by Jenika Snow
“You’re feeling better?”
She looked back at Marx, the president of this MC, and nodded in response to his question. “Yes, thank you. The pills Malice gave me last night helped me sleep.” She shifted on the chair and took note that the five guys that were currently seated at the table with her were big, scary looking, and had their attention solely on her. The doctor had also given her some medicine, and whatever they were had helped her feet feel a lot better. Of course there was still discomfort when she walked¸ but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been yesterday. Or maybe she had just needed a really good night’s sleep? She had certainly gotten that last night, too. “I should have thought before just running out of there, but I just reacted.”
What had happened wasn’t a secret. She had told Malice, and then when she had woken up over an hour ago and sat down in front of all of them she had repeated the same thing. She also hadn’t missed the way they looked at each other after she had told them everything Phillip had done to her. Well, most of what he had done. She hadn’t gone into detail about her relationship with him over the last several months. Some things were just better left in the past, and, besides, she’d only had one good month with him. Truthfully she was ashamed that she had been such an idiot to fall for his manipulation in the first place.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better, but that prick and what he did need to be put in the past. Let’s focus on the future.” Marx leaned back in the chair, and it creaked slightly from his weight.
All of these men were huge, scary, and didn’t take shit from anyone, that much was clear. It wasn’t just the bulk of denim and leather that they wore, but the strength and power that came from them.
“So, what are your plans after you get your money out of the bank?”
She looked at the clock. The bank wouldn’t open for another hour, and although she only had a few hundred dollars in there, she was glad she had at least been smart enough to start an account years ago. There wasn’t much money in it, because anything she had earned had gone to support her, and her brother when he had been alive. “I don’t know honestly. All I know is I want to get as far away from Fairview as I can with what little money I have.”
Marx glanced at Malice, and she watched some kind of silent communication going on between them. She had heard a small bit of conversation where she pieced together that Malice and a few other men had come up here from Colorado to take care of some kind of business. What that business was clearly wasn't known to her, and Adrianna didn’t know if she even wanted to know. There was a banging noise that came from the other side of the clubhouse house in one of the backrooms. She glanced down the hallway at where the sound came from, but Marx speaking again drew her attention.
“And how much are we talking about that you have to work with?” Marx asked.
“Not a lot, less than five hundred dollars, but that’s enough to get me a good distance away.” At least she hoped. She had no clue what the cost of a bus ticket would be, but surely it wouldn’t be that expensive, especially given the fact it was one-way.
Marx started tapping his fingers on the table. “You have any skills?”
“Skills?”
“No.” Everyone turned and stared at Malice. He had said that one word so forcefully that her heart started beating faster because of it.
“No what?” Marx leaned forward and braced his arms on the table as he addressed Malice.
“You know exactly what I am refusing, Marx.” The two men stared at each other for several seconds after Malice spoke.
“The way I see it we put her up for a whole night, gave her some of our narcotics, and had to make a call into the doc to come and check her out. I think we are owed.”
Adrianna felt this frigid blast slam into her, and she realized it came from Malice. She had no clue what was happening, but she didn’t want these guys fighting over her. “I can pay you for letting me stay here.” Even though she had little to her name, they had helped her, and she knew better than anyone that things in this world didn’t come for free.
“Honey, this club makes money a different kind of way,” Marx said and grinned at her.
“I said no,” Malice said again, but this time it was harder, and fiercer.
Marx held up his hands in surrender. “All right, all right. No need to get possessive, Malice. I was just putting that option on the table.” He looked over at her, braced his hands on the table, and then pushed himself up so he was standing. “I was only teasing you about paying, honey.” He looked over at Malice. “Everything’s all good, brother.” There was a tense moment that passed, and then Malice nodded and seemed to relax marginally. “You’re taking the shipment with you at nightfall?”
Malice nodded, and Marx grunted in response.
“We’ll keep shit on the quiet while everything is getting set up. No need to alert the cult fanatics to what’s going on. They’ll have their signs and be shouting that we are cruel and immoral motherfuckers.” He glanced at Adrianna, winked, and turned to leave. The other man that had been sitting beside him got up and left, too.
They left out of the front, and then it was just her, Malice, and the two bikers that she knew were with him. The silence stretched on, and finally she spoke. “I’m sorry if I caused any problems.” Marx might have acted like he was teasing, but Adrianna knew that Malice hadn’t liked whatever he had been getting at.
Malice said something low to the men sitting beside him, and a second later they rose and disappeared down the back hall where she had heard the noise come from. Keeping her gaze locked on them, she watched as they pushed a door open, and she swore she heard women talking. She felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end, and she turned to see Malice staring at her. She didn’t know why she had felt that way just then, because it wasn’t like there weren’t women walking around in barely there clothing and cleaning up, but something about the women she had heard in the back made her a bit unsettled.
“You’re not any trouble,” he said, breaking up the weird vibe that was filling the room.
“Are you sure? Because I know I kind of created this whole big shit-storm by intruding in on your lives.”
The corner of his mouth kicked up, and she felt this warmth fill her. It started at her toes and worked its way up her whole body. He shrugged and braced an arm over the back of his chair. “Believe me, this is one of the smallest inconveniences we have ever had.”
Adrianna swallowed and nodded, but she couldn’t get Marx’s words out of her head. “Can I ask what exactly he was saying about payment?” There was a part of her that didn’t want to know, but then again there was another part that already had an idea of what Marx had been referring to. The sound of glasses clanking had her looking to her right and seeing a woman drying dishes behind the bar. Another one, a bit younger than the barmaid, came out of a back room with a crate of beer. She wore a cutoff tank, had teased bleached hair with dark roots, and looked the worse for wear. When she looked back at Malice it was to see him wearing that same hard expression. He looked pissed, but before she could say anything he started speaking.
“I’m sure if you think about it hard enough you can come up with what Marx was implying.” He ground his teeth, and she saw that his hands were in tight balls on top of the table.
“Sex.” She didn’t phrase it like a question, and Malice didn’t respond, but he did clench his jaw even harder. This reaction from him was odd, but maybe there was more of a history between the two men?
“Sex, and more.”
“More?” She sat up straighter, and her mind worked on all that “more” could mean.
“More, Adrianna. As in spreading your legs for a john and making the club money.” He stood suddenly and started pacing. “Willingly of course, because the club doesn’t force women to have sex with men. We can be bastards, but we aren’t sck fucking men that like to see women hurt.” He seemed so off kilter, and she may not know him very well, but for some reason Adrianna had a feel
ing this wasn’t how he normally was.
Her pulse pounded faster, but she wasn’t surprised by this revelation. In fact, this wasn’t even a new topic for her. She had seen her mother whore herself plenty of times to the men that came and went through their shack of a house. It had been a part of her life, and how sad was that? “Malice?”
He stopped packing and stared at her, and for a second that was all they did. “Yeah, Adrianna?”
The way he said her name shouldn’t have had this tingle moving around in her belly. She opened her mouth, not exactly sure what she was going to say, but the sound of glass breaking on the ground saved her from saying something monumentally stupid.
“Sorry, guys.”
Adrianna looked over at the young woman that had dropped the glass. She smiled and waved at Adrianna, and she found herself smiling back. She felt so weird when a stranger showed her any kind of kindness.
“If you’re ready I can take you to the bank,” Malice said, and she looked back at him. Leaving right now sounded like the best thing to do, especially considering the offer of having sex with random men. She stood, smiled to soften the situation, and waited for him to say something else. Maybe he was going through personal problems, and having her to deal with, and this need to handle Phillip was just the straw that broke him? It seemed plausible, and the sooner she got away the sooner they could both get on with their lives.
“Yeah, okay,” she said in this weird tone.
He tilted his head toward the bedroom she had stayed in last night, and she made her way back there. She didn’t get far limping to the room though. A second later Malice had his arm wrapped around her waist and was supporting her weight as they moved forward.
“I can walk, Malice. My feet do feel better.”
“You’re good like this,” he said gruffly and kept moving forward. “But I don’t think rushing off is the best thing to do right away.”
She tilted her head back and looked into his face, but he was leading her around the corner and into the room before she could say anything. “I think that is actually the best plan.” He put Adrianna on the bed, but stayed back. He moved over to the wall and leaned his big body against it and crossed his arms. He took on this very confrontational position, but she didn’t let it get to her. He was dealing with his own shit clearly, and so was she.
“What if I could get you a job in Colorado?”
That statement had everything inside of her and around her stopping. “What?” She had heard him right … right? “A job?” Adrianna shook her head in puzzlement. “You don’t even know me, and I have more emotional baggage than even I can carry.” To think that he would offer her a job just because he wanted to make sure she was okay had tears forming in the corners of her eyes. But of course the cynical and wary part of her, the one that had kept her alive this whole time because she relied on it, told her that this man had a lot of darkness in him, too. He might be dangerous, but underneath that tough exterior she had experienced a gentler side of him.
“Yeah, Adrianna, a job.” He pushed away from the wall, and stopped when he was a few feet from her. “But before you say anything, I want you to know what you’d be getting yourself into if you agreed to it.”
And there was the ball being dropped, because whatever Malice had to tell her most likely wasn’t anything good.
Chapter Six
What in the fuck are you doing, Malice? That was the thought that passed right through his head when told Adrianna about a job in Colorado. What the hell was he thinking offering her something that didn’t even exist? And if she actually accepted the offer, even after all of the bad shit he was about to tell her, he was going to have to deal with the possible blowback from bringing an outsider to the club for protection. But he hadn’t been able to help himself, and he had already said the words before he even realized what in the hell he was doing. He exhaled and ran his hand though his hair, which was getting a little too long. He grabbed the chair over by where he had just been standing and pulled it over so he could sit in front of her. For a second all he did was stare at his hands, trying to figure out what in the hell he was going to say. Did he even have a job that she could do if she agreed to come with him? He was sure he could find something for her within the club, but he would have to get it okayed by Lucien and the rest of the members. He hadn’t even talked to Lucien, and although they had former pros working jobs with the MC that had nothing to do with putting out, those girls had put in their time or were recovering from a traumatic past.
But wasn’t that the same thing going on with Adrianna? She was hurt and needed a safe haven. He could provide that for her. He wanted to provide that for her. What Malice did know with so much fucking certainty that he could have choked on that shit was the fact he couldn’t let her just disappear. He didn’t know why he felt that way, and didn’t question it. His instincts told him she needed to stay close, and he always went with what his gut said.
“My home club is in River Run, Colorado.” He looked up at her with his eyes only and kept his head downcast. “I can’t say for sure what kind of job you would be doing, but it sure as fuck wouldn’t have anything to do with selling your body.” He straightened in his seat and rubbed his hands over the worn denim that covered his thighs. She hadn’t said anything in response, but there was this very uncertain and surprised look on her face. “I know this is a really random and insane suggestion, but I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t have a problem with leaving you at the bank to find your own way.” He leaned back in the chair, and the wood creaked from his weight.
“And if I said just leave me at the bank, you would be okay with that?”
He didn’t miss the way she kept picking at the edge of her shirt. At least Marx and brought in a change of clothes for her this morning. She was no longer in those near to transparent tank and shorts, and now wore a pair of these black legging type pants that formed to her like a damn second skin. At least her shirt was long and covered her ass, because he had seen the way the stretch material of her pants had molded to the big, lush mounds. The thought that every damn biker in this place would be jerking off to that sight at some point pissed him off. He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Totally your call. I’m not going to strap you down to my bike and make you go anywhere.” No, he wouldn’t, but fucking hell just thinking about watching her walk away, possibly falling into the same life she was trying to run from, had him uneasy.
“I mean, not that I won’t forever be grateful that you and the others helped me, because I will be, every single day.” She looked down at her hands in her lap. “I just think going with you might not be the best thing for either of us.”
He wasn’t going to argue how that wasn’t the case, or beg her to come with him. He meant it when he said it was totally her call, and he was just going to have to deal with her decision. He stood, clenched his hands at his side, and nodded once. “If you’re up to it we can leave as soon as you’re ready.” He might let her go, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed because of it.
She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll just finish getting ready.”
He left her alone, and strode toward the front doors of the clubhouse, but stopped when he heard a door open down the hall. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Rock and Ruin come out of the back room where he knew the women they would be taking back to River Run were currently staying. There were six of them total, not a lot in the grand scheme of things, but for a town this small even one girl selling her pussy was a lot.
Rock and Ruin each lifted their chin in greeting, and the three of them headed out the main doors. Ruin was lighting a cigarette before the door even shut behind them. The sound of music blasting on the other side of the clubhouse told Malice some of the guys were working in the garage, and that was verified when there were some choice words yelled about a Harley engine.
“Everything a go for heading back to River Run tonight?” Ruin asked and moved over to one of the picnic tables off to the side.
&
nbsp; Malice nodded. “Yeah, as long as the cargo is all set, and we don’t have issues with these protesting people Marx keeps talking about.” He didn’t particular like referring to the women as cargo, but with all the shit happening in Fairview right now there might be prying eyes and open ears.
“It’s set, just packing up some more shit, but I told them to carry light as whatever they need will be provided to them once we get back to Colorado.”
Malice nodded again and leaned against the wall of the building. All he could think about was Adrianna, and what would happen to her once they left Fairview and her behind.
“Malice, man, did you hear me?” Ruin said from around his cigarette.
“What?” He could use a joint right now, something to help ease this wild tension he felt inside, but it was fucking early for all that.
Ruin inhaled deeply from his cigarette, held the smoke in, and then exhaled. “Just making sure you heard me and the shit I said about the girls?”
Malice scrubbed a hand over his face. “Yeah, I heard. I just got other things on my mind.”
Rock grunted out something unintelligible, and turned to look at Malice.
“What?” Malice wasn’t about to listen to Rock’s bullshit either.
The other biker shrugged and moved over to sit beside Ruin on the table. “Nothing. Just wondering what’s the word on that woman, and if that is what you have been focusing on lately.”