by Brook Wilder
I straightened my shoulders. His sarcasm was not going to affect me.
“Surely you can find a place for me here.”
He laughed harshly, eyeing me.
“Well normally I tell the women to keep my men happy, but you are my daughter and I won’t have you whoring yourself in this club.” He then looked at Moose. “Take her to the house. I’ll decide what to do with her later.”
Well, I hadn’t expected our first meeting to go like this. It wasn’t that I had some great fantasy that he was going to welcome me with open arms, announcing to the world that his long-lost daughter had come home at last. No, I hadn’t been expecting that, but I had been hoping he would pull me directly into his world. Instead, he was putting me in his house, like an annoyance, until he decided where I belonged.
I was peeved.
Moose grabbed my arm and I was forced to go with him, keeping my anger inside until he got to his bike outside. Grabbing his helmet, he threw it at me.
“Put it on and let’s go.”
Blowing out a breath, I eyed him.
“I need my shit from the car.”
He looked over my shoulder and nodded.
“Get your shit and get on this bike Faye.”
**
An hour later, I stood under the steady stream of warm water, washing the shampoo out of my hair. After a few days of bathing in the sink, the shower felt wonderful, but it wasn’t enough to tamp down my anger.
I was still pissed at my father, at Moose, and at myself. Moose had barely said two words to me since we had arrived at my father’s house, ordering the bikers posted at the door to not touch me, putting the fear of my father’s name in them until they wouldn’t even look at me as I passed by.
Then he had shown me to a guest bedroom, warning me to stay here until he came back, and left me to my own devices. The large house itself seemed to be strangely empty, the silence deafening as I pulled out my stuff from my bag and took my first shower in days.
It was also going to give me some time to think, to strategize of how I would get my father to allow me to stay.
A sudden noise startled me, and I shut off the shower, listening closely. It had almost sounded like a gunshot.
Another sounded in the distance, and I sprang into action, stepping out of the shower and grabbing my robe, throwing it around my body. Hell, I should have asked Moose for a gun before he left, something to protect myself. I didn’t know what I was about to find, but I had come too far to die today.
Before I could grab anything, the door splintered, and I screamed, bits of wood hitting me in the shoulder. My eyes flew to the doorway, and I took a few steps back as a big man stepped through the doorway, his gun pointed at my chest.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Who the hell are you?” I echoed, clutching my robe closed with my hands.
His eyes travelled down my body, and I felt as if I was naked before him, seeing the burning rage in his gaze. What was he going to do? Rape me? Kill me? Who the hell was he?
“Are you his new whore?” he sneered, his eyes finding my gaze once more. “How much would he pay to get you back?”
I knew who he was talking about, and as my eyes travelled to the insignia on his vest I realized who I was dealing with. A bloody Frontier Reaper, my father’s enemy in these parts.
Shit.
“I’m nobody,” I said, forcing my voice to remain even. “But I could make you scream my name.”
He arched his brow, clearly surprised by my change in conversation.
“Really? How am I supposed to do that if I don’t know who you are?”
I curved my lips in a coy smile, releasing my hold on my robe to give him a peek of my breasts. If I could distract him, then I could go for the gun.
To my surprise he didn’t bite, and I felt my frustration mount.
It was time for plan B.
Trailing my fingers down my hip, I took a step toward him.
“I could show you a real good time.”
His lips curved in a grin. and I was momentarily struck by the flood of warmth between my legs at that grin.
“I bet you could. However, I’m not here for a good time, I’m afraid. Tell me who you are darling, or I will be forced to kill you.”
“My father will hunt you down,” I said automatically, cursing inwardly as a gleam appeared in his eye.
I had just given him what he needed with the slip of a tongue.
“Well, well,” he finally said, cocking his head to the side. “I didn’t think the bastard could spawn something as gorgeous as you. I bet you are pretty important to him.”
I swallowed hard as he advanced, pulling a zip tie out of his back pocket.
I was fucking screwed.
Chapter 4
Jaxon
“You did what?”
I winced at my brother’s shout, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I kidnapped Hector’s daughter. Hell, I didn’t even know he had a kid.”
Brendan braced his arms on the couch, hanging his head.
“Of all the fucking stupid things to do, Jax.”
“She’s fine,” I answered, ignoring the burn of the scratches she left on my arms.
She had put up quite the fight in that small bathroom, nearly taking off a layer of skin in the process. By the time I had gotten her trussed up, our chests were heaving with exertion.
Oh, and I hadn’t not noticed her at all.
Brendan sighed, the tension in the room palpable. We were stationed in one of our safehouses off the highway, deep in the woods, so that we could guard all the entry points. I had brought the girl here immediately, glad that I had taken the truck instead of my bike to Blackwood’s house to begin with. Now I had her dumped in one of the bedrooms, still tied up, while I told my brother what I had done.
“What if she’s lying?” Brendan was asking, a heaviness to his voice I hadn’t heard before.
He had so much pressure on him as the president of the club, now embroiled in a turf war that was growing steadily by the day. I actually felt fucking sorry for him, and now I had gone and potentially made it worse.
“What if she’s not his daughter?”
I had thought about that. I could have just taken a woman who we couldn’t use as a bargaining chip and would be forced to deal with her in some way.
“But what if she is?”
Brendan blew out a breath and pushed away from the couch, resuming his pacing in the living room. Not far from us, a group of our brotherhood waited for instruction, to spread the word that we had gotten one-up on the Blood Eagles. Once the word was out, Blackwood would be out for blood, and we would be ready.
“Alright, I will bite. Keep her close and don’t let her in your head, Jax. If she identifies even a hint of weakness in you, she will eat you alive.”
I chuckled.
“You are talking to me, Bren, not Colby.”
He looked up and gave me a grin.
“You think you can be tough until they get inside your head. Then they strip away your defenses, and you find yourself up shit creek without a paddle.”
“Whatever,” I said. “I got this. I can get her to talk, and whatever we find out will be better than what we know now.”
Brendan nodded, clapping me on the shoulder.
“Then she’s all yours. Just don’t hurt her. She could be an innocent in all this shit.”
“Got it,” I said with a snarl.
I wasn’t a woman-beater by any means, and even after she scratched me to hell, I hadn’t once lost my temper.
But I had enjoyed dumping her in the back seat like a sack of potatoes as payback.
“I’m heading back,” Brendan was saying, releasing my shoulder. “Keep me updated on what you learn, and for Christ sake don’t underestimate her.”
I didn’t say anything, just watched as my brother and some of the bikers filed out of the house,
leaving only a few behind. I knew what I was doing and knew what my brother was entrusting me to do for the brotherhood, for our families. I had taken a chance in kidnapping the girl, but he hadn’t chewed me out because of it.
What Brendan didn’t know was what the girl looked like. Hell, when I had kicked open that door, I had expected to see Hector’s fat ass getting out of the shower. I would have popped him once and been done with it. But I had gotten a curvy brunette, barely wrapped in a wet robe, her eyes widening as I stepped inside the bathroom. Damn, it had been a gut punch and a cock harden at the same time. She was shorter than I like them, but those curves… My hands could be busy for days with a woman like that.
“Shit,” I muttered, looking down the hall where she was located currently.
I had to remember she was the enemy, not a girl that I could fuck the daylights out of and never get tired. Brendan was right in the fact that I had to be on my game with her, not get pulled in by a pretty face and rocking body. Both of my brothers had been suckered into settling down with women that had been their enemies at one time.
Me, I was a rogue, able to steel myself against any woman taking advantage of me again.
I pushed away from those thoughts and stalked to the kitchen, throwing open the fridge door and extracting a beer in rapid succession. I needed to get my mind together before I went to speak to her, clam myself up so that she couldn’t pick me apart mentally or physically.
Everything was on the line here, and whatever I could gleam from my prisoner would benefit the club, the one thing in my life that I fucking cared about.
I drained the beer and threw it in the trash, rolling my shoulders a few times to loosen up. I would turn on the Morrison charm with her, push her to the brink until she spilled her guts to me just like I knew she would.
After that… well, I would have to decide what to do with her. The guards I had handled today would have been easy kills, especially since they had fired at me first. But Brendan would have been pissed if I killed them, and I knew I was already overstepping my bounds with my brother by kidnapping the girl. So, I had knocked them out solid with the butt of the gun instead.
I wasn’t, however, above putting a bullet into any fucking Blood Eagle, including the girl if she was one of them.
Chapter 5
Faye
I eyed the shut door, knowing that at any moment it would open, and I would face my kidnapper. The biker who had taken me had been a surprise, younger than I would have imagined bikers to be.
And his eyes… good Lord, he had beautiful green eyes, even if they were filled with hate. He was also tall, nearly dwarfing me as he had advanced into the bathroom, and he had looked so confident with the advantage of his height.
What he hadn’t expected was for me to launch out of the corner he had backed me into, nails bared. I had gotten a few scratches in on his arms before he had overpowered me, pushing me to the floor, before straddling me and tying my hands behind my back. Even in the weird position I was in, there was no mistaking the power of his body over mine, the way his hands had deftly handled mine.
It had been mind-numbing and body-tingling, that was for sure.
Blowing out a breath, I tried to flex my hands against the zip ties, my arms starting to go numb under the pressure. Surely, they didn’t expect to leave me like this for the rest of the night. I didn’t know what they wanted, nor did I really care. If they were kidnapping me for secrets about my father’s club, then it was going to be a laughable moment once I told them where I had been for the last eighteen years of my life. I had nothing, notta, zilch, of what they probably wanted.
The door opened, and I sat up straighter, wiping my face of all emotion. I wasn’t scared, but more mildly irritated and curious as to why I was here.
There was very little in my life that scared me anymore.
The biker from earlier walked in, a bundle in his hands, his eyes assessing me. I was glad to see the angry scratches on his muscular arms, nearly smirking as he laid the bundle on the bed. Served him right for snatching me out of my father’s home like that and throwing me into that truck. I wished I had gotten a hold of his too gorgeous face as well.
“I brought you some clothes,” he finally said, his voice vibrating through the small room. It wasn’t laced with any anger but had a low timbre that sent shivers racing up and down my spine. “They probably are going to be too big, but it will be better than the robe you have on.”
I shrugged one shoulder, knowing the exact moment that the robe dipped past my shoulder and exposing more of my breast.
“I’m not picky.”
His eyes traced the robe and I smiled inwardly. This was going to be a breeze.
“Can you untie me then? I can’t get dressed this way.”
He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Will you promise not to do anything drastic? I don’t want to hurt you.”
I gave him a coy smile.
“Sure. I’ll comply.” I intentionally let a hitch in my voice. “I-I only want to go home.”
My hitch seemed to work, for he walked over and reached behind me, giving me a nose full of his spicy scent as he cut through the plastic. My stomach did a funny flip as he backed off, my eyes catching the tips of a tattoo peeking out the collar of his t-shirt.
“There,” he said as I pulled my arms to the front of my body, rubbing the raw places on my wrists where the plastic had bit into them. “Go on, get dressed.”
I uncrossed my legs and climbed off the bed, reaching for the bundle.
“Are you going to watch?”
A hint of a grin appeared on his lips before it disappeared.
“You would like that, wouldn’t you?”
I gave him another smile, feeling the temperature in the room turn up notch or two.
“Depends on what it leads to, handsome.”
He didn’t grin that time, but the heat in his eyes was unmistakable, and I knew I had him right where I wanted him. Slowly, I untied the belt on my robe and slid it down my body, feeling my nipples tighten as the cool air rushed past them. I wasn’t ashamed of my body and was far past the need to be coy about it.
The biker’s eyes traveled down my body, his jaw clenching as I reached for the soft t-shirt, idly wondering if it was his or not.
Not that I cared.
Slipping it over my head, I fluffed out my hair before I took a step forward, the material sliding over my body like a second skin. He didn’t move as I placed myself before him.
“Like what you see?”
“You’re good,” he said gruffly, his eyes searching my face. “This isn’t your first go round, is it?”
I laughed huskily, surprised that I wanted to touch his unshaven cheek badly.
“I won’t lie. It’s not. What do you want from me?”
“I want answers,” he said softly. “Who the hell are you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I challenged before driving a knee into his crotch.
His face contorted in pain before he dropped to one knee, and I darted past him, out of the room and down the hall, my feet slapping against the cold wood. I didn’t know where I was, but there had to be cars here that I could escape in and get to my father. Then, they would pay, and pay greatly.
Turning the corner, I came to a halt as I entered the living room. Four pairs of eyes stared back at me, some in surprise while others gave me an angry look.
“Well, well,” one of them chuckled as he stood from the chair he was lounging in. “Looks like you got the best of Jaxon.”
“Hello lovey,” another said. “Where are you planning on going to?”
“Hello boys,” I cooed, not allowing them to see my panic. “Can a girl get a ride out of this joint?”
“Not in this lifetime,” another voice rose up as a commotion sounded behind me.
I knew who it was, and he was going to be pissed off when he reached me.
Chapte
r 6
Jaxon
Shit. Shit. Shit.
The word sounded off in my brain as I picked my ass off the floor and limped to the hallway, hearing the conversation that was already happening in the living room. I had done exactly what Brendan had warned me against and been seduced by a naked woman in the span of two seconds.