Devils: Cutthroat 99 MC

by Evelyn Glass

  “Get out of the car, bitch,” the man growled.

  She tried to help, unhooking her seatbelt, but then her addled thoughts began to clear. When his hooded face and nasty attitude registered she began to struggle.

  “No!” she screamed as she kicked, slapped and scratched, holding onto the steering wheel with her free hand as the man tried to pull her out of the car. “Let me go!” she screamed just as a white Tahoe howled to a stop behind the Ford pickup that had rear-ended her.

  Two men bailed out of the SUV and charged toward the wreck. “Get away from her!” one of the men roared.

  The kidnappers, realizing they had company, bolted. One man gave chase as the other skidded to a top at Shayna’s car.

  “Get away from me!” she screamed, recoiling into the car and trying to shut the door, but the man’s body prevented it from closing.

  “It’s okay! It’s okay! I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly, making placating gestures with his hands. “I’m with DR Security.”

  “What’s going on out here?” a man’s voice bellowed.

  The man blocking her door popped up and looked over the roof of her car. “Someone rammed his woman’s car and caused an accident! Call the cops!” As the man yelled to someone inside the house to call the police, her savior dropped back down. “Are you hurt?”

  “You’re with Beast?” she asked, her voice quivering.

  “Yes. Beast told us to watch you. I’m sorry. We didn’t realize what was happening until too late.”

  “Why?”

  The man looked up. “Not here, not now. Shhh…” he said putting his finger to his lips as the homeowner approached. “I’m Tony, by the way. Are you hurt?”

  She took stock of her situation and climbed out of her car. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Are you okay? What happened?” the homeowner asked as he looked at the damage to their cars.

  “That truck rear-ended me,” she explained. “Sorry about your car.”

  “Rear-ended you? How the hell did that happen?”

  She shook her head and looked at Tony, remembering his words. “Don’t know. Drunk, I guess. They ran off when these two guys showed up.”

  The second security man trotted around the house, breathing hard. “Lost them. They…split up. Just my luck…I picked the fast guy…to chase. Whew, I’m getting…too old…for this. You okay?” he asked Shayna.

  “I think so.”

  “Why don’t you sit in the Tahoe until the cops get here,” Tony suggested. “You’ll probably want to call your parents and tell them you’re going to be late.”

  ***

  It took over an hour for the cops to get it all sorted out. The damage to the front of the truck and the rear of her Civic corroborated her story, and the DRS men acted as if they were nothing more than motorists that happened to be driving by. After the police took their statement, they left. As the police officer questioned her, emergency medical gave her a once over, declaring she’d come through the crash in much better shape than her car did.

  “Can I give you a ride home?” the officer asked as the tow truck arrived.

  “What about my car?”

  “Ma’am, that car isn’t going anywhere. Is there someplace you want it towed?”

  “Uh…my house, I guess.”

  The officer spoke to the driver a moment then opened the rear door of the cruiser for her.

  ***

  When the officer dropped her off at her house, she saw the white Tahoe and Beast’s motorcycle sitting in her drive.

  She was halfway up the drive, the cruiser pulling away, when Beast, the two security men, and her parents stepped out. She trudged up the drive, hugging her mom and dad.

  “Are you okay?” Bob asked.

  “Yeah. I see you and Conor have met.”

  “I introduced myself,” Beast said with a weak smile.

  “What’s going on, Beast?” Shayna asked. “Why were your guys following me?”

  “Good thing they were,” Leigh said quietly.

  “Yeah, but why?”

  “Inside,” he said coaxing her into moving with a gentle push. “I received a text this morning. It was a picture of you getting in the car Saturday with the words ‘Start losing or she dies.’ I thought better safe than sorry. Looks like I was right.”

  “I don’t understand!” Shayna snapped. “I don’t have anything to do with you playing poker. Hell, we even called it off for the week.”

  “I know! I don’t understand it either. Something is going on that I don’t understand. You remember me telling you about Argentines? How their rooms had been ransacked and someone shot at them? This has to be related. How I don’t know, but it has to be. It’s too much of a coincidence for them to not be related.”

  “You should have called the cops,” Bob said, his eyes narrowing. “She was almost killed tonight.”

  “And tell them what? That I received a threatening text from parties unknown. I had no credible evidence of an actual threat to present. I didn’t even know if it was a real threat or just someone trying to get into my head.”

  Leigh put her hand on her husband’s arm. “I’m just thankful your men were there when they were. Thank you.”

  Beast looked down. “I should have taken it more seriously. But now that I know the threat is real, we need to get you locked down. Tight. The best thing to do is get you out of town. Is there someone you can go stay with? A friend or relative?”

  “For how long?” Shayna asked.

  “Until we find out what’s going on.”

  “How long will that be?”

  “I don’t know. At least a week or two, probably. Maybe a couple of months. Maybe never.”

  “I start a new job in two weeks! I can’t do that! No! Think of something else.”

  “Shayna, maybe you should listen,” Leigh said.

  “No! Who would I go stay with? Grandma? She can hardly walk! I don’t want to drag her into this!”

  Beast stroked his chin, thinking furiously. “The casino. She can stay at the casino. We can put a man on her there. I’ll let Tops security know what happened. She’ll be as safe there as anywhere. She can continue to hostess the tournament so I can keep an eye on her. Security is already tight there, and with all the people in room, nothing will happen to her.”

  Leigh and Bob looked at each other, their uncertainty clear on their face.

  “Trust me,” Beast implored. “This is what I do. I will be in the room with her at all times. Before they get to her, they’ll have to go through me.”

  Shayna nodded. “Yes. I agree. There is enough security at Tops to hold off a small army if they have to. But what about them?” she asked as she jerked her head to her parents.

  Beast nodded. “They’re probably fine, but I’ll put a man on them, just in case.”

  “Let’em come,” Bob growled.

  “My guy will stay to help bury the bodies, then.”

  Leigh snickered. “Of course. We have a guest room he can stay in.”

  “I don’t need any help protecting my family!” Bob complained.

  “Well I’m not lugging dead bodies, so unless you plan on moving them by yourself, I suggest you take Conor up on his offer.”

  Bob glared at his wife a moment then softened. “Okay. Only to help move the bodies.”

  Beast extended his hand. “Deal.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Beast scrubbed his eyes as he tried to wake up. Poker was going to suck today. He’d finally tumbled into bed about three then slept little. Five hours later he was up, staring into his coffee as he waited on breakfast. He wasn’t hungry, but he needed the fuel to help wake up.

  He left Shayna in the charge of Tony last night. He wanted desperately to stay with her, but she’d rebuffed his offer out of concern he’d be tossed out of the tournament. Secure in the knowledge that Tony was with her, once she was safe in her room, he’d called the night head of security for Tops. He didn’t go into detail, telling h
im only that Shayna had almost been kidnapped several hours before and she was spending the night in the casino. The man was outraged that an employee of Tops had been attacked and promised to take it up with management first thing in the morning. This morning.

  ***

  “Here’s your uniform, Shayna,” Tony said as he hung her uniform in the closet. She and Beast had talked about it on the ride to the casino last night and agreed they should stick to the plan and not spend the night together. He was too close to getting what he wanted for her to jeopardize that over something that may not happen again. She was hoping that now whoever had tried to grab her knew she was being protected, they wouldn’t try again. Once the tournament was over, win or lose, she should be safe. That was her hope, anyway, and she’d refused Beast’s offer to stay with her.

  While she’d have preferred having Beast in the room with her, and in her bed, having Tony in the sitting room of the suite made her feel safe enough that she’d slept peacefully. He looked a little rumpled this morning, but he was alert and cheerful, and, using her badge, had gone to fetch her uniform from her locker while she remained in the room.

  “Thank you, Tony.”

  “My pleasure. When you’re ready, I’ll escort you down.”

  She started to say that wasn’t necessary, but then changed her mind. The shock of last night had diminished as she slept, but that didn’t make the threat any less real. “Thank you.”

  He winked then closed the door so she could change.

  ***

  As she walked into the poker room, she noticed several additional security men standing around. She nodded to them as she walked in, wondering why the big fuss. It wasn’t like someone was going to be able to kidnap her in a room full of people with cameras everywhere.

  “You look like Hell. Are you ready to play?” she asked Beast as he stopped at the table covered in fruit and coffee.

  “No. I slept like shit last night.”

  “I’m sorry. Don’t worry about me.”

  He snorted. “I wouldn’t if I knew what the hell was going on. I hope that tap of yours is extra powerful this morning. I feel like I’m going to need all the luck I can get.”

  She looked around the room. Nobody was within hearing. “You win today and I’ll make sure you get lucky when this is over,” she purred then moved off without a backwards glance.

  He snickered as he filled a filled a cup from the coffee pot. Well! If that isn’t motivation, I don’t know what is! He stood, sipping his coffee, watching as the rest of the players filed into the room, some alone and others in groups of two or three. None of them looked very happy and that made him feel a little better.

  ***

  Shayna tapped the table in front of Beast then stepped back, watching as the dealer skillfully distributed cards to the players.

  “Ms. Shephard. Come with me please.”

  She sighed but turned to follow. She wanted to watch Beast play a moment to see if he was on his game. Normally he looked so put together but that was clearly missing this morning. She was first taken to a tiny room with bright lights and a mirror where a chatty woman plastered face and chest with what felt like three-inches of makeup, and applied enough hair spray to ensure her hair wouldn’t budge in gale force winds.

  After makeup, feeling like a kabuki, she was escorted to the control room. “Ms. Shephard, nice to meet you,” the man said, extending his hand. “I’m Martin Whittle. I’m one of the directors and I’ll be conducting your interview this morning. I see you’ve already been to makeup. Just relax here a moment then we’ll be on our way.”

  Martin turned his back to her and she watched as he poured over the dozen large monitors mounted on a frame, each display divided into six or eight smaller screens, while talking to cameras on his headset. She could see every table, several close ups of the competitors, and a dozen or so hole card shots as people in the room talked over each other. She didn’t know how they could keep track of who was talking to whom, but they operated like a well-oiled machine.

  “Ah, Daniel, good, you’re here. Keep an eye on table three. We’ve got three players running hot. They’re going to start knocking players off pretty soon, and keep a camera on LeMay and The Professor on table six. He can’t keep his eyes off Lemay’s tits and she is working him with them.”

  “Who can blame him?” one of the men at the console said under his breath, making the others in the room laugh.

  “Behave,” Martin scolded playfully. “There’s a lady present. Ms. Shephard, right this way,” he said as he led her out.

  ***

  The first bell sounded, ending game play, and Beast pushed back from the table. He was off his game. He was holding his own but he’d made a couple of stupid blunders. He had gone in big on a Flush and gotten his ass kicked then later he folded on a Full House that would have won. He needed to take a walk, but the poker junkies were dogging his every move. LeMay may eat that shit up, but he hated it. There were a couple of women in the group who caught his eye, women who had signaled their willingness to let him fuck them in no uncertain terms, but he hadn’t accepted their invitation. They were just too easy and, if he were honest with himself, he didn’t want to piss Shayna off because he wasn’t done with her yet.

  That was something that mystified him. He took most women as a one-night stand. Occasionally he might spend a weekend fucking some bitch’s brains out, but that was rare. He couldn’t remember the last time he actually cared what a woman thought. Maybe he never had.

  But he did care what Shayna thought, though for the life of him he didn’t know why. He didn’t love her and, even more than that, she was a hell of a lot of expense and trouble. But despite that, he enjoyed the hell out of her company and he wanted to spend more time with her, both in the bedroom and out. If that meant passing on some free pussy, then so be it. There would be plenty more from where that came from after he was done with her.

  He stepped out of the poker room and retrieved his phone, a weight forming in his stomach when he saw the two waiting texts from an unknown number. Steeling his resolve, he opened the first text.

  She was lucky. Next time she won’t be. He opened the second. You can’t protect her forever.

  It took all his reserve to not throw the phone against the wall in a rage. What’s so fucking important about this tournament! He dropped his phone into the basket and handed it back to the concierge without even bothering to reverse check the numbers as he was certain it would be another burner phone.

  He stomped down the hall to use the restroom, pushing his way through the groupies and hanger-ons, saying nothing. His little entourage followed but he ignored them. I should let her go, he thought as he relieved himself. She means nothing to me and she’s nothing but trouble. Better for her and better for me. I should slip that blonde with the big tits my room key and wash my hands of Shayna.

  He washed his hands and palmed his door key, intending to pass it to the blonde. He looked for her as he exited the restroom, seeing her eyes light up as she caught his gaze, but walked past, dropping his pass card back into his pocket.

  ***

  “Just relax,” Martin said as he motioned Shayna to a high stool under incredibly bright lights in front of a solid green background. As she got comfortable on the stool, he sat down on a shorter stool behind the camera. “I’m going to ask you a few questions. Look into the camera and answer them. Easy, right? Nothing to worry about, no reason to be nervous. Take your time to compose your answer if you need to. If you flub up, or you don’t like your answer, just tell me and we’ll do it again.” He grinned at her. “Unlike real life, you can have as many do overs as you like until you get it right.”

  “What’s this for?” she asked.

  “We’ll cut this into the show in various places in little fifteen to thirty second snippets. Most of the players will do this same thing. It helps break up the game.” He nodded at the curtain behind her. “That’s a green-screen behind you. There will probably be so
me slowly moving cards or something behind you in the show. You ready?”

  “No, but let’s go anyway.”

  Martin snickered. “We’re just having a conversation. Okay, here we go. Tell me what it’s like to be a hostess in a high-stakes poker match.”

  Shayna thought a moment. “It’s fun,” she began. “I get to meet a lot of interesting players. The tips aren’t bad either,” she said with a grin. “Mostly I enjoy watching the players when they win a big hand. Their excitement is infectious and I get almost as excited as they do.”