by A. J. Macey
"And what you were just doing was the exact opposite," I barked, taking half a step closer. "If I hear another hateful word out of any of you to my baby, I will ban each and every one of you from the compound until I've deemed you worthy enough that you respect the club. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Boss," they murmured, shifting uncomfortably at the fact that all eyes were on them within the bar.
"Get the fuck out of my sight." I waved my hand, effectively dismissing them. They scurried quickly to the other corner of the bar where they huddled tightly together.
"I don't need a babysitter," Kiera's hiss sounded from over my shoulder quiet enough for only me to hear. I turned and glanced down at her. Her mossy eyes burned and her jaw ticked in irritation. I cocked an eyebrow and turned until my chest brushed against her delectable tits. Hunching down, I stared at her and smirked, my lips barely brushing hers as I talked.
"No, you don't, Baby," I agreed quietly. "But this is my club. These are my members, and if they're breaking the club rules, then it's my job to deal with them." I felt my cock twitch in my jeans as she nipped my lower lip between her teeth.
"Fuck off, Boss," she snarked, pulling away. Her brow raised challengingly, but before I could respond, Chase's soft faux-suede jacket brushed the back of my neck as he wrapped an arm over my shoulders.
"Look at you two," he practically squealed in my ear as he glanced rapidly between us. "I missed you, Kittycat." He leaned forward, keeping his arm around me as he planted a strong kiss on her lips.
My blood sparked at the scene, and my cock started to grow harder as he nipped her lip like she had done to me just moments ago. Dammit, this is not the time for sexual urges, I commanded myself, trying to keep my dick from going from zero to sixty, but it didn’t work when I felt Chase's fingers brushing against my chest. I growled and grabbed his hand to stop his wandering fingers from working their way up to my neck. Glaring, I pulled his arm from my shoulders. He wasn't fazed by my movement, his eyes sparkling with mischief as he winked only for me to see. Gritting my teeth, I tamped down the desire that curled through my chest. Kiera's narrowed eyes darted between us in confusion and suspicion.
"Let's go back to the office," I bit out before storming off.
Kiera
I stood there confused as I watched Brooks' deliciously sculpted ass practically stomp away from Chase and me. What the hell just happened? I looked to my assassin, his eyes also glued to Brooks ass.
"What was that?" I murmured, my fingers working their way across his hard abdomen. His shirt was soft against my fingertips, and he shuddered as I continued brushing his stomach like he had just been doing to Brooks. "Did someone else catch my little assassin's attention?" I whispered as I stepped closer.
"He's attractive, yes"—Chase smirked down at me—"and I love watching you with him. But you're the only one for me, Kittycat. Unless you want me to do stuff with him," he whispered sinfully in my ear, my pussy dripping at his words. "Would you like that? Watching me fuck him like I fuck you?"
I took a shuddering breath, fire igniting in my veins at the images that flooded my mind. I had never once imagined Chase with anyone intimately, especially not a man, but I'd be a damned liar if it didn't turn me on just a little. A lot, don’t lie to yourself, my mind hissed.
"You two coming?" Garrett's harsh voice bit out as he stormed past. His grouchy face zeroed in on Chase’s and my closely pressed bodies as his eyes narrowed. Rolling my eyes, I stepped away from Chase's warm arms and followed my asshole stepbrother.
"What's wrong, Gar?" Chase teased from behind me. "Jealous?" Garrett grunted and mumbled gibberish in response, his shoulders tense under Chase's prodding.
"He wouldn't be jealous," I responded, my fingers brushing the back of Garrett's neck. Goosebumps immediately raised on his skin as he shivered. Bright, half-lidded green eyes turned to look at me intently, his steps slowing until he stopped walking entirely. "Because he can have me whenever he wants." I smirked, dragging my fingers across his scruff covered jaw as I continued past him. Chase's chuckling followed me into the cramped office where Stone, Nate, and Brooks were already situated around the room. Since it was only going to get more smashed with the three of us, I immediately hopped up onto the desk, swinging my feet back and forth. Chase took his place to my left as he leaned back against the desk while Garrett was last to enter. He stood to my right but pressed his back against the door with his arms crossed avoiding my gaze.
"What have we learned?" Brooks questioned, the roughness of his normally smooth voice catching me by surprise. I looked him over and realized he was supporting a massive hard-on which was pressing tightly against his jeans. Seems he gets turned on by Chase too, I internally chuckled but pushed the thoughts back as Chase started to talk.
"My contact basically told me Alloy Kings have slowed on their shipments from one to two drops a week to one in the last three weeks other than the one we nabbed, and he gave me their most recent drop schedule," he informed us as he pulled out a paper from his interior jacket pocket.
I felt my brow furrow. That doesn't make any sense. If you're preparing to go to war, you would increase your supplies, not stop the flow.
"My contact gave me Alloy Kings information on their upcoming shipment," I added, pulling out my own piece of paper that Elliot had handed to me at the museum. "We have another meeting set to go over what else he found."
"Who?" Stone surprised me by being the one to question.
I would have sworn it would be Garrett, knowing his overprotective streak. These guys are just full of surprises today.
"Phantom," I told them. All of the officers looked at me with confused facial expressions, not recognizing the name, but Chase turned to me with an appraising gaze.
"You know Elliot Cavanaugh?" he asked.
I chuckled, remembering all the trouble we used to get into together. Good times.
"We worked together on and off for about a year in 2017. Last job we did was at the Tretyakov." Chase's brow shot up as he pushed away from the desk.
"You little rascal," he teased, his eyes glowing in excited realization, "you're the one who stole Trinity by Andrei Rublev. No one could figure it out because the government wouldn't release any details."
"Technically, it was both of us," I corrected. "We had a race to see who could get into the exhibit the fastest."
"Jesus," Brooks huffed, rubbing his eyes. "You really are crazy, ain't ya?"
I beamed proudly. Who wants to be normal?
"When and where are you meeting?" Garrett finally spoke up, demanding to know the details. I rolled my eyes at his commanding tone.
"Our usual spot and our usual time." I shrugged. "It's not a big deal, I'll get all the information from him, and I'll let you guys know." Garrett opened his mouth to argue, but Stone cut him off.
"When's their next drop?" His voice was soft, but there was a hint of the steel that was always there laced within his words.
"May 30th," I answered. "Gives us some time to plan and figure out where it is. Also gives me some time to start going through all the information on Jace and Frankie." I practically growled my father's name, but I managed to keep a lid on it.
"That might be a problem," Chase added as he grimaced. A spark of worry filled my chest at his look. "According to my contact, Jace is sticking close to Frankie, and the Casterelli mob has practically locked down within the Solace." I felt my face pale, my stomach churning at his words.
"What?" I could barely get the single worded question out in the rush of fear that flooded me. The only time Frankie had locked down his misfit mass of minions was when he had planned something big when I was five. And it was big all right, I thought darkly. He had expanded his greedy fingers into dark web porn and sex trafficking bringing massive amounts of cash flow that he laundered through his casino. It really solidified his position as the king of Reno's underground empire.
"My contact was going to do some digging, but it's not looking good, Kittyc
at," Chase whispered the last part, his warm hand resting on my thigh in an attempt at comfort.
"This is bad," I urged. "We need to start surveillance on him as soon as possible."
"I can focus on looking into the potential drop sites with Stone," Nate offered, his eyes on Brooks. "For our decoy drop as well as where the Alloy Kings have theirs planned."
"Decoy drop?" I questioned, glancing at the Aces' Road Captain.
"We want to try and lure the Alloy Kings out by having our usual drop location and time stay the same when in reality we're changing the location to somewhere else," Nate explained. I thought through the plan, and it was pretty good, but there was definitely one issue.
"Who's going to be watching the decoy?" I asked. Stone caught my gaze with a steel pair of ebony eyes.
"You, me, and Chase."
My head jerked back. Wow, I thought, they really were throwing a bunch of curve balls at me today. Stone? Work with me? That is certainly different.
"All right," I hesitantly agreed, slightly concerned as to his willingness to go with us. The logical side of my brain reminded me it would be good to have him there since he knew the details of their normal drops, so I pushed the worry away. "I'll start looking into the files, see if I can find any information on why Frankie would have locked down. I'll also ask Elliot," I murmured distractedly, my mind whirling a thousand miles a minute through all the possibilities.
"Do you have any ideas of what he could be up to?" Brooks took over the questioning. I scratched my pale, clammy cheek, a set of warring emotions threatening to burst from my chest at the thought.
"Last time he locked down, he expanded his business," I ground out. My constant flame of fury flared, the urge to shoot something growing stronger. Get a hold of yourself, I commanded. "We done?" I asked quickly. Despite my attempts at calming myself, I felt my anger start to fracture my fragile grip on my control. A room full of pity stared back at me, pushing me over that edge. "Fuck off," I growled, hopping off the desk. "I don't want your damn pity." No one stopped me as I strode out of the office, through the bar, and into the night air.
“Kitten,” Garrett called before I could hop on my bike.
I ground my teeth but waited until he caught up with me. Glancing over my shoulder at him, I noted his thin lips and clenched jaw. All right, what kind of shit is he going to bring up now?
“Kiera.”
Here we go.
“We need to tell Brooks and Stone.”
There it is.
“Not right now we fucking don’t,” I snapped, glaring at him. He huffed, his arms crossing tightly over his chest as he glared back. Based on his rhythmic ticking of his jaw, I could tell he was biting back his usually snappy respond.
“I agree not right now, but sooner rather than later they need to know what the hell is going on. I know you don’t want to, Kitten, trust me, and this isn’t because I’m the vice president, this is because I want them to be able to fully understand the stakes of why we’re doing this.” Barely containing a growl from bubbling out, I stayed silent and got on my bike.
A cold finger trailed gently across my shoulder. Ice slid down my spine, but I sat completely still, my eyes glued to the far wall…
Garrett talking pulled me out of the memory. “All right, fine. I’ll hold off until after the Alloy Kings are dealt with, but after that they need to know.” He must’ve realized I wasn’t going to say anything else about it so he decided to compromise. I nodded slightly before driving away. Only after a few hours aimlessly riding through the Reno desert did I calm down.
I was just about to head home when in the distance, along the crest of one of the rock formations, I noticed a glow of artificial light in the dark night. Color me intrigued, I thought as I pulled my bike off to the side of the road slightly hidden behind another large chunk of red rock. Slipping on my emergency gear stored within a saddle bag, I ran the mile to the spot that had held my attention. The only kind of business handled in the desert, especially at night, was criminal business, and I was determined to figure out what. When I finally reached the location, I quickly scaled one of the shorter rocks that was sandwiched between two taller formations.
"What the..." I murmured to myself as I situated myself on top of one of the rocks allowing me to look down at the meeting. It took me a bit to understand what I was seeing, but there was one of Frankie's underlings, Brian Chan, standing beside Jace, his scarred face terrifying in the wash of light from the two vehicles' headlights that faced the group of men. They talked quietly to three men I didn't recognize in hushed voices. Fuck. They were speaking too quietly for me to hear, and I didn't have my listening amplifier, so I settled to watch if anything was exchanged between them.
Of course there wasn't. I glared down at them. Do something, tell me what you're up to, I mentally urged, but neither group spoke louder and neither of them exchanged anything other than nods and handshakes before leaving. The unknown men left first, their truck loud against the stone structure while Chan sank into the driver's seat of the other car. I stayed where I was waiting until they both left. Jace paused in his steps to glance around the space and up on top of the rocks. Oh shit, I cursed shuffling back quickly into the shadows. My heart pounded painfully hard within my chest, and if their car wasn't running I'm sure he would have been able to hear the loud thumping as it rattled against my rib cage. He finally determined the space was empty and slipped into the car. I stayed behind long after they left until my nerves settled and my heart finally slowed.
Well, that was definitely interesting.
Chapter 7
May 18th
Saturday Morning
Kiera
A ding from my laptop sounded from my room as I pulled out my outfit for today. Carrying the pair of shorts, lacy bra, and tank top I stepped back into my bedroom, my eyes immediately going to my computer that was open on the bed. Hell yes. I smirked. One of my online contacts had gotten ahold of Brian Chan's schedule, and it turned out he'd be going out tonight to one of the higher-end bar slash clubs. I might not have been able to determine what the hell they were talking about last night, but I certainly could follow him. It's not stalking, people, don't turn those judgy eyes on me.
"Kittycat," Chase's cheerful voice called from the hall, his near-silent footsteps barely sounding on the tiled floor. His eyes immediately fell on the large t-shirt and lacy underwear that made up my pajamas. "That's definitely something I love seeing in the morning," he murmured heatedly. I chuckled, loving the way he was always hungry for me. He had just seen it earlier since he’d crawled into bed with me last night after I had fallen asleep.
"Is there a reason you came up here, my little assassin?" I teased lightly as I finally started to change. My blood heated under his intense gaze, but I didn't have time to roll around in the sheets with him, not with the to-do list I had to get done before tonight. He walked the rest of the way to me with purposeful strides.
"Just came to tell you I was heading out. Going to go see if I can track down Jace or any of the Alloy Kings officers. If I can, I'll let you know," he murmured, pressing his lips against mine. "I'll see you later, Kittycat." Before leaving, he playfully smacked my ass and jogged out of the room, his manic laughter echoing through the hall and staircase. I shook my head and changed quickly into my outfit for the day. Once I closed my laptop, I placed it on the desk before heading to the kitchen.
I chugged an energy drink before quickly making up a sandwich for lunch. A rhythmic thudding sounded on the staircase as I finished putting the second piece of bread on the meat, cheese, and veggies I’d stacked up. Garrett's grouchy face appeared around the corner, his hair abnormally messy on top of his head.
"Morning," I greeted cheerfully, giving him a big smile before taking a bite of my food.
"Why are you so happy right now?" he questioned, stopping to stare at me with a furrowed brow. "It's weird."
"Got some information on Brian Chan," I informed him around my large bite
of food, my hand coming up to shield my talking. "He's going to be at The Avenue tonight." I quickly outlined what I had seen last night on my ride in the desert before taking another bite.
"When are we going?"
I balked, nearly choking on my food in the process. Did he just say we?
"What?" I finally was able to get the question out, slightly rough from my coughing, but out nonetheless.
"When are we going?" he asked again, unfazed by the way I’d almost just choked on a meat sandwich. Hah, meat sandwich. "Isn't the dress code super fancy?"
"You're not going," I countered, looking at him like he was insane.
"Well, you're certainly not going alone, and the other guys are busy with shit, so I'm all you've got." He turned away from the counter with his own sandwich, cocking an eyebrow at me with a tiny smirk. "What? Afraid you won't be able to keep your hands off me in a sharp suit?" I narrowed my eyes on him, discreetly pressing my thighs together at the image he presented.
"Do you even own a suit?" I challenged with a matching eyebrow raise. His smirk grew.
"I guess you'll find out tonight, won't you," he taunted. "When are we going?" I groaned, giving in since I knew Garrett well enough to know that he wouldn't back down. If I didn’t let him come, he'd just follow me anyway.
"Later, 'round nine," I huffed a sigh. These guys are going to send me off the deep end.
“Perfect." He flashed me a smug smile as he strode toward the hall. He paused next to me, leaning down to whisper in my ear, "Wear that red dress, Kitten."
Definitely going to send me off the deep end.
The limo pulled up at 8:45 PM, the shiny black exterior sleek in the lowlights of the drive. My black stilettos clicked against the wood stairs and the tile flooring, and my red dress brushed the outside of my thighs, the crisscrossed tulip hem in the front showing a whole hell of a lot of my right thigh. The thin, doubled up spaghetti straps held the fabric up in front of my tits, but the deep V-neck dipped to below my chest, showcasing the thin black and white rose I had tattooed between my breasts. The back was mostly open save for a thin strip of material connecting the shoulder straps to the skirt fabric at my mid-back. Thin spaghetti sized straps held the side of the front secured to the back in a fabric cage so I wouldn't, hopefully, flash anyone a large amount of my chest. They did little to cover the bruising that still covered my ribs, but I figured it would be dark enough in the club that it wouldn’t need to be covered with makeup.