by Julia Marie
When he retrieved his phone from his pants pocket, he swore under his breath and answered. “Bill? This better be good news.”
Shane listened intently. It was oddly sexy to see him standing there completely in the buff taking a call. His muscled body was a form of armor as much as his leather jacket was; I could picture him going to battle and emerging victorious like some ancient cave man before clothing was invented. In that moment I realized that business and crime were just more forms of war between primal males.
The call didn’t appear to be going well. Shane hung up and dropped the phone to the ground in disgust. It bounced on the carpet with a dull thud.
“I’m going to have to go and help take care of a problem for an hour or so,” he said, his eyes running over my naked body in a way that made my heart pound faster. “I would like it if you were still here when I got back. I haven’t shown you everything I wanted to yet.”
The promise in his voice would have held me there even if I didn’t want to. I had the feeling he wasn’t talking about the duties and errands he had mentioned at the office.
“Is that an order, sir?” I asked, still in a playful mood. With a start I realized that I wouldn’t mind playing the submissive to Shane all the time – it just seemed natural.
There was no hesitation in his response. “It is. I’ll put my personal lock on the door to the stairs so that no one comes up. I want you to remain naked as well.”
“Naked?” The thought alone was thrilling. How could I turn him down when his eyes possessed me like that? “Yes, sir.”
After Shane left, I got out of the bed and wandered around. It felt odd to be naked while walking around an office – I never even dared to do it at my own apartment, even when I knew Stacey wouldn’t be back for a few hours. Something about it was just naughty.
He hadn’t showed me any of the rooms upstairs, and I decided to check them all out. It appeared as though most of them were little offices and bathrooms, but I did find an exercise room that was stocked with a wide variety of machines and weights.
I thought the last room down the hall was closed at first, but when I got closer I saw that it had only been pulled most of the way closed. The handle itself wouldn’t turn, but I was able to simply push the door inward.
Huh, looks like it’s usually kept locked and someone just forgot to pull it all the way shut the last time they were in here. What kind of stuff could be in here that someone wants to hide? My mind ran wild with the possibilities.
To my disappointment, the door swung open to reveal a mundane office space, almost an exact replica of the other offices. I almost turned away, until I remembered about the people who were blackmailing me for information about Shane and the Restless Motorcycle Club. I’d already found that Shane didn’t keep anything implicating at the downtown office, but it was likely he used the warehouse to handle all of the more sensitive business.
After all, based on what he said to me before he definitely keeps the club stuff separate. Behind a locked door would make a ton of sense.
Most of the drawers were locked as well, but I found a couple of file folders that were lying on the table as though Shane or someone had been going through them recently. They were labeled.
Guns/Drugs. And Other.
I didn’t know much about the shipping business, but something told me that this didn’t fit with the regular course of affairs that I had been privy to in the last couple of days at his office.
Fascinated, I picked up the Other folder and started to read.
Wow.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been reading for. I had lost track of time the way I did when reading one of my romance or suspense novels and the author did a great job of wrapping me up in the intrigue of the plot.
The plot here wasn’t laid out as clearly as in a fictional story, and I wasn’t a businesswoman or a detective, but some things were obvious. The club was heavily involved in the trafficking of many things, such as guns and drugs and it even looked like they had a hand in rigging sporting events.
The back of the Other folder let to the most chilling revelation.
I need your help in dealing with a problem, a photocopy of a handwritten missive in Shane’s writing had read. There is a list of men attached to this message, as well as payment. I need you to take these men, and make sure that they are never heard from again. I’m sure you will handle this with your usual speed, skill and discretion.
Attached to the note was a stack of newspaper clippings from local newspapers all across the country. I flipped through them and realized they had one thing in common – they showed men who had died in a series of accidents with no body recovered.
I paced the office, unable to sit down any longer. I knew that outlaw motorcycle clubs were into illegal activities and the odd person probably died here and there, but wholesale assassination?
Has Shane ordered to have people killed? The thought was terrifying, and I couldn’t reconcile it with the man that I had only just started to get to know. He had a kind, thoughtful side – but there was also the half of him that was a cunning, strong motorcycle club member. Would he do anything for the sake of his club? I hadn’t thought so, but now I don’t know what to think.
There was no photocopier in the room, and I didn’t want to actually take anything. Finally I decided that I didn’t have a choice – here was what I had been looking for, the proof of shady secrets that were definitely not public knowledge. I took the photocopy and the stack of articles, leaving the rest of the papers scattered across the table in the hopes that Shane wouldn’t notice the absence.
I need to get out of here before he comes back. I wouldn’t be able to trust myself to act my way through another session of sex with the biker, not when I knew that his hands were stained with blood whether he had done it himself or not. There was no chance that I could muster the courage to confront him.
I got dressed as fast as I could – not bothering to waste time putting on my underwear, but just leaving them behind. I would buy Stacey new ones.
I crept down the stairs and held my breath as I eased the door at the bottom open just a crack. I could hear some laughter from the direction of the locked clubhouse doors, but it didn’t look like there was anyone loitering around the reception area or out the front door.
Once outside I made a break for the car, not looking back. Shaking hands fumbled with the keys for long moments before I was able to get the door open.
Come on, let’s go. It took several tries to get the Corolla’s engine going, but then I was gone. In a flash of brilliance, I took the opposite direction that Shane had led me in – if we passed each other in the neighborhood, he would likely recognize my car and I didn’t want to take the chance of him turning around and following me out. There’s no way that I’d be able to outrun him.
As I turned around the corner, I saw a flash of something sleek and black in my mirror. I craned my neck around to see a familiar motorcycle pull into the warehouse drive I had just vacated.
I stomped on the gas to get out of sight before he realized what had happened.
Jackie wasn’t there.
Her car was gone, her clothes had disappeared. The only things that remained to tell of her presence there that day were her bra and panties still on the floor where I’d tossed them, the rumpled sheets where we had joined, and the scent of her slowly fading from the air.
My fist tightened and only intense restraint prevented it from going through the nearest wall.
Why did she run away?
I had been so pleased with the way things were progressing with her – she was stepping into a submissive role all on her own, with no coaching from me. It was truly a beautiful thing to see and to experience and I wanted nothing more than for that relationship to continue to grow and flourish.
She could have gotten an important call of her own. Although she could have at least sent me a message if that was the case. I would have to talk to her about just leaving with
no warning. It was unacceptable.
Back in the open office space, I stared down at the warehouse floor, fuming. Wondering.
Something caught my attention down the hallway, some aspect about it that wasn’t right, wasn’t normal. It was so different that it took me a while to realize what the problem was.
The office door was open.
Fuck. She couldn’t have gone in there, could she? I always keep it locked… unless she picked it.
It looked like she had. Papers were spread out over the table, no longer contained neatly within the bounds of the file folders.
This time my fist did go through the wall. The pain blossomed in my hand, a welcome distraction from the terrible thoughts tumbling through my head.
Did Jackie work for a rival gang? Was this entire thing a sham so that Jackie could get close to me and learn my secrets? Had she taken advantage of the way that I couldn’t shake my attraction for her?
First thing’s first. I paged through the papers on the desk, wracking my memory to try and recall if there had been anything else that was no longer present. These were the only copies of sensitive documents, and electronic versions did not exist because the club could not afford to be at the mercy of hackers. If she had stolen anything, then I would stop at nothing to get it back.
My stomach dropped as I saw what was missing.
No… that bitch!
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Blackmail
Restless MC – Book #1
Danger is sexy…
On paper it looked like a regular job, the sort of thing that Jackie Maguire is in desperate need of. Only when she arrives at the interview does she realize that the man she is going to work for is large, tattooed, and quite possibly incredibly dangerous. And she can’t help but want him.
Shane Hamilton has a special place within the Restless Motorcycle Club – he is in charge of operations, and that includes the shipping business that provides the front for their illegal pursuits. He is smart, powerful and a completely dominant personality, and when he sees something he wants, he never fails to get it.
The Motorcycle Club has enemies, and Jackie’s appearance on the scene is the perfect opportunity for them to get a leg up. Personalities and passions collide as Jackie is given a choice – dig up secrets from the dangerous biker gang or else face the consequences.
Excerpt:
Shane groaned and his hands came up to pull me even harder against him. I could feel him stirring against my leg, the sensation so unfamiliar and yet so primal, evoking a response in my body that was as old as time itself.
My gambit appeared to be working, distracting Shane from the events over lunch. It also prevented me from tripping up and letting slip that I knew that the business was a front for illegal motorcycle club activities. I didn't trust myself to be able to lie convincingly about it, and so I did the only thing I could think of - the thing that I’d wanted to do ever since I’d walked in for the interview and saw his face.
His hands were everywhere, tugging at the base of my hair, running down my back, cupping my ass through my clothes. I needed them against my bare skin, giving me the pleasure that I knew he could.
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