by J. L. Drake
Allen’s neck flexed, but he didn’t say anything.
I fought every week for the next six months.
I became a robot. Fight, train, fight.
Langley became more of a mentor than a coach. He was the one who made sure I had money in a private bank account so if anything were to happen, I would be okay.
The thunderous noise smacked me back to the present. I knew that muffler. Fuck!
Tess stared in the direction of the noise. I whistled and waved her over, and mother of hell, she actually came. She slowly waded in the water to not draw attention to herself. Thankfully, it was still dark, and we couldn’t be seen that easily. I met her under the pier and tugged her up onto the dry sand.
“Who are they?”
“Not someone I want you to meet.”
Keeping within the shadows, we moved to a better location under the pier so I could see them more clearly. They scanned the beach, obviously looking for a place to party. They were laughing about something. They drove their bikes down to a grassy patch near the edge of the water, but between us and the parking lot. Shit.
“Will you let me see?” she asked and tried to move around me. I stopped her and pushed her back behind me. “I’m not a child.”
“I’m aware.”
“Well?”
I turned to face her. She was so close, and I could smell her perfume. “I have six bullets to my name right now. There’s ten of them. Odds aren’t great.”
She grabbed my arm and edged closer as the guys came down onto the beach. I backed us up to a cement wall. Tess curled into me, her face buried in my shoulder.
“Tell me what to do,” she whispered.
“Don’t move, and stay quiet.” She nodded but peeked out as one the guys came under the pier for a piss while the others walked back down the beach.
He hummed a drinkin’ tune as he pissed about twelve feet away. He could hardly stand and bumped into the pillar. His mouth was open as he face planted, eating a heap of sand. A deep curse was muffled before he coughed it out. He looked up and saw us. He squinted, his mouth still open, wet sand around his lips.
“Wait, now. I know you…” he slurred at Tess then swiped out for her leg.
“No!” she hissed. “Trigger.”
“I could do such nasty things to you.”
Her fingers dug into my arm as I lifted her up behind me.
He moved to his knees, not at all registering me in front of him, his eyes glued as they were on her.
“I’ll use every hole—”
I lost sense of everything around me. One moment he was grabbing for her, and the next he was in a bloody pool of water, unconscious. My fist throbbed and blood made my neck pulse with adrenaline. Killing for disloyalty within my club was part of the job, but when my switch got flipped, it was a different feeling. Like going from one to one hundred in a blink, a sudden rush without being ready for it. I forgot how much I loved that feeling.
Panting in short breaths, Tess had her hands over her mouth as she stared at me.
“You scared of me now?” I muttered as I filled his shirt with rocks and tucked it into his jeans. She didn’t respond. She just sat there.
Tugging his body farther into the ocean under the pier, I waded above my knees and let him sink to the bottom. I knew it was the best I could do under the circumstances. Normally, I’d toss him off the end of the pier, but the rest of his members had made a fire and were already heavy into the booze.
Fuck me.
I snatched Tess’s arm and hurried her toward the lifeguard hut. My jeans were heavy, so it made it harder to move, but we needed a place to wait them out. The Serpents had a reputation, and two against nine wasn’t something I wanted to deal with right now.
“Come on.” I lifted her onto the platform and jumped up behind her. Once inside the little hut, I made her sit while I watched the men for a while. One did shout out a name, probably the guy I had whacked, but he eventually sat down and continued to party with the rest of them. The light rain didn’t seem to have any effect on their party, but I hoped it would eventually make them move on.
“Are you sure he’s dead?” she whispered. It was too dark to see her expression, but I could imagine what was going through her head.
“Well, yeah.”
“Good,” she huffed, to my surprise. “He’s nuts.”
Hold up. “You know who he is?”
“No…I…” she stumbled, which made me turn. “He just seemed nuts.”
The sound of the rain on the roof helped buffer our movements inside.
“What will they do if they find us here?”
With another glance over my shoulder at the Serpents’ party off in the distance, I sank to the floor and pulled out a joint and felt the paper. It was still dry, surprisingly. There was an offshore breeze this evening, so I knew they wouldn’t smell it. I wet one tip and lit the other.
I caught a glimpse of her worried face.
“Not me I’m worried about.” Smoke poured from my lips.
“Oh.” She paused. “What will they do to me?”
“You ever see that movie, Black Snake Moan?”
She cleared her throat quietly. “Yes.”
I didn’t say anything else; she got it. They would destroy her.
Tess didn’t move after that, and I wasn’t sure where her thoughts went.
The silence killed my head, and I needed something to distract me.
“Come here,” I commanded, but when she didn’t move, I reached for her hand and tugged her to me.
She crawled in between my bent legs in that sexy way from the strip joint. Flowers filled my head; her perfume was strong tonight. She was frozen, and her touch was like ice on my arms.
“You’re frozen.”
“I’m fine,” she whispered in a shaky voice and moved closer.
Her lips hovered above mine, her breath hot on my face. Her breasts just below my chin were a fucking tease. Her slender fingers cupped my jaw. When I breathed out, she leaned in and inhaled what I exhaled. My hands moved to slide down the backs of her cold thighs. The joint hung between my fingers as she moved to straddle my waist.
She started to touch me, but I grabbed her wrists and held them in place.
“Why don’t you let people touch you?”
I flinched at her question. I didn’t do personal information. I pulled her mouth to mine, and she came willingly. Her mouth parted and let me control the kiss. Delicious pain drove into my shoulders as her nails clawed through my shirt, hungry for more.
“Trigger.” She pulled back and lifted herself off my lap.
Gripping her hips, I slammed her back down. Her weight was perfect and helped ease the pain of my erection, which was constant when she was near.
“I can’t help myself around you.” She started to grind my lap with a little moan.
I started to ask what she was doing when she pulled at my belt. This girl was reckless at the worst of times.
Grasping her hands again, I held them up. “Not here.” I closed my eyes to control myself. My adrenaline was still lingering. “It’s not safe.”
She slipped her hands out of my grip. “I’m not scared of them.”
“I’m not talking about them.”
For a split second, she froze before she shuffled backward. “Lipstick it is, then.”
I dismissed her strange comment and watched as she sat across from me, her legs out straight, touching mine. I lit the joint that had gone out and took a long drag before I handed it to her.
“So?” She blew out a puff of smoke. “Why don’t you let people touch you?”
Really?
“You’re sexy as shit, Tess, but let’s not get the lines blurred.”
“Wow.” She laughed then handed me back the joint. “I’m not sure what you think I’m looking for, Trigger. I have zero interest in locking you into a relationship. I don’t date, don’t want kids, don’t want to answer to anyone.”
I chuckled. “You�
�ll answer to me.”
“Because you are my employer.” She added, “For now.”
That’s what you think.
We sat for a while, sharing the joint, and listened for company. After a bit, I heard her breathing even out. She curled herself into a ball in the corner. Finally, I let my guard down slightly. With one more glance out the window at the men on the other side of the pier, I knew they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. I closed my eyes. The sun should be up soon. I tried to tune in to everything around me, but it wasn’t long before I was fighting sleep.
“You fight for me, no one else. You want to live another day, you win. No one wants a loser, and the moment you lose, it’s over. Remember that.”
“No!” Her voice shot me back. To sunlight…
I scanned the room, and there was Tess holding my gun on me, but her eyes looked past me, and I felt cold steel press into my temple. Oh, shit. We’d been found.
Her hands shook as she clutched the gun. “Only a coward would kill a man in his sleep.”
“Tess.” I caught her attention, but only until he spoke.
“I’ll teach that mouth a lesson when I’m through with him.”
Her face flushed as her anger rose. The gun pulled to the side as she squeezed the trigger, her eyes tightly shut.
Bang!
The wall above me blew up, and wood went everywhere. I took that moment and elbowed him in the crotch. He yelped as he fell backward and tumbled to the sand.
“No!” Tess lowered the gun, trying to fire it again, but it jammed.
I jumped and raced out after him. The guy tripped on the rocks as he tried to climb the wall below the parking lot.
At that moment, I saw it was a Serpent. His crap was next to the pillar. He must have passed out and was looking for a place to sleep off the rest of his hangover when he found us.
My boots filled with sand as I closed the distance between us. Just as he looked over his shoulder, he tumbled and hit his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
I grabbed a hefty rock, held it above my head, and smashed it into his head. His skull crushed, and blood sprayed everywhere.
I should have been more careful, but the fucker was about to kill me and Tess. I glanced about but didn’t see any of the other members. I dragged him toward the water and hoped he would join his buddy on the sea floor.
When I looked up at the shore, Tess was flipping all the bloodied rocks over.
Who the hell is this girl?
I let my irritation surface as I hurried back up to the beach. We had to get the hell out of here in case any of the others were still here and sober enough to look for their men.
“Let’s go.” My fingers locked around her arm and rushed her up the rocks to my bike. Goosebumps lined her skin, so I tossed her my hoodie and handed her the boots from the saddlebag. Oddly, it was a turn-on seeing her in my clothes. Her shaky hands fumbled with the helmet strap. Pushing them aside, I helped her then started the bike. She awkwardly climbed on behind and rested her hands on my hips. With a sigh, I pulled her arms further around me. When would she learn?
With a twist of my wrist, I pulled out onto the highway. The Serpents might be on our ass soon. Weaving through morning traffic, I caught her expression in the mirror. It was empty, just as I predicted it would be. My life wasn’t meant to be shared by two.
I pulled up to her apartment and parked. Before my boots hit the ground, she jumped off with her purse and hung her helmet off the seat.
“Hey.” I grabbed her wrist. “You okay?”
“Are you?”
“That would imply I feel things.”
“Right.” She nearly laughed.
Fuck. “I just need to know you can handle what you saw.” Her back straightened and her jaw locked in place. “Brick may have gotten you in over your head coming here.”
“I might be smaller than you, Trigger, but I don’t break that easily.”
I laughed, surprised, and she got pissed. Her arms crossed as she shook her head.
“Demons find all kinds of people.” Her eyes darkened. “Just because I don’t share them doesn’t mean they aren’t running right alongside my life.”
“I’m listening.” I smiled, but it fell when her face twisted into a no-go warning.
“We don’t share, remember, Trigger? Stories lead to feelings, and feelings lead to pain. No one wants pain.”
“I guess everyone has their own version of pain.” I couldn’t help my sarcasm at this little chick, who most likely got dumped by a high school sweetheart and thought she knew how the world could dish out pain. Cute.
“You know what?” Her gaze fell to the ground and a small smile appeared. “Forget it.”
She started to walk to the door.
“Tess!” She ignored me. Hopping off my bike, I snagged her arm so she’d look at me. “Don’t walk away from me when I’m talking to you.”
“You’re a bit of an asshole, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged, not giving a shit. It was the truth. “Just tell me if you’re okay or not.”
Her eyes crinkled, but I caught a glimpse of exhaustion before she stepped forward and gently slid her hand over my erection, giving it a good tug. I fought the image of her mouth down there. I had to hold back my reaction. I didn’t care we were outside. I would take this woman now.
“I have balls of steel too, Trigger.” She backed into the building. “I’m not yours, so why do you care?”
“Be at the club at six.” With that, I left.
***
Tess
I felt a little better after my five-hour nap, hot shower, and a salmon stir-fry. It was amazing how eating right could make you feel decent after so much drama. It was a huge step up from when Brick and I used to steal McDonald’s creamers and sugars.
I tucked away what happened with Trigger. For whatever reason, the dead bodies didn’t bother me. Maybe because when I was eleven I saw a girl overdose in our living room and watched as they hid her in a trashcan like she was a roll of carpet. Disposable. I reminded myself to check in with my past every once in a while because it was a wise thing to do. It helped keep my guard up.
I grabbed my bag and headed down toward the waiting cab. The roar of a bike made me look up, and Rail beamed at me.
“Want a ride?”
I eyed the beast of a bike and decided it beat some dirty cab. I stepped away as the cab drove off.
What am I doing?
“Here.” He handed me a helmet and waited for me to climb on. I placed my hands on his waist, and it felt strange. “You good?”
No, my nerves kicked in.
I nodded once, and we sped away. He took the corners tight, and I felt the heat from the pavement on my legs. He ran reds, and when he did stop, he jolted instead of braking smoothly. He drove differently than Trigger, more recklessly, or maybe Trigger had just been kinder to me, but either way, I wouldn’t be riding with Rail again for a while. By the time we got to the club, my fingers ached and my feet had never been happier to hit solid ground.
Land!
“Thanks,” I muttered, rubbing my ass as I handed him back the helmet.
“Anytime.” He grinned at me.
“You’re back,” Brick called out, coming over for a hug, but instead he spun me around. “Damn, girl! I can see the bottom of your ass. Where are the rest of your shorts?”
I rolled my eyes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “It’s more than the other chicks wear.”
“That’s different!” He came up behind me. “You’re not supposed to be sexy. There’re too many men here who want a piece of you already. Don’t get me started on last night either.”
“Since when is there a dress code in this club?” I smacked his arm. “I can handle myself, Bricky.” I smirked at the nickname. I walked backward toward the bar. “Big girl, remember?” I turned, dropped my bag, and bent over at the waist to make him more uncomfortable. This was why we were best friends. We were assholes with big
hearts…but assholes first.
“Such a dick.”
I scooped up my bag. “Why, thank you.”
“But, really, the strip joint?” He leaned on the bar and watched me unpack. “Seriously, Tess, what were you thinking?”
I saw Trigger walk by the bar. He had changed into jeans, biker boots, and a dark t-shirt—and, of course, his cut. That was his normal attire.
“I was thinking I was fired and had no money.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No, Brick.” I rubbed his hand lovingly. “I don’t.”
His mouth twisted as he thought. “How much you need?”
“No.” I pointed the whiskey bottle at him.
“I might have a second job you could do to make some extra cash.”
“Really? Where?” Now, this idea, I liked. Money brought pride, and I really needed some of that right now.
“Rail owns a garage. Maybe you can do the paperwork or something?”
I thought for a moment then grinned. Other than his driving skills, he was fun to be around. “Would I get to wear those cute little coveralls with the zipper down the front?”
“I hate you.”
“Maybe I could roll it down and tie it at the waist, and have a cute little belly top.”
Brick tried to smack my arm, but I hopped out of the way. “Come here, Tess!”
I ducked under the bar and held my hands up as he got closer. “Or maybe no top at all!” I held up my hands like I was about to fight.
“That’s cute.”
“Come on, Brick.” I slapped his shoulder as I hopped back and forth. “Don’t hold back on me now. I saw how you were on the streets.”
“All right, Tess, show me your best.”
Morgan leaned over the counter and watched. Brick punched, but I jumped back with a yelp. I knew he’d never hurt me, but I wanted to win.
“Come on, Tiger,” Morgan hooted. “Use your assets.”
“Dude.” Brick dropped his arms and glared at him. “She’s my fucking sister.”
I tapped his cheek and laughed. “That’s, what? Two for me now? Yeah, two.”