by Zoey Parker
I couldn’t stay that way forever, so I pushed myself up and rolled off of her. Her eyes were closed, her breathing still a little raspy. I kept my mouth shut. Things got really uncomfortable, really fast.
“Thank you for that,” she whispered.
“Anytime.”
She giggled. I guessed we were going to forget what I said.
It was just as well.
Chapter Twenty
Michelle
How the heck was I supposed to act after that?
Not after the sex. After the sex, I fell asleep. He didn’t hold me anymore, though. I slept closer to him than I did the night before, but still not touching.
It was for the best because I had no stinking idea how to come back from the little slip up toward the end. I told him I was his. What the hell was I thinking?
And he said it first, which was even more mind-blowing. I thought about it as I was falling asleep, and I remembered what Mac said about guys feeling protective toward women. He probably thought I was his in that he had saved me from danger. Hey, if that was what it took, more power to him.
But it didn’t mean I was his going forward. Did it?
How did I feel, anyway? I reminded myself not to fall in love with him just because he’d rescued me. It was easy to fall for a guy when he got you out of a jam. I remembered one time when a stranger pulled over to the side of the road to help me change a flat. By the time the spare tire was firmly fixed to the car I was convinced we were meant to be. And that was just a measly tire change, not saving me from rape and murder.
I was still thinking about it when I fell asleep, and it was the first thing on my mind when I woke up. How was I supposed to act around him?
It took a moment to realize I was alone, and I rolled over and sat up in surprise. “Eric?” I called out, clutching the blankets to me. I heard the fear in my voice and reminded myself I was a grown woman, not a scared little girl. There was nothing that could hurt me, not when he was around to protect me. I was sure of it.
I just needed him actually to be around.
I heard his voice, and relief flooded my body. “In the kitchen!” I sighed, holding my hand over my thumping heart. I couldn’t believe how scared I was just being alone in his bed.
I dressed quickly, spent a minute in the bathroom, then went downstairs. I wondered what could possibly be happening in there. He certainly didn’t cook.
And he wasn’t cooking when I found him. He was seated at the table with three other men. One was much older, with a long white mustache to match his white hair. I knew instinctively he had to be Spike. I had no idea who the other two were—younger, handsome enough, both solidly built with dark hair and dark eyes.
“Guys, this is Michelle. Michelle, this is Joe, Pete and Spike.” I knew it. Then, Eric added, “Joe and Pete were with me yesterday.”
I pulled the two of them up out of their chairs and gave them the tightest hugs I could manage. “Thank you so much,” I blubbered. I needed a tissue after that, and I left the room to clean my face up.
When I got back, Eric handed me a cup of coffee. “These guys were nice enough to go to the store and get some actual food in this place. I don’t like the idea of delivery men coming and going.”
“Why?” I looked around the room. All of the faces looking back at me were stern, tight.
“We have to keep the house under pretty tight surveillance,” Spike said. “After what happened to you yesterday, and an attack on some of the men two nights ago, we know that a rival gang is stalking our members, so to speak. Their leader has a thing out for Eric here.”
“He’s the one who sent the guy to ambush me,” Eric said, his voice quiet. I stared at him in shock.
“What’s his problem? What did you do to him?”
“He just fucking hates me, that’s all. Sorry to be so crude, but it’s true.” He had never apologized for being crude before. Who was this new person in front of me? I couldn’t help but remember what he said in bed.
“It’s all right,” I assured him. “So he hates you, and he wants to hurt you. I get that. So, what, he had his men follow me to my house yesterday?”
“Yeah. We heard on the streets they screwed up a kidnapping. I’m sorry it happened.”
I shrugged. “You couldn’t help it. I’m just glad my saviors came after me. So what next?”
The four of them exchanged looks. “Nothing you need to be worried about,” Eric said.
“Are you sure about that?” I shot him a meaningful look. I wanted to remind him of what we said without actually coming out and saying it.
“Maybe we should go,” Spike said, clearing his throat.
“Yeah, I’ll see you later. And, Michelle, these two will be sitting out front all day.” He motioned to Joe and Pete.
“Why? I mean, that’s nice and everything, but why do we need them? Won’t you be here?”
He looked uncomfortable, and the others left in a big hurry. Once the front door closed, he looked at me.
“No, I won’t. I have to take care of a few things.”
I felt cold again, and I wrapped my arms around myself. He put his arms around me.
“I’m sorry. You’re perfectly safe here,” he said.”
I rested my head on his chest and sighed. “So why the guard out front?”
“That’s who will make sure you’re safe,” he said with a smile in his voice.
“What are you doing?” I pulled back, searching his face for any sign of a plan. “Something dangerous?”
“When do I ever do dangerous things?” he asked, grinning.
“I mean it. You said it yourself last night. Don’t leave me here by myself. Don’t not come home.”
He smiled more genuinely this time. “You really care whether I come home?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Nobody ever did before.”
“So all the more reason why you should.” I kissed him gently, then wrapped my arms around his shoulders and squeezed. I closed my eyes and prayed for him to stay safe. I wasn’t sure what I would do without him anymore.
###
“He said what?”
“I know, I know.” I paced the floor like I always did when I was stuck on something. I couldn’t get out of my head the way Eric told me I was his. “And I agreed with him,” I mumbled.
“Holy crap, girl! What the hell?” Mac was clearly flabbergasted, screaming into the Bluetooth device in her car on the way to work.
“I know, okay? It was in the heat of the moment.”
“What happened after that?”
“Like, when we were having sex?”
“No. Duh. Afterword. Did either of you say anything about it?”
“No. it’s like it never happened.”
“It definitely happened.”
“Obviously. I don’t know what to do now. It’s out there.”
“Did you mean it?”
I sat down on the couch. “I don’t know.”
“You do. You just don’t want to say it.” Then she honked and cursed out another driver, making me laugh and breaking the tension.
She turned her attention back to me and her voice was kinder. “Listen. It’s okay if you meant it. Really. No judgment. There’s no telling why two people come together. It was just fated. You can’t help it.”
“It just doesn’t seem like me at all, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed. “Maybe this was who you were waiting for all this time, and you just didn’t know it.”
“Yeah, a biker who just got out of prison.”
“He just what?” she asked, her voice getting a little shrill. I heard a noise at the door—Eric. I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Let me let you go. He’s back. I’ll call you later.” I hung up and stood with a smile, ready to greet him with open arms. Mac was right. Maybe it was meant to be. I was willing to embrace it, no matter what it meant.
Chapter Twenty-One
Eric
I went to the clubhouse after leaving home. I had to remind myself at least three times on the way that Michelle was completely safe at the house. It was the safest place for her. Nobody could get in, and nobody was getting out. Meaning her. She wouldn’t be sneaking around anymore—though I doubted she would want to after what happened already.
Things were tense with my men, and I understood why. Nobody liked looking over their shoulder wherever they went. It was never easy when things got this way, and it happened from time to time. Another club would be pissed about something we did, or maybe there’d be a problem with one of our business partners. Tension would rise. It was never fun, but it always blew over.
After talking things out with Spike, and calling over to the hospital to run the plan by Slash, I was pretty confident in what my next steps would be to make sure our little problem with the Reign of Chaos was put to bed.
I was never so ready to fight. Even in prison I never felt the urge to kick the shit out of somebody the way I felt it toward Gareth. I didn’t even hate him so much when I was in prison, and I knew he was the reason I was there. It took Michelle to push me over the edge. She showed me what I was willing to do to get revenge. I would do anything it took, as long as he paid for what he thought he could do to my woman.
My woman. It sounded weird when I thought it. I didn’t know if she really wanted to be my woman or if she only screamed it in the heat of passion. I didn’t wanna hold her to it. I felt like such an asshole. Since when was I so whipped?
Once I checked in with the club, I headed out to a bar I liked to go to sometimes. Not that I didn’t like spending time with the club, but once in a while it was good to get out and see new faces. Everybody knew who I was, so it wasn’t like they wouldn’t accept me, unless it was a bar the Reign of Chaos hung out at. They were the only club we had a problem with.
I wasn’t going there to drink—not at noon, though it wasn’t like I never drank that early before. I wanted to see if any of the girls who worked there could do me a favor. I knew they always had pretty young things working the bar and the tables, so there was a good chance of me finding somebody perfect for the job.
When I walked in, the bartender called out, “We’re not open yet. Sorry.”
“No, no. That’s Eric. He can come in any time he wants.” One of the waitresses noticed me and winked. I grinned at her. I heard what she meant behind her words. A deaf man could have.
“Thanks, sweetheart,” I said, sitting at the bar. “I’m not here to drink anyway.”
“What are you here for?” Now that the bartender knew I was a friend of the place, so to speak, she was a little friendlier. I noticed her high, perky tits in her low-cut t-shirt. She had a slammin’ body, tiny and tight, and I couldn’t help but take a look.
“I was wondering if any of you lovely young ladies would like to earn a little extra money.”
She had been leaning toward me, but stood straight up, tensing. “We’re not like that here.”
“I don’t mean prostitution. Relax. I just need a girl who can pass for younger than she is. I have a quick little job for her, and I’d be willing to pay.”
“How much?” she asked, suspicious.
“A grand.”
“What?” Her jaw dropped. I guessed that was at least a week’s worth of good tips for her. Maybe two, depending on the crowds and the shifts she worked. Afternoons wouldn’t pay as much as evenings.
“For sure.”
“What kind of job is it?”
I grinned and looked her up and down again. She had a young face. I guessed she couldn’t be more than twenty-one, maybe twenty-two. Good skin, healthy-looking. She could pass for seventeen, maybe even sixteen.
“First, tell me your name.”
She smiled. “Jenny.”
“Jenny, I’m Eric, like my friend over there just told you. And I need bait.”
“Bait? You lost me, buddy.”
I liked her attitude. “I’m trying to trap somebody, to put it bluntly. I need to set up the bait.”
“Who is this person?”
“He’s a scumbag who needs to rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
“Why?”
“A lot of things. Don’t worry, you’ll be totally safe.” I didn’t think she’d wanna hear about the joyride Michelle went on with his friends. She’d kick my ass outta there in a second.
“How do you know?”
“I’m gonna put it all on the table for you. This guy holds auctions. Maybe you’ve heard about them, maybe not. They’re sorta underground.”
“Like…for things? Or people?”
“People. Women. He auctions them off to the highest bidder. He deals in virginity.”
“Oh, gross.” She wrinkled her button nose.
“I know. It’s a one-night thing, at least I think it is. Guys pay thousands.” I felt myself getting a little hot under the collar as a blush crept up on me. I didn’t have any room to talk shit on the guys who bought girls there since I did it myself. It wasn’t the same, though. I didn’t buy her because I was drooling over her. I did it to save her from the men who were.
“So what’s this got to do with me?”
“This next auction is gonna be different. He wants to use underage virgins.”
Her eyes went wide. “Oh, hell no.”
“Yeah. So that’s why I need you.”
“I’m not underage, though I’m flattered.” She winked.
“You could pass for it though. Easily. Maybe a little less makeup, a little more lip gloss. Something to make you look like a kid trying to look older than she is. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I know. I get it. So, what, you’d want me to walk up to him and ask him if I can be in his auction?”
“Exactly. I want you to walk into his office and tell him you’re sixteen. Ask if that’s a problem. When he says no, ask him again. Be clear. Is it okay that I’m not eighteen yet?”
“Gotcha. That’s all I have to do?”
“Yeah, that’s it. Give him a fake name, whatever. They don’t check ID. It’s a real shady operation.”
She leaned back against the shelves on the wall, thinking. “A thousand dollars just for doing that?”
“I’d need you to wear a wire, too.”
“A wire? Where would you get that?”
I grinned. “Already got it, darlin’. No need to worry.”
“And I would be totally safe? He wouldn’t, like, find the wire and kill me or anything?”
I hoped not. “Hell no. I’ll be just across the street in my car, and I’ll have my men around the place, too. We’ll take good care of you.”
She thought about it some more. I knew the money was too tempting for her to turn me down. I couldn’t imagine she would make a lot of money in the dive she worked in even on weekend nights, much less Monday afternoons.
She had one more question. “When is this going down?”
“This afternoon. Immediately, if possible.”
“Wait, what? I don’t get time to think it over?”
I stood. “No, I’m sorry. It’s gotta happen soon. I can find somebody else if it’s too much to ask. I get it, trust me.”
She looked around. “I’m working.”
“I could have you back before happy hour.”
“Nobody comes in here during the lunch hour anyway,” she muttered. “Okay. I’ll get somebody to cover for me. One of the girls can do it. It’ll be easy.”
I grinned, feeling relieved. “Great. I’ll meet you outside.” I went to the car, glad Jenny was willing to go along with me. It took a lot of nerve for somebody to go along with a total stranger—especially when the stranger asked them to do something crazy like I was asking.
I laughed when she came out, already looking younger. She had let down her blonde hair, and it hung in long waves over her tits. Her makeup was a little fresher, a little less harsh. She could pass for underage in a heartbeat.
If it all went down the way I planned
it, Gareth would be a distant memory in no time. I could go home to Michelle and tell her everything had worked out, and we could be together. If she wanted to.