by Jenny Penn
“Kitty Anne—”
“Nope.” Kitty Anne held her up her hand in a pointed gesture for silence. “Save your lies, old man. I’m here for the truth!”
“I think you’ve been spending too much time with the boys,” Nick muttered, making Kitty Anne smile as she took that complaint as a compliment.
“I probably do, and that’s because I care.” Kitty Anne sighed dramatically and shook her head at him was a sad slowness. “How could you think I would betray any one of them?”
“Then you’re not going to tell Rachel anything?” Nick asked, neatly avoiding answering her question, though the answer was clear in his tone. He didn’t trust her. Kitty Anne suspected that only time would soothe his worry. Time, and honesty.
“I might,” Kitty Anne admitted. “But that’s because I trust Rachel, and she wouldn’t do anything to harm a child.”
“She’s a reporter,” Nick retorted, as if that said it all.
“She has a conscience,” Kitty Anne insisted. “Besides, I might need her help.”
That darkened Nick’s scowl as he grumbled defensively. “For what?”
“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
“Kitty Anne!”
“You’re going to have to trust me whether you want to or not,” Kitty Anne declared magnificently as she shoved out of Nick’s lap and rounded on him to wag a finger in his face. “Because families trust each other, and they stick together.”
“Is that why you haven’t chased your mother off?” Nick shot back as he caught her finger and brought it to his lips to nibble on the tip. He was trying to distract her, but she refused to be deterred.
“My mom is not so bad.” Kitty Anne snatched her finger back as Nick hooted up a laugh.
“I’m sorry, sexy, but—yes. Yes, she is.”
Kitty Anne couldn’t argue that point. Still, she hesitated to agree. Her mother might be nutty and annoying, but she’d provided for Kitty Anne. She’d made sure she’d done well in school and didn’t get into too much trouble. There had always been food and safety at her mother’s house, despite how hard she’d struggled to provide those two basic things.
“I guess she is,” Kitty Anne admitted slowly. “But you don’t know what she’s done for me over the years. It’s not going to be easy to kick her to the curb.”
“Nobody’s getting kicked to the curb.” Nick smiled slightly. “And I can see what she’s done to you. Driven you a little crazy, hasn’t she?”
“Just a little.”
Then again Nick drove her a little crazy, too, but only in the best of ways. There was just something about being near to him that filled her with a warmth that always managed to make her feel better. Maybe it was his scent, which always heated her through.
Perhaps it was the feel of his body against hers. That always got her blood flowing in a rush. It got other things flowing, too. Kitty Anne sighed as her thoughts skipped away from her. They didn’t get too far but were reeled back in by the sexy rumble of Nick’s voice.
“You do accept that she has to go, right?” He sounded almost pained and a little afraid, making Kitty Anne smile.
“Yeah, I get that, but you got to understand I provide for her.” Kitty Anne always would. That was just the way it was supposed to be. “So, she’s never going to be too far away.”
“We provide for her,” Nick corrected as he used the hand he still had a hold of to tumble her back into his lap. “And Dothan isn’t that far away…is it?”
“No.” Kitty Anne wiggled into a more comfortable position, intentionally grinding her ass against the thick ridge of the boner pressing against her. “But we’re not going to spend all morning talking about my mother, are we?”
“And what would you rather do?” Nick purred, his hand dipping down lower on her back until he was palming her ass. “Because I got a few ideas.”
“I thought you were planning on holding out on me. Something about a collar?”
“Oh yeah.” Nick smiled, keeping his hand right where it was. “Well, you know if I closed my eyes, then I wouldn’t know if you were or you weren’t wearing anything at all.”
“I see.” Kitty Anne couldn’t help but smirk as Nick matched his words with actions, lifting his arms to thread his fingers behind his head and lean back.
“Then you could just have your dirty way with me.”
“Well…I do have a few ideas,” Kitty Anne admitted, already enjoying the thought of what came next.
* * * *
With the sun blazing down overhead, GD knew he didn’t have to worry about Gwen being home. Despite the fact that she was accumulating a fortune in payoffs, she still had a job. So did all her neighbors. That made it a perfect time to go snooping.
That was just what he intended to do, and GD didn’t even care what Kitty Anne might think of his tactics. It was necessary, and that was all there was to it because he needed to know what was going on between Gwen and Lana.
The only thing that was clear was that Lana was paying Gwen off, which could mean only that Gwen was blackmailing Lana. Given Lana wasn’t skimming money from the club, there was only one other thing that GD could figure she’d pay to hide. Her brothers had started the fire.
That had to be it. Now he just needed to prove it.
Gwen had to have proof, and he was betting she kept it at home.
That wasn’t all he was looking for, though. Given the amount of money Gwen was taking in, GD could only assume she’d made blackmail a professional career. Depending on who she was earning her butter from, her career could mean the death of the club. They couldn’t afford to have Gwen ruin the illusion of security that GD had worked all these years to assure.
Beyond that, it was just a professional insult.
So, he had to know. He needed to figure out how far Gwen’s scheme actually went and how many victims there were. He was hoping Gwen kept some kind of record or trophy trove at home, which, of course, she did. The woman didn’t even have the sense to hide the evidence.
Instead, she had it meticulously organized and filed appropriately away, making it easy enough for him to find what he wanted. It would have been that easy for any of Gwen’s victims to do the same, given she’d left more than one window wide open. Of course, she was probably relying on the fact that all the men she was blackmailing were too old to climb through a window without breaking a hip.
At least, GD assumed all the pictures of half-naked men tied to her bed were being blackmailed with them. Thankfully, none of them belonged to the club. Disturbingly, one of them was a preacher, and two were on the city council.
Most importantly, any of them could have been daddy dearest to the bun in Gwen’s oven, and it looked as though she was baking something up. The doctors’ bills and sonogram sort of proved the point. That was another problem the club wouldn’t have to face.
Thankfully, GD was quitting, so it wouldn’t be his problem.
“I thought I made it clear”—Kitty Anne’s voice cut through the silent afternoon air and sent a shaft of honest fear straight down GD’s spine—“breaking and entering is illegal…and I’m not real fond of dating criminals.”
His heart froze as he glanced up to find Kitty Anne smirking at him across the room. She was there…in Gwen’s house. GD just couldn’t seem to accept those two facts, but when it did hit him, he exploded with the terror of his revelation.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” GD roared, charging at Kitty Anne with every intent of getting her the hell away from here.
“I followed you,” Kitty Anne shot back as she quickly danced around Gwen’s desk and away from GD. “And really I should be asking you that…once you tell me where here is.”
“It doesn’t matter where here is,” GD snapped, lunging for and grasping Kitty Anne by the arm. “Because you’re leaving. Now!”
“See? You don’t want to date a criminal any more than I do.” Kitty Anne latched onto the doorframe as GD tried to drag her past it and dug her nails in.
<
br /> “Damn it, Kitty Anne! Let go!”
GD turned to try and pry Kitty Anne’s hands free, but every time he managed one, she squirmed away from him, forcing him to redirect his attention and allowing her to clamp back down on the doorframe.
“Not until you explain to me what is going on.”
“I’m working,” GD snarled. “Now let go.”
“Working on what?” Kitty Anne panted, fighting him with all her strength as he finally managed to free her from the door.
“None of your business.”
That got GD tripped as Kitty Anne shifted her weight and used her legs to snarl his up and send him crashing backward into the hutch in Gwen’s dining room, the hutch she used to display china that was way too nice not to be expensive. That made it all the more painful when they came crashing down. GD’s patience shattered right along with each plate, platter, and serving dish as they all hit the hardwood floor.
“Oops.”
“Oops?”
GD choked on that word, unable to believe that was all Kitty Anne had to say.
“Time to go,” Kitty Anne declared, and then she went racing across the house to the bathroom and the window that opened into the backyard.
By the time GD got there, Kitty Anne was already gone. He caught up with her cutting through the woods to where she’d left her convertible parked behind his truck, one neighborhood over. GD let her run free, only striking when she’d reached her car. Then he pinned her up against it, using his entire body to flatten her along the curve of the driver’s side door.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded to know with a snarl that should have had Kitty Anne concerned, but the damn woman just ground herself up against him and wrapped her arms around his neck as she leaned up to nibble her way down his jaw.
“You’re not really mad at me…are you?” Kitty Anne murmured softly between each suckling kiss she laid down his neck.
“This isn’t going to work,” GD warned her, stiffening up as he quickly reversed directions before she could feel how well it was actually working. “Return to the camp, and I will deal with you later.”
“Oh.” Kitty Anne perked up at that, her eyes taking on the same wicked gleam her smile did. “Am I going to get a spanking?”
She knew what those words did to him, knew the images his mind painted, and knew, too, how hard they made him. He was aching in an instant, and Kitty Anne was on him in the next one, her hand dropping down to cup the thick bulge of his erection as she rubbed the stiff peaks of her breasts tauntingly against him.
“Because, you know, I’d bend over and let you have a lick right here and now if you’d let me have one.” There was no disguising just what kind of lick she was referring to as Kitty Anne squeezed his dick and shot him an eager smile. “And, maybe, even a little more than that.”
GD caught her hand and pulled it away from his aching length, not about to be seduced when he was pissed. “I’ll follow you back to the camp…and we can finish this discussion there.”
“You mean you’re going to yell at me,” Kitty Anne translated. “And then spank me?”
“Kitty Anne—”
“We are getting to a spanking, aren’t we?”
“This is not a joke!” GD snapped, his patience worn completely through by her flippant attitude. “Go. Now.”
He managed to put enough force into those two words that finally, thankfully, Kitty Anne obeyed, though not before shooting him a dirty look and issuing her own threat.
“There had better be a spanking involved somewhere in this, or you’ll wait another month for me to wear your damn collar.”
With that, she had the audacity to turn and shake her ass at him before sliding into her seat and slamming the door. A second later, her engine roared to life. Her tires squealed against the pavement before catching traction and shooting the little convertible forward. The damn woman might have actually hit him if he hadn’t jumped back.
That had him moving.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Nick knew there was going to be trouble, which was exactly why he hadn’t gone with Kitty Anne when she’d set off after GD. He didn’t know how she intended to find him but knew she would. It was inevitable, just as GD’s reaction was sure to be bold and unpleasant.
So, he really couldn’t be blamed when Kitty Anne came roaring back the dirt lane that served as his driveway to think that things had gone just as he assumed. No doubt, her tender feelings were undoubtedly bruised. Now he had to interfere because he couldn’t let GD hurt her any further.
That was the only reason he’d dare to get into GD’s way. The big man’s truck came pounding down the rough road behind her. By the time GD brought the oversized vehicle to a stop and hopped out, Nick was there, blocking his path.
“Hold up, man.”
“Hold up?” GD snorted. “I don’t think so.”
“But that doesn’t mean you don’t need to,” Nick shot back, refusing to budge as GD simply walked into him. It actually wouldn’t have been that hard for the big man to force his point, but he stepped back, choosing to pick an argument instead of a fight.
“Damn it, man, do you know what she did?”
“I don’t care.” And he didn’t really. “I just think you need to—”
“Well?” Kitty Anne’s taunting tone wafted over his shoulder like a sultry breeze. “Is it time for the spanking…or what?”
Nick blinked. GD growled. Everything was wrong. Everything was backward. That really shouldn’t shock him. Turning slowly around to confront Kitty Anne’s smirk, he couldn’t help but ask the obviously stupid question.
“You’re not upset?”
“I’m horny,” Kitty Anne shot back. “But if you want me to be upset, I could be. After all, I have every reason to be pissed, don’t you think?”
“Uh…no?” Nick was lost.
“More pissed than me?” GD demanded to know.
“Please,” Kitty Anne scoffed. “You’re not the one dating a criminal.”
“You were arrested for prostitution!” GD snapped, a vein bulging out of his forehead that Nick had never seen pump like that.
“Trumped-up charges.” Kitty Anne waved that point away, clearly unconcerned about GD’s flush or the fists his fingers were clenching into.
“You broke into Gwen’s house and broke her dishes.”
“That was you,” Kitty Anne shot back. “I’m the one who has come to find out that the two men I’m with don’t trust me enough not to investigate me.”
“That was his fault!” GD jammed a thumb in Nick’s direction, who held his hands up instantly in surrender.
“Hey, don’t drag me into this. I don’t want to get cussed out.”
“I did not cuss!” Kitty Anne took instant objection to that accusation.
“You’re yelling,” GD countered, matching Kitty Anne’s steady stomp forward as the two of them began to close in on each other, catching Nick in the middle, pinned with a combatant on either side.
“I deserve equal measure, GD, even if I have to yell to get it.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“I want five questions.”
“Five questions?” GD’s frown lost its dark edge as his gaze narrowed on her. “Five honest answers? And I get?”
“Me wearing nothing but your collar.” Kitty Anne smiled smugly, certain her offer would be accepted, and it was, without hesitation.
“Deal.” GD stuck his hand out, reaching around Nick to shake hers as Kitty Anne nodded.
“Deal…you wanna do a little more than shake on it?”
“Don’t you want to get your answers first?” GD’s smile grew downright lecherous. “Then we can get around to settling debts.”
“Fine.” Kitty Anne’s chin lifted into the air as her dismissive tone made it clear that she was far from intimidated. “You want to do it here or—”
“We’re going to go with or and take this inside,” Nick cut in, certain th
is conversation would be better conducted in private. While the hill he’d built his house on was decent sized, it wasn’t high enough to afford them real privacy from the kids playing down below.
“We could take it down to my apartment?” GD countered, shooting another dark look in Kitty Anne’s direction. “I got a bed…and cuffs.”
Kitty Anne snorted at that and rolled her eyes. “How about the bungalow?”
“Your mother?”
“At the salon.”
“Well, that’s—”
“—perfect,” Kitty Anne finished for GD with a smile that only a Venus would wear. It was full of welcome and suggestion, leaving no doubt of just what she really wanted.
“Nick, go grab some ropes, and we can tie her down to the bed. We’ll make an offering out of our little Kitty Anne.”
“You think you’re all scary with these threats?” Kitty Anne laughed and shook her head at him. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be.”
“Okay. Enough.” Nick imposed himself in the middle of their argument. “All fighters back to their corners. It’s time for a time-out.”
“He’s a bossy one, isn’t he?” Kitty Anne snorted as she shared a smile with GD, whose loyalties shifted in an instant.
“He’s just trying to ruin our fun.”
“I’m bossy because I’m the boss,” Nick shot back at both of them, drawing another round of smirks.
Kitty Anne and GD eyed him like a couple of wolves who had spotted a cat, but Nick was no pussy. He straightened up under their mutual inspection and pinned each one with a glare as he issued his own commands. After all, he hadn’t become a pimp because he lacked the ability to take control.
Actually, he’d become a pimp for the money and because the ladies liked him. Liked him enough to allow Nick to introduce them to erotic delights they’d never known. That kind of pleasure was more addictive than even heroin. His ladies had been insatiable, enough so that they’d wanted to sell themselves.
It hadn’t even been his idea, but those girls had gotten their thrills and turned it into a lucrative business. It had also been a secure one because Nick had been there to watch out for them. That, strangely enough, had been when he’d discovered his need to take care of other people.