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The first time I’d been the one bathing and I should have been afraid of him, but I wasn’t. Troj had looked so handsome, his long waves tied up on top of his head, and the tight clothes he wore revealing his muscular frame. I’d been too enchanted to worry about my state of dress or my safety.
Something weird is happening between us, at least it is to me. I feel a powerful force tugging me toward him, binding me to him with invisible ties. Falling for a man like Troj can only result in heartache, but as I watch his tongue swipe between his lips like he’s ready to devour me, it's hard to stop myself.
“Troj…” My throat feels too dry to swallow.
“Yes?” he whispers, moving in a little closer, so close his nose almost touches mine. “…Please get my uncle back,” I manage, before I do something really stupid, like reaching up and touching his lips with mine.
“I’ll do everything I can,” he promises, the pad of his thumb swipes slowly across my bottom lip as if he’s having the same dangerous thoughts as me.
He’s tempted to taste the forbidden too.
We pull into a diner just off Route 285, the same place where we’d met with Ivan just a few weeks ago. He’d made it clear enough to us then that he was a threat, not just to our club but to our town too. The smug fucker is lucky to still be breathing in my opinion.
Parking our bikes in a line beside the asshole's black limo, we leave Squealer and Screwy outside on lookout while me, Jess, and Prez head on inside. The dinner is empty, except for Ivan, Alteo, and two henchmen they’ve brought along with them. Ivan sits in the booth furthest from the door with his arms splayed out behind him on the top of the seat as he watches us walk toward him.
I eyeball his men as the three of us walk the black and white tiled floor. Prez takes a seat opposite Ivan without waiting to be offered, while me and Jess stay standing. Ivan Cooper’s men are dressed in suits, and stand expressionless with their eyes staring forward. While Alteo looks like a cat who just licked up the cream. I could easily take the fuckers out solo if it came to it. But Ivan’s too cool for that, his boys aren’t here to fight, they’re here to stand to heel and at least try to look threatening.
“Mr. Carson, it’s nice to see you again,” Ivan sneers. “Can I get you and your boys anything? The coffee here’s good.” He raises the cup in his hand before taking a sip.
“We came here to talk business, not drink coffee.” Prez puts his hands together and leans forward on the table.
“Business.” Ivan chuckles as he places his cup back down. “And what business do you think I could want with you and your motorcycle club?” His words hold a sarcastic bite that causes me and Jessie to exchange a side glance. I know my best friend will be as riled as I am at this guy’s disrespect for our club. “I’m simply trying to build a community, I would have thought you’d be thanking me, you have businesses that are bound to profit from it.”
“Manitou Springs already got a community, one that’s kept clean,” Prez informs him.
“I’m not disputing that, Mr. President, but at the end of the day I am a businessman, just like yourself. Do you honestly think a few documents objecting to my plans, and a treaty with the savages will stop a development the size of mine?”
“What will?” Prez’s question lays everything out on the table, and the desperation in his voice gives way to Cooper how much his plan could screw us.
“You and your club have nothing I want, Mr. Carson.” Ivan shakes his head mockingly, and Prez does a real good job of hiding his anger at the insult.
“You wouldn’t have agreed to meet me if I didn’t have something that you wanted.” Prez slouches back in his seat, and looks out the window to where the twins are standing, their arms folded over their chests. The silence that follows is long and awkward, the kind that gets men like me and Jessie twitchy.
“I hear you’re a betting man,” Ivan eventually speaks. “I also heard that you won that precious clubhouse of yours in a poker match.”
That’s only partially true. The owner of the Blue Spruce resort was already in major debt to the club, the game of poker had just sealed the property's fate. I guess some men just don’t know when to quit.
“I like to gamble,” Prez confirms.
“Then we have found a common ground.” Ivan smiles wickedly. “How about we settle our dispute with a friendly game?”
“What are the stakes?” Prez asks, causing unease to wash over me.
“If you win, I’ll find a new site for my development.” He shrugs.
“And if I lose?” Prez stares back at him.
“Then I get the resort, and your boys find somewhere else to play with their bikes.”
Surely Prez ain’t gonna agree to this bullshit. We can’t risk losing the compound.
Prez raises his head to me and Jess while he thinks the offer over in his head. The man’s got one hell of a poker face, and he comes out lucky more often than not. But I don’t trust Ivan. The sly bastard’s bound to have something up his sleeve.
“How about something a little more exciting?” I find my voice before Prez makes a huge mistake, I have an idea how we can up our advantage.
“I’m listening.” Ivan’s attention focuses on me, and a smirk finds his lips.
“A fight. Winner takes all.” I suggest.
