by C. M. Steele
“That’s what I figured. Do you have rape test kits or DNA gathering kits, at the very least?”
“Yes, I do. We’ve never needed them before, but they’re in stock. Dr. Evan’s stocked it up just in case.”
“Smart woman.” Having dealt with rape victims before, I could handle these ladies, but I believed they still needed counseling afterward.
“I have a feeling you two will get along well and start ganging up on me.” In the week that I’d been here, I learned the ladies had fun teaming up on the guys who were downright bossy and growly all the time. It was like a pack of wolves instead of bikers.
“Never. I’m actually looking forward to meeting her. When does she come back?”
“Next week.”
“That’s great. My dad said he met her, and she was lovely.”
“She is. A tough woman and fantastic doctor.” He pulled into his parking spot and then we exited the truck. “Ready?” he asked, holding the clinic door open for me.
“Good morning, Dr. Simmons.”
“Good morning, Annelise. I’d like you to meet Dr. Grace Holden. She’ll be working alongside Dr. Evans and me.”
“Hello, Dr. Holden. Just let me know if you need anything.” She smiled sweetly up at me, standing behind the desk. Annelise couldn’t be any more than five two, but every bit of her screamed adorable.
“Thank you, Annelise.” Doc took me around to each room and then into the office and lab areas.
“This place is perfect. If I never had to work in the ED again, I’d be happy in a place like this.”
“You got it. Although once we do open the hospital, it would be great to have you there for the less serious cases if it makes you feel better.”
“I know I’m a weakling as a doctor.”
“Not all of us are meant to work in the ED. It doesn’t make you weak. You have a heart and you have a harder time turning it off as much as the next.” He patted my shoulder and then the door dinged as the first patient came in. Doc took the man into the first room as I waited for the Riders to return with the females.
Ricardo entered with his head down, a baseball cap over his eyes, but then lifted his gaze to me. I pushed off the edge of the reception desk and straight toward him. Three girls followed with Boomer pulling up the rear. My heart broke because they weren’t even adults yet. It wasn't the first time I'd seen trafficked girls and children, but it was the first time where I thought about being a mother and possibly pregnant. As a woman, maybe going to be a mother, I felt for them.
He tossed me a half smile. We were more than happy to see each other, but this wasn’t a party. These women had been through hell. I moved closer to them with my hands clasped together so I didn’t frighten them before speaking. "Hello, I'm Dr. Grace Holden. I'd like to examine you ladies. I'm sure you're not in the mood for prodding, but I think it's best. The men will go.”
I took a step back, assessing their clothes or lack thereof. They needed a full wardrobe. Ricardo moved into the space between the girls and me, his arms sliding around my waist. “I missed you so fucking much.” He barely tasted my lips before pulling back.
“So we can start, but I need to meet with them without you men here.” I shooed them away with my hand, but they didn’t take a step toward the door.
“Are you okay, ladies? Do you remember what I said?” Boomer asked, sounding harsh but appearing gentle.
“Yes, sir.”
“It’s Boomer. Now please allow Dr. Holden to do her thing.” They nodded and fidgeted their hands and feet. Two of them kept their eyes down while one looked defiantly ahead, attempting to show no fear even if her hand shook.
"Can we have their sizes? We'll send someone to get them some clothes,” Boomer asked me. I walked over to the reception desk and grabbed a pen while Annelise gave me a notepad.
“Girls, can you please write them down?” I asked, handing them the pen and pad. They took turns and then handed it to me. I saw their writing was a little off. I’d say they were coming down off the adrenaline and fear.
“I need them to have food in here in twenty minutes.”
“Will do.” Boomer pulled out his phone and texted someone before shoving it back in his pocket.
“I’ll be here to pick you up after work,” Ricardo stated, approaching me again with desire in those sexy brown eyes.
"That's perfect, Ricardo. I love you." I blushed, realizing it was the first time I’d ever said that to him. Before I could react, he picked me up in his arms and crushed my lips to his.
"I love you too, my angel,” he grunted, carrying me to the ledge of the registration desk.
"Enough, you two. There's a bunch of stuff to be done."
Ricardo practically snarled at Boomer, who laughed. “Hey, fuckhead, I have a very pregnant wife who is probably losing her shit right now wondering when I’m coming home.”
"Sorry. He's right. Give Crystal a hug from me.” Ricardo brought me down and then pecked my lips one more time before they left the building and hopped back into the SUV.
“Please follow me." I led the girls into a backroom where I’d already prepared for the examinations. They looked anxiously at the supplies, even more so than when the men were around.
I didn’t touch them, and I kept my voice measured. "I’m not here to hurt or judge any of you. If you ladies feel uncomfortable, you don't have to be in the same room. We can do the tests one at a time."
"No, please." One hung on to the other like twins tend to do.
"We're okay to do it together." The one who never let her chin fall to her chest appeared to be the one in charge.
"However you'd like.” I had my tablet out, making profiles in my notes for the three. “I’m Dr. Grace Holden. Can you please tell me your names?”
“I’m Lena.”
“I’m Shayla, and this is my sister Kayla.”
“Beautiful names, ladies. Now, let’s get started.” A prospect dropped off the food at the front desk and Annelise brought it back to us. The girls ate a little, but they were thirsty.
I spent the next two hours asking questions and examining them. They hadn’t been sexually assaulted yet, but I was certain that they were threatened with it if they didn't comply. It made me sick, and I was grateful that my man and his brothers had been there to save them.
They would be staying next door to Asher and Demi while they figured out how to get around. Demi took them under her wing, making them feel safe, which did all our hearts good.
After a long day of assisting Doc with patients, I called it a day. I wanted to see my man. He made sure he wasn’t seen by anyone when he came in, but then he spent the day locked away. Tomorrow he was headed into the ATF headquarters to reveal himself. We all knew that the threat would grow, but it had to happen.
Ricardo waited outside in his SUV until I came out. Then he popped out in his baseball cap, looking sexy as hell. I hadn’t realized how turned on I was by that look too. The man made my panties melt every time his eyes met mine. Walking around, he helped me inside. The second he jumped back in on his side, he took off the hat, cupped me around the back of my neck, and consumed me in a deep, soul-penetrating kiss.
“I missed you, too,” I moaned when he finally let me go. The drive home didn’t take long, but we barely made it in the door before he stripped me down and pinned me to the wall. Dropping to his knees, he breathed me in before his mouth found his prize. I tossed my head back against the door and speared my hands through his thick hair, forgetting everything but the extreme pleasure between my legs.
As soon as I cried out his name, he stood and stuffed me with every inch of his thick rod. His movements were rushed and frenzied until he emptied his seed deep in my belly, and I followed him over for my second wild orgasm of the night. Knowing Ricardo, I’d have at least two more before we passed out and on cue, he carried me into our bedroom.
Chapter 16
Ghost
My heart and soul were floating on cloud nine right n
ow. My woman told me she loved me yesterday. There wasn’t anything I couldn’t do. I loved Grace from the first moment I saw her. I walked into the ATF building, smiling when I didn’t see that son of a bitch Ferguson. I had a bullet with his name on it, and I wanted him to know it.
I barged through the director’s office door, catching them all by surprise. “Martinez, you’re alive,” Ferguson said first, paling and giving me the last bit of verification I needed.
The director stood up and threw his arms around me. “I’m so damn glad you’re alive, son. Where the hell have you been? What happened to you?” There was a genuine happiness, and I knew he was clean. He’d felt guilty, believing that he sent me to my grave.
“Yes, barely. It’s a miracle I had a couple of guardian angels that day. I washed up on the shore and a young couple found me, sent me to be treated by a few local doctors, but I was in a coma for a month. I’ve only just returned.” I didn’t want to give all the details away.
“Who did this?”
“That’s what I need to figure out,” I lied, knowing the answer. “Fergie, can you get out of here? I have to talk to the director.”
“I was in a meeting first.”
“Fine. I’ll say it right in front of you, then. Mac turned. He helped toss me over, but he’s not the only crooked agent in this bitch.” I directed my glare right at Fergie.
“What the fuck are you implying, Martinez?” He jumped out of his chair.
“I’m not implying shit. I’m stating, you lousy piece of shit.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You can lie all you want, you big fucking pussy, but you’ll get what’s coming to you one way or another. Once the cartel learns you tricked off like a little bitch to save your ass in prison or to get life without parole, I’ll be a satisfied bastard.”
“Martinez, if you have information on Ferguson, please share it,” he said, glaring at Fergie.
“Nothing you can grab legally. Then again, I’ve been dead for over a month, so I’m just a ghost.” I stood up and leaned toward Ferguson, “And I’m going to haunt your ass until the day you die.” He pissed his pants like the weak little bitch he was. “Fucking pussy. Did you watch while they beat me nearly to death, or were you too afraid?”
“I saw the video,” he blurted out, trying to stop the words from leaving his mouth.
“Ferguson, you’re fucked.” I laughed, stepping out of the way as the director came up to him.
“Turn in your weapon and badge,” he ordered Ferguson.
“I didn’t say anything. He forced me to lie with intimidation.”
“You’re suspended. If you want to start talking, I think it would be for the best. Otherwise, I bet the Villanueva cartel will be on your ass the second word gets out that Martinez is alive.”
“Oh my God, Martinez is alive!” Several agents recognized me and crowded me. I walked out just as a scuffle started in the director’s office. Several officers ran inside to find Ferguson pinned to the director’s desk.
“What the hell?”
“Take him into interrogation room two. Cuff him to the chair.” He shoved him into Suarez’s arms. “You betrayed the badge. By the end of the day, I’ll have enough evidence to send you away for life.”
“I need a lawyer,” he shouted, fighting against Suarez’s grip.
“Fine, if that’s the way you want to play it. Read this asshole his rights and get him a lawyer. I need to call the judge to get a warrant to search his financial and electronic records.”
“You don’t have anything.”
“I have resisting arrest and assault.” The director had a busted lip, but Ferguson’s eye was shut closed with swelling from being clocked. From the look of his arm, it was going to hurt as well.
“We’re not done with you, Martinez.”
“Make it quick. I’m still recovering.” For two hours, everyone was curious. I didn’t go into detail because the more you told people, the likelihood they could use it to harm someone you loved. Everyone else came back clean so I felt a little comfortable, but I had to remain wary.
The second I finished at the ATF office, I made my way back to Grace. I missed the fuck out of her. I’d only been gone a couple of hours, and my chest burned with longing that just my woman could relieve.
My phone rang just as I pulled into my driveway. "Hey, Law. What's up?"
"I'm calling to let you know that whenever you're ready, the job is yours. I know you can't be wrestling with drunk fuckers yet, but we could use you at the surveillance area monitoring the cameras.”
“When?"
"As soon as you feel up to it."
"Grace will be working with Doc tomorrow, so starting at ten sounds perfect."
"Great. I'll see you at the station, then. Thanks, brother." He pressed the end call button on the dashboard and then stepped out of the vehicle. The security around my house had tripled this morning after I left for the office because they knew making my presence known was waving a red fucking flag in the cartel's face.
I popped into the house, and Grace smiled at me with an apron on —only the apron on. Before I knew it, I pulled the strings and tossed it on the floor, slamming my mouth to hers. "I missed you too." Dipping lower, I sucked her hard peak between my lips as I pumped two fingers into her soaked cunt. "You need it, don't you? Say it. Tell me what the fuck you need, Grace. Because my dick is throbbing to be in you. Do you want me to slip it in here?" I flexed my fingers inside her heat. "Or here?" My tongue slipped into her mouth.
"Both," she moaned. Greedily, I strummed her clit before pulling my fingers out and bringing them to my lips, sucking off her lust.
"Knees, now." She lowered herself, spreading her legs open as she took my shaft in her skilled hand. "Suck my cock like you want all my cum down your throat. Maybe I'll give it to you." She licked me from base to tip and I shuddered, attempting not to nut so quickly. The visual of her hungry eyes looking up at me while her mouth encased my cock was unbearable. "Fuck. I should have kept the apron on." My thick vein pulsed readily to shoot my load. I wanted it between her legs, though.
She popped off, looking put out before winking and adding, "Why? I'm not going to spill a drop." I was about to come all over her face if she kept that shit up.
“Then suck me off a little more, but I’m not coming in your mouth. I want it in your pussy.” She moaned around my shaft, sucking me deeper, gripping the back of my thighs. I groaned, cupping the back of her head, and tugged on her hair. One more second and then I pulled her off. I had to get inside of her. I led her to the sofa and bent her over the arm and plunged into her heat.
I grunted, “You got me so damn close, angel. I want you to come with me.” I gripped her throat and pumped into her while my other hand worked her clit. Second by second, I could feel the tension growing in her body until she cried out, causing my hand to vibrate as she clenched around my cock. With one more forceful roll of my hips, I filled her with my cum.
“What a welcome home,” I whispered, pressing kisses to the top of her spine and down the middle of her back.
“God, I love you, Grace.”
“I love you, Ricardo.”
Chapter 17
Grace
It had been two days since news broke that Ricardo actually survived. Security on me tripled as I developed my schedule for the clinic. I couldn’t even argue about the constant shadow because Boomer told me, “Even if Ghost didn’t order that shit, I would have. So don’t fucking give the guy a hard time. You know what they are capable of.” I tried to forget seeing Ricardo broken like that.
I’d only been at the clinic for half an hour when I saw my dad at the front desk.
“Dad, what brings you to see me?” I asked him as I stepped around to greet him. He looked more put together and a little nervous.
“I’m going back home.” I heard a gasp behind me and saw Dr. Evans going into her office.
I looked back and forth between m
y father and the closed office door, wondering. Dr. Evans wasn’t as old as my father, but at least ten years older than me. Could she have a thing for him? Forgetting that for a moment, I focused on his news. “What? Why? I mean…is it safe?”
“It is, but I’ll be coming back in a month. I’m going to assess the clinic and the area. They’re sending one of the prospects with me. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I don’t like it, but I suppose you have your own clinic to run.”
“That I do, sweetheart. You’ll be safe here, but don’t get married until I get back.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not.” Ricardo hadn’t mentioned anything of the sort, and I doubted that he would be asking me any time soon. He had a lot on his plate. The arraignment for Ferguson was tomorrow under heavy guard. Ricardo didn’t want to be anywhere near because of the cartel who might be looking to off him. We all knew that was an inevitability especially when Ricardo could name names.
He gave me a hug and then left without another word. My mind reeled with questions, but my appointments were booked for the day, taking some of Doc’s patients because he wanted to spend the day with his wife who wasn’t feeling too hot lately.
The town wasn’t large, but with it growing, they were going to need another doctor. I only worked part-time, and that was the way Ricardo wanted it. He took the job with Law as the deputy sheriff in town, so we decided to plan our schedules around each other.
I made it through the day, getting wary looks from some of the patients because they were used to Doc and I was an outsider.
“Babe, are you ready?” he asked as soon as he stepped through the clinic door. I was just about to lock up when he came in.
“I thought you’d be waiting in the truck for me,” I said, tilting my head up for him to kiss.
After giving me what I needed, he answered, “Well, since there’s no more hiding who I am, why bother?”