to embrace it. Getting accustomed to the pain of losing Jester was imperative, because a life without him was the one constant in every scenario she played out in her mind.
Decision made, Emily opened her phone. I have what you need.
The seconds ticked by slower than sap dripping from a tree as she waited for a response. Just as tears began to fill her eyes once again, the phone vibrated in her hands.
That’s my girl. 4pm. Your house.
His girl. The phrase turned her blood to ice.
Emily blew out a breath and buried her face in her hands. If he didn’t go along with the request she was about to ask of him, her entire plan was shot. It took her several tries to tap out the text, her unsteady fingers had trouble making contact with the correct letters.