“Alright brother dear. As much as all the women here fawn all over you and stroke your ego that is bigger than the state of Texas, Amanda and I have men to meet, drinks to share, and trouble to find. So she won’t be telling you how hot you are and beg you for a ride on that big bad bike ya got over there.”
I make sure to lock my eyes onto Amanda’s. “As hot as she is, she ain’t gotta beg. I’ll give your girl a ride any day, any time, any where.”
Dia huffs. “You have no shame! I don’t want to think about this shit!”
Grabbing Fox by the hand she takes off with her leaving me standing dumbfounded. Deciding not to push it, I go off to find Swift.
He’s around back playing horseshoes with Karma and Hollis, Karma’s son. Seeing me approach, he gives the horseshoes to Karma and comes over to me.
“The tracker, remember you gave me the name which linked back to a dummy corporation. Have you had time to sort out who is behind the company?”
He nods. “Took some digging. It led to one man which led to a different man. A man by the name of Titus Blackwell.”
“You don’t fuckin’ say?”
“I do. Brother, whatever that broad has gotten herself into if it’s tied to that man, she’s fucked. You know it as much as I know it.”
Titus Blackwell is not a good man.
We all know him and his reputation. He operates the largest trafficking business on the East Coast. From guns to drugs to women, Blackwell has his hands in everything. Every government organization has their eyes on him trying to find an opportunity to take him out. He’s clever and hasn’t slipped up yet, but it’s only a matter of time.
What does that man have to do with Fox? More importantly, why would he be tracking her car?
I want to go grab her and take her out of here, but I can’t. Causing a scene on a day like today would be a disrespect to my club. Business is off the table so I can’t go to the club with what I know, which isn’t much.
But if Titus Blackwell is trying to move his organization into Haywood’s Landing … well, he should know that isn’t going to happen. He’s already tried before and been shut down by the Hellions.
Sexy as fuck woman or not, if she’s playing for his team then she just went from my lover to my enemy in a split second.
I’m left in one fucked up situation. I don’t know the broad well enough to say she isn’t tied to Titus Blackwell. More so, I don’t know what the fuck Titus Blackwell would want in Haywood’s Landing.
Our town is a small nook off North Carolina Highway 58. If you blink, you miss it. We don’t have strangers here because everyone knows everyone sooner rather than later. A quick drive shoots you over the high-rise bridge into Emerald Isle which is a hidden gem on the North Carolina coast.
Would he attempt to use the port in Morehead City for his business? I don’t know. But I damn sure plan to find out.
“Thanks, Swift. I’ll handle this. Your hands are clean from the work.”
He reaches up and grips my shoulder. “You ain’t in this shit alone.”
“I don’t know enough about what I’m in to know if it’s shit or not, Swift.”
He shakes his head. “BW, if it’s tied to Blackwell, it’s shit, you best believe.”
While I know that to be true it doesn’t mean I want to admit it just yet.
Since this is not the time or place to pull all of Fox’s skeleton’s out of her closet, I think it’s at least time to enjoy myself.
This is a Hellions barbeque after all.
Making my way back inside the main clubhouse, I go straight to the bar and toss back a crown and coke, heavy on the Crown Royal. It was my grandfather’s favorite drink and has been mine since the first time I got drunk.
Turning around I see her dancing with my sister.
The music plays, her hips sway. I am fucked.
What is it about this woman that I can’t turn away? She winds me up so tight I feel like I might snap and I don’t fucking know who she is. I feel it. I feel this absolute pull, this indescribable need to be close to her, to figure her out.
To make her mine.
It’s a dangerous game my heart is playing with my mind and I’m not sure which to follow. My heart says, claim her, save her, and give her my world. My head says, connection be damned she can’t be trusted.
My feet move before my mind registers that I’m about to make a fool of myself and I don’t even give a single fuck.
Going up behind her, I press my front to her back. My hands relax on her hips as I move her in rhythm with the song and my body.
For a moment she freezes before realizing it’s me and relaxing. Time stands still as I get lost in her. One song moves to the next, and the next, only the pace we keep changes. We don’t speak we just connect.
It’s heavy.
The air between us.
My sister leaves us which is good because I didn’t have any intention on letting Fox go off with her.
When things start to wind down, I lead her to the bar. She quickly tosses back a tequila shot. She’s nervous.
Why?
She tosses back another shot without even speaking to me.
My frustration only continues to grow with every passing moment. She’s hiding something and I want to know what. Taking her by the hand, I lead us to a back storage room. I don’t bother with the light, only shutting the door as I press her against the wall.
“You wanna act like we’re strangers Fox?”
“Blaine, I don’t know how to tell your sister I’ve been fucking her brother since I got to town. I didn’t know what to say. She said we were going to a barbeque, not a family barbeque. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”
I crash my lips to hers. We’re both all slobber and tongue as I taste the lime on her lips. There is nothing seductive or sexy about the way she paws at my cut and shirt before finding her way to my pants. As soon as her hand touches my crotch, all thoughts are gone.
The carnal desire between us is too much to deny. The frustration and anger I feel is only amplified by my own inability to resist her, because as much as she wants me right now, I want her right back.
Pulling her dress over her head, I drop down to suck her nipple. She’s gripping my head as my hands find her panties and rip them off. I feel her tug on my hair pulling me up. With my lips against hers, she wraps her arms around my neck and climbs me like a damn tree to wrap her legs around my waist. Her hands seek out my cock releasing me and sliding me inside her tight, wet cunt while I grip under her thighs and press her into the wall.
I could die right now and have not a care in the fucking world.
My pace is relentless as I thrust in and out. The more I let my mind clear, the more I work us both harder, faster. I need answers. I need release. I need to know the woman in front of me because she is like air to me and I don’t even know how it happened.
Her entire body is liquid as her orgasm rushes through her.
I keep going.
Licking, sucking, I attack her neck. Thrusting, I let my piercing glide up the wall of her pussy, giving her yet another orgasm.
Faster, higher I climb needing more.
“Blaine,” she cries out.
My name on her lips in a moment of ecstasy is exactly what I needed to go over the edge. Everything is forgotten as I spill my seed deep inside her womb.
I don’t give a shit about Titus Blackwell, this right here, I’m not letting go of.
Fuck it all, she is mine.
Chapter Nine
Karsci
Never judge a lion by the sound of his roar but rather the depth of his bite.
I’m in too deep.
I can feel it.
He knows something.
I feel like I’m leaving this barbeque fucked in more ways than what he just did to me in the storage room.
Blaine Crews wants to ask me about my past. I can see it in his stare. He’s figuring me out.
I don’t know how, but he’s onto me. I don’t have the answers he wants to hear. I won’t do that to him. Tell him the woman he’s been fucking is the property of a madman who left me with two options for my survival. The one I chose and continue to choice leaves scars on my soul that can never be repaired. Blaine can’t handle what lies inside me.
“Amanda, we gotta go,” Dia calls out as she passes by the door. “We have the early shift so we gotta go. I can’t leave you behind my brother might seduce you,” she mutters as she continues to search for me.
“He already has,” I whispered to the storage room.
Blaine looks at me, his blues eyes sparkling in the darkness of the space. “We’re gonna talk, Fox. You’re gonna tell me what’s going on behind those eyes.”
I shake my head. I can’t do that. I can’t have him look at me differently. And he will. I’m a monster and I have done unforgivable things. Once Blaine knows he will never see me the same again. I won’t survive losing him like that. I’m not strong enough to taint these good moments he’s given me with the truth.
“Dia’s right, I have the early shift. I gotta go. We can talk a different day.”
I throw my dress on not caring that it’s wrinkled as fuck. I start to walk out the door when his hand reaches out to firmly grip my arm.
“Don’t cross me or my family, Fox. Whatever you’re in we can help you, but don’t you fuck me over.”
I already have, I think to myself, but don’t dare say it.
I can’t do this with him. Not now, not ever. I swallow the lump in my throat and step out into the clubhouse. There is this pull inside of me to rush back to Blaine and tell him everything. There is this piece of me that says the only way to make this right is to give him the truth, my truth.
Except I can’t bring myself to do it.
Dia grabs my arm and half drags me away, not that I really fight her. I am more than ready to go.
Her mom drives us to her house since we both had been drinking. Delilah “Doll” Reklinger-Crews looks more like Dia’s sister than her mother. Dia and I are the same size so she said I could wear her scrubs to work tomorrow. Since I knew I would be going out with Dia, Cleo is at Salty Dog where I know she is safe and comfortable until I get to work tomorrow.
Entering her condo, the first thing I take in is the dog that immediately rushes to the door, barking. It’s like a wild beast of hair charging at me with the face of a lion ready to pounce.
She’s loud.
Her coat is long, her mane sticks out truly like a lion’s and her golden shade only adds to the regal look of the chow-chow dog in front of me. She snarls showing me her teeth and I freeze.
This dog wants to eat me alive.
Her blue tongue can be seen behind her teeth. Everything majestic about these dogs is gone and in it’s place is a territorial bitch ready to fight for her place.
“Sheba,” Dia chastises, “leave it,” she commands and immediately the dog drops to a sitting position and looks at her mom without another noise. Dia stops to pet her and the dog turns to follow its master like I’m not even in the room.
“Sorry, Amanda, she’s a bit territorial. She’ll ignore you now.”
“She’s beautiful,” I say admiring the gorgeous dog.
“She’s a handful,” Dia replies, “but she’s my world. She knows my every secret. Queen Sheba and we all bow down to her power,” Dia adds on a laugh. “The guest bedroom is the first door on the left. My room is at the end of the hall. I’ll lock her up with me in my room tonight so she won’t attack you if you wake up to pee or something. She doesn’t like new people.”
“Was she a rescue?”
“Sort of. I got her when she was a still a puppy but she had already attacked two other dogs in previous homes. She’s an alpha female so she doesn’t like bitches. It’s why we get along so well, I don’t like bitches either. Anyhow, when Blaine moved out I was lonely because honest-to- goodness my brother may be a dickhead sometimes, but he is an amazing brother. He always took care of me, watched out for me, and spent time doing whatever I wanted. When he moved into our grandfather’s house, I was lost and a little afraid when our parents would go away on club stuff. So they thought Sheba would be a good fit since chows are naturally territorial and prefer one person over everyone else.”
I nod. “Sounds like a match made in Heaven.”
“She’s simply everything.”
I smile happy for Dia. “Alright, time to crash because tomorrow the two greyhounds are coming in. Blakely told me to bring a change of clothes because I will be wearing as much water as they will.”
Dia laughs, “she isn’t lying.”
Oh hell. I need my energy but how can I sleep when there are too many things unresolved between Blaine and me. He’s obviously a genuinely good guy and I’m here to fuck him over in the worst way. I look at my phone and ignore the text message reminding me of my timeline and the tasks at hand. They are expected to be executed one at a time without delay.
***
One Week Later
Not one single word from Blaine.
He fucked me in a storage room and I haven’t had a single call or even the common courtesy of a text message since the barbeque.
I should count my blessings.
After all, I have no business getting tied to anyone.
But it eats away at me that he hasn’t reached out.
I have called and text, all of which have gone without response.
If he somehow figured something out, he hasn’t told his sister because she is still talking to me.
My cell phone rings. I don’t recognize the number. I answer with trepidation.
“Hello.”
“Dia needs her friend,” Blaine barks into the phone.
“Blaine? Where is she?”
“At the vets. We’re all out of town on business. Dia needs a friend. She asked for you.”
What’s wrong with Dia? Why is she at the vet?
“I’ll go right now.”
The line goes dead before I can ask for any more details. Moving to the grooming room, I find Sherri.
“I just got a call from Dia’s brother. Something has happened and she’s at the vet’s office. Do you mind if I take my lunch break to go see if everything is okay?”
“Oh heavens, take the afternoon off. Call if she needs anything.”
“Will do.”
I take off. The vet’s office is just up the road. The entire two minute ride feels like hours as my heart pounds rapidly inside my chest.
I’m not prepared as I rush in and promptly get asked to wait my turn.
Finally, after checking in two other dogs, the receptionist looks at me and nods.
“I’m here to see Dia Crews.”
Her face doesn’t change. She only raises an eyebrow as she thinks. “She has Sheba, the chow-chow right?”
I nod, she points to exam room two.
I walk in completely unprepared for what I find.
On the exam room floor, Dia is laying down with Sheba beside her. The dog lifts her head to look at me, but gone is all of the aggression and protection I faced just days ago. Instead, I’m met with golden eyes that are sad and defeated. The dog with so much life a week ago is resigned.
“Dia, what’s happened?”
The tears run down her cheeks as Sheba leans over and licks them away before laying her head back down.
“I don’t know, Amanda. She was fine. You saw her, she was active last week. Then,” Dia says taking a deep breath, “she started throwing up. At first I thought she ate a weed, but now it’s like all the time and she stopped eating and she isn’t acting right.”
Her eyes lock onto mine. The same eyes I look at when I look at her brother. Except in her eyes, her world is shattering. I see it, I feel it, and I’m helpless to do anything about it.
“Something isn’t right, Amanda. I don’t know what is wrong, but my girl is sick. She�
��s been there for me when I felt like I had no one else. She gets me when I feel like the world is against me. She’s everywhere I am and even when we’re apart I feel her in my heart.”
“Well, has the vet come in yet?” I ask, trying to catch up with what we are facing.
“They came in and checked her. Even though she isn’t showing physical reaction to pain and she doesn’t have a fever, they decided to do an x-ray. I’m waiting on him to come back and give me an update. “
“What do we do in the mean time?” I’m lost and totally not emotionally the person to be here for her. The skills I have are not anything to equip me for this level of heartache. I’m just not made to have these feelings.
Except looking at her, I feel her pain and it makes me sad.
This empathy I’m having isn’t something I have felt in a long damn time. Her eyes plead with me to take away the pain. Except I can’t. I wish with everything inside of me I could, but I can’t. Not everyone and every living thing can be saved.
My mind goes back to the last time I was this helpless to ease someone’s hurt.
“My, my, my, Sammi girl, look who we have here,” Titus mutters to my sister as he clicks his tongue against his teeth. “Karsci sure is growing up to be one beautiful young woman.”
My stomach rolls over and over in my body. The bile rises inside me slowly, inch by inch. My palms are sweating, my head pounds, and I swear I might faint.
Titus Blackwell is a huge man with broad shoulders and jet black hair that is slicked back. He wears a suit but even with the clothing on the man is bulky like the Incredible Hulk. I’m waiting for his clothes to bust at the seams.
“Sammi girl, my sweet, sweet Sammi, have you told your sister how things work around here? Soon, she’ll be at the age where she’s a woman.” He looks over to me like he wants to swallow me whole. “I remember when you changed.” He turns back to my sister and begins to grope her chest. “You filled it out the very best of ways Samantha Jo. I remember the first taste I had of you my sweet Sammi.”
I watch my sister who doesn’t show anything on her face, but it’s all in her eyes.
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