Wild Ways

by Tina Wainscott

  “I never thought I’d suggest this, but maybe he does love your sister. Sure, in his warped, self-centered, save-his-ass-but-not-hers way.” Julian shrugged. “We can be optimistic.”

  “What was this Salsa business?” she asked. “I thought you were Houdini.”

  “I am. But the boys tagged me as Salsa Boy early in my SEAL career when they heard me listening to salsa. My grandfather was in a band in Puerto Rico, so I like to listen to his music. Reminds me of being on the island when I was a kid, before we all moved to Orlando.”

  “I suppose you have a bunch more cousins and whatnot in Puerto Rico, too.”

  He glanced over at the wan tone in her voice, brushing a lock of her hair from her face. “I’d give you some if I could.”

  She smiled, soft and sweet, and it made his gut tighten. “Thanks. I used to fantasize about marrying into a big Italian family.”

  Damn, but he wanted to give her that. He could imagine bringing her to one of their big Sunday dinners and introducing her to everyone. They’d love her, welcome her right in, so happy their JuJu had finally settled down. The image tightened his chest and sucked his breath away for a moment.

  Her smile faded. “Silly, huh?” She slid off the bed. “I’m starving.”

  Not silly, he wanted to say. How do you feel about Puerto Ricans? No tomato sauce, but lots of pork and rice. He cleared his throat and the words that wanted to escape. “Let’s get breakfast. They have one of those custom omelet stations.”

  As they exited the room a few minutes later, the couple next door was returning. They both gave him and Mollie we-heard-you-banging-against-the-wall smiles as they turned toward their door.

  Mollie was blushing, of course, while trying to pretend she hadn’t seen the inference. She’d made some exquisite noises, the thought of which was giving him another dose of morning wood.

  “I didn’t think about thin walls,” she said once they were closed in the elevator.

  “Which is good. You should be in the moment, in your body, thinking about nothing but my mouth on you or my cock”—the elevator door opened on that particular word—“inside you,” he finished, flashing a smile at the elderly couple who joined them.

  Mollie tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. Her cheeks were flushed a beautiful red. She did not look ahead until they reached the lobby level and the couple departed. Then she shot out of the car.

  He caught up, whispering, “Look, if it had been some kids, yeah, it would have been embarrassing. But you don’t think they know about sex? Come on, they were probably banging the wall harder than we were. And more power to them.”

  She came to a stop. “Julian, please! Stop talking about … that.”

  “Can I whisper something? Then I’ll stop.” He stepped closer, lowering his mouth to her ear. “Do not be embarrassed about anything that we or you did last night. Not only was it amazing, but you were amazing. Hell, we were amazing together. It felt completely natural and … right. So whatever’s going on in that pretty head, your self-doubts, your fear, don’t bring last night into the tangle.” He pinned her gaze with his, waiting for a response.

  “You thought it was amazing?”

  He had to contain his grin. Good. Let her focus on that. “Fan-fucking-tastic.” He slid his arm around her waist and leaned against her hip to give her a 3-D illustration. “Just thinking about it.”

  She closed her eyes and drew in a long, soft breath. Then she gave her head a shake and started to walk off. “What have you done to me?”

  He watched her ass sway as she headed to the breakfast area. “I woke you up, querida,” he said under his breath. “And you aren’t going back to sleep anytime soon.”

  Chapter 12

  Mollie figured the strain of the last couple months—hell, her whole life—had finally eaten away at the last cells of sanity in her brain. How could one man infuriate, embarrass, and turn her on? All at the same time! Especially during the most stressful time of her life.

  She tucked into her omelet while Julian dug into his heaping mass of eggs, ham, bacon, and every single thing they offered minus the onions. In case he kissed her?

  Well, you’re not going to kiss him. Get that thought right out of your head.

  Julian’s text dinged, and he checked it. “Rath’ll be here soon. Don’t bring up what I told you about our last mission. It’s making him a little crazy.” He circled his finger next to his ear. “He’s determined to find out what happened. Like that’s going to change anything. He wants revenge.” Julian’s gaze faded to somewhere behind her. “But it might cost him his life.”

  “He has an angry energy about him,” she said.

  “That’s just Rath. It’s his fuckers-are-out-to-get-us attitude. But this pushed him over the edge.”

  She tapped the end of her fork on the tablecloth. “What about you? Are you angry?”

  His mouth tightened imperceptibly. “We tell ourselves that we’re lucky to be alive. The CIO assigned to this particular mission didn’t make it.” He let a moment of something, perhaps respect, pass. “We have our limbs intact. It could have been worse. But I can’t help thinking about the plans I’d made: doing a tour as a BUD/S instructor or taking an assignment on the Leapfrog parachute jump team. I let myself get pissed about having my life jerked out from under my feet for about ten minutes. Then I move on because being pissed off doesn’t do me any good.”

  “The CIO, did you know him well?”

  “We’d never worked with him before. He was brought in because he knew the players of this cartel and had been to the compound before. That connection was what identified us as SEALs.”

  He sent a reply and returned to his omelet. The guy liked eating, probably about as much as he liked sex. A few minutes later, a different sound came from his phone.

  “Video chat,” Julian said, snatching it up and using his lips to point to the door. “Let’s go outside.” He engaged the call. “Hey, bro.”

  A man’s scream caught the attention of everyone around them. Brick’s scream. “All right. Just stop,” he pleaded in breathless pants.

  “Horror movie,” Julian murmured to someone, anyone, as they walked toward the stairs. “Dude, what are you doing, peeling his burned skin off?” Julian asked as they quickly ascended.

  “I’m treating that skin, actually. It’s getting infected. Remember, I had some medic training awhile back. I gave him a shot, and he about cried. Brick here says he’s ready to talk. Right, buddy?”

  “Yes,” Brick said on a gasping breath.

  That’s how Risk was torturing him? By making him better? Julian swiped the key card and seconds later they were closed up in the room. She sat next to him on the bed, and he propped the phone on his thighs so they could both see. Brick did not look well. His face was pasty, and he was trembling.

  Risk held the phone in front of Brick. “You remember Mollie and my friend, Salsa, don’t you? They just want to find your ex–ol’ lady.”

  “Not ex.” Brick’s head rolled back. “I love her,” he slurred. “But I told you, I don’t know where she is.”

  “We think we found her,” Mollie said. “She’s working at a dance club in Chicago.”

  Brick let out an even more agonized sound “No. Not Chicago.”

  “Why does that concern you so much?” Julian asked. “Is it because of the Ball?”

  Brick’s eyes bugged out. “You know about the Ball?”

  “Yeah, but you’re gonna tell us more. They’re choosing the girls tonight, the best performers.”

  Brick shook his head in a wide, lazy way. “No, they pick the worn-out ones. The ones that cause trouble. And the runaways they’ve been collecting over the last few months.”

  Confirmation that Brick was telling the truth.

  Mollie’s stomach turned completely over. She gripped Julian’s hand, and he nodded as he looked at the phone again. “So what’s this Ball about?”

  “It’s a free-for-all, an orgy. The invitees pay b
ig bucks to go. They can do whatever they want to the women, because they don’t … don’t …” He started to cry. “Di, no, not Di.”

  The girls who disappeared. Di. Fear squeezed Mollie’s heart as she pictured Di, and then Lilliana, who was so afraid of being chosen, and … Mollie wanted to cry, too. Katie was a runaway.

  “Focus, Brick,” Julian ordered. “Have you ever been to one of these balls?”

  “Hell, no. Even if I was invited, I wouldn’t have gone. That’s some crazy shit. I heard it started out as a gang bang a few years back. They had to kill the girls so they wouldn’t tell the cops. The guys had such a good time, they did it again, but more of the patches wanted in. And the lead patch, he realized members would pay for the privilege. They could make it a big moneymaker for the club. There were patches who wanted nothing to do with it, me included. But he doesn’t listen to anyone.”

  “Who runs this disgusting operation?”

  Brick did that floppy-headed shake again. “I can’t”—his eyes bugged out at something that Risk was doing offscreen, and he started panting again. “He goes by the name of Crimson, but I don’t know his real name. He’s the president of the mother-fu—I mean, the mother chapter. And he is a mother. Even Scotch is afraid of him, and that mean bastard isn’t afraid of anyone. And no, I don’t know where the Ball is held, only that it’s at some warehouse or abandoned building and changes every year.”

  “Who gets invited?” Mollie asked.

  “Guys Crimson can trust. And a few people in our associate clubs.”

  “Like?” Julian prompted.

  “The Vipers. A couple of the Devil Deuces. But I don’t know who.”

  Julian silently asked Mollie if she had anything else to ask, and she shook her head. She was too stunned, too frozen in fear to think. He turned back to the screen. “Thanks for playing, Brick. You’ve been a big help for us finding the girl you got into this mess.”

  “I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Brick said. “I saw her smile, her laugh, and damn, I fell hard. Never thought … didn’t know … let me help find her.” He stood up and swayed, then dropped back onto the chair. “Soon as I get my balance.”

  Julian said, “I don’t know, Brick. You can’t even give us the real name of the one guy we need to find.”

  Mollie wrapped her fingers around Julian’s wrist and nodded. “Let him help. If Di sees him, it might make it easier on her. She doesn’t know that Brick abandoned her. She may even think he’s dead.”

  “Risk, keep the dude close. We’ll see how it plays out.”

  Risk’s face filled the screen. “If he doesn’t keel over. He refuses to go to the hospital. What’s the game plan?”

  “I’m going to update Chase. Hold tight wherever you are. Where are you, anyway?”

  “On Chase’s jet. Vivi”—Risk panned the camera over to the door, where she was peering around—“you can come back in now.” Then back to Risk. “She couldn’t stand the sound of a man screaming. Anyway, she wasn’t able to lure him to the plane with her bodacious bod, but an offer to see the cockpit worked like a charm.” He lifted his shoulder. “Maybe he does love Diana. Chase just came back from police headquarters. Here, I’m going to hand you off to him,” Risk said, and then Chase’s face filled the screen.

  “The police are interested, but we don’t have enough for them to justify an investigation. A stripper’s bad feeling, and women who supposedly make a bunch of money doing who-knows-what and then leaving town isn’t enough. They’re not convinced there’s a viable connection between the bodies and the Kings. Or this supposed Ball. I can’t blame them. We have no direct witnesses, no concrete evidence, nothing more than a vague timeframe for when this Ball is happening. Combine that with victims they probably consider low priority and a nasty bike gang, and it’s a tough sell.”

  Risk filled him in on Brick’s cooperation. “Will that help?”

  “I’ll tell the chief, but it’s still hearsay from a guy with a record for biker gang activity who’s not physically or mentally stable at the moment. I even talked to my friend at the FBI. It’s the same story there. They don’t have the resources to investigate based on what we have. So it’s up to us.”

  “We’re up for it,” Julian said.

  “We’ll prepare to fly to Chicago now. I’ll call you when we land, and we can meet at the private airfield.”

  “Rath will be here any time, so the timing should be perfect.”

  “And Julian? Mollie is welcome to join us, but she’s not going in tonight. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Understood.” He disconnected, and before she could open her mouth, said, “And agreed. We’re going to be possibly shooting—”

  “I have a gun.”

  “Remember our agreement? I’m in charge of this mission. You listen to me.”

  She smiled and nodded. Like hell he was going to shut her out of this.

  * * *

  Must be nice. That was Mollie’s first thought when she saw the jet sitting on the tarmac. This was no four-seater. It was sleek, with blue and black striping culminating in an eagle with the words JUSTISS ALLIANCE.

  A female airfield employee who crossed their path and did a double take was probably thinking the same thing of Mollie, flanked by two gorgeous guys. A wave of gratitude washed over her. Not for their looks, of course. Just a few days ago she’d been doing this alone. Now she had a team. A competent, wealthy team. For now, that cautionary part of her added. But this had become about more than one troubled young woman.

  Rath let out a low whistle as he took in the plane. “How did this guy make his money?”

  “I heard something about an inheritance, and he does research and development contracting for the DOD.” Julian shrugged. “We don’t know much about him personally.”

  Rath shot him a frown. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “Sometimes you have to trust your gut.” Julian’s gaze shifted to her. “My gut said to go for it.”

  Which twisted her gut, because he wasn’t only talking about accepting a job with Chase. She looked in Rath’s direction, much safer.

  Rath’s skepticism was written all over his face, which she could now see since he’d shaved. A nice-looking face, despite the frown. He’d also gotten a haircut, though his hair still fell past his shoulders.

  “Thank you for arranging to have my car fixed,” she told Rath. “Tell your friend I’ll pay him back as soon as I can.”

  “Don’t sweat it.”

  “She isn’t comfortable with being rescued,” Julian said.

  She gave him a narrow-eyed look, but turned back to Rath. “I’m not used to people doing things for me.”

  “That’s how we roll,” Rath said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Pay it forward if it makes you feel better.”

  Yes, she could see what Julian meant about Rath suffering no fools. And he thought she was a fool for not being grateful and just shutting up.

  Rath led the way up the stairs and rapped on the door. Chase opened it and paused at the sight of Rath. “You clean up well.”

  Rath ran his hand over his hair. “Our buddy who was fixing her car, his wife came after me with the scissors and cape. Said I scared her, that I looked like one of those guys on Sons of Anarchy.”

  Julian laughed. “I can see her doing that, too. She’s a hairdresser,” he added for Mollie’s benefit. “Her fingers were twitching the moment she laid eyes on us. I let her give me a trim, but Rath fought her.”

  She caught the scent of leather as she stepped into the jet behind Rath and before Julian, who was being a gentleman. She passed through a service area to the body of the plane, which could easily seat a dozen or more. There were leather swivel chairs with tables, two couches that faced each other, and a double-wide table that accommodated four. The air was chilled, raising a slew of goose bumps.

  She recognized Risk and Vivi from the video call. Everyone who didn’t already know one another was introduced. Vivi was still in h
er seductive outfit with her low-cut top and short shorts, something Rath didn’t fail to notice. Julian didn’t seem to pay any attention. Then again, he’d gotten an eyeful the night before.

  Of you.

  She could not think about that right then. She shook Vivi’s hand, a firm shake from a confident woman. Her long, dark blond hair fell over her shoulder, long bangs veiling well-defined eyebrows.

  Vivi turned and shook hands with Julian, too. “Nice to meet you. Welcome to The Justiss Alliance. I hear you’ve been rather thrown in.”

  Julian grinned. “Just the way I like it.”

  Then she reached for Rath’s hand. “And you’re the lone holdout.”

  He cocked his head and flashed a smile. “That’s me, redneck rebel at heart.”

  At least Mollie wasn’t the only nonemployee here. Which reminded her … “Where’s Brick?”

  Risk nodded toward the back with his head. “Lying down. He’s running a fever, which is why it’s cool in here. As he sank into a fever-induced sleep, he mumbled that your courage and dedication inspired him.”

  “Mine?” Mollie asked.

  “Yep. And Julian’s toughness reminded him what it was like to be a man. I just about tossed my cookies.”

  Julian patted his back. “Glad you could hang in there. Maybe you can be inspired by my toughness, too.”

  Risk gave him the finger down the throat gesture while Mollie laughed out loud. Julian leaned close and whispered loudly, “Some people are beyond being inspired, I guess.”

  Coffee also filled the air with its rich, full-bodied scent. Julian led her to an espresso machine in the galley and expressed a cup for each of them. Everyone settled into the couch area. Julian leaned against the back of one of the chairs that didn’t swivel. Mollie sank down onto the couch near him—but not too close. Chase took one of the swivel chairs, and Vivi took the other, leaving Risk and Rath to sit across the way from Mollie.

  Once everyone was up to speed on the case, they started throwing plans and ideas around.

  “We could storm the bar,” Risk said. “Get the girls out of there. They should all be there if tonight’s selection night.”