Lake: A Steel Paragons MC Novel (The Coast: Book 5)

by Eve R. Hart

  I quickly flicked and tapped my finger over the screen. Once I had Lake’s name visible, I hit the call button the killed then screen again. Then I reached into my pocket, doing my spectacular magic trick of tucking my phone in there and pulling the keys out at the same time.

  I let out a short laugh just to keep the charade going.

  “They were in my pocket the whole time.” I jungled them in the air for effect. “Coming out.”

  I did so, slowly. I liked my body without extra holes in it and I had a feeling that one wrong move would leave me with a permanent reminder of this night.

  Once my feet were on the pavement, I clicked the lock button for the car.

  “Please,” I said a little loudly. “Don’t hurt me. I don’t know what I’ve done. You can put down your guns. I’m going with you. It’s not like if I even tried to run, I’d get away from all six of you.”

  God, I hoped Lake had heard all of that. Or at least the six guys part because I was sure he’d figured something wasn’t right with just that. If not, well I was up shit creek without a paddle, raft, or even a life vest.

  Not one of them said a word as they surrounded me and began to move as one to the building I’d been parked in front of. The one with the frosted windows and the newish door. Hmmm. Yeah, I should have seen that something was up with that building.

  I was not-so-nicely urged through that door.

  My jaw hung open as I took in the surroundings.

  Polished, white granite floor tiles. The big ones, surrounded by thin lines of grout and still perfectly white. Like it’d never been stepped on before. Which kind of had me subconsciously doing my best to make sure my feet landed in the middle of the big squares, though none of the men around me seemed to have the same care in their heads.

  The steel elevators on the far side were free of scratches and signs of wear. The walls were white but etched with a light gold floral design. I wanted to get a closer look to see if it was wallpaper or painted on, but I got the feeling that now was not the time.

  “In,” one of them grunted at me the moment the elevator doors opened.

  The steel box had more of a darker feel to it. It could have been the low lighting and the fact that the walls were all mirrored. And those mirrors, not a speck of dust or anything else on them.

  What the hell was this place?

  My head started to throb as the elevator began to ascend into the unknown.

  Well, unknown for me. I was sure the guys knew what the hell was coming.

  The doors opened again on the fourth floor where I was not-so-nicely urged out. No fucking surprise there.

  We walked down a long hall, the deep red carpet was plush under my feet. The place was dark and lit only by dim sconces on the walls every few feet.

  At the end of the hall was an excessive door. Wider than the standard house door and painted gold. I wasn’t talking about some tacky gold either.

  I tried to hold back the eye roll but just couldn’t.

  Who the hell would…

  Well, I had a feeling I was about to find out.

  The door opened to reveal an office. A huge, dark wood desk sat in the middle with a deep red, high backed office chair behind it. There was a wall of screens behind the desk and I tried to make out what I was seeing.

  “Are they… oh, God,” I said, my eyes wide with shock even though I really shouldn’t have been so surprised. Hell, I’d seen shit like this on some of my cases. Still, I had not expected that right now. “What the fuck have I gotten myself into?” I mumbled mostly to myself.

  “Sit,” one of the big lugs said as his hand clamped down on my shoulder and with a push, I had no choice but to comply.

  The seat was comfy enough but that didn’t help the butterflies that were causing a ruckus in my stomach.

  “Why am I here?” I asked… someone and not too nicely.

  “Because,” a female voice replied and my head whipped to the left to lay eyes on her. “You are sitting outside of my business and I need to know why.”

  There was a slight accent there. I could hear it in the vowels and then oddly enough, the way the Ts seemed to come off her tongue with a sharpness.

  She walked from the corner of the room, a door behind her and I wondered if that was where she’d come from. Or was she hiding in the corner like a creepy freak trying to scare me with her wannabe evil villain shit? It wasn’t going to work on me.

  Nope.

  But as this woman walked towards me on her sky-scraper heels and tight red dress that looked like it would have cost more than I’d made in my lifetime, I couldn’t help but swallow hard. Her almost white blonde hair hung down past her breasts and was stick straight and shiny as hell. Her face was, well, flawless. Lips a perfect Cupid’s bow and painted sin-red. Eyes ice blue and lined in black. The smudging of the shadow that dusted her lids was immaculate. I would have placed her in her late thirties but that was only a guess because she clearly took care of herself, and not in that injections sort of way. It was the look in her eyes that tipped me off, a kind of dark knowing wiseness that made me see the truth behind the tight body and creamy face. Like yeah, maybe she was the queen of her empire now but it had been a hard and grueling climb to get there.

  This woman screamed power and oozed sexuality with a strange kind of edge to it.

  I wanted to hate her.

  She was everything I’d never be.

  Well, mostly. I had a feeling that we both had backbones of steel and wouldn’t take shit if we didn’t want to. For that, I mentally gave her a respectful nod.

  My eyes never left hers as she slowly but swiftly moved across the room and around the desk. She lowered herself down into the red chair with an air of grace and power. I tried like hell to keep my eyes on hers and not look at the million screens behind her.

  “Your business?” I said with a raised brow. “You mean your…” and because I couldn’t help it, my head tilted to the side and I flicked my gaze to one of the screens, “brothel?”

  She said nothing.

  “Super kinky sex club?”

  And still nothing.

  “Do you rent the rooms or the girls?” I asked because I couldn’t stop myself.

  “I provide a service here,” she said unruffled. “It is a legitimate business and everyone that is here, is here willingly.”

  “Good money?” I asked raising a brow and looking around the room.

  “It doesn’t come without its costs. I take care of my people.” Her tone was cold, but I got the sense it was because that was how she felt she needed to be.

  I started to wonder about her. How was she when she didn’t have eyes on her? What was she like when she let her hair down? Did the Ice Queen ever cry?

  “Good for you,” I said and made no attempt to quell my eye roll. “Well, I had no idea this was… a thing and now that you know I’m not scoping your place out or whatever, I can be on my way.”

  “No,” she said tapping one of her painted nails on the desk.

  “Okay, this conversation is great and all. But can we hurry and get this cleared up so I can get the hell out of here?” I was getting agitated and too tired to put up with bullshit.

  And that was when one of her fucking perfectly sculpted brows raised at me.

  “Miss,” one of her henchmen said behind me causing her gaze to shoot over my head.

  In a split second, she whipped her chair around and faced the millions of screens. Okay, it wasn’t that many, but there were a fuck of a lot of them.

  Again, my head tilted to the side to see what she was looking at. There, the one with the street view. The club’s SUV was surrounded once again, only this time, I knew these faces.

  Oh, thank God my call had gone through.

  “Yours?” she asked whipping back around to look at me.

  And a smile tugged at my lips when I noticed Lake there on the screen.

  “Ehhhh…” I said with a small one-shouldered shrug.

  Because, we w
eren’t really a thing. We’d had sex once. Not once, more like five times, but it was one night. One. Night. That didn’t mean anything. Not for me and I was sure not for him, as well. Just two people in need of a release that also happened to not hate each other. And kind of, maybe, understood one another a little more than other people did.

  My response earned me a sad, disapproving look before she turned her attention to her men.

  “Bring them in,” she said clearly not talking to me. “Check them before you bring them up.”

  I didn’t turn around but I could hear the fast shuffling of a few sets of feet.

  “All of you,” she said sharply.

  “You sure?” someone asked hesitantly.

  There wasn’t an answer. Unless you counted that deadly look she was shooting over my head.

  And then, strangely, we were alone.

  Those eyes looked at me again, so cold and disgusted it actually made me shiver.

  “Like you’re one to judge,” I scoffed.

  “My women work hard. So what if they like sex, no one should judge. But they don’t give anything away for free. Clubwhores…” She shook her head slightly and tsked at the thought.

  “Hey now,” I said sitting straight up and pointed a finger at myself. “Not a clubwhore.”

  “Then what?” I could tell that I’d confused her on some level.

  “Just a girl here on a job trying to get it over with so she can get back home. And yes, nothing wrong with liking sex.”

  “I could like you.” I could have sworn she was almost… smiling.

  “Yeah, well, not sure how I feel about you right now. And that has nothing to do with your business.”

  “While we wait for the men, why don’t you tell me why you’re here.” Her shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch and I took that to mean that she had relaxed, as much as her body would allow her to. Or she would allow herself. I wasn’t quite sure which one it was yet.

  I couldn’t imagine being a madame was easy work. A woman in the sex business, yeah, those required some big lady-balls.

  I broke down and told her a little bit about why I was there sitting in front of her building for the third night in a row.

  “Wait,” I said and paused as things bounced around in my brain. “The detective… that wasn’t random, was it? It was you?”

  She answered with a small shrug and a beat of silence hung in the air.

  “Everyone has a price,” she said coolly. “And a need.”

  “I don’t want to know,” I replied as I held up my hand. I definitely didn’t need to think about the detective’s needs. Or him naked.

  But now that part made sense. At least I knew the good ole detective wasn’t stalking me, so there was that.

  “There is nothing here.” I studied her for the truth in her words. “I own this block and every building is empty, except this one here.”

  I let out a sigh and sagged back into the chair.

  Rubbing my temples, I wondered what the hell was going on. I knew it, that something was off. I’d felt it from the first night I’d spend in the SUV watching all the nothingness around me.

  Which made me start to think about the building I was in right now. I hadn’t seen anyone drive by or go in the door that they brought me through. Odd. But then again, I didn’t know what the back of the building looked like or if there was perhaps another way to get inside. That had to be it. Why would people that wanted to keep their indiscretions hidden walk right in from off of the street? Right?

  Whatever.

  I didn’t give a crap about all that.

  So I shook my head and looked back at the woman whose name I still didn’t know.

  Before I could ask, there was a knock at the door.

  A moment later, the men entered and as soon as Lake’s eyes met mine, I could see the flood of relief run through his body.

  I turned my attention back to the woman, curious at how all this shit was going to go down, only her eyes were currently locked on someone that was not me. And by the way her lips were slightly parted and her back was ramrod straight again, I could tell that she had been caught off guard.

  “You okay, darlin’?” Iron’s voice said from behind me. I turned back around to give him my attention, only he wasn’t looking at me. But it was clear the question was for me, right? After all, they were here to rescue me… right?

  “Fine,” I said. “I’m sorry I—”

  “No worries, we look after our own,” he replied cutting me off.

  What the hell did that even mean?

  “There a problem here?” Even I had to shiver at his authoritative, take-control tone. Damn, for an old dude, he was kind of sexy.

  Wait, huh?

  Sure I didn’t peg him to be that much older than me, maybe like ten years, but still. And sexy? Well, I mean, sure, but not really my type. But then again, Lake wasn’t really my type either.

  Thinking about Lake, had my gaze sliding over to look at him. His eyes were already on me and I could see the worry there. And maybe a tinge of fear.

  I didn’t want to let the train run away thinking about what it meant. We barely knew each other and I knew that fear wasn’t there for me.

  With a quick shake of his head, Iron moved to take the seat beside me.

  “What the fuck is goin’ on?” he asked and his tone was not one to be messed with.

  “You’re little friend has been sitting outside of my business for three nights now. And it would seem that she didn’t take to the warning she received last night, so I decided to find out for myself what was going on. And try to have her move along as quickly as possible.”

  “And she tell you?” Iron asked.

  My eyes ping-ponged between the two, it was almost as if no one else was in the room, especially me, with the way they were talking.

  She didn’t open her mouth to answer, instead gave him one slow, affirming nod.

  “And what warning?” His head cocked to the side as he aimed the question at me.

  Ahhh, there it was. Yeah, he knew I was in the room.

  “Ummmm…” I said as my eyes slid to Lake’s searching for some reinforcement.

  But as he moved to step up and take the blame, I had to stop him with a shake of the head. I could see it, that need to protect me. However, it was on me. I knew I should have gone to Iron right away but everything was such a mess.

  So I told Iron, right then and there, what had happened. The same thing I’d told Lake before we, you know, got distracted.

  “You said that to him?” Iron asked with a hint of pride in his voice after I quickly explained to him how I told the dick-bag detective to fuck off.

  I shrugged. Yeah, I had, and maybe I was a little proud of it myself.

  “You did good, Bridget.”

  That was all I got before he turned his attention back to the woman across from us.

  And I waited to see how the hell we were going to get out of this. While I didn’t think she was going to hurt us, she also didn’t seem like she was going to let us walk out any time soon.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Lake

  I smiled as Bridget’s name lit up my phone. It had been a crazy day but things had finally gone quiet. I had been thinking about her all fucking day, which I said as I answered the phone.

  “Hey, I was just wondering where you were. I was thinking about you.”

  Yeah, I had turned into a sad puppy. And all it took was one fuck. Well, one night of fucking.

  Bridget was something unexpected. Amazingly so, that was for sure.

  Damn.

  I couldn’t get her out of my head.

  The way she rode me.

  The way she took control.

  Hell, the way she looked at me like she wanted me with every fiber of her being.

  But all that was quickly tucked away as her faint voice filtered through my speaker.

  Guns?

  Six guys?

  Holy fuck!

  She was
in trouble and I didn’t even think as I got to my feet. I was in Cable’s room before I even realized it.

  Then the phone when dead suddenly and I hoped that it wasn’t because whoever had her found it.

  “Find me Bridget, now.” I didn’t even sound like myself and by the look on Cable’s face, I was freaking out a little.

  While he did his nerd thing, I tore off in search of Iron. He had to know what was going on and that I was about to need some backup.

  With all the craziness, I had failed to fill him in on what Bridget had told me about how Detective Mullins paid her a visit. More like pounced on her when she was alone and used his badge to force his way in. I still needed to, but getting to her was more important right now.

  I told him about the call and that I had Cable on it. Next thing I knew, we had a location where the SUV was parked and the call had come from. Iron, Mouse, B-ry, Tripp, and I tore ass to the location.

  The SUV was empty. But I knew it would be even before we pulled up.

  “The fuck?!” I roared looking around at the shady and empty feeling block.

  Minutes ticked on and I tried to remain calm.

  Iron was on the phone when a door behind us burst open and out came eight bouncer looking guys with guns at their sides.

  “Boss wants to see you,” one of them said and Iron stood tall and nodded.

  We gave up our guns willingly. I had a feeling Bridget was in this building and there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do to get her back.

  Turned out that maybe she didn’t need rescuing after all.

  I was a little proud that it seemed she had the situation handled as we all stepped into the expansive, luxurious office. A woman sat behind the desk with a wall of screens behind her. I wanted to know what was on them, but Bridget came first.

  Shit.

  I winced because I hadn’t told Iron anything and now the beans were being spilled about the little talk she’d have with Detective Mullins. But then again, it had been a crazy day. Iron seemed proud of Bridget after she explained what happened during her visit with the detective. I just hoped I wasn’t going to get shit about it later. Even if I did, I knew it was well deserved. I had let myself get distracted by Bridge and I knew it. He should have been the first person I went to after I found that shit out and I should have done it right away.