UNPROTECTED: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Hanley Family Mafia)

by Zoey Parker

  “Motherfucker!” I screamed, punching the wall again. “How could he do it? What the fuck was he thinking?”

  I looked at her like she could give me an answer. Of course, she couldn’t. She’d never met Lance. She didn’t know how tight we were supposed to be. I’d known him since the day I joined the club ten years earlier. We were both kids then. We grew up together. And he betrayed me.

  “What the hell am I gonna do?” I went back to the computer, wishing I was wrong. But there was no question. It was him. Same long hair, same goatee, same slightly hooked nose. He was even wearing his kutte, the son of a bitch. How dare he. After betraying the club the way he had. He couldn’t let it go.

  “He regretted it,” I said, everything coming together. “He was sorry he did it. That’s what they were fighting over.”

  “You’re sure?” Erica whispered. She didn’t sound so sure.

  “You tell me,” I said. “How did it sound when they were fighting?”

  She shrugged a little, closing her eyes. “Let me think. Um, the one guy—the Wolf—said something about a deal. How there was no backing out.” Her eyes flew open. “That lines up with what you’re thinking!”

  “Right,” I said. “He knew it was a mistake, the asshole. And he wanted out. But there was no way out by then. So the Wolf killed him, because he thought he might come back to me. God, what was he thinking in the first place?”

  “Did you guys have a fight or something?”

  “No!” I stood up, thinking back to the past year. “We were fine. No problems, no resentment. Lance was always the sort of person who went along, you know? Whatever was best for the club. I never had a problem with him, ever. That’s why this…this fucking hurts.”

  I couldn’t hide it. I was in a shit ton of pain. “Something like this makes you question everything,” I said, holding my hands to my head. “I mean, literally everything. Who can I trust? Anyone? Are they all out there, plotting something?”

  “No,” Erica said. “No, you can’t think like that. I’ve been watching them. They all love you.”

  “I thought he did, too!” I laughed, looking down at her in the chair. “I did. I thought we were like brothers. I fucking mourned that lying sack of shit!” I picked up the camera where it sat on the desk, and threw it at the wall. It broke in two. I heard Erica groan.

  “I fucking cried actual tears for him. I thought I let him walk into his death, him and the others. He fucking let them die. He didn’t care. His brothers. He knew they were going to die, and he didn’t try to stop it. He got them killed.” I punched the top of the desk, then kicked another chair across the room.

  The lounge went silent. They must have thought I was killing Erica, or myself.

  Then, another thought went through my head. “There’s another one out there,” I said.

  “Stop saying that.”

  “No, it’s true. There’s got to be at least one more.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Lance was never the type of person to do anything alone. He always had to have a partner, someone to back him up. He wasn’t very self-confident. Even when he brought an idea to the table, he had to have at least one person backing him up in advance, or else he wouldn’t mention it.”

  “So you think he brought somebody else in with him?”

  I nodded. “Or they brought him in.”

  “What if it was one of the other guys who supposedly died along with him?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t think so. You could be right, but I don’t think so. Something’s telling me to be on my guard now.” I looked at her, and I felt nothing but despair. “I’m so fucking lost right now,” I admitted. “I don’t know what to think.”

  She reached out to me, and I let her touch my face. Brett was the only woman I’d ever opened up to like this, and we were just close friends. Erica was right—I knew she had feelings for me, and she was a good kid, but I never saw her that way. She was a trusted confidante.

  Erica was something else. She stroked my face, and it was like a balm.

  “I want to help you all that I can,” she whispered.

  I jerked backward. “No way,” I growled. Her face went deep red.

  “What?” She laughed harshly. “I’m standing here, offering to help you, and you act like I said something awful.”

  “You did,” I walked to the other side of the room. “Get out of here.” I put my hand on the knob, ready to open the door.

  “Why are you acting this way? I just want to help you.”

  “You can’t help me,” I hissed. “I’m part of this world, and you’re part of another world, and I’ll probably be dead soon anyway. One of my own men plotted against me, and another one probably is, too. Alexander York wants me gone, so he can take over the club. Get it? He won’t stop until I’m out of the picture. Why the fuck would you want to be part of this?”

  “Because…I want to make it so you don’t have to die…” She looked like she might cry, and I didn’t even care anymore. I was tired of everything.

  “Oh, right. Because you’ve been so good at keeping me out of trouble so far.” I smirked at her, shaking my head. “Give me a break. You couldn’t even keep from screaming when you saw the stabbing. What the hell good are you gonna do me now?”

  She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. Protecting herself like my words hurt her. “If I didn’t, you wouldn’t know anything about this, would you? You’d never know someone was helping your enemies.”

  I growled and rushed at her, not because I was mad at her, but because she was right. I wasn’t in control of anything. I’d been blind, full of myself. Sure my men loved me and wanted to stand by me. The entire time, someone was going behind my back. Someone probably still was.

  She backed away, her eyes wide with terror. I was too fast for her, and I grabbed her by the upper arms. I shook her, wanting her to feel the pain I was in, if only for a second. I wanted her to see how dangerous this was. She didn’t need to be any part of this.

  “You’re too good for this,” I whispered, shaking her. “You need to get out of here and pretend we don’t exist. Let us live and die here. You go far away. Do something else. Live a normal life.” Tears were streaming down her face, and she let out a little whimper every time I shook her.

  “I don’t want to,” she finally whispered when the shaking stopped, and I held her still. My fingers dug into her arms. Why didn’t she see? Why was she making it so hard for me to let her go?

  Instead of pushing her away, as I should have done, I pulled her to me and pressed my mouth against hers. It was the only thing to do, the only thing that made any sense.

  She let out another whimper, but this one didn’t sound afraid. She was kissing me back before I knew it, with all the passion I had guessed she had inside her.

  I turned around, with her in my arms, and pushed her against the desk. She sat on it, wrapping her legs around me. I forced my tongue between her lips, sweeping it around the inside of her mouth. I kissed her roughly, as hard as I could. I wanted to possess her, to hurt her, to make her scream my name and beg for more and beg me to stop. I crushed her body to me, running my hands over her back, then down to her ass.

  She whimpered again, panting for breath, digging her short, sharp nails into my back. I hissed, taking her bottom lip between my teeth and biting it. She groaned with pleasure, her legs tightening around me. I pushed against her, my cock already hard and straining for her. I heard a groan from deep within her throat, and I knew she wanted this as much as I did. It was inevitable. I wanted her the minute I saw her on the ground.

  “You guys? Breakfast!” I recognized Brett’s voice, and that killed the moment. But when I opened my eyes and saw the naked need all over Erica’s face, I thought it might be for the best.

  “Saved by the breakfast,” I muttered, stepping away just a little. Erica reached for me, wanting to pull me back to her, but I stayed strong. “This isn’t right, right now,” I said. “I�
��m afraid I would hurt you. I have too much in my head.” Then I reached out and stroked my thumb over her bottom lip, which had a tiny drop of blood on it, where my teeth sank in.

  She looked angry, disappointed. But I knew it was right.

  And I knew, then and there, seeing the way she looked and feeling the way I did, that I would kill anyone who got in the way of her safety. I would burn down the Vicious Wolves clubhouse and everyone inside if it meant saving her. She was mine.

  Chapter Eleven

  The mood in the clubhouse was quiet, tense. Probably because everybody heard the fit I had inside the office when I found out about Lance’s betrayal.

  I did my best to cover, acting like nothing was wrong. I figured if I played it off, it would be forgotten.

  It wasn’t.

  “What the fuck was that all about?” Onyx was staring hard at me as I piled my plate with pancakes and bacon. “I mean, you scared the shit out of the girls.”

  “I’ll apologize to them,” I said. I poured myself a cup of coffee and carried my stuff to the table. I didn’t want to give my outburst more attention than I needed to.

  “What happened?” I looked up at him and caught him looking at Erica. I knew right away that he blamed her.

  “It wasn’t about her,” I muttered, taking a mouthful of food.

  “Who, then?”

  I looked around, checking to see whether anyone was listening. “The Wolves.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a long story, okay? I’ll fill you in.” This wasn’t the time or place. I didn’t want anyone other than a few key members knowing about Lance. I trusted Onyx—otherwise, I wouldn’t have named him as my second. I wasn’t sure who turned on me the way Lance had.

  Where did I go wrong with him? I never held him back, never went against him in a vote. We were brothers. We were all brothers. At least that’s what I’d thought before I saw the proof that he turned on me. Now, just about everyone was under suspicion.

  Well, except for the girls. They wouldn’t do anything like that. They weren’t even aware of the life we led, not really. They were happy enough just hanging around the clubhouse, taking care of us guys. I watched them talking and joking together as they put out more food. They were good girls, and loyal to us. I didn’t doubt them.

  Who, then? Frankie? He was always a little too ambitious, and he had a wild streak. Sometimes I wondered what he would do if I gave him a long enough leash. I had to keep an eye on him all the time. Maybe it was him. Maybe he got tired of me always looking over his shoulder and wanted to step out on his own.

  Or maybe it was Axel. No, it couldn’t be Axel. He was a pretty fucked up guy under all his softness. Years of intense abuse will do that to a person. But it wasn’t like he had a split personality, for God’s sake. And he would have needed one to fool me. Or would he? Lance had fooled me.

  What about Joe, or Ralph, or any of the others? I realized with a sick feeling that if it could have been Lance, it could have been any of them. Someone had gotten in his ear, told him what he wanted to hear. That could have happened to one of the other guys sitting in front of me, eating a big breakfast, pinching the girls’ asses as they walked by and laughing when the girls swatted them with dishrags.

  Who was the traitor?

  Then Erica sat down across from me. The look on her face told me she knew what I was thinking. She had the smarts not to open her mouth, though.

  “Who can I trust?” I asked Onyx. “I mean, really, truly trust? Who do you think?”

  He looked confused, but scanned the room. “What are we talking about here?” he asked.

  “I need to take maybe three guys out with me today.”

  “But we’re in lockdown,” he muttered.

  “Yeah, well, I called the lockdown, didn’t I? I get to say when it’s broken and who can break it. And I’m breaking it.”

  He shook his head, but he knew better than to go against me when I made up my mind. “Whatever you say, boss.” I heard the disapproval he was feeling, but I didn’t care. Sometimes he was too cautious, even for me.

  “So who do you think?”

  “Where are you going? To the Wolves?”

  “Of course.”

  Onyx looked at me again, and this time, he was serious. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Vince.”

  “I didn’t ask you if you did.”

  “I wanna go with you, make sure you’re all right.”

  “Negative,” I said. “I can’t risk it. Besides, somebody has to stay here to guard the ones left behind. You’re the only person I trust with a job like that.”

  He growled, and I knew he was looking for a fight. I wouldn’t give it to him.

  “So, whaddya think? Axel, Frankie, Chip?” Chip was one of our youngest members, but he’d shown a lot of potential. And if it was possible for the Wolves to get anybody away from the club, it would be a new member they chose.

  That was my plan, I decided. Take the three of them out with me. If one of them was the liar, the other two and I could take care of it together. Otherwise, it would be good to have them covering my back if things went south

  “All right,” Onyx agreed. He turned back to his plate. I knew he was brooding, but I couldn’t give him my attention just then. I had more pressing things to take care of.

  Like the girl in front of me. “How’s your food?” I asked.

  She nodded, smiling. “Excellent. You have some real gourmets in your kitchen.”

  “They’re used to cooking for a crowd,” I said. “And they know if the food wasn’t good, they’d hear about it from this bunch of crybabies.”

  Erica laughed, and something inside me felt lighter. Something about her kept me centered. Knowing that she was taking things as well as she was helped me think more clearly.

  Then again, the longer she was so close to me, the more wrapped up I was in the sight of her and the scent of her. The memory of the way we made out in the office was still fresh in my mind, too, and I knew from the way she looked at me from under her lowered lashes that she remembered as well as I did. I felt myself getting hard.

  No! I mentally shook myself. Now’s not the time. There’s too much at stake.

  It was true, and I forced myself to stop thinking of how good it felt to hold her, kiss her, hear her groan. I would make her mine, but later. Once things were calmer. Once my club was safe, and she was safe.

  After we finished eating, Erica insisted that she help clean up after us. “I have to do something!” she said when the girls told her they didn’t need her to help them. It was interesting, the way they all interacted. She surprised me over and over, that Erica. I was sure when I brought her here that she wouldn’t get along with the club girls. They were miles out of her league. But then she went and got drunk with Brett, and now she was insistent on helping them with the chores. She got more interesting every minute.

  I got Axel’s attention and told him to round up the other two I’d picked for the visit to Wolves headquarters. It was on the other side of town, an area that made our location look fancy. We’d have to be ready for anything that came along.

  They met me in the office, where I asked that they close the door so we could have some privacy. I saw the way their eyes went to the hole in the wall, where I’d punched through. I ignored it.

  “We have to pay a visit to the Wolves clubhouse today,” I said. Better to get right to the point with things like this. “I want the three of you with me.”

  I watched their faces carefully, to see if one of them would react in a way that pointed to him being the one who turned. None of them looked anything more than surprised.

  “Just the three of us?” Axel asked. “And you?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I’m not going for all-out war here, guys. I want to find one of them in particular.” While I spoke, I went through the other pictures on Erica’s memory card, where it was still in the laptop port. I wanted to find one of just the Wolf I’d beaten the night before. L
ance couldn’t be part of the photo I showed them.

  “Here,” I said, and I turned the laptop toward them, so they could get a look at the guy in question. “He’s the one I want.”

  “What are we gonna do to him?” Chip asked. He sounded nervous. I wondered if it was because he was the other traitor, or because he was so new.

  “We aren’t going to do anything. I’m going to talk to him. You guys are gonna have my back. Understood?”

  “You’re just talkin’?” Frankie looked unconvinced, maybe a little disappointed. He always wanted a fight.

  I nodded. “Just talking,” I said. I stared him straight in the eye when I spoke, so he would know I meant business. “There are a few questions I have for him in particular. That’s all. For instance, what was he doing in this alley, on our turf? Why did he chase after Erica when he saw her? That sort of thing.”