Our fearless cleaner nods, turning her back to grab a premo bottle of Jameson from the top shelf for me and prez. She fills up a couple of shot glasses and places them in front of us. Clearly she thinks I’m going to need more than a beer after sneaking out of the club and pissing Pearl off this bad.
My eyes meet Pearl’s as she closes her eyes and gives her long blonde hair a toss. She and I have been through some shit that we don’t tell anyone else. “I should chew your ass, but it probably wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. You’re drinking with me,” she says and when either of us get in a mood like this, the other is along for the ride. Sometimes, it’s just how we deal.
My palm hits the bar in our usual fashion. “Mark, set, go!”
We swallow back the liquor that goes down smooth and kicks back up with a punch. Our relationship has changed the last few years. As prez of the club, she’s not as willing to kick back and throw down a night of partying like she used to, except on her wedding night, but she can still party with the best.
These days, her goals are centered around ensuring all of the jobs our boss, President of our National Chapter, gives her and our team, are carried out to the full extent of our abilities. And you can’t do that with two motorcycle clubs after your ass, which is why we have to fix things with the Desert Riders and Scorpions fast.
We need the work, and the work comes through the Royal Bastards, Duchess, and their need for product runs in additionto the requests we’ve been getting to safeguard women who have been trafficked and fall under the protection of the Larussios over in Vegas.
Because they don’t abide that shit. But their rivals in Vegas, they do. So when the Larussios come across girls who need help, they move them out, get them to Arizona and we give them safe haven and a way to get to Duchess and her ladies up in the north.
A fresh start. And the Larussios and Duchess pay us well to help relocate these women who have nowhere else to turn. And if we’re being honest, Pearl and I would do it even if they weren’t paying us a dime. We both know what it’s like to need a new life.
The live band starts up for the evening, and the drummer takes a few practice runs before his opening song.
I’m listening, but my focus is on the overhead camera that shows me the Glider that just pulled into the parking lot, the purposeful stride of the powerful man who just got off that ride and the ass chewing I’m about ready to get.
8
HAWG
Iwalk into the Harlots’ club to find Onyx and Pearl at the bar while the drummer plays some music in the background, getting ready for another live weekend. A weekend I thought they should cancel in light of everything going on, but these two women are about as strong-willed as two women can be. But they’re about to meet their match, because what happened today, it’s not happening again.
I tap Onyx on the shoulder. “We need to talk. Alone.”
Pearl raises her eyebrows and tries to keep a smile from her lips but doesn’t succeed so just averts her gaze.
I’m not letting it slide though. “You keep that little smirk to yourself, you’re about ready to deal with Carver over the same bullshit.”
Pearl turns her narrowed eyes back to me, but she knows I only want what’s best for them, unlike Onyx, who’s flounced ahead of me and is already taking the stairs. I follow her up and I’m intent on what I’m going to say but following the sway of her ass, it knocks me off my game.
She heads to the little tv room upstairs and folds herself into one of the beanbag chairs on the floor. I opt for the couch, theonly furniture of decent height in the whole room. She holds out both arms. “Say whatever you’re going to say. I’m going to listen and try to understand that you’re just trying to help but at the end of the day, you may as well not waste too much breath. The Harlots need the revenue. We’re just getting back on our feet. We have a roof over our head to pay for and need to eat. We’re not giving up our runs.”
I’m looking down at her from my seat. “I know you’re trying to take care of your girls, but dammit I thought we had an agreement the other day at breakfast? You can’t just take off and not let anyone know where you are.”
Onyx stands and paces the small room. “You heard what you wanted to hear, not what I said. I said that I would do everything in my power to protect us and keep us safe. I didn’t say I would give up the trips between here and Tucson. It’s our fucking livelihood. Would you give it up?”
My jaw locks tight at this infuriating woman. I stand too because fuck looking up at her. “I didn’t tell you to give it up, Onyx.”
Her eyes flash as she leans on the wall. I close the distance between us, eliminating her personal space. “We agreed you’d be safe. It is not safe to drive by yourself on a motorcycle without protection in the fucking desert, let alone with both the Desert Riders and Scorpions, who you know are roaming those territories. What would happen if they saw you?”
She exhales a breath. “This situation is out of control. I need to go see the Scorpion VP, have a talk with him, VP to VP, and find out what it’s going to take to settle the score. I can’t be a prisoner in this place or answer to anyone about my comings and goings. That’s not me.”
This woman is getting on my last nerve, and her fucking scent is driving me insane. “I need you safe. How am I supposedto protect you when you don’t tell me where you’re going? From now on, you tell me before you walk out that fucking door.”
“Or what?”
I lean in nice and close, inhaling her scent, before whispering in her ear. “Or I am going to turn your sweet ass over my knee and spank you until you can’t sit down for a week.”
The pulse on the side of her throat is the only sign that she’s even heard or understood what I said. I push the long silky strand of hair behind her ear, something I’ve been wanting to do ever since I met her and saw it fall into her face that very first time.
Onyx swallows, gathering her composure, but I see the indecision in her eyes. “It seems we’ve come to an impasse. I won’t go anywhere without letting you know, but I’m not going to put this club and our livelihood at risk while I’m waiting for these bozos to decide how to make my life miserable, if they even do. Ness was a new recruit, so maybe they don’t give a shit?”
I’d certainly like to think that too, but those bricks in that saddlebag she saw? No, even if they didn’t give two shits about Ness, they’re going to make her pay for that, and she seems to have forgotten all about the ass kicking we sent her ex back to his crew with. Both groups are coming and it’s my job to see that they don’t. Even if I have to protect her from herself.
I stroke a finger down her cheek. “From now on, you’re with me. From the fucking time you wake up until the time you go to sleep. If I have to sleep next to you and cuff you to the fucking bed you’re not going out alone. Got it?”
