by Rie Warren
We bumped fists. That was that. Home away from home. I liked Cole. He didn’t do the unnecessary conversation thing, and he always got right to the heart of the matter, i.e., liquor.
Hunter cruised up before I even finished my first much-needed drink. He yanked me after him, wearing the same brooding scowl as earlier.
I sat at the semiprivate table across from him. “Isn’t marriage supposed to mellow you out?”
“This is me being mellow.” After slamming two fingers of fine scotch down his throat, he beckoned for more.
“Glad I’m single then.”
“You’re the one stressing me out, Walker.”
Who? Me? I smiled innocently.
“How the hell’d you fuck up everything so goddamn fast?” Hunter worked his hands through his hair.
“Blame it on Jade,” I muttered.
“Don’t buy it. Although she is a first class ballbuster.”
“Hardcore killer.”
“Can’t leave you alone for a second, can I?”
I rubbed a hand across my mouth. Took a drink. Kicked back my chair. “Huh. That's funny ’cause I seem to remember being the one who dragged your ass out of a grave the past two times. Tampa? Right here in Retribution? Remember?”
“You blew up my truck,” he grumbled.
“I paid for the new one.”
“I'm giving you a place to hole up.”
I peered down at my whisky. “You didn't ask me to be your best man.”
“So you go out and get yourself involved in the middle of the first fucked up international conspiracy you can find?” His eyes rolled way, way back. “Because wittle Walker got his feelings hurt?”
“I would’ve said no if you’d asked.” I refused to look at him.
“Bullshit.”
I shrugged.
Hunter’s hand shot out and he clasped me on the shoulder. “You’re gonna be godfather—or whatever you wanna call yourself, because maybe The Godfather ain’t such a good idea after all—to Jessica’s and my children.”
“What about for Jack?” Might as well start now. Hunter already had a kid from his first non-wife.
Leaning back, Hunter folded his arms over his chest. “Done. Feel better now?”
“Yeah. Thanks. When is JB gonna start pushing them out so I can make sure to clear my calendar?”
“You are such a prima donna.”
“Am not. Just because I have long hair. I rock this Lakota shit.” Then I frowned. “Although Storm did call me a diva the other day too.” I downed my drink in one large gulp. “Whatever.”
Pulling his chair closer to the table, Hunter asked, “What are the facts?”
“Majedah is on everyone’s hit list, including mine, but she and Jade swear that's because her husband set her up.”
“Ahhh. Qasim Hassan. Piece of work, huh? But she did marry him, willingly as far as we know, right?”
“Yeah, she did. But maybe she didn’t know what she was in for?” I curled my fingers around the whisky Cole had unobtrusively replenished. “Either way, he’s a number one cuntbag as far as I'm concerned.”
“So you think he's the one pulling the strings?”
“And Madge is the puppet?” I slaked a hand across my mouth after an extra long drink. “Don't know. Her rep is just as bad as his.”
Hunter lifted an eyebrow. “Madge?”
“Majedah, a fucking mouthful. Besides, I think she likes the nickname.”
“Probably about as much as I love being called Kemosabe.”
“You dig that shit. Makes you feel like part of The Nation, like me.”
“Or your sidekick.”
“Which you were until you decided to go legit for life. Loser.” I watched folks stroll in and out of the clubhouse, noting when Boomer and Brodie Steele entered together.
The brothers were the rock solid foundation of this MC compound, which also included the family business they ran with their sister Cat—Chrome and Steele Auto Parts. The brothers’ identical ice blue eyes landed on me—Boomer had the dark-haired and dangerous thing going on, his younger brother’s blond hair and goatee at odds with the ever-present wicked gleam in his gaze.
I turned back to Hunter. “Do I stay on mission and just kill her?” Rapping my knuckles on the table, I snarled under my breath. “Blaize is gonna kick my ass at any rate, probably fire me. This could count as treason.”
“Blaize?”
“New head of The Job. Our contact at T-Zone. She’s been in the military and political rat race since she was a kid. Everyone thinks she’s a tactical genius.” I glanced at Hunter. “Storm wants to bone her.”
“Storm.” He snickered into his glass before taking a drink. “How are he and Bane?”
“Oh Cheee-rist. Don’t get me started. They’d rather kill each other than share frigging breathing space.”
“My guess is one of them dicked up the other one’s op.”
I gathered the cardboard beermats bearing the Retribution MC colors and insignia—a skull on the scales of justice—and started shuffling them like playing cards. “I don’t give a fuck. They shouldn’t be on the same team. Don’t know why Blaize keeps them together. Every op with those two is like undergoing bitter marriage counseling.”
“So, y’all have met her? This Blaize woman?” Hunter asked, disbelief scrawling all across his face.
“Yeah. The powers-that-be are turning over a new leaf in the life of today’s shadow soldier, it appears. Going for the personal touch. Real friendly. An absolute joy to work for.” I rolled my eyes.
“Interesting.”
“She’s kind of a shrew.”
“Maybe she can actually keep you fuckers in line.”
“Like that’s ever gonna happen.”
Hunter scratched the stubble on his jaw, squinting at me. “So, that explosion at the Casino du Liban I heard about?”
“Not me. Not Jade. But we were there. Yeah.”
“Had your signature written all over it.”
My head jerked up. “Beg to differ. I don’t kill innocent civilians.”
“Unless you’ve had a really, really bad day.”
“That was the one time. And they weren’t all that innocent.”
Palming his drink, Hunter saluted me with it. “And what about Jade?”
“Thorn in my side.” An itch I couldn’t scratch. A wet dream, a wily spy, a hot body I wanted to sink my cock into.
“You want to fuck her. Always have.”
“Pffft. Want to off her.” Get off on her, in her, all over her . . .
“Hmm. And yet you've had how many chances to do just that? The both of you?”
I shrugged. “Not that many times. I mean . . . what? Once in Afghanistan.” Sitting back, I ticked off my fingers. “Let’s see. What else? Oh, that time that thing happened in Yemen.” I drummed my extra fingers then sat straight up. “On the plane in the Ukraine! Oh shit, I’d forgotten about that one.” Smiling, I mumbled, “Good times.”
“You are insane. Those were not good times. You almost got yourself killed.” Hunter’s brows burrowed into the center of his forehead.
“Foreplay.”
“Death play.” He sighed and shook his head. “And now I’ve let you take over JB’s house together.” Sitting immediately completely erect, he stared at me. “You. Left. Jade. Alone? In Jessica’s house?”
“Relax.” I clinked my glass against his. “Got ’em under lock and key.”
“Jade can pick a lock, probably with her fingernails.”
“Not this time.” Ruminating while a long swallow of burning liquid slipped down my throat, I squinted across the room. “I need to find out what's really going down.”
“What’s the plan?”
“Lay low for a few days and gather as much intel as possible.”
“Where's your team?” he asked.
“Hopefully heading off Blaize. Did I mention Storm wants to get into her panties?”
“Yeah. You did. And you’re deflecti
ng,” Hunter accused.
“You’re projecting.” I jabbed back.
“You’re irritating.”
“Drink up!”
“Are you in touch with your people, Walker?”
“My people?” I chuckled low and tossed back a few shards of boozy ice. “My family, you mean? What’s left of it?”
“That’s what I mean.” Hunter never even blinked as he regarded me.
“They know I’m alive. They know I’m no good. They don’t need to know anything else.”
“Walker, what happened wasn’t your fault.”
“Yes. It was.” I ruminated into my glass, bottoming out.
“There’s more to life than getting off on danger.”
“Yep.” My lips thinned and my nostrils flared. “Had that, once. Not ready to do it again. You above all people should know what I’m talking about, Hunter.”
A newcomer in the MC shifted my attention away from morose thoughts. And I’d do anything to avoid those.
He was a tall dude who hovered in the shadows by the bar, the light barely glinting off dark auburn hair. I sensed the unsettled vibe coming from him—something I recognized in myself. And something else . . .
Buoyed again, I half stood from my seat. “That you, Bo Maverick?”
The ex-Force Recon man loped into the light. The hard planes of his face looked etched in granite until he broke a smile.
I craned forward, and he clasped my hand. “Walker. Jesus Christ. Talk about a blast from the bad past.”
“Do not say blast in front of Walker. He’s probably packing the plastics right now,” Hunter grumbled.
I grinned, pushing out a chair for Bo. “You’re looking well.”
“Fuck off. My brain’s in the tank. I’m hardly functioning. And I barely made it out of the last bit of hell in Helmand Province intact.” His lips pulled tight from the broad smile. “Sometimes I wish I’d been decommissioned to an early grave.”
I caught Hunter’s eyes, and he shook his head in a slight move.
“Heard about that. Those last days in Afghanistan. Your platoon.” Reaching over, I laid a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry about that, man.”
Bo took a glug from his beer and raised his eyes. “Me too. But enough of that. It’s over. What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“Same shit. Different day.”
“He fucked up his op.” Hunter so, so helpfully cut in.
“Need help?” Bo looked too hungry for a mission, like it was his next high, the one that could get him out of the black hole of becoming a civilian again.
Hunter shook his head again.
“Man, if I could have you on my team I’d take you in a heartbeat. But you know the governmental—and I do mean mental—rigmarole. Too much red tape so we can go black ops, right?”
Bo was a specialist in the art of combat, a Marine captain. Hunter and I’d first met him overseas in one of those locales no one on the job was ever supposed to mention out loud. A Hail Mary situation we’d been called into, but I had a feeling Bo could’ve handled it himself given the right tools.
Brodie Steele finally made his way over as he noticed the tight knot of our group relaxing after one more round of drinks.
“Walker, dude. Didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
I met his hand. “Chick troubles.”
He snorted. “Heard that one before. Got my own now. Ashe is pregnant.”
“You’re fucking with me.”
“Nope. First time out of the gates.” He rubbed a silver-ringed hand across his chest. “Yessir. Best thing that ever happened to me.”
Big brother Boomer turned up tableside. “Someone say woman problems?”
He scanned the interior of the crowded MC until his gaze lit upon one female in particular.
She was foxy with a capital Fuck Hard, and I vaguely recalled her as the maid of dishonor at Hunter and JB’s wedding.
Rayce. That was her name.
Boomer tore his attention away. “Tell me all about it. Who doesn’t have woman problems?”
“Women, plural.” I clarified.
“Damn. Playing one against the other or what?” Cole reappeared on the scene.
“Not like that.” If only it was so simple. “Take one international specialist—female—and a Middle Eastern princess on the run. Those kinds of first world problems, yeah?”
“I’d say those are third world problems.” Bo tanked his beer to the last drop.
“Sounds like heaven,” Boomer said.
The guy called Handsome appeared, a denizen of Retribution. I almost didn’t recognize him. He’d gotten his fucking hair cut and packed on some muscle.
“You got a woman to spare?” the dude asked.
Tail, another Retribution MC officer, entered the fray, flipping his pool cue from hand to hand like a Samurai sword. “Hey. Time to break up the Loserpalooza already.”
He was king of the pool tables and lord of the honeys. Babes followed him with their hips jutting, their cleavage showing, and lots of eye-fucking.
“Enough talk about the chicks.” Tail broke the pool balls with one strong thrust of his cue. “Let’s show ’em how you wield your stick.”
Eight
Casa De Hell
I CUT OUT AN hour later with a back slap from Hunter and fist bumps all around, stating I had to get back to the little women.
The two little women. Yeah, right. One who could kill me in my sleep then roll over to catch another forty winks, no doubt, and the other one was Number One on Interpol’s buzzfeed.
I slammed the front door loud and clear, locked it, set an alarm. I stomped up the stairs, making sure they heard me, and entered the guest room where Jade and Madge were tethered together like two of the most unhappy prisoners I’d ever seen.
Double bondage.
Win.
They didn’t seem to think so, although as per usual Jade was the most vocal.
She didn’t even stop for a breath. The second I entered the bedroom, her verbal barrage railed on me hot and fast and filled with criticisms.
The bottle of whisky was half empty, though.
Kneeling down, I whistled, unlocking them from a pretty cushy imprisonment.
I set Jade free last, quickly leaping back from what I knew was coming next. She rushed to her feet all fight and fury.
I never underestimated Jade.
My traitorous body bent toward her. Wanted more. Every damn mudslinging part of her.
She was alive. And here. And so fucking fearless.
Madge watched us with unveiled interest.
Hair tousled, mouth firing off, anger in every single tensile muscle, Jade absolutely sprung at me, claws bared.
Laughing freely, which only pissed her off more, I caught her in my arms, the only place I wanted her to be.
She slapped my face and even that sting was potent and lusty.
She ended her tirade with, “I WANT MY BLOODY WEAPONS BACK, WALKER!”
Rubbing the side my burning cheek, I unwisely enjoyed the rush sparring with her always brought. “Maybe if you behave yourself tonight I’ll think about it.”
“How long have you two known each other?” Madge asked, standing to the side.
“Too fucking long,” Jade spat.
I tuned out her bitching while I made sure their blood circulated to their wrists with the least pain possible.
Jade screamed something like, “Sadist! Arsehole! I should put the world out of its misery and kill you now!”
I chuckled. “Don’t know how you can complain about this plush lock-up.” Catching her bare feet against my thighs, I massaged the turn of her ankles, the skin of her soles, down to her toes. “Short duration. Carpeted room. No danger, practically a spa vacation, and you should be damn grateful.”
Smiling widely, I bent over her feet.
She kicked at me, but I didn’t care.
This kind of fighting was going to end differently. I knew it. And it made my skin hot
as a flashpoint wherever I touched her.
My hands roamed up her calves to her knees, and she locked her legs together.
I sat back, punching my fists to my thighs. “You done with the invectives yet?”
“I’m surprised you even know the meaning of that word, you bastard.”
I eyed the bottle of fifty-year-old whisky then glanced back at her. “Enjoyed the drink?”
“Rotgut.”
I laughed from my stomach, helping Madge to her feet. “Who wants a shower?”
Both their hands shot to the air, but Jade made sure to tack on a few more insults . . . in foreign languages she knew full well I understood.
“Guest bathroom is”—I guided Madge into the hall, opening one door after another until I came up trumps—“here. I’m sure there are towels and shampoo, soap and shit somewhere in here. After that, hit the sack. No telling what fresh hell tomorrow will bring. Turns out you’re a very popular woman, Madge.”
She stopped me before I took my leave of the tiny bathroom. “You’re going to set the alarm?”
“Oh yeah. Sure thing. Already did.”
“You’ll be on guard tonight?” she asked.
“Of course. Gonna walk the perimeter of this middle class, Middle American neighborhood all night long. Absolutely.”
Not.
Majedah drew herself up. “You have no intentions of doing so?”
“Listen, lady. We’re in exactly Nowhere, United States. No one’s going to find us tonight.” I glanced at Jade who silently simmered in the hallway. A smile curved my lips. “Of course, you could always sleep with us. Nothing says welcome to the States like a hot, raunchy threesome.”
Madge shoved me out and slammed the door.
Jade grabbed my arm. “Sleep with us?”
“This is how I see it. Madge ain’t going nowhere without you. And you? You’re not going anywhere with me glued to your back. So do you want to shower first, or should I join you?”
“Bugger that! You’re a fuck. I’d rather sleep with cockroaches.” She slammed the door of the master bathroom in my face just like Madge had.
Huh. Maybe I’d paired up with one too many females. International wars? Forget that. I was in danger of Estrogen Wars.
I listened at the door in case Jade got any funny ideas about trying to slip out the small, square bathroom window I’d bolted shut earlier. I heard her quietly investigating and then volubly swearing when she discovered the fresh screws drilling the window tightly closed.