by Elle Boon
“He’s upset at what you went through, not at you, hun.” Ayesha had gotten up from King’s lap and had her arms around the quietly crying woman.
“I can call my father if you need a doctor to look at you. He doesn’t report to authorities or anything, if you don’t want him to, right guys?” Lennox looked at King and Duke, her eyes big and luminous. How did Duke tell her he hated her fucking father for making him leave her alone for the last few years, with a promise to let her go so she could have a life? Only now it seemed that life had done something to her.
“You’re doing it again, Duke.” Lennox pointed at him, her finger swirling in a circle toward his face.
“I’ve no clue what you’re talking about,” he denied.
Lennox rolled her eyes. “Sure you don’t. We’ll get into that later. I need to call my dad. And before you do that grunt, mutter, curse thing you’ve began doing, if I don’t, he’ll be freaking out and calling me insistently.”
Duke nodded, knowing she was probably right. “Give him a call, but don’t tell him you were drugged. I wouldn’t tell him you’re here either.” The old fucker would flip his shit if she did.
Chapter Three
Lennox was puzzled at Duke’s attitude anytime her father’s name was mentioned. The last time she’d been around the two, they’d been friendly. Well, her father had been the doctor who patched up the MC brothers, and they respected him. She couldn’t ever remember a time Duke or King had ever been rude to her dad, ever. Until she’d turned eighteen...goodness, it had been the greatest, and most eye-opening night of her life. She’d been ready to give up her dreams to be Duke’s ole lady. Most girls her age would’ve found the term to be demeaning, but she’d been brought up around the MC. Her dad was an old-timer. He had worn the club colors for as long as she could remember, and even though he didn’t necessarily wear them anymore, he was still a brother. He’d told her he was too old, and once the sons of King senior took over, he’d decided to step away except when they needed medical attention. However, he said there was a new doc who he was sure would be taking even that position soon. A club needed a physician who they could rely on, one who was called when they needed a doctor who didn’t ask questions. She always dreaded those calls, always worried it would be Duke who’d been injured.
“Where’s that mind taken you, Dancer?” Duke asked, stepping into her space.
Ah, her heart turned over whenever he used that tone with her. She often wondered how many women he’d seduced with just that pitch and those words, calling them beautiful like he did her. Of course, being the VP of the Royal Sons, he only had to crook his little finger and women would come running or crawling to do his bidding. She had been one of them, one of many.
“I was just wondering what was next.” Which wasn’t a lie. Her life was a total mess. She couldn’t tell him just how fucked it was. She didn’t even tell her father, the man who she told everything. Well, everything except what had happened between her and Duke that fateful night.
The feel of her hair being tugged sent a shiver of longing through her. “You may think you can lie really well, but newsflash, you can’t lie to me.” Another tug on her hair had her wincing. “When I ask you a question, I expect the truth. If you don’t want to answer me, then we will discuss it. But, and this is nonnegotiable, Lennox”—he paused, his hand twisting in her hair, bringing his face closer so he could murmur in her ear —"if I find you lying to me, I’ll be really disappointed. You don’t want to disappoint me.” He nipped the lobe of her ear before releasing it with a little suck, his tongue licking the sting away.
“You can’t dictate to me, Duke,” she squeaked.
“On that note, I think I’ll take me and my ole lady out of here. You good, Cosmo? You two can stay at my place if you want. Ayesha’s sister would love the extra female company since I plan to disappear with this one for a while.” King lifted Ayesha over his shoulder, making her laugh.
“Hey, what did I do?” Ayesha asked, slapping at King’s ass.
The loud crack echoed in the kitchen as King slapped Ayesha on her butt. “Keep it up. You know I do love it when you get bratty.”
Lennox felt her own body heat up at the thought of being able to play with Duke in the same way and knowing he’d not think she was a whore, or worse, toss her aside for the next piece of ass. Love shone in King’s eyes as he ran a hand over Ayesha’s ass he’d just hit hard enough Lennox was sure his entire handprint would be visible under her clothes.
“Are you wet thinking about my brother spanking Ayesha?” Duke asked, his warm breath made her shiver, the hard tips of her nipples pressed against the thin silk of her bra, clearly visible for anyone who bothered to look at the front of her shirt.
“What are you trying to prove, Duke? I’ve never denied I wanted you.” No way in hell was she going to step in the landmine of admitting she was turned on by the kink he’d referenced. Nope, she was a good girl. A good girl who had wanted Duke to pull her over his lap and show her just how good it felt to feel his hands on her, in any way he wanted. If he’d wanted to spank her with his hands, she’d been all in. If he wanted to use something else...she’d been completely on board for that too. She wasn’t sure if she could handle feeling a man put his hands on her, not with the nightmares still plaguing her. And for that, she wanted to kill Marco, Grace, and Blair.
Her roommates at Juilliard had been so nice, and helpful. They’d been happy to have her become one of their flat mates. Of course, that was probably due to the fact her father was paying for half the rent instead of a third, leaving them to split the other half. She didn’t care, was only pleased to have a place near the school and friends. A hysterical laugh almost escaped as she thought of the women. She put her fist to her lips to keep the sound from escaping, glad that Duke was busy talking with Cosmo, deciding where they were going to stay.
“You alright?”
Lennox jumped at the question, having completely forgotten about the other woman. She’d seen the gorgeous new dancer at The Club and had wondered why she always looked so tortured. Now that she knew Dai-tai’s story, she wished she’d have reached out to her. “Wait a minute. If you were working at the club...as part of a business. Won’t your handler be looking for you?”
The two men across the room stopped talking at her question, making the fine hair on her body stand on end.
“Shit, I hadn’t thought of that.” Cosmo strode to Dai-tai. “Your bag and the rest of your shit was left at the club. Did they just drop you off and assume you’d stay there until you were picked up at the end of the night?”
“My handler is dead. When I walked off the stage I saw him standing there like always, only he was clearly not alive if the unseeing eyes and blood dripping down is throat was any indication. Did you not see him when you came after us?” she asked.
Duke pulled out his phone. “King, we might have a dead body inside The Club.” He shook his head, then continued speaking softly. “Yeah, I’m calling him next. I’ll let you know.” He looked back at Lennox and Dai-tai. “Sit, both of you. I need to call Keys and Hawk.” The sound of the phone ringing on the other end made Duke curse, then a deep voice answered. “Keys, need you to pull up the camera feeds from inside The Club. All of them. Yeah, now and send them to me and King. Thanks, brother.”
“I got Hawk on the phone.” Cosmo passed Duke his phone.
Duke took the cellphone from Cosmo. “You still working? Was there a body near the stage?” Duke looked up and shook his head. “Alright, King wants you and the others that worked the last week here tomorrow for Church at ten in the morning. Yeah, just need to get some shit straight. Alright, see you then. Have a good night. Thanks, man.” Duke handed Cosmo his phone back.
“What’s going on?” Cosmo asked.
Duke shook his head. “Come outside.”
“Oh, yeah, can’t talk in front of us bitches.” Lennox glared at Duke, resentment filling her. She was almost taken tonight.
He didn�
��t so much as stomp across the room as stalk with panther-like grace, erasing the space between them. “Don’t test my patience, little girl. You won’t like what happens when the slim piece of thread I have holding it together snaps.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond, pulling her to him, covering her lips with his in a hard, claiming kiss. A kiss she’d been dreaming about for too long. Only the real thing was even better than dreams, leaving her breathless.
“Hmm, you taste good.” Duke turned and walked out the door, his shitkickers the only sound other than her heavy sigh.
“You got it bad, my friend.”
Lennox lifted her shaking hand, touching her lips. “I know,” she agreed.
“Men like him and the other one scare me. They take what they want and leave when they’re done. You should run when the first opportunity arises.”
She looked at Dai-tai, really looked at her. “Is that your plan?”
Dai-tai dropped her gaze to the floor. “I am sorry. I should not have said bad things about your friends.” She moved backward until she had the cabinets at her back.
“Nobody will hurt you here, Dai-tai. Am I pronouncing that correctly?” She felt like a fool, not knowing if she was offending the other woman.
“It is fine,” she agreed.
“Stop it,” Lennox growled.
“You can call me Tai. Chinese names have meaning you know. My father was American. He came to our village one day and seduced my mother, or so she says. He was a soldier and supposedly promised her many things, only he left her with a lifetime of dishonor. My mother was already a widower with two young sons. She thought he, my father, was going to take the three of them to America with him. Instead, he left and nine months later she had me. She named me Dai-tai, which means leading a boy in hopes. My mother says it is a disgraceful name, just as I was a disgrace.” Dai-tai lifted her shoulders in a dismissive shrug.
“Your mother is a horrible human. The only disgraceful one is her. More than likely she is the one who seduced the American thinking to trap him, but he probably saw through her treachery. I’m not saying it was right of him to skip out on his child, but he may not have believed her. Or, another possibility is he may not have known of you. You have to remember, there are three sides to every story.” Lennox truly believed that everyone thought their side was correct, but in reality there’s always a his, hers, and the truth.
Tai made the ok symbol with her right hand. Lennox could tell nothing she said would convince the other girl she was telling the truth, so she let it drop. “What’re your plans now?” Lennox thought of her being brought over to another country with nothing but blind promises and could imagine the fear she’d felt.
Tai looked away. “I will be fine.”
Looking at the smaller woman, who looked like she couldn’t be much older than she was, Lennox could see she was planning to run. She tried again to reassure Tai that the guys here were the good ones, but Tai only nodded. Only time would prove her words.
“WHEN SHE SAID SHE HAD a handler, I wondered how the fuck that flew by our boys. Our club shouldn’t be allowing some fucker to stand back there and monitor a dancer, whether it be one or more dancers. Let alone be hiring some woman who clearly isn’t there of her own freewill. Shit, look at her. She’s ready to bolt at any moment, given the chance. That’s why they had a handler there, making sure their property didn’t wander off. Do you know what that means, brother?” Duke walked down the steps of his porch as he heard a vehicle pulling in.
“What do you mean, wander off?” Cosmo asked, coming down after him.
Duke looked over his shoulder. “Come on man, think about it.” He stopped as the cage carrying the bikes rolled to a stop, Wheels raised his hand in greeting from the driver’s side. “Hold up, I’ll get it out.” He and Cosmo both moved to the back of the vehicle, unloaded their bikes in silence. Neither man spoke until Wheels had driven away, leaving them with their bikes safely parked outside Duke’s house. They had women in the club who were property of their men, but they knew what they were signing on to become. An ole lady didn’t just get swiped off the street and made to do something, to become property of one of the Royal Bastards brothers without consent.
His phone rang. “Yo, Duke, did you check your bike for a tracker, asshole?” Keys asked.
He looked around, wondering if the other man had a camera somewhere in the vicinity.
“Just so you know, I had Wheels stop by my place before pulling down to yours. Both bikes are clear. Ps you’re welcome, assholes.” The line went dead as Keys finished speaking.
“Keys said he checked our bikes, and wanted to reassure us they’re clear of trackers. That is, after he asked if I checked, the fucker.” Duke raised his middle fingers on both hands into the air, just in case Keys did have cameras somewhere. It wouldn’t surprise him if the paranoid fuck did.
“He’s good,” Cosmo said, pocketing his keyfob.
Duke didn’t want to agree, but of course Cosmo was correct. “Back to the girl,” Duke began.
Cosmo held up his hand. “She’s my problem, brother.”
“Excuse me.” In the darkness, he tried to gauge Cosmo’s expression, needing to see if his best friend meant he was taking her on as a project like he did a lot of lost things, or if he had other intentions. The Royal Sons did a lot of rescue and recover missions. Many for the rich, which helped fill the MC pockets. Others they did pro-bono, but those were few and far between. When they did those, there were still benefits. A tit for tat. I saved your ass; you save my ass type of thing. However, the little woman in his kitchen was an unknown who came with a whole lot of baggage they didn’t know about.
“Tell me where your head’s at, Cosmo.” It was an order, plain and simple.
“You said her handler was gone. That means she’s gonna have two factions looking for her. The fuckers who had her in our club to begin with, and the fuckers who tried to take her out of our club. I plan to stick to her like glue and make sure she doesn’t try to do a runner on us. Whoever decided it was a good idea to place a woman they not only human trafficked, but sex trafficked in a Royal Sons Club, clearly fucked up, royally.”
Duke grinned. “Nice play on words, Cosmo. Only problem with that is you sound like you think you’re in this by yourself, brother. You forgetting you wear the colors? You and I both know being a brother isn’t just about riding a bike. You can’t just decide to toss your cut aside and walk. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Cosmo stepped close to Duke, his hand going to the back of Duke’s neck. “You’re more my brother than any flesh and blood kin of mine. This club is my family. I may be the bastard son of one the wealthiest families on the East Coast, but to me, you guys are my family. I won’t do anything that would cost me my family. Having said that, I also won’t walk away from a fight, and if that woman inside needs me to fight for her, I’ll do it.”
Just like all the Sons would do. “I hear you, man. Remember you’re not alone.”
His best friend gave a hard squeeze of his hand. “I’ll remember.”
“You’re not gonna kiss me are you? I’ll have to punch you if you try it,” Duke warned.
“Well, shit, and here I thought I’d catch some Brokeback Mountain shit,” Keys laughed, interrupting them.
Duke and Cosmo sighed, stepping apart to look toward the darkness. “What the hell are you doing out there, Keys?”
Now that he wasn’t worried about Cosmo going all commando, Duke realized Keys was making noise, or maybe he was only now being noisy. Keys had a knack for being one of the scariest, nerdy, big-ass, technological, tattooed dudes he’d ever met. The man was a walking contradiction. Women saw him and instantly drooled, tossed their panties at him, and wanted him to be their baby daddy. After they found out he was a genius, he had to beat them off with a stick. Poor guy stopped coming to the clubhouse as often once the regular women realized he was single and wouldn’t leave him alone.
“I thought I’d come and see you two befor
e you retired for the night. I think you both are gonna need some backup.” Key’s stopped under the light Duke had in his front yard. The sound of his deep inhale was followed by a cloud of smoke in the air. “I fucking love a good cigar,” Keys muttered.
Duke agreed, but he’d been cutting back. “Why are we both going to need some backup?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He hated riddles. Couldn’t stand trying to figure shit out that could just be stated plainly. You want to fuck, you just said it. You disliked someone? Fucking punch them in the face and walk away. Shit didn’t need to be complicated.
“Ah see those wheels turning, Duke. Let me give you a little advice. When you get inside, you ask your girl why she’s home. You find out what happened in New York and why she quit that fancy school of hers. Then, when you’re ready to go to New York let me know. I’ve got you a ticket ready and a couple brothers set to pick you up and show you some of the city.” Keys inhaled, followed by another exhale.
A minute passed by as Duke thought about what Keys said. “What do you know, Keys?” he growled, taking a step toward the other man.
Cosmo put a hand on Duke’s shoulder. “Hold up. You said we both would need backup. Explain,” he ordered.
The cigar Keys was smoking glowed red. “Your girl has a father here, Cosmo. While I’d like to say he’ll make things easier, I’m not too sure. She’s an adult, but that woman has been through more than any woman, save for Traeger’s ole lady, ever should. I’m going to let you handle her information.” Keys lifted a stack of papers he held in his other hand, slapping his leg with them. “This shit is ugly. I want to go to China and hurt an entire village, brother. An entire motherfucking village should be burned to the fucking ground.” Keys looked off to the side, a red glow arced through the air before disappearing. “You two have a rough road ahead of you. I don’t envy either of you.”
Duke watched Cosmo meet Keys, taking the papers from the other man. He looked back toward his home, wondering what the fuck Keys knew about Julliard and Lennox. Whatever it was, he’d get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later. He also knew Keys wouldn’t tell him even if he got in the assholes face and threatened him with bodily harm. Yeah, that would only make Keys smile.