Ride Me Hard (Black Horsemen MC Book 2)

by Sophia Hampton

  This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental.

  Ride Me Hard copyright @ 2015 by Sophia Hampton. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

  Part 2 of Black Horsemen MC trilogy

  CHAPTER ONE

  A scream filled the room. Blood curdling, aching—the noise only a man in overpowering pain could make.

  Gloria’s boiling water simmered to the top of the pan and ran down the side, extinguishing the fire that burning underneath. But the sound of the man screaming was her cue. She ignored the gas still running and the spoon still perched bobbing in the bubbly, frothy water. Her attention was only on the sound of the man crying out. “What are you doing?!” she screamed at Vinny as he lay on the floor of the living room. His legs were still on the couch, but he had managed to slip the top part of his body off. “You’re not supposed to move without help. Do you want to break another rib?”

  She couldn’t help but break into a smile at seeing him writhe in pain as he attempted, in vain, to lift himself back up to the couch. Vinny was well over six feet tall. His bare chest was covered in black and red tattoos. His face was full of bruises and scars from fights he had won and lost. Yet, here he was in his own home, weakened from a blow to his ribs. And Gloria got to bear witness to just how much a man like Vinny could break when pushed to the edge.

  She stood over him, her tiny arms crossed over her slight body and her foot tapping away impatiently. Yet a hint of a smile crossed her small face. She blew a strand of yellow hair from her eyes as she knelt down to offer him a hand.

  Vinny took his free hand and pushed her off. He was not about to let her help him anymore than she already had. It had been about a week now since he had woken up back in his apartment. Gloria had already been there several days, attending to his every need and care. But now that he was starting to get his bearings back and the drugs were finally wearing off, he saw no need for her to baby him. “Get off me, woman!” he shouted at her as she continued to try to lift him by hooking her arms underneath his armpits. “I can do this myself. I’m not completely helpless!”

  “Fine. Do it your way.” She dropped him back to the ground with a thud and took two steps back. He let out yet another cry of shocked pain. Her hand shot up to cover the burst of laughter she was about to release. But she knew better; Vinny was proud, almost to his detriment, so laughing at him—or even his situation—was a pretty heavy faux pas. Her best defense was to just roll with his silly demands and play along like nothing had happened to him, like she was not a part of the reason why he was so badly injured.

  “Ha-ha-ha.” Vinny turned his head to mimic her. “Laugh all you want. You won’t be laughing when I can manage to get myself off this goddamn couch. You best prepare.”

  She knelt down next to him, her face inches from his. She could feel his hot, sticky breath dance along the corner of her forehead. “Oh really?” she said, amused. “And what exactly best I prepare for?”

  He smiled wickedly, a fire sparked in his dark, steely eyes. “I promise you this: I won’t be babyin’ you like you been doin’ with me.”

  Vinny’s threat sent shivers down Gloria’s spine. She couldn’t help but remember those moments in her darkened bedroom the first night she met him. Sure, both of them were trying to play each other for information – Gloria had wanted to make him part of her blackmailing scheme; Vinny wanted her for an introduction to a motorcycle club – but each of them got what they were asking for and certainly more than they bargained for.

  Gloria answered him breathlessly as her mind filled of the memory of him twisting her body to his every need, him overcoming her till she was what he wanted, “Then you best get your ass back on this couch and let me take care of you until then.”

  Vinny slumped enough, allowing her to help place him back on the couch. This certainly was not what he wanted. Just a few short days ago, he was her bodyguard and an enforcer for the Black Horsemen Motorcycle Club. He was a 1%er with a reputation for being a take no prisoner kind of guy. He kept those who rebelled in line, and had no one giving him orders or helping him back to his makeshift bed.

  He could still smell the blood from all of his most recent assignments with the Horsemen. His most recent was working on a man named Junior who was suspected of double crossing the Horsemen with the rival gang, the Road Devils, by giving their leadership information on who they bought and sold merchandize from.

  It was actually Junior who led him to meeting Gloria. After Vinny had stepped up to vouch for Junior and to save him from getting killed under the Horsemen’s president’s command, the two were instructed to find out what the Road Devils had known and what their own drug operations looked like. Junior was to be used as an infiltrator, and Gloria was the perfect way to get him into the ranks by using her encyclopedic knowledge of everyone who frequented the motorcycle bar, Jackman’s Tavern.

  It worked like a charm with Junior getting in without a question. It should have set off red flags for both Vinny and Gloria, but they were too wrapped up in their own scheme. Vinny had totally let down his guard after Gloria blackmailed him. He negotiated a deal where he would work with her as a bodyguard while she conned the locals rather than to pay her a ridiculous sum of money. In exchange, Gloria would keep her knowledge of the Horsemen’s scheme to herself.

  Now, Vinny was no longer her bodyguard. In fact, it was him who had her to thank for keeping him alive. Vinny had failed to see the danger in Carl. He thought he could take him. But the thirst for vengeance made Gloria stronger. She had followed Vinny back to the Horsemen’s headquarters where she watched Carl and Junior beat the crap out of him in the parking lot. If she had not been there to stab Carl in the back, the same way he stabbed her in the Tavern’s parking lot during her first blackmail attempt, it certainly would have been Vinny’s body buried in a shallow grave.

  He owed her his life now. It wasn’t just that he was her bodyguard or that she had some power over him. The moment he had woken up to see her standing over him, bandaging his body, he had sworn to himself that he would never let her be in harm’s way again. He was sworn to his oath that he was going to protect her with whatever time left he had.

  But he was useless on this couch. He was powerless and weak. It reminded him of being a child on a sick day where his mom would sit him on a couch watching reruns of old westerns while she fixed him up a bowl of homemade soup. While kids in his class would purposefully fake sick to bank on those kinds of days, Vinny wasn’t one to enjoy those moments. He wanted to be a part of the action. He wanted to ride off to where danger was and meet it head on.

  He couldn’t do a thing for Gloria or himself while he was fixed to the couch with powerful pain narcotics still coursing through his body. He had to make a plan to escape. He had to find a way out. By his count, it was Tuesday afternoon. In a few short hours, members of the Horsemen would be gathering at headquarters to discuss and recap the last month. Certainly, there was going to be talk of what happened with Vinny. No one was going to miss the opportunity to ask about the fresh mound of dirt in the back of the warehouse where the grunts dug a hole for Carl.

  If he wasn’t there to talk it through, the only witness to the action would be Benni, and Vinny wasn’t certain at what he had seen. He had suspected that Benni had seen more than he let on when Vinny entered the quarte
rs to call for his help. He looked too bewildered, too taken aback. He had sprung into action so quickly. While Vinny had only been a member of Benni’s crew and had only ridden under Benni’s command, he couldn’t imagine someone being so calm and collected when his second-in-command turned out to be both a trader and a dead man.

  Now Vinny had a new worry: Benni could have seen Gloria sneaking away after killing Carl. And if he saw that, her certainly watched as Vinny set Junior free to go give a warning to the rest of the Devils. Vinny would not only have to be there to defend himself should Benni bring up Carl and Junior at the meeting, he would also have to account for just who Gloria was and why Vinny had let a woman do a man’s job. Getting to that meeting was a must. And Gloria was not about to get in his way.

  But as she stirred the contents of her pot, she, too, was looking to make a break from the life she had suddenly found herself living. Becoming Vinny’s caretaker was not in her wheelhouse. Sure, she felt like she owed him something. He had lived up to his word to protect her from danger. Him showing mercy to Junior had humanized him to her. And him covering up her murder by taking credit for it would probably be the only way she walked out of that situation alive.

  However, she was not about to let her want to see this through the end get the better of her. She knew not to stick around motorcycle club guys, let alone the dangerous ones. It was her stupid idea to blackmail someone so powerful in an attempt to get a bigger paycheck. If she could only just slip out and away, back to her old life where she was singing in the Jackman’s Tavern and laying out cons on the side, she would be safe. She would be happy—she would be free. Instead, she was waiting on the man she owed her life to. Her life had become bandaging ribs, giving him a bath with wet towels and sponges, and cooking up the small amounts of food he could tolerate with his medication.

  Gloria let out a long sigh as she looked down at where she left her cellphone. She pushed it to turn on as she looked at the time. It was just about ten. If life were back to normal, she would just be setting up for her regular performance at Jackman’s. She would be uncoiling wires, singing scales in the bathroom stall, or reviewing over her book of lyrics.

  But when she found herself in this predicament, she had canceled her upcoming shows by calling in sick. Her voice was gone, she told the owner of the tavern. He couldn’t argue with her. She already knew too much about him to try to force her to show or to threaten to pull the rest of her performances for calling in so late.

  It was too late to go back on that and show up for a gig. For one, she couldn’t call in the band and get them to appear last minute just because she had a change of heart. And two, she was still needed here. Her conscious wasn’t too strong, but it certainly wouldn’t release her of her duty to Vinny.

  Gloria turned her phone off again as she spooned the bowl of noodles into a plastic bowl and tossed on some sauce. Grabbing two spoons, she returned to the living room where Vinny sat upright on the couch, pushing away at the television’s remote as he searched for something new to watch. Gloria pulled up a small folding table and sat next to where his legs outstretched.

  “Spaghetti? Again?” Vinny teased her, knowing she wouldn’t take it well.

  “Are you seriously complaining about my cooking? The fuck would you do without me if I wasn’t here? I don’t see any Horsemen showing up at your doorstep with casserole dishes or takeout menus.”

  “Woah there, girly,” he said, raising his hands defensively. “I’m just teasing you. Ease up on them reins.” Vinny’s mind raced; he had found his solution.

  Gloria looked down at her dish. Pasta was the only thing she had been able to cook. Most her nights were spent at the tavern where she ate bar food served to her straight from the kitchen. If she was on the road or at a practice, she would have Jordan – her employee, roommate, and band member – grab her something quick from a local diner or fast food chain. She had loved living without responsibilities or tasks.

  It was how life was supposed to always be for Gloria. She had all the power with none of the obligations. Being here with Vinny was starting to feel like suffocation. She calmed herself down as she turned back to where he was sitting, waiting on her reply, “Sorry. I’m just feeling a li’l stir-crazy. I’m not one to sit around and watch TV, y’know?”

  “I getcha. I’m feelin’ a bit cooped up myself. I just want to get in some rides before the weather turns for winter.” He tried to act sincere and downcast.

  “Yeah, I’m sure this is worse for you than it is for me. I just keep thinking about all my shows I’m missing.” It was true. Gloria only wanted one thing out of life: to sing. Not being given a stage was slowly eating away at her insides.

  “Then why don’t you go out? You don’t gotta stay with me. I’m fine here. Can’t really go nowhere anyway.” He threw off the red blanket draped over his chest to gesture at the cream colored bandages wrapped around his upper waist. A pained look washed over his face as he clenched a side.

  “You sure?” Gloria’s mind raced. Vinny was giving her a pass, but she was not entirely sure if this was a legit offer. “I don’t wanna leave you if you plan on doin’ somethin’ dumb...like gettin’ up off of this couch for any reason.”

  “I’m not going to go anywhere. I learned my lesson when I tried to get up last time, remember? Plus, there’s nowhere for me to go. No one from the club has called me or stopped by. I don’t have an assignment. Hell, you don’t even need me to do your blackmail bidding. I’m not good for anything, let alone anybody.”

  Gloria conceded that he was right. She had his phone next to her at all times in case she needed to make a quick getaway. It was silent from the day she broke into his place to this very moment. Not even a text message or email. It was probably a safe bet that him trying to get back into action was not even going to work if he tried. No one wanted a broken motorcycle club member around. What good was he to them?

  “Okay. Then I’m going to go to Jackman’s for a couple hours just to check in on Jordan and pick up some envelopes. I’ll run to the store, too, and pick up a frozen pizza or somethin’ since my pasta-making doesn’t live up to your expectations.” Gloria was only halfway through when she got up to grab her purse and her brown leather coat from the living room floor. She couldn’t move quicker. “I’ll see you when I get back, okay?”

  Vinny smiled enthusiastically as he whispered, “Have fun.” He watched her open the door and head downstairs. He waited in place, his hands wrapped around the blanket, as he listened for the sound of her car starting up and pulling out of the apartment complex’s driveway. When he had his confirmation of her departure for good, he slowly pushed off of the couch, the pain of his broken rib ripping through his side.

  He took two giant breaths, sucking in as much energy as possible, as he took his first steps forward. Gloria had supported him whenever he walked, and now he was forced to get his legs back to working order. With every painful step, he willed himself to go one more, to walk faster, to move more swiftly. He wasn’t going to get very far fast if he couldn’t even get himself to his bedroom to dress and then down the stairs to where his motorcycle was parked.

  But he managed it. His escape plan had worked. Now he just had to figure out how to get back on the motorcycle and to the Horsemen’s headquarters before the meeting could start.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jackman’s Tavern was jumping that night. The parking lot was packed with men and several women scantily dressed women hung out on the tops of cars and leaned against the few rows of black motorcycles. Inside was more of the same. As soon as Gloria opened the swinging black door, the noise of men shouting and women laughing assaulted her.

  It’s Tuesday, right? Gloria asked herself. She was only used to the regular crowd of Jackman’s on Tuesday night. Old, silent, and there to just waste their brains away with hard liquor, the familiar faces were scattered amongst a younger crowd. They, too, were there to drink, but they had a heat about them.

  And when she wa
lked in, that fire seemed to almost ignite in a blaze. At least twenty young men gazed at her with curiosity. She tried to ignore it. As the singer in this bar, she was used to getting unwanted attention. Mostly, it was from older men, drunks who got too enamored with her when she accidentally sang their favorite songs. In some cases, her attractive appearance had paid off. She had managed to use her sexuality and her ease around men to weasel out information. It worked for Vinny when she slept with him to earn his trust and slip out a bit of identifying information. It worked for others, as well.

  But tonight, she was focused on her task. She wasn’t planning on taking on new clients. It would have been too much work, too much effort. She just wanted to go about her regular business of collecting a couple of envelopes of cash from her blackmail clients and check in on a few of her more suspicious customers and head back home. Old business first. She could deal with getting the new when Vinny was healed and she could put herself back in action.

  Slipping in her favorite booth at the very back of the bar, she took another look around the room. By her survey, the men who had caught her eye in the beginning were still staring at her now. She couldn’t see why. The bar was full of young, attractive women with the breasts practically hanging out of their shirts and their mouths open and waiting. Yet the men were not buying into them.