HIS BRANDED BRIDE Steel Devils - Sophia Gray

This is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons--living or dead--is entirely coincidental. HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC copyright 2017 by Sophia Gray. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. *** Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/sqou66sq56 Also, follow me on Facebook for hot content and free giveaways! https://www.facebook.com/Sophia-Gray1096596530486125/

Contents HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Epilogue HIS INKED BRIDE: Black Aces MC

Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Epilogue HIS BOUND BRIDE: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Also by Sophia Gray HIS INKED BRIDE: Black Aces MC HIS BOUND BRIDE: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance HIS CAPTIVE BRIDE: Grim Rebels MC MOAN: The Cantonneli Mafia CONSUME ME: The Bleeding Prophets MC DEVOUR ME: A Dark Bad Boy Romance (The

Wicked Angels MC) One More Ride: Carnage Warriors MC ONE MORE NIGHT: Jungle’s Thorns MC ONE MORE TASTE: A Dark Bad Boy Mafia Romance SUBMISSION: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (The Marauders MC) DADDY’S ANGEL: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Crowns of Satan MC) DADDY’S PRINCESS: The Horsemen MC FILLED: Berserkers MC BOUNTY: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Giustini Family Mafia) Prize: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance MINE: Fury Riders MC SINS: Devil’s Horns MC OBEY: A Dark Romance DENY: A Dark Romance HEAT: A Dark Romance Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here:

HIS BRANDED BRIDE: Steel Devils MC By Sophia Gray

SHE’S ABOUT TO SCREAM MY NAME,

BEAR MY INK… AND WEAR MY RING. I’m gonna be the last man she ever has. I knew it from the second I saw her. I don’t give a damn who she is, why she’s here, where she’s from. Hell, I don’t even care what her name is. Because from now on, I’m giving her my name. She’ll be by my side. As my wife. My canvas. And, eventually… the mother of my children. But there are some bad men out there who think they can hurt her and me. Just wait until I set them straight. I’ll crack skulls, slit throats, spill blood – whatever it takes to protect what’s mine. Because she’s my branded bride. And the whole world needs to know: Keep your filthy hands off of her. This one belongs to me.

Prologue Cole “If you let me, I know I can make you happy,” she whined, sitting up in my bed, holding the sheets up over her breasts. They always want to pretend to be hurt when someone calls them out on their bullshit. She gave me her best pouty face, poking her bottom lip out, looking at me with those sad blue eyes, and tilting her face down submissively. Lies. “I’m not interested in playing games,” I grunted out in disgust as I got up from the bed and started pulling my clothes on. “But I can be whatever you want me to be,” she insisted. “Then be dressed and be getting out of my room,” I told her. I pulled my jeans up over my boxers and buckled my belt. I threw on my kutte and ran a hand over my face. “Whatever I did, I’m sorry, but if you let me try, I promise I can…” she started to protest again.

“I promise I’m not interested,” I retorted. I walked over to the door and opened it wide. She gasped and grabbed her shirt from the floor next to the bed. She threw it on, exposing herself for a brief moment to the door. Apparently, she didn’t want anyone passing by in the hallway to see her. I sighed as I waited for her to get dressed. She hadn’t been wearing much to begin with, so there shouldn’t have been much to put back on. Her shirt, her bra if she was interested, her jeans, and her shoes. That was it. “Listen, I’m sorry,” she said again when she reached the door. She put a thin hand on my chest and leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my face away so she couldn’t. She stopped short and sank back away from me. I kept my head turned away from her as she finally walked into the hallway without another word. I closed my door in her shocked face and locked it in case she decided she wasn’t done embarrassing herself. I sat on the bed and pulled my boots on. I needed a drink after dealing with that. I gave her a few minutes to leave the building before walking down to the common room and

sitting with Mick at the bar. I wanted to make sure she’d had time to leave. I figured if I got downstairs and she was still there, I’d just go back up and wait a little longer, or have one of the old ladies escort her ass out – that way she couldn’t say I’d put my hands on her. “Saw your girl leaving, brother. She looked pretty pissed off. Everything okay?” Mick asked as he slid a Jack and Coke across the bar to me. “It is now,” I said, taking my first sip and enjoying the spicy whiskey lingering on my tongue. Mick tilted his head back and laughed, showing off the neck and chest pieces I’d done for him. I had done tattoos for most of the guys in the MC. We had guys like Bruce who liked old school biker tattoos done in bold black ink, and guys like Mick, who were covered in the new school shit, full of color and detail. The lines were different, too. New school tattoos created motion for the eyes with the way the lines were drawn on. I preferred the lively, colorful ink myself, but there were still plenty of people out there who liked bold, black tattoos. There were a few guys with prison tattoos, but I hadn’t done them. They weren’t paid for by a guy in a tattoo parlor. You had to earn

those, or you were a punk trying to prove something that probably wasn’t true. “Care to talk about it?” Mick asked, grabbing a beer for himself and leaning across the bar. “Just the same old shit, man,” I remarked. “Another online chick?” he persisted. “Why don’t you date some of the girls who hang out here, man?” He nodded and tilted his beer towards the back of the room, where there were a bunch of local girls hanging around, trying to get the attention of our members. “They’re even worse,” I told him. I turned around on my barstool to face the room. The girls were hanging around drinking in their jeans and black T-shirts. Some wore black leather jackets with spikes on them like they were at a punk or metal show instead of hanging out in what amounted to a garage. “These girls come in here, and they try so hard to impress us,” I lamented. “They can be fun, though, brother. Give one of them a shot. Go for it,” Mick urged me.

I groaned. “I’ve given several of them shots. Sure, they can be fun for the afternoon or for the night, but after that, they’re usually just . . . boring. They want to date a biker because it’s cool. Or some of them want to hook up with one of us to have a story to tell. Not what I’m looking for.” I turned around to face Mick, who was still staring at the girls giggling and taking shots. “I’m thinking about taking one of them upstairs tonight,” he said absently. “You have fun with that. I want something different.” “I’ll never understand what you’re looking for, brother. It seems to me that you should be able to find at least one genuine girl among the ones who stop by here or the ones you meet online,” he said, taking another swig of his drink. “You’d think so, but it hasn’t happened. They all want to play games, man. It’s like they think the only way to get someone’s attention is to put on a show. We’re not birds in the wild looking for a mate so we can preserve the species. We’re looking for someone to be a partner for life. Hell, she could already have kids for all I care.” I shrugged and

took another sip of my drink. Before setting my glass down, I went ahead and downed the rest of it. “Another?” Mick asked. “Yeah, I probably should,” I told him. He laughed and poured me another glass. He slid it across, and I immediately picked it up and drank half of it. Alcohol will help alleviate the boredom of dealing with these girls I keep trying to date. “Maybe your tastes are too particular,” he said. “I don’t think so. There have got to be women out there who aren’t jaded, who’ve led a somewhat sheltered life, right? I mean, what’s wrong with wanting someone who’s still pretty innocent and inexperienced?” Mick laughed. “You gotta catch them young for that, don’t you?” “Not necessarily. I mean, I wouldn’t think so. I imagine there’s at least one woman out there who has lived a mostly sheltered life, either out of necessity or personal taste, and she’s looking for

someone to turn that around. I’ve had innocent girls before.” “Yeah, but they eventually grow up and get some life experience that changes all of that. Am I right?” he asked. “Yeah, they usually do. Or experience changes them and takes away their innocence,” I mused out loud. “You haven’t found someone like that online?” “You would think I could find anyone online these days, but no. I’ve gone through several dating sites, and these women get on there talking about how innocent and pure they are, but it ends up being this fetish, you know? It’s part of some fantasy they want to live out with their partner.” “Now, those are the women I need to meet,” Mick joked. “You’d think so. But, it’s just not the same when it’s a game, you know?” I’d dated a few innocent girls, and there was something about genuine innocence, about being inexperienced, that couldn’t be replicated by someone trying to live out a fantasy. The truth always became obvious.

“Ever think you’re the one trying too hard?” Mick asked. I smirked. “Probably.” I sat and thought about it for a minute, and then I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. I just want someone inexperienced, so I can open up her horizons a little bit. Not necessarily young, although I’m not opposed to younger girls. And I’d like to meet someone without tattoos.” “Whoa,” Mick exclaimed, backing away from the bar. “You? Meet someone without tattoos? No offense, but that might be a bit much to ask, man. Do you really think a girl without any ink will talk to you?” I chuckled. “That’s the thing. She’s got to be interested in expanding her horizons. But, yeah, why not? Everyone who has tattoos had to have gotten that first tattoo at some point, right?” “I get the whole thing about the innocent chick. I don’t know anyone who isn’t interested in teaching a girl a little something, but why no tattoos?” Mick asked, taking my glass and topping it off. “I want to be the guy to give her that first tattoo, you know? I want a girl with pale skin so I can

really bring out the colors and the contrast,” I replied, somewhat dreamily. “Oh, so you want her to be your big work of art.” He nodded knowingly. I grinned as I took a sip of my drink. I did want her to be my masterpiece, but I wanted her to be more than that. I wanted her to be my muse; the inspiration for the artwork I covered her body with. And I wanted someone with skin pale enough to show off everything I did. I didn’t want to compete with someone else’s work for space on her canvas either. I wanted every inch of her body to be mine. “I think you’re asking for a lot. A girl like that is going to be very dramatic. You know that, right?” he said. “I don’t see why she should be. That’s why you don’t see me messing with too many women. I’m not going to get involved with just anybody.” “You might be missing out on something great.” He nodded at the girls behind me. “There are some fine ass women in here today. I bet you could find someone to keep you entertained for a while over there.”

I turned and looked with disgust. That’s not what I want. I saw a few tattoos – small pieces on shoulders and ankles, places that could be hidden for work or family, and a couple of tramp stamps placed specifically to be shown off as part of the nightclub mating rituals so many people participated in. I never understood why so many people treated dating like it was some kind of meat market. “I don’t know, man. I’m looking for more. I’m so bored with it all. I’m ready to find someone I can call mine, something permanent.” “I may need to cut you off. Next, you’re going to be laying over the bar, crying, telling me you love me or whatever,” Mick said. “Shut the fuck up. Don’t give me that macho crap about how we’re supposed to sleep with as many women as possible and not give a damn about their feelings.” I drank more from my glass. That lifestyle was not for me. Trying to do that was what left me so bored and frustrated to begin with. “Says the guy who just ran a girl out of his room after taking her upstairs for sex.”

“Yeah, we didn’t even get around to it,” I admitted. Mick shook his head. I felt his eyes silently judging me, as if not wanting to sleep with every girl who came into the clubhouse or every woman I met online made me less of a man or less of a Steel Devil. “I just want something new,” I told him. “Some new blood, someone fresh and unspoiled.” I got up from the bar and stretched. The conversation hadn’t done much for my mood, but the alcohol did make me feel a little less bitter. I decided that it was time for bed. I had to be at work in the morning. I tapped the bar to tell Mick goodnight. As I shuffled away towards the staircase, I nearly tripped over my own feet. I didn’t realize I’d had that much to drink. I was going to sleep just fine. By the time I made it to the stairs, I didn’t even feel whatever it was that had sent me downstairs for drinks in the first place.

Chapter One Lilah “Does any of it speak to you, Lilah?” Jenna asked while we stood outside of Titan Ink. I stared at the artwork on the lower half of the front window. There were more pieces on the walls inside, but I wasn’t so sure about going inside. Tattooed people seemed to all be part of a club, and they could easily sense people who weren’t members. That was why I had brought Jenna with me. We’d met working at the library together, and I felt like she was a member of the club with the tribal sun on her back, just out of view. She knew a lot more than I did about the whole thing. This was going to be my first tattoo, and I didn’t care what it was, not really. I just wanted to break the seal and get the first one out of the way to make the next one easier. “I don’t really know what I should be looking for,” I told her. There were all kinds of dragons and skulls. There were grim reapers and scantily clad women who looked like they belonged on the sides of warplanes. Of course, there were hearts – everything from cute, round red hearts to more

artistic-looking tribal designs that looked like hearts – and butterflies. There were a few Chinese letters that were supposed to stand for different virtues or emotions. “Have you given it any thought at all?” Jenna asked. I could tell she was trying to be patient with me about it, but I could also hear her patience waning. “Yeah, I’ve thought about it,” I said. And I had. I had decided when I left my ex-husband that I was going to start branching out a little and living life for me. I had always thought of tattoos as being a little edgy, like adding a little spice to myself, but I had never really thought to get one. I always felt like I was too quiet and too reserved to put something on my body that may have told people I was someone other than who I really was. Plus, how many librarians had tattoos? Jenna had one, but she was part of our part-time staff. She wasn’t looking at running the library one day. It was a job to keep her occupied and give her a little extra cash while she finished school. So, the tattoo didn’t seem out of place. “Did you ever make it further than realizing you wanted a tattoo?” she asked.

“Not really,” I replied. I looked at the people inside, who were looking through binders at pictures of work the artists had done in the past. I looked at the guys working inside, covered in tattoos. How could they tell their tattoos apart? A couple of people came and went while we were watching with varying amounts of ink covering their skin, and some of them had the strangest piercings. I didn’t belong there. I was starting to feel the same way I always did when I thought about getting work done, like I had no business trying to associate myself with the kind of people who got tattoos and piercings. All of the pieces I was looking at were starting to blend together in a blur of lines and colors. “Why don’t we go inside and look at more of the flash – see if something grabs your attention,” Jenna suggested. “Flash?” “Yeah, that’s the stuff on the walls. And I’m sure they have some notebooks with more flash art in them. It’s basic or popular designs. Like my sun. That was flash art I saw in a notebook where I went to get it done,” she explained.

“But isn’t that bad?” I asked hesitantly. I didn’t want to offend her with my question, but it was really all getting overwhelming. I didn’t want to pick a piece of flash art and seem like a trendy poser or something. “It wouldn’t be flash if a lot of people didn’t like that type of design. I mean, look at all the dragons, skulls, and butterflies. Come on! How many can you have, right?” she said with a laugh. I laughed too, a little. I still felt like I had insulted her decision to get a sun because she liked it in a notebook by implying it was bad. The truth was that I had no idea what I wanted to put on my body. I didn’t even have an idea of where to start. “Hey, it’s okay,” Jenna said, putting a reassuring hand on my arm. “There’s a lot of artwork here to look at, and that’s so you can find something you really like.” “I think I want something small. Small and maybe cute, or maybe something liberating, you know?” I decided I liked the idea of using my first tattoo to represent my newfound freedom. I’d been married to a controlling asshole. He never

would have allowed me to get a tattoo. He’d even said on many occasions that he thought women with tattoos were gross and offensive. I nodded while I looked at the flash art in the window. I wanted something that would represent my ownership of my body and my life. But what did that look like? I still had no idea what I really wanted. “That’s a good place to start,” Jenna said. “I got the sun because it represents light and positive energy. And I think it matches my personality.” I looked at her face while she talked about it. She smiled. She seemed proud of her ink, and I figured that should have been the case. I didn’t want to get something and hate it a year or two down the road. “Something small – that way you aren’t spending a whole lot of money, and it doesn’t have to be visible to everyone, right?” she asked, making me feel a little better about my decision to go small for my first one. She was saying things that allowed me to branch out while not really changing who I was. “Right. You know, I just want to do something different. I’ve lived my life according to other people’s expectations for so long, and I think it’s

time to change that. I don’t have to answer to anyone but my son, and he’s not going to care about this. You know, I want to get a tattoo, and I want to start living,” I gushed suddenly, just spilling my guts right there to my coworker. “That’s great. I think you should do that,” Jenna said, wide-eyed and probably a bit traumatized. “I’m sorry. You thought you were just coming to help your reserved coworker decide on a tattoo, didn’t you?” I laughed. “After being married to someone so controlling and manipulative, I don’t have many friends, you know? I let them all go, so they didn’t get in the way of my marriage or whatever. I don’t even know now why I stopped talking to so many people. It made sense to me then.” “It’s okay. I get it. I’ve had a couple of boyfriends like that. You pick yourself up and keep going, and kudos to you, it sounds like that’s what you’re trying to do now.” “It’s amazing how you can work with someone, and you talk to each other a lot at work about a lot of different things, but there are always so many things you never share,” I continued, still laughing.

“It’s fine. I’m here to help,” she assured me. I looked inside again, trying to muster up the courage to walk into the tattoo parlor so I could find something I liked for my first tat, and I focused on the guys inside. There were guys in there covered with tattoos, even on the backs of their hands and all around their necks. Some even had their earlobes gauged (I was proud of myself for knowing that term), and I could see straight through them. “I’ve always been fascinated by people with tattoos,” I thought out loud. “Not just one or two, you know, but like these guys with so much of their bodies covered. They look at life differently than everyone else. When the divorce came through, I told myself I was going to get some ink and find a man like this.” I nodded at the parlor. Jenna laughed. “Don’t get carried away now. Are you sure you could handle a bad boy like that?” “I bet I could learn,” I answered with confidence. “What about your son?” “Micah’s father has him every other weekend. I could easily date a guy only when he’s not home. I

don’t want to expose him to the guys I date right away anyway. I certainly don’t want to thrust him into a situation that would make his life feel even more unstable.” “Look, Lilah, the only way you’re going to meet a guy like that is to go inside and start looking around. Maybe you could even ask someone some questions to help you decide what kind of tattoo you want. If we’re going to stand out here all evening, I’m going to head on home. I’ve got class in the morning,” Jenna said, and the patience in her voice was finally wearing off. I was almost ready to call it quits anyway. It was simply too much to take in at once, and I didn’t feel any closer to finding something I wanted. I thought maybe we would come back when it was slower inside, or maybe I would on my own. That was when the door opened, and one of the artists stuck his head out. He had several tattoos on his arms and a couple on his neck. They were colorful and unique-looking. He also had the most beautiful blue eyes I had ever seen. He wore a baseball cap turned backward, probably to keep his hair out of his face while he worked.

“Can I help you ladies?” he asked with a voice more gentle and polite than I would have imagined. “My friend here is thinking about getting a tattoo,” Jenna told him. “Well, come on in,” he said, stepping aside and holding the door open. “I’ll be more than happy to help you pick something out. I turned and shot Jenna a look, opening my eyes and mouthing Oh, my God to let her know what I thought about the guy inviting us into the shop. Of course, I couldn’t say no. I walked right up to the door. “Cole Holmes,” he said, holding out his hand. “A lot of the guys call me Saw. This is my place.” I felt my knees growing weak and threatening to stop supporting me. He’s the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen, and he’s the owner of the tattoo parlor?! Oh, can it get any better than that? “Hi, I’m Jenna, and that’s Lilah. Sorry, I think she’s a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing right now,” I heard Jenna say behind me.

“I’m sorry,” I said, turning around to face him. “Yeah, I want to find something. I don’t have an exact image in mind, but I want something small, kind of discreet, and powerful. I want it to represent taking control of my own life.” I blushed as I caught myself babbling to this complete stranger. This completely mesmerizing stranger.

Chapter Two Cole “So, this is your first tattoo?” I asked the beautiful redhead fidgeting nervously in front of me. She pushed her curly red hair out of her face and looked at me with her moss green eyes. Her skin was porcelain, untouched, unblemished. Her eyes were innocent and inexperienced, but there was a nervousness there that hinted at something deeper than just being anxious about talking to someone about a tattoo. She blushed at my question. “Don’t be embarrassed,” I told her. “Everyone with a tattoo has to have a first one.” “I know, but I don’t know what I want. I know I want to do something, but that’s about as much as I’ve planned,” she admitted with a nervous giggle. “Well, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s sit down and take a look at some flash to see if we can get you an idea of what you want.” I started to walk her over to a bench near my

workstation, where I had a couple of binders of work I had done, and a flash I had drawn for the shop. We sat down next to each other, and she briefly brushed my arm with her hand as she reached for the binder that I had pulled down. Her touch was electric, sending ripples of pure desire through my body. I cleared my throat to mask my real reaction to her. “I’ll just be over here,” her friend said, almost as an afterthought, stepping over to the opposite wall to look at the flash art that reached up to the ceiling. Lilah barely looked up to acknowledge her before returning her attention to the binder in her lap. “Where do I even start?” she asked me. I couldn’t believe my luck. There was a gorgeous, tiny redhead sitting next to me in my tattoo parlor. She’d never gotten a tattoo before, and she was asking for my advice. It had to be a dream. There was no way my luck was that good. No way. She pushed her hair back again, and I caught a glimpse of her fair neck and shoulders. Her skin was a blank canvas unmarked by tattoos, scars, or even freckles. She turned her head and looked at me with those big green eyes of hers. Her gaze shocked me back

out of my head. I shifted my weight and dared to put an arm along the back of the bench, behind her. “A lot of people choose something that has meaning for them,” I explained to her. “No offense, but butterflies, hearts, and dragons don’t really hold any meaning for me,” she murmured. “No one is saying you have to get one of these. Flash art works for a lot of people and, for some, it helps them get a better idea of what they want, even if they don’t choose one of these. Think of it as a conversation starter.” “It’s definitely worked for that, hasn’t it?” She steered her eyes toward me and gave a suggestive little smirk. She was perfect. I had a feeling she wasn’t going to pick anything out right away, and I was fine with that. With her perfect skin, I wanted her to make sure her first tattoo was exactly what she wanted before I put it on her. She had seemed so nervous and almost scared at first, but she was starting to warm up to me. If she knew she wanted a tattoo, I wanted her to also know there was really nothing to be nervous about.

“It has. So, tell me a little bit about yourself. What made you decide to get a tattoo in the first place?” I sat back, turning my attention completely away from the binder and giving it all to her. “I decided it’s finally time, you know?” I could tell from her tone that she had experienced a crucial change in her life to want to get inked. “What happened?” I asked, following her lead. “Are you sure you want to go into my life’s story?” She looked at me with skeptical eyes. “As much as you feel comfortable telling. Whatever will help us decide what you want to wear on your body. Your first tattoo can be the most important one. It can remind you of why you got it in the first place and why you chose to get more, or it can remind you of that time you made a rash decision and did something you later thought was pretty stupid. I, personally, would like you to look back on it as the moment you turned your life around,” I explained, trying to encourage her. It didn’t hurt that I wanted to hear everything she had to say. We were sitting on a bench in my shop, and it was a pretty busy evening. Several needles

were humming at the same time. People were talking in the front. Gina had the music up a little louder than usual, possibly to drown out all the talking in the front as people waited on their friends or tried to decide on what to get. But the beautiful redhead next to me, Lilah, could have been the only person in the room. I wasn’t going to let her get away without either making a decision or promising to come back after thinking about it a bit. “I recently got divorced,” she said. The words fell out of her mouth like she was trying to say them all at once before she decided not to tell me anything. Then, I remembered that I had to say something else. I had been on the edge of getting lost in her beauty when she spoke. Her voice brought me back, but it took me a moment to find the words. “Okay, that’s a start. Do you want to tell me more about the divorce? Why does the divorce make you want a tattoo?” If she already had tattoos, it would have made perfect sense to get something new to commemorate that change in her life, but something had to have changed with the divorce to make her want her first tattoo. She took a deep breath, and then she told me all about her ex-husband and their son. “He has him

every other weekend, but begrudgingly, you know? I think he only takes him because he knows I can’t stand letting him see Micah at all.” She told me about how he was controlling and manipulative and had made it known that anything slightly out of the norm wouldn’t fly with him. Of course, talking to someone with as much ink as I had, his definition of norm was very different from mine. I lived in a world of tattoos, piercings, and body modifications of all kinds. “Did he have any tattoos?” I asked her. She shook her head. “None. He thought they looked trashy.” “Do you think they look trashy?” I held out one of my arms so she could look at the work I’d had done on my sleeve. It wasn’t complete – since I wasn’t going to fill my arm in just to say I’d done it. “I’ve seen people with trashy tattoos, but I’ve seen people with amazing tattoos like yours. There’s something free and liberating about them, I think, and that’s why I want to get one. I’m finally free to live life on my terms, so it’s time to start doing it. The tattoo is going to be my first act of independence,” she said confidently.

“Now you’re speaking my language,” I cheered. She was fresh blood and appeared like she’d lived a sheltered life, but she seemed ready to venture out of her comfort zone. Talking about finding her independence and being liberated made her sound a lot like people who wound up in the MC. I wondered how the hell I got so lucky. “Everything in my life has been so prescribed, you know? I went to school, went to college, got married, had a kid. I worked until Micah was born, and then my ex told me I didn’t have to go back to work, which, for him, meant that he didn’t want me to. Now I’m working again and trying to adjust to being a single parent. I did everything I was supposed to do, everything that was expected of me, and here I am,” she gushed. “What do you do?” I asked. “I’m a librarian. I work full-time at the library. It’s what I did before Micah was born, so I went right back to it when I was released from being a housewife.” “So, you’re the lady who sits behind the big desk and shushes people,” I said with a chuckle. Man, if she’s the librarian, I need to start going to the

library more. “Hey, now, there are other duties, but yeah, pretty much. Doesn’t that sound exciting?” She clapped her hands in mock excitement. “Libraries are important,” I told her. “You’re fighting the good fight by working there.” “Thanks. I do love it, in general, but when I look back at the choices I’ve made, it’s just another quiet, safe decision that doesn’t make any ripples, in my life or anyone else’s. I want to make some ripples.” There was a fire in her eyes when she looked at me. There was a wild streak in her, and she wanted desperately to let it out. I wanted to be the one to let it out for her. I wanted to help her and guide her. So what if she had a kid? Kids were alright. I could deal with a boy. She may have thought her life was boring, but I could tell she wasn’t. “We can definitely make some ripples,” I told her. I took away the binder of flash art and opened the binder of work I’d done and turned to a photo of a quote I’d tattooed on someone’s side. It was a paragraph they’d pulled from a book. There were a

few different variations of the same theme on that page, and I hoped she’d find something she liked there. I’d never wanted to impress a woman so badly. “Oh, wow,” she said as soon as she saw it. “I don’t remember the author or the book – something I’d never heard of. And come to think of it, I meant to read it after they told me. Guess I should have gone to the library to pick it up, huh?” She blushed. Score. She didn’t say anything in response, but she looked over the pictures of the passages and quotes I’d done like she was finally starting to get an idea of what she might want. “I was thinking maybe you’d like something like this – a meaningful passage that you feel maybe represents you, this stage of your life, or whatever.” “I don’t know,” she said with reluctance. “Maybe I should have thought this through a little more.” I saw she was starting to get overwhelmed again, just as she had been outside. I knew if I didn’t make a move, she was going to leave, and I’d never see her again. “Well, if you need more time to think about it, I

understand. If you’d like, we could get together sometime and talk about it. Maybe over coffee or a few drinks?” I suggested. She looked at me like a deer caught in the headlights. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to take up too much of your time. I don’t know why I thought I could do this. I really should be going,” she said, her words coming out frantically, as she shoved the binder into my hands and got up from the bench. By the time I closed the binder and stood up to follow her, she was out the door. Her friend was right behind her, hurrying to catch up and shooting me a nasty look. I had been too eager, and it had cost me not only a customer but a chance with the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. A handful of eyes in the shop turned to me. I just shrugged and put the binders back in their spot along the wall. As I started back towards my workstation, I noticed a small purse sitting on the floor underneath the bench. I hadn’t noticed that she’d been carrying a purse when she came in, but I knew it was hers in that inexplicable way that everything just makes sense sometimes.

Chapter Three Lilah “What happened in there?” Jenna asked on the ride home. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, already feeling embarrassed for overreacting. “I’m not going to take that for an answer. One minute you’re talking to him about tattoos and going on and on about your divorce, and the next, you’re running out of the shop. What the hell?” “He asked me out,” I admitted. “Okay, and…” she responded, like it was nothing. “And what? Isn’t that weird enough?” “You’ve been saying you wanted to change your life up. Now’s the chance,” she argued. I looked out the window as we drove out of the city. She was right. Cole, the owner of the tattoo parlor, could have offered me a great opportunity to get out of my comfort zone. But it was kind of like

that tattoo. I wasn’t quite ready to take that next step yet. Maybe I’d been lying to myself the whole time, and I wasn’t really going to make any changes. Maybe I was going to continue doing the same things I had always done. Maybe I needed to forget the whole thing and go back to the life I’d been leading. I had a son to think about. I didn’t need to be getting mixed up with all of that out there. “What are you thinking about?” Jenna prodded. “I just freaked out. I don’t even know why. Too much at one time maybe? I’m sorry, you probably think I’m a wreck.” Tears of frustration threatened to fall from my eyes. “No, really, it’s okay. You’re right. It is a lot to try to change at one time. But take it easy on yourself, okay?” she said, reassuring me. “No one said you had to do this overnight, or even at all.” I laughed. “I feel like a wimp.” “Why do you say that?” “I went in there to try to prove something to myself, but when the opportunity presented itself to

me, I balked. I ran. Literally. I turned and nearly sprinted out the door.” “I’ll admit, it was a little drastic, but don’t beat yourself up. That’s not going to help at all,” she said, continuing to talk me up and encourage me. We arrived at my house and pulled up the driveway. It was a small white house with a yard for Micah to play in. My ex had left it to me in the divorce, claiming he never liked it anyway. He said he’d only bought it so we’d have room to raise a family. “Good luck handling that mortgage without me,” he’d told me at the final divorce hearing when we’d signed off on the final draft of our divorce papers. Luckily, the mortgage payments were low enough that my salary at the library was able to cover them. “Are you going to be okay to stay alone?” Jenna asked as she parked behind my car. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks for putting up with me this evening. Maybe next time, I’ll actually do it.” “Don’t sweat it. See you tomorrow?”

I reached down to grab my purse. “Uh-oh. I think I did something worse than embarrass myself by running out of there.” “What?” She looked over at my seat. “I left my purse.” As if the evening needed to get any worse. I tilted my head back and groaned. “We can go back if you need to?” Jenna offered. “You don’t mind? I don’t have a spare key.” And even if I did, my car key and the keys to the library were on there. I might have managed to get into the house without my keys, but I wasn’t going anywhere else after that. She laughed. “I don’t mind. Maybe we can stop and grab a bite to eat on the way back.” She put the car in reverse and started to back out of the driveway, but at the same time, a motorcycle pulled up and turned down the driveway, coming up behind us. “Who is that?” I asked, squinting through the glare of the headlights at the man on the bike. “Oh, my God, is that the guy?”

“You mean, the dude you were talking to?” Jenna replied. “Yeah, I think it is. We may not need to go back after all.” I tried to hide my excitement. I didn’t want it to be too obvious that I was thankful to get another opportunity to talk to the owner of the tattoo parlor. Not to mention I was impressed that he was enough of a gentleman to bring my purse to me. “Well, if you’re fine, I think I’ll leave you two alone,” Jenna said with a suggestive lift of her eyebrows. My heart fluttered. I had been reaching for the door to get out, but I hesitated. I still wasn’t completely sure it was a good idea to be left alone with him. Jenna picked up on it. “Don’t worry. Don’t let yourself freak out again, okay? You’ll be fine. Thank him for bringing your purse back. Maybe invite him in for a few minutes before he has to run back to the shop. He’s obviously into you, and it’s painfully obvious from where I’m sitting that you’re into him. You know, he’s also got the whole chivalry thing going on by figuring out your address and bringing your purse to you instead of hoping you’d show back up,” she

explained. I glanced over my shoulder. He’d pulled off into the yard, getting out of the way of Jenna’s Mazda MX5 Miata. When he got off his bike, I had the opportunity to check out his body, and I had to admit that he looked good. I needed to get over my fear and talk to him. “Alright. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I told her, exhaling dramatically to calm myself. “Text me when you get home.” I realized at that moment that my phone was in my purse, too. I got out and walked around the front of the car as she backed out of the driveway. He was off the bike and pulling the purse out of one of the saddlebags in the back. He didn’t seem to notice that I was walking over to him. “You forgot your purse – I got your address off your driver’s license. I hope that was okay?” he said, handing it over to me as I made my way to him. “Yes, of course, thank you,” I replied graciously. “And thanks for bringing it to me. That’s really nice of you. Want to come in for a drink or something?” I turned slightly and pointed my thumb over my

shoulder at the house. “I wouldn’t want to impose. Besides, I should probably get back to the shop soon.” “Okay, well, I’ll only keep you a minute, then, so you can get back soon. How’s that sound?” I persisted. I was nervous, but I wasn’t freaking out. Now that he was here and we were talking, I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. “Yeah, sure, why not?” He held up a gloved hand, telling me to lead the way. My eyes ran down the muscles in his arm, taking in his shape and his ink. He was a beautiful man. “I don’t have much to drink,” I said as we got to the door. I fished my keys out of the purse and unlocked it, letting us into my home. “That’s fine. Whatever you’ve got will do,” he said. I led him through the living room and around to my kitchen where he pulled out one of the chairs to sit at the table. After unceremoniously throwing my purse on the table, I opened the fridge to see what I had, knowing I only had a couple of things to drink. I hadn’t really kept any alcohol in the house since the divorce. I’d focused on keeping drinks for

Micah, not so much for entertaining guests. “How about some lemonade? I don’t actually have anything stronger to offer,” I said, pulling out a pitcher of fresh-squeezed lemonade I had made the night before. There was only enough left for a couple of glasses anyway. The tough-looking biker sitting at my table chuckled. “Lemonade’s good,” he said. He smiled, and his eyes twinkled. He didn’t look threatening at all. I poured us two glasses and put the empty pitcher in the sink. I walked over and set the glasses on the table, then sat in a chair across from him. “Cole, right?” I made sure I remembered his name correctly. He took a sip of the lemonade before answering. “That’s right. That’s good lemonade, Lilah. Really good.” He sounded amazed. Then again, being a tough tattooed biker, I had no idea when he’d last had any lemonade. It probably wasn’t hard enough for his tastes. “Thank you. I’m glad you like it. It’s all I really have to offer as thanks for helping me. I wish I

knew what else to do.” “You can let me take you out sometime,” he said. And there it was again, the moment of panic. I wanted to live a life without boundaries – since the boundaries I’d lived with for so long had been so tight – but I was terrified. The dangerous-looking man in front of me thrilled me, and I could already see myself falling for him easily. He had the most gorgeous eyes and a welcoming smile. He was obviously a gentleman when he wanted to be, if not all the time, but I was certain he turned up the machismo when he needed to. I didn’t want to fall in love with anyone. I didn’t want to find myself in another situation where my life would be limited either self-imposed or otherwise. I certainly wasn’t ready to introduce my boy to a man who wasn’t his father. I didn’t even know how that was supposed to work. “Just one date,” I told him. “I have to be honest with you. I don’t know if I’m ready to commit to more than that.” “I understand. Like you said back at the shop, you are recently divorced, and you’re just now trying to take control. All I’m asking for is one date. If you

decide you want more than that afterward, that’s on you.” He winked. A slow, wide smile spread across my face, and I felt myself blushing. I had just agreed to let Cole take me out. He was nothing like anyone I had ever dated before. Just by accepting his offer, things were already changing for me. “Maybe we can talk a little more about tattoos, and you can show me more of yours,” I said. “Maybe, but I should probably get back to the office. In the meantime, you keep thinking about what you want. I would be honored to be the artist you trust for your first tattoo,” he said. I pulled my phone out and looked at the time. I had to let him go. Micah was going to be home soon. He stayed over at a friend’s house some afternoons after school, and they’d agreed to bring him home on their way back from dinner. “I’d like that, too,” I said without thinking, distracted by my thoughts of my son. I didn’t want anyone coming up and seeing the motorcycle in the yard. It wasn’t that I was ashamed that I was talking to a biker or even a tattoo artist, but I didn’t want to explain why anyone had been by at all. It

was my business, and I wasn’t ready for anyone to know. It was enough that Jenna had an idea of what was going on. We got up from the table, and I walked him to the door. He walked in front of me, giving me a great shot of his vest with all his patches on it. He had a logo on the back that looked like a skeleton riding a motorcycle with a jagged blade behind its head. The words around it said Steel Devils. “Are you in a motorcycle club?” I asked. “I am. Steel Devils MC,” he replied, turning around as he stepped out of my door. “Ever been on a bike?” “No way.” I shook my head. He nodded. “Didn’t think so. Maybe I’ll take you riding sometime. It was a pleasure to meet you, Lilah, and I’ll see you soon. I hope you and your boy have a good night.” He walked off to his motorcycle and put on his helmet. A moment later, the bike roared to life in my front yard. I jumped at the sound of the engine, but then it purred sweetly. He turned around in my yard and pulled back up my driveway.

I stood there after he rode off, staring at where he’d been. My chest still vibrated from the sound of the engine, and I felt a jolt of excitement run through my body like the humming of his motorcycle. My life was changing, and I was finally in control of it. Then, the Smiths’ car pulled up, and Micah came running into the house. Cole had left just in time.

Chapter Four Cole “What’s the extra helmet for?” Lilah asked as I got off the bike with the spare in my hand. She’d heard me coming, I figured, and stepped outside just in time to greet me like I hadn’t just been in her house a couple of days before. “That’s for you. You’re not riding without a helmet,” I told her with mine still on. “We can just take my car if that’s okay with you?” “Come on, you’ll be fine,” I urged her. “It’s not that bad. Just get on the back and hold on to me.” I held the helmet out for her. “I don’t know.” She continued hesitating, but she reached out and touched the helmet. That was a start, at least. “You said you wanted to try new things and make some changes in your life, right?” “Right.” She sighed.

“Then, let’s go. I’ve got something special planned for us, but we have to take the motorcycle, or it won’t work.” She took a deep breath, and I could see in her expressive face that she was trying to work up the nerves to take the helmet from me. She pulled it out of my hand and put it on slowly. Afterwards, once it was on, she struck a quick pose, moving her hips to the side and holding out her hands. “How do I look?” she asked, laughing. “Stunning,” I answered, looking right into her eyes. “Now, hop on.” She struggled to lift her leg high enough to get on the bike, but after a few failed attempts, she was on. She adjusted her hips so that she sat comfortably behind me, and she slid her arms around my waist. “Hold on,” I called out to her before cranking up the bike. The engine roared, and her arms instinctively tightened around my waist. I smiled inside my helmet as I revved up the engine a few times to get her used to the sound. I turned around in front of her house and pulled up to the road.

I hadn’t told her where we were going. We had simply agreed to get together on her day off. I wasn’t sure what she expected, but I had planned a picnic for us so that we could spend the afternoon talking more, away from everyone and everything else. She was the pure, sheltered perfection I had recently been describing to Mick, and I didn’t want her to get the wrong impression of me. Covered in tattoos and riding in an MC, I knew what a lot of people thought of me automatically. For the most part, that was fine. It was sometimes fun to see the looks on their faces when they realized I wasn’t just some hooligan in leather, looking for a fight. Other times, it was okay to let them have their ideas. I didn’t always need to correct everyone. I didn’t want Lilah to think that about me though. It was important to me for her to see that there was more to me than the rough exterior. I was going to do whatever it took to make sure she saw that. We turned away from the city and drove further out of town. I knew the perfect place just a few miles up the road from her house. The area was mostly wooded, but there was a beautiful clearing just off the side of the road.

We pulled off the road, and I parked along the tree line. I pulled off my helmet, signaling to her that she could do the same. As she pulled her helmet off over her head, her beautiful red curls spilled out across her shoulders. “What did you think about the ride?” I asked her. “It was different. I’ve never felt that much power or freedom underneath me before,” she replied. “That’s how I feel every time I get on it. It’s not as jarring after a while, but it never loses that sense of freedom,” I told her, passing up the perfect opportunity to make a comment about putting more power between her legs. I wasn’t there to simply put another notch on my bedpost with her. “I think I could get used to that. So where are we going?” “We’re already here,” I told her, holding out my arms and looking around. “Where is here?” She looked around like she didn’t believe me. “It’s just a clearing in the woods. I figured we could have a picnic. I brought some sandwiches and a

tablecloth.” I gestured to the bags on the back of the bike. I had an insulated bag for the sandwiches to keep them cool and fresh in one bag. In the other, I had a couple of paper plates, a tablecloth, and a couple of bottles of soda for us. “Are you serious?” Lilah asked as she stumbled off the bike. I guess she needs a ride with me a few more times until she gets comfortable with the bike. I’ll just have to take her on more dates. “Yeah, look.” I got off the bike and pulled the tablecloth out of one side. I unfolded it and placed it on the ground a few feet away from where we were standing. Then, I grabbed the rest and took it over to the cloth I’d placed on the ground. Lilah walked over shaking her head. “You are not at all what I expected.” “I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said with a wink. “Now, I hope you like turkey, and I hope you aren’t opposed to bacon because these are turkey BLTs. I also brought some potato chips to go with them. I mean, what good is a sandwich without chips, right?”

“It sounds great. Wow.” She sat down next to me as I pulled the food out and put everything on our plates. It felt good to see her surprised. Her whole face lit up. Her eyes watched with something akin to wonder as I plated our food and poured out the drinks. I could tell that she wasn’t lying when she said she hadn’t expected anything like this, and I had never been on a date with someone so appreciative of my efforts before. Dinner was always supposed to be at a restaurant that pushed my budget. As a Steel Devil, that usually meant a really nice joint that made me feel completely out of place. “Going out” usually meant a night at one of the exclusive clubs where we got in because we’d done business with the owners. A picnic in a small clearing in the woods with a couple of homemade sandwiches had never been enough for any of the girls I’d dated before. They wanted to be part of some scene. Lilah was happy just to be. “This sandwich is pretty good,” she said, covering her mouth with a napkin. “You’re lucky I speak fluent full-mouth-ese,” I told

her. “Otherwise that wouldn’t have made any sense.” She smiled and laughed with her eyes while she finished chewing her food. “Sorry, it was too good. I had to say something right away.” “Well, thank you.” “How did you know about this place?” she asked in between bites. “I ride a lot, and I must have passed by here a few hundred times since I started riding. I can’t believe you didn’t know about this place. You live right up the road from it. I live downtown,” I teased her. “That’s one of those things, I guess. We never really did anything like this.” She looked down at the plate sitting in front of her. I knew that “we” meant her and her ex-husband. “There’s no reason why you can’t start doing the things you want to do, right? Isn’t that what you were talking about the other day? Taking control of your life so you can start doing what you want to do?” I asked her, trying to pick her spirits back up.

“This would be something you could do with your son. There are parks in town that would be great picnic spots for you and your boy.” “You’re right,” she agreed. “I should start doing that.” She resumed eating. I watched her, studying her skin. She’d worn a short-sleeve blouse and jeans. I had told her not to wear anything too formal or stuffy because I wasn’t planning on doing anything too formal or stuffy for our date. It would have been nice to be able to see more of her skin though. It was so perfect. My work would look amazing on her, I thought as I stared at her. The colors would look so vivid and bright, and the black would contrast starkly against her nearly white skin. “Have you given any more thought to your tattoo?” I asked. She took a sip of her drink and nodded. “Yeah, I’ve decided I want to maybe do something small at first. I don’t know about my tolerance for physical pain yet, not that kind of pain at least, so I figure something small will give me a chance to experience the pain and decide if I want another one.”

“So, you’re already thinking you want more than one?” “That’s what everyone says, right? Once you get your first tattoo, it’s like an addiction. You find yourself wanting another one pretty much as soon as the first one is healed.” “You’ve been doing some research. Do you have many friends with tattoos?” “No, I don’t have many friends,” she replied with a humorless laugh. “Really, the only person I’ve talked to about it in real life is Jenna. I work with her, and she has a tattoo. She’s always talking about how she wants another one. No, I’ve been talking to people online about it, people in chat groups and on Facebook pages.” “That’s pretty accurate, I’d say.” “You must really want to put that first one on me.” She flashed those green eyes my way. I smiled. I didn’t want to tell her what I was really thinking about when it came to her tattoo – covering most of her body in beautiful lines and colors. I didn’t want to scare her away from it.

“I guess I’m eager, because I have so many, and I know what they can do for people, you know? I mean, as you can see,” I said, holding my arms out so she could see the pieces on both, “I’m well aware of how the ‘addiction’ works.” I made the quotation marks in the air with my fingers. “I see that.” “I like the idea of starting out with something small if you aren’t sure about the pain. Different people have different thresholds, and different parts of your body hurt differently,” I explained. “Yeah, I heard that right over bone or places that are naturally a little tender, to begin with, it can be even more sensitive when it comes to getting a tattoo. So, placement is going to be important, too.” “Exactly. You’ve been busy since the last time we talked about this,” I observed. “Last time we talked, all you really knew was that you wanted one. Sounds like you’ve been asking your online friends the right questions.” “Really, it’s more like telling them I want to get my first tattoo and asking them what I need to know. I don’t really have to ask too many questions. The people I’ve met have all been very helpful.”

“A lot of folks with tattoos are. It kind of becomes a community.” I finished my food and leaned back on my elbows. “I love that,” she said, taking the last bite of her sandwich. She took another sip of her drink and lay back next to me, putting her hands behind her head. She sighed and closed her eyes. A smile spread across her face. I sat on my elbows and stared at the smiling beauty next to me. Again, I wondered how I got so lucky. She was a good bit shorter than I was, thin, and petite. Her red curls seemed to grow even redder in the sunlight looking like a halo of flames. Her blouse rested on her body, showing off the subtle lines and curves of her tiny frame. “You didn’t come here just to talk about my tattoo, did you?” she asked suddenly, after lying there quietly for a few minutes. “Well, that’s part of it,” I admitted, omitting anything else I might have said to her about what I was thinking. I figured it was obvious that I was attracted to her. I wouldn’t have asked her out if I

hadn’t been. “Whatever your reasons, this is nice,” she said. She cracked an eye open and looked at me. “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, and I’d like to see you again sometime,” I told her. “Oh, you definitely will. You’re doing my tattoo, remember?” “It’s been decided that I am, then?” I cocked an eyebrow. “I mean, why not? I feel like I can trust you as an artist. I’ve seen some of your work, and I like your attitude towards it.” “Well, if that’s the case, why don’t I Saw something specifically for you?” I sat up and reached into an inside pocket of my vest. “I can Saw anything you want. That’s how I got the nickname Saw from the MC,” I told her as I pulled out a small notepad and started drawing.

Chapter Five Lilah I sat up and watched Cole as he drew something on a sheet of paper in his notepad. His pencil moved quickly, drawing bold lines and adding in the shading. It was definitely small. I watched as the lines formed a lotus flower, and then what looked like flames came out of it. Out of the flames, he drew a rising phoenix. He was good. There was no doubt about it. The amount of detail was unexpected. I always thought of tattoos as being pretty simple, and a lot of the ones I had seen at the shop had been simple. Bold lines and colors, mostly, with some detail, but they had been nothing like what he’d drawn for me. The dimensions were clear. The shading was appropriate and different for each part. He had even sketched the shadows from where the flames in the middle were casting off shadows from the flower. “What do you think?” he asked, holding it out for me to see. “It’s beautiful, and I imagine it would look even

better as a tattoo,” I said, admiring it even more. I reached up and took the notepad from him to look at it closer. “But,” he said in anticipation of my objection. “But I don’t think it’s right for me. I don’t feel like I want something that detailed.” I tried to be careful so that I didn’t upset him or offend him while I was letting him down, but I felt like he wasn’t too thrilled to be told no. “That’s fine.” He flipped the page over in his notepad. “I can Saw you something a little less detailed if that’s what you’d like.” He started working on something else. I didn’t get a chance to see what it was because my phone went off while he was getting started. I pulled out my phone, thinking it was probably nothing – probably somebody at the library or my ex calling to harass me. It was the school. Something was wrong. “Hang on,” I told Cole. “I need to take this.” I got up from the tablecloth and answered as I walked away across the patch of grass.

“Hello?” “Miss Romero?” the voice said on the other end of the line. I hated how people from the school always sounded so serious. It made me feel like I was in trouble every time I answered the phone. “Yes, this is she.” I stopped and stood still, waiting for her to tell me who she was and what was going on. “This is Abilene Turner, the school nurse. Micah is in my office, complaining that he doesn’t feel well. He seems fine, but he’s complaining about a stomach ache and really wants to go home. I’ve already cleared it with the administration if you could come pick him up,” she said, her voice softening as she talked. “It’ll be a few minutes. I’m all the way across town right now, but I’ll be on my way in just a few,” I told her. “No problem. I’ve got him up at the office with me. He’ll be fine until you get here,” she assured me. “Thank you so much,” I told her and hung up the phone.

I slid it into my pocket and hurried back over to where Cole was working on the new drawing for me. I hated to have to cut our date short. I was enjoying his company. It was nice to have someone who actually enjoyed being around me. “Who was that?” Cole asked as I walked back up. His tone told me he was asking out of genuine concern. He could probably tell by my face or how I was walking that something wasn’t right after the call. “That was the school. I need to go pick up my son. He’s sick. I’m really sorry.” “No need to apologize,” he said as he flipped his notepad closed and put it away. He got up and started cleaning up our picnic. I helped as much as I could. While he grabbed the plates, napkins, and other trash, I picked up the tablecloth and shook it out. While he put everything else away, I folded the cloth so that it would be small enough to fit in one of the saddlebags on his motorcycle. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do anything,” he said as I handed it over to him.

“It’s the least I can do right now. You’ve been so good to me, and I have to cut our date short. I hate that.” I stood back and watched as he put everything up. “You’re fine. I get it. You need to get your boy from school,” he said. There was no trace of anger or agitation in his voice. It was like he hadn’t even skipped a beat when I told him that I needed to leave. “So, it doesn’t bother you that I have a kid?” I asked. Being a newly single parent, I’d heard horror stories about how people acted when they found out their love interest had a kid. I didn’t want to run him off with my son, even though I wasn’t ready for him to meet Micah yet. “No, why should it?” he replied nonchalantly, like it really wasn’t a big deal to him. “Kids are great. But I will say this.” He stopped for emphasis. “What’s that?” I asked eagerly. “We’ll need to continue this picnic some other time,” he finished with a wink. “Of course we will. That’s a given.”

He handed me my helmet, and I slid it down over my head. It fit nice and snug. I wasn’t as nervous to get back on his motorcycle as I had been to get on it the first time. He climbed on, and I straddled it behind him, wrapping my arms tightly around his waist. The machine came to life between my legs, the power of the beast surging through my body. I might have been afraid of it at first, but it thrilled me the second time. He revved the engine, sending vibrations up through my body. I pressed myself against him, letting the pleasure ripple through my body. We sped off. He was driving faster this time, not taking it as easy on me because it wasn’t my first time anymore. I knew a little something about riding, and I wasn’t as scared. We flew down the street to my house, just a few miles up the road. We pulled into the driveway, and he pulled off into my yard. I could see right away that something wasn’t right with the house. The front door stood ajar. I had locked it when I came outside to meet Cole, and I had my keys in my pocket. As he stopped the bike, I tapped his shoulder and pointed at the house.

He killed the engine and got off the bike. He pulled his helmet off and turned back to me. “Stay behind me. We need to take a look inside.” I got off and set my helmet on the back of the motorcycle, hurrying to follow him inside. He slowly pushed my front door open and stepped into the living room from the entryway. I came in right behind him, and I saw it before he said anything. The house was trashed. Someone had come in and ransacked the entire thing. It looked like they were looking for something. I didn’t know what there was to look for in my house. “Call the police. I’m going to check the rest of the house, make sure it’s clear,” Cole said in a low tone. As he walked deeper into the house, I grabbed my phone and headed back outside. Except I didn’t call the police. I called my ex. “Hello?” he groaned out. “Are you just waking up?” I asked him. “Yeah, I took a nap. What do you want, Lilah?” He

had no problem making it clear he didn’t like hearing from me. The feeling was mutual. “Listen, Troy, Micah is sick. He’s at the nurse’s office up at the school,” I started. “Okay, why don’t you get him?” he snapped. “Because someone broke into my house, Troy.” I looked closely at the broken doorframe and the large dent in the front door. “They kicked in my front door and ransacked the house.” “Shit,” he said under his breath. “Yes, Troy, ‘shit’ is right,” I snapped, growing more impatient with him by the moment. “Look, I’m sorry about that.” “You’re sorry about that? What do you know about it?” I put my hand on my hip like he was right there with me. “It was someone I owe money to. He said he was going to do it, but I thought he was full of shit. Make sure everything is still there,” he said.

“Yeah, I’ve got someone checking the house right now,” I told him, knowing full well that it was going to make him jealous. Even though we were divorced, he couldn’t stand the idea of someone else talking to me, male or female.[LC1] “Good,” he said, surprisingly enough. “You don’t need to be fooling around in there by yourself.” “Thanks for the advice. Are you going to go get Micah or not?” “Yeah, I’m getting in the car now. Hey, don’t call the cops or anything, okay? I’m going to handle this on my own. I’m heading out of town after I pick Micah up. I’ve got to get away for a little while – until everything calms down.” He said it like it was a fact I had to accept. “You’re bringing Micah to me first though, right?” “No, I’m taking him with me.” “You can’t do that, Troy. You know you can’t do that,” I warned. “He’ll be safe. We’ll both be safe. You need to get away from that house as well – keep yourself safe.

I’ve got to go. I’ll be at the school in just a minute.” The line went dead just as Cole was walking back outside. I gripped my phone in my shaking hand and tried to blink back the tears. It wasn’t working. I was starting to cry. “The house is clear,” he said, walking up to me. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?” He put his hands on my upper arms – a gentle, soothing touch – and he bent down, so our eyes were level with each other. “He’s taking my son. He’s going to the school to get him, and he’s taking him away.” “Who’s taking him?” Cole asked. “Troy, my ex,” I said through chest-racking sobs. “Where is he taking him?” “I-I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “I have no clue.” I looked at him and shook my head in disbelief that any of this was even happening. What the hell? What’s going on? “Hey, it’s okay,” he said, pulling me close to him

and wrapping me in an embrace. “We’ll figure it out, and we’ll get your son back.” I wanted to believe him.

Chapter Six Cole “First thing you need to do is call the police,” I told her, holding her safe in my arms. It was instinct that grabbed her and held her against me to protect her. Regardless of whatever I thought about her, she needed someone to hold her at that moment, but she also needed someone to remind her of the right things to do to get through it. “But he said not to. He said he was going to handle it,” she argued. “How is he going to handle it if he’s running off with your son? Does he know who did this?” I asked her, my voice getting louder and more heated than I really wanted. She nodded. “He said it was one of his ‘business’ partners, someone he owes money. They were apparently trying to find something to pay off some of his debt.”[LC2] I raised an eyebrow. I wasn’t hearing that shit. They picked the wrong house and the wrong family.

“You don’t owe them shit,” I blurted out. “His debt to them is not yours, especially now that you’re divorced.” She shrugged it off. “I get why they did it though.” “Yeah, I do, too, and it’s crap. I get it. You and Micah are still his family, so they hit you guys to get to him. But you’re out of it now. You’re divorced. Unless you had something to do with whatever dirt he was doing, you should be considered off-limits.” I wanted to say more, but talking was just making me angrier. “I appreciate the thought, but what do I do now?” she asked. “Call the cops. Give them any information you have when they show up. Let them see the house. If these guys are any good, it’ll take the police a while to find them, but they’ll know the cops are looking for them. Plus, it’ll give you leverage in case anything else happens,” I explained, urging her to do it even though he told her not to. Lilah backed away and pulled out her phone. I watched as she stood by herself and dialed 9-1-1. She talked to the person on the other end of the line for a moment, holding her fingers up to her mouth

like she was trying to keep herself from biting her nails. After she hung up, she looked at me with fear and sadness in her green eyes. “Will you stay with me?” she asked. “At least until the police arrive. I’m sorry to drag you into this.” “No, it’s fine,” I told her. “I’ll stay as long as you need me to. I’m not going anywhere.” We sat down on the steps leading to her front door. She leaned her head on my shoulder, and I put an arm around her. We sat quietly. I knew she was thinking the worst for her kid. I wished I knew the right thing to say to make it easier for her, but I had no clue what she needed to hear. The police finally arrived. I stepped aside to let her talk to one of the officers while the other one surveyed the inside of the house. I watched her handle herself with the cops. The same woman who’d rested her head on my shoulder, afraid of what was going to happen to her son, stood and talked to the police like it was all just a matter of business. The officer who searched the house called me over as he walked outside. He recognized me from previous run-ins. We had talked many times before.

“Saw,” he said, cutting his eyes toward his partner and Lilah, making sure they weren’t listening to us, “do you know anything?” I caught myself checking over my shoulder, too, as I answered, “All I know is she talked to her exhusband, and he seemed to know something, but she didn’t really say either way. Other than that, I have no clue what happened here today.” “Good deal.” He patted my shoulder. “Keeping your nose clean. I like that. I’ll get with my partner and see what he was able to get from her,” he said, walking over to stand next to his partner. The three of them talked a little longer before the officer who had been talking to Lilah from the start shook her hand and put his pad back in his pocket. He nodded at me while his partner started back towards the patrol car. When they got into their car, I stepped up and put an arm around her. “They said they’ll look into it. I told them about Troy taking Micah and that I didn’t know where he was taking him,” she said. “They said they’ll do what they can to find them both.” She pressed herself into my side, shrinking away from where she’d been talking with the officers.

“Well, in the meantime, let’s get you somewhere safe,” I told her. “Where would that be? Where else am I supposed to stay?” “Look, you can come to the MC’s clubhouse and stay until this passes over. I’ll be there. You’ll be safe. There are always members and old ladies up there. Stuff like this never happens there.” I watched her face to see when the hesitation finally melted away. It was going to take more convincing, I could tell. “I don’t know.” She glanced at the house. “I know it’s not safe for me to stay here, in case they come back, but I feel like I need to be at the house. Can’t you stay with me here?” “If the people who broke into your house have your ex-husband running with your son for safety, no, I don’t want to be here if and when they come back,” I explained with a laugh. “You’ll be fine for a night or two at the clubhouse. It’s not permanent, I know, but it gives us time to figure out what to do next.” She hesitated a little longer, still looking into her

wrecked house. I could see the wheels turning as she weighed her options. I didn’t really say any other options. We might have been able to get a hotel room instead of staying at the clubhouse, but we wouldn’t have been as safe. “Okay,” she finally said. Then, she turned to look at me, pleading with her eyes for me to help. “I need to grab a few things first,” she said, and I knew she was really asking me to help her grab what she needed for a few days at the clubhouse. “Lead the way. I’ll help,” I told her. We walked into the house, and she grabbed a tote bag from the closet in the entryway. I followed her through the house as she grabbed a few things from her bathroom. I sat on her bed while she went into her closet to pull out a couple of shirts and a pair of jeans. Without thinking about it, she went to her dresser and pulled out the drawer with her panties in it. She picked out a couple of pairs and held them up, presumably to judge whether or not they were what she really wanted to wear. I wondered what the mint green lace pair would look like on her and what it would feel like to run my hands over them before pulling them off. Our eyes met in the mirror,

and she blushed, immediately folding them and stuffing them into the bag at her feet. She grabbed a couple of other things and discreetly stuffed them into the bag before I could see them. I didn’t say anything about what I saw, but I couldn’t help imagining what the lace panties I’d seen would have looked like on her with her pale skin peeking through the fabric. I caught myself wondering the same things about her I always wondered about women I wanted sexually. I wondered how she kept herself – shaved, trimmed, or all natural. I wanted to see her body. While she gathered whatever else she was grabbing from atop her dresser, I wondered what she would look like bent over with her jeans and panties on the floor. Her eyes watched me in the mirror like she could tell what I was thinking. I imagined those eyes staring at me while I stood behind her, pushing her against the side of the dresser with each thrust. I looked away and wiped the thoughts from my mind. I wanted her, but the time wasn’t right. I couldn’t take advantage of her by trying to get her in bed right now. “Okay, I think I’m ready,” she said, turning around

with her bag in hand. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to follow you in my car,” she added. “I can’t give up my freedom like that. I have to be able to move around if I decide to.” I smiled. She was going to fit in just fine. “Yeah, definitely. Follow me straight to the clubhouse, so you don’t get lost.” “Don’t go flying, so I can’t keep up with you,” she retorted, raising an eyebrow. I nodded. “Nice. Come on.” We tried to close the front door as we were leaving, but the jam was broken. With the damage to the door where it had been kicked in, it wouldn’t close anyway. I tried rigging it, closing it a certain way, pulling it all the way, and a few other things to make it stay shut, but it wasn’t going to happen on its own. “Okay, you got a back door or side door?” I asked her. “Yeah, we can go out the back,” she answered. “Good. Let me get something to brace the door, and I’ll follow you out the back. That way we can

lock your house up as much as possible instead of leaving it open,” I explained. I went into her dining room and grabbed one of the chairs at her table. It was the perfect height to brace the doorknob with it. I pulled on the door a few times, but it wouldn’t budge against the chair. “If they want in now, they’re going to have to try to break the door down again,” I told her. “Let’s just make their job a bit harder for them.” I pointed out the damage from the last time they’d kicked her door in. We went out the back. She locked the door and tried it, making sure it was locked. We walked around to the front of the house, where she climbed into her car, and I hopped on my motorcycle. I pulled out of the driveway with her behind me and led her to the clubhouse. We pulled up to the clubhouse, and she pulled over to park with the other cars off to the side while I pulled my bike up alongside the others parked in front of the open bay door. A few members were hanging out – drinking, watching TV, doing the same shit we did every day – and no one seemed to notice when I walked her into the building. “Can I get a shower?” Lilah asked when we got up

to the third floor, where my room was. The rooms on the third floor were more permanent. While second-floor rooms shared a couple of community baths, like in an old dorm, the third-floor rooms had private baths. They were designed for people who stayed there pretty much every night. Since I spent most of my time at the shop anyway, I didn’t feel the need to have my own place. “Yeah, there’s a shower in my room,” I told her. “You can have a bath if you want.” I unlocked my door, and we walked in. She entered slowly, taking her time to look around. I closed and locked the door behind us. “The bathroom is behind that door,” I told her, pointing at the thin wooden door to the bathroom. “Thanks,” she said, putting her bag on the bed and walking in to start the water. “Where are your towels?” “In the closet in there.” “Found them. Thanks.” I heard the shower curtain pull back. A moment later, I heard it close. Her clothes were still in the

bag on my bed. I knew she was probably going to want the bag when she got out. That gave me a chance to see her in a towel. That was when I noticed the bathroom door wasn’t all the way closed. I peeked in through the crack, and I could see her standing where the shower curtain didn’t close all the way. I shouldn’t have been looking. I knew it. But she’d positioned herself so perfectly for me to see her body, it was like she wanted me to look at her. Her body was so perfectly shaped. I could see the subtle curve of her back, running down to her tight little ass. I saw her perky pale breasts with her puffy pink nipples. I imagined cupping my hands perfectly around her and running my fingers across her peaks until they hardened. She never turned completely around, so I still didn’t know how the prize between her legs looked. I felt myself growing hard as I waited for her and watched her. She tilted her head back and let the water run down her hair. The striking red of her hair plus the porcelain white skin was almost too much to bear. I pulled off my shirt and lay back against the pillows, forcing myself to turn away. I closed my

eyes so I wouldn’t see her, and I tried to force from my mind all the thoughts of taking that little body and making it mine.

Chapter Seven Lilah I couldn’t stop thinking about Micah. As the hot water rushed over my face and down my back, all I could think of every time I closed my eyes was Troy nabbing him from school and dragging him off somewhere with him. Who knew where they were going? Who knew how far they’d already gotten while I had waited at the house for the police and spent however long talking to them about what had happened? I finally shut off the water and pulled one of the towels down from the shower curtain rod. As I dried myself first standing in the shower, I noticed I could see Cole through the cracked bathroom door. Instead of lying there staring at me, the way I imagined so many men would have, he rested peacefully with his hands behind his head. I gasped when I noticed that he was shirtless, but I felt a surge of desire when I gazed at his naked chest and wanted to run my hands over it. I didn’t have time for these feelings and desires right now. He was being so kind and helpful, and he didn’t even know me. It struck me as funny how I’d been looking for

adventure, but the dangerous-looking tattooed biker was turning out to be my safety net from the danger my ex was putting me in with my son. I wrapped my towel around my body and grabbed the other towel for my hair. I dried it first and then wrapped it in the towel, pulling it up away from my shoulders and back. I stepped out of the tub and realized I’d left my bag in the other room with Cole. I opened the door a little further and reached out to grab it. He looked at me and smiled. He didn’t say anything; I figured he could tell I was going right back into the bathroom. I made sure I closed the door all the way the second time and locked it. I wiped the fog off the mirror so I could see myself better. I stared at the stress and worry written all over my face. I looked so tired. I figured it was only because I had someone strong standing behind me, helping to hold me up. I stood there for a few minutes and stared into my own eyes before dropping my towel to the floor. I stared at my pale skin. I couldn’t help but think about the tattoo Cole wanted to do for me so badly. I didn’t see anywhere on my front where I wanted a tattoo to go, so I turned to the side and thought

about where I would want one to go. I didn’t see anywhere to put one on my sides either. I tried to imagine my body covered in colorful tattoos like Cole’s, but I couldn’t see that for me yet. I couldn’t even imagine a small one on me let alone full sleeves or a chest piece. I figured that I’d probably have a better idea once we got through the situation with Micah. I tried to comfort myself by telling myself that at least Micah was with his father. Troy wouldn’t have done anything to endanger his son – our son. At least there was that. I pulled on a tank top I had grabbed from my closet and slid my panties on. I pulled up the pair of pajama shorts I brought with me as well. I wasn’t comfortable enough with him yet to be walking around in front of him naked or just in my underwear. Sex wasn’t even part of the equation yet. And with crazy shit like this going on, I wasn’t sure if he’d ever get to the point where he wanted to sleep with me. I couldn’t have blamed him if he didn’t. I came with baggage. “Did you have a good shower?” he asked when I finally walked out of the bathroom. “Yeah, it was nice and hot,” I told him.

He lay on the opposite side of the bed from the bathroom, and I got the impression that he was claiming that as his side of the bed. I hadn’t been aware that by inviting me to stay at the clubhouse, he was actually inviting me to share a bed with him. It would be nice to sleep next to someone’s warm body though. One of the hardest parts of my divorce was getting used to sleeping in an empty bed. He rolled onto his side, facing me as I dumped my dirty clothes into my bag. He was gorgeous with his ripped chest and abs. His muscles weren’t huge or anything like that, but they were very well-defined. He took care of himself when he wasn’t sitting in a chair at his shop inking people. He had more tattoos on his chest, too. A couple of tribal designs carried over from his upper arms to cover a portion of his chest. He also had a few smaller pieces that seemed to come together in a larger theme, but I couldn’t tell what they were from where I was standing. He rubbed the empty side of the bed, inviting me to join him. I felt safe with Cole. I knew he wasn’t going to try anything, but I felt a little too vulnerable around him, as if what little guard I had

was in danger of coming down completely. “I don’t bite,” he encouraged me, sensing my hesitation. “I mean, not unless you want me to, but I’d honestly rather leave other marks behind,” he added with a grin. “Yeah, I know.” I smiled at how clever he thought he was being and climbed into the bed. What the hell, it’s not going to hurt to let someone close to me. I lay down next to him, and he held his arm out for me to scoot closer to him. I didn’t want to give him the wrong impression by exploring his tattoos. I didn’t want to lead myself on by allowing myself to explore his flesh. He held his arm up for what must have been forever while he waited for me to make a decision. I realized my first impression had been my hesitation, my reluctance to make spontaneous decisions. He was probably used to it and trying to accommodate my slow decision-making process. At the same time, he was quietly urging me over against his chest. I finally slid across to him, and he put his arm down

around me. His warmth and scent surrounded me, comforting me. I breathed him in and nuzzled up against the bare skin to be closer to him. “How are you feeling?” he asked in a low, soothing voice. “I’m okay,” I lied. I was trying to stay focused on him, trying to hold it together for this beautiful stranger holding me close in his bed. I didn’t want to run him off. “You don’t have to be strong with me,” Cole said. And that was all it took, to be given permission to feel what I was feeling without feeling ashamed of my emotions. The tears started to flow. I cried into his strong, protective arms. He squeezed me tighter, holding me against his chest while I sobbed. “That’s okay. Let it out.” He stroked my hair with one hand and held me by my arm with his other arm around my back. I curled up in his embrace. I balled my fists up with the intensity of my emotions and pressed them against his chest. I clenched my fists as tightly as I could from the anger at my ex and at the men who destroyed my house, but I cried mostly for my son.

I wanted to scream, but I could only sob. My body shook with my sobbing. The harder I cried, the tighter he held me. He was protecting me, taking care of me. And he was only the tattoo artist I’d just met a few days before. But I started to feel like he could have been more, like he wanted to be more. “I want to believe he’s safe with Troy,” I spoke through sobs. “I really do.” “But…” he said again, reaching for the contradiction. “But if the person chasing him down did that to the house, I don’t know if I can feel safe with him being alone with his father. What happens if Troy’s partner catches up with them?” “You can’t think like that. You have to stay positive while you do what you can to get Micah back in your custody.” “If I don’t think like that, who will?” His arms tightened around me again. “That’s what guys like me are here for,” he assured me. “I’ll make it my business to make sure your boy is

returned home safely.” I unclenched my fists and wiped my eyes. I looked up into his sculpted face and saw that he was genuine. He meant what he was saying to me. It was written in his eyes. “You really don’t have to,” I told him. “We called the cops. They’re on it.” “Don’t hold your breath waiting on them to handle it for you. I can probably find your ex and son faster than they can. I have a lot less paperwork and bureaucracy to deal with than the cops do.” Still, I wasn’t sure. Letting Cole handle it outside of the law seemed risky for everyone. It did seem like he’d be able to handle it faster than the police though. If my ex were involved in illegal businesses, someone like Cole would probably have more direct access to the kinds of people Troy dealt with. “This was not what I was thinking when I said I wanted my life to be more adventurous,” I thought out loud. Cole laughed. It was an honest laugh, as if my comment had caught him off guard. He leaned in

and kissed my forehead. It was a gentle, safe kiss. He probably meant it to comfort me, but instead, I felt it awaken all of my desire for him. Suddenly I wanted him, and my body ached to have him. I turned around and pulled his arms around me. If I had continued to face him, there was no telling what I would have done. I pressed my back against him, keeping a space between my hips and his. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Was that bad?” “Just hold me,” I replied, ignoring the answer to his question. The answer was: No, that wasn’t bad. That was great, actually. I want to feel your lips on mine. I want to taste your breath in your kiss. I want your hands to grab me, to possess me, and I want you inside of me, making me yours. I don’t want this to turn into a game where we have to guess each other’s intentions and desires. I want you to know what I want from you, and I want to know the same. I didn’t think we were quite to that point yet, regardless of how I felt. I sighed as I pushed the answer down. I held his hands in mine, intertwining our fingers over my stomach. His touch was both comforting and

thrilling. I felt safe, but I also felt a surge of electricity flowing underneath my skin, all through my body. I closed my eyes to it, trying to ignore it. It wasn’t late. It wasn’t even dark out. I just needed the quiet comfort of being in a peaceful man’s arms. Then my phone rang, ruining the peace and quiet of the moment. My eyes shot open, and my body jumped as I let go of Cole and reached for my phone, which was in my jeans pocket in the bag on the floor. I frantically searched for the pocket and pulled it out. “That’s Troy’s ringtone,” I explained to Cole while I searched for the phone. “It could be Micah.” “Okay, I understand,” he said. He didn’t try to hold me back or stop me from grabbing my phone. “Hello?” I answered out of breath after I finally got the phone out of my jeans. “Hey, calm down. It’s just me,” Troy said. “I wanted to call and let you know that we’re safe. Micah is okay; it’s just a little stomach bug. The nurse said it’s going around right now.” I let out a sigh of relief. “You had me worried there

for a minute.” “No need to worry. We’re going to stay up here for a few days to let the virus and the storm pass. Do you want to talk to him?” “Yes, of course,” I said, trying not to snap his head off and cause more trouble. I shot Cole a look. I hoped to convey how hopeful and excited I was to hear my son’s voice. Instead, I probably looked scared or crazy. “Hi, Mom,” I heard Micah say, and all my anxiety and fear melted.

Chapter Eight Cole “Feeling better today?” I asked Lilah after the alarm on my phone went off to wake us up. I had stretched and hugged her close to me again. “I don’t know yet. Wait until I’ve had my coffee,” she croaked out, sitting up on her elbows on the bed. “There’s coffee downstairs in the common room,” I told her. “But what I’m talking about is since you got to talk to your son last night.” “Yeah, that was nice. Now I know he’s safe.” Her face lit up a little bit when I mentioned her conversation with Micah the night before. Her ex had checked in to let her know they were safe, which I thought was odd for someone who seemed to be the source of so much stress for her. Unless, of course, he had called solely for the purpose of letting her talk to her boy. I felt like that made more sense.

“Why do you ask?” she asked, yawning and stretching on her back on the bed. Her body was so delicious, especially early in the morning. I wanted it. I wanted to see it out of those clothes. I wanted to touch her tender white skin with my hands and my lips. I hadn’t said anything, and I hadn’t wanted to make a move on her until she knew her son was safe. I had wanted to give her at least the night to adjust to everything before I said anything to her about staying at the clubhouse. “There’s something I need to talk to you about,” I told her. “That doesn’t sound ominous at all,” she said, rolling over and looking me in the face. I smiled. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes really. I wanted to be serious with her. For me, what I had to say was serious business. Stipulations needed to be put in place in order for her to stay at the clubhouse. There were things that had to happen. “Last night was on me,” I told her. “You didn’t have anywhere to go. I had to provide you somewhere safe.” As I spoke, I watched the emotion on her face

change. It slowly dawned on her what I was about to say, and she already didn’t like what she was about to hear. I knew there was a possibility that she’d run once I put the conditions in front of her, but she really didn’t have anywhere else to go. I didn’t see her running. “But if I stay?” she asked me, trying to get me to the point. “If you stay, there are some stipulations.” “Yeah, I should have known. I didn’t think anyone was really that good-hearted. What do you want me to do to stay here?” she asked. “I want you in my bed every night,” I started.[LC3] “I was going to ask if I got a private room, or how that worked,” she admitted. “No, you don’t get a private room. You’re staying with me.” “Does that mean you want sex every night? Does it mean you’re going to demand that I perform certain sexual acts with you every night?” She almost sounded eager when she asked the last question, like she wanted me to answer yes and wanted to

hear me command her sexually. “I do want you to give yourself to me when you’re ready,” I told her. She looked at me with a little of her typical reluctance in her eyes. I could see her struggling with my demands. It looked like she wanted to reject it, but part of her really wanted to be okay with it. “Is there anything else?” she finally asked. “Yes. I want you in my chair at the shop. I want to tattoo your body.” “I don’t have a choice, do I?” “You do. You drove over here yesterday so you can leave at any time. I’m not going to hold you against your will. If you don’t want to give yourself to me or to let me use you as a blank canvas, you can leave at any time.” She took a deep, shaky breath. She looked like she was trying to rush herself to an answer. “You don’t have to answer me now,” I assured her. “I’ll give you the day today. I’ve got to go to work,

and you have until I get back tonight to decide, okay?” She nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll have an answer for you when you get home.” I wanted to lean over and give her a kiss before I got up to leave for work, but I didn’t think she would find it appropriate after putting my stipulations on her the way I did. I climbed out of bed and started getting ready to go to work. She didn’t say anything while I got ready. She sat quietly and seemed to be thinking about what I’d told her while I got ready. When I came out of the bathroom, dressed and ready to leave, she still lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She acted as though she didn’t notice me as I walked through the room. I grabbed my boots from the floor on the other side of the bed and slid them on my feet. She lay there silently the whole time, not saying anything. She didn’t even breathe heavily. “Anything you need is downstairs,” I told her. “There are drinks at the bar, and there is a kitchen with anything else you might need. If you have any questions about anything, talk to Mick. He’s the big guy behind the bar with the big beard.”

“Yeah, I think I can manage,” she said flatly, not even looking at me to acknowledge that we were talking. “I’ll see you tonight,” I said, walking out of the room and pulling the door closed behind me. If she’d said anything else, I didn’t hear it. I went downstairs and hopped on my bike. I felt like there should have been some guilt over springing my conditions on her as suddenly as I had, but I didn’t feel any. I justified it to myself by thinking that since she said she wanted something more exciting, I’d show her what being with a member of the Steel Devils was all about. If she stayed at the clubhouse, she had to give me a reason to let her continue staying there. I felt like my expectations were perfectly reasonable, considering. When I pulled up to the tattoo parlor, I noticed that the frame of the door was dented and the glass was scratched. It looked like someone had been trying to get in overnight. I wondered if it was the same guy who had ransacked Lilah’s house. It didn’t seem likely that they would have known I was involved in her, but I didn’t believe in coincidences.

Stuff like this didn’t just coincidentally happen. Usually, when things like this happened back-toback, no matter how connected the places were, the actions were usually related. I unlocked the door to make sure that no one had actually made it into the shop. The lock tried to jam where the door was dented from the attempted breaking and entering. I was able to pop it open finally, and I stepped inside to look around. Nothing looked like it had been tampered with. Whoever had tried to break in obviously hadn’t made it past the door. I pulled out my phone and took pictures of everything that had been damaged. I sent the photos to Bruce, Axel, and Ham, letting my president and my brothers know what happened. Someone is on the way, Bruce texted me almost as soon as I sent the picture. A few minutes later, I heard a couple of motorcycles rolling up to the shop. It was Trent and a couple of other guys who looked like prospects. They wore cuts, but they were blank, with none of the MC colors on them. “Bruce sent us as soon as he got the pictures,”

Trent said. He grabbed the door, and it looked like he was about to pull it off. He looked it over, checking out the damage. “Man, whoever did this didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Or they didn’t really want to get in,” he said in his booming voice. “Either way, it happened,” I said. “That’s infuriating enough, whether they know what they’re doing or not.” “Any idea of who it was?” Trent asked. “If you know, we can go handle it.” He punched one hand into the other palm. “I appreciate it, but what I really want is someone to watch the shop for the next few nights in case they come back,” I told him. “I have an idea of who it is, and I’ll let you know if I need any help handling them.” “Are you sure?” Trent furrowed his brow, surprised I didn’t just accept his help right off the bat. “I’ve got a couple of prospects here who are ready to prove themselves,” he added, trying to persuade me to take his offer to handle it for me. I know that if I accepted his help, I wouldn’t have any more trouble out of whoever it was giving us trouble.

“I’ll let you know if I need anything,” I said, “but right now, this is personal. Let’s just keep an eye on the place to make sure they don’t come back.” “Yes, sir. We got it.” Trent nodded to call the prospects over to him. They stepped over by the front door. They looked at him and nodded obediently. They spoke in hushed tones so no one else could hear what they were saying. The prospects didn’t look away from Trent’s face while he was talking to them. It was pretty amazing how disciplined they were. A few minutes later, they walked back outside. Trent turned and came back to the back where I was standing, watching him. “You need anything today during the day?” he asked. “Nah, I think we’ve got it under control during the day.” I would have liked to have seen someone try to break in while all the artists were present. It wouldn’t have ended well for anyone. “Okay. If you’re sure, I’m going to head on in to work. If anyone tries anything stupid, give me a

call. I’ll be happy to handle it.” He clapped a powerful hand on my shoulder, almost pushing me down onto the floor. Then, he walked out the door and hopped onto his bike. The engine roared outside, and he drove off. His bike was as loud as he was. I stared at the damaged door, and the windows that were scratched from where someone had tried to shatter them, except my windows weren’t normal glass. I pulled my phone out and texted Bruce. Do we have anyone who can fix my door? I took another picture of the messed up door and sent it to him. You didn’t ask Trent? He looked at it but didn’t offer, and he’s gone now. Text him. He might have a guy. I pulled Trent up on my phone and messaged him. Hey, do you know anyone who can fix my door? It seemed odd to me that he hadn’t said anything at

first. I can replace it, he texted. How much are we talking? For family, I’ll do it for free. No way, I messaged him. I wasn’t too keen on accepting his work for free. You’ve given me how many tattoos for free? This is how it works. But tell me, why didn’t you say something earlier? You didn’t want my help. I put the phone down and laughed. I reminded myself that he’d asked me several times if I needed anything. He’d really meant anything, apparently. I’ll send one of the guys around later today. I’ll put it in with the girls this morning. Thanks, I texted him. I put the phone back in my pocket and stared at the dented door. I hoped I hadn’t just put the prospects

in danger. But I was going to find out who’d done it. They were going to pay for messing with my life and my business.

Chapter Nine Lilah I had been appalled at first by Cole’s demands, but as I lay in bed thinking after he left, I realized he hadn’t asked for anything I didn’t already want. Besides, I wanted to branch out and try something new. Cole was definitely something new. Everything about him was new, from his lifestyle to how generous and caring he was. [LC4] I had eventually gone downstairs after staying in bed a good bit of the day. Hunger overtook me around lunchtime, and I decided to see what the Steel Devils’ clubhouse had to offer. I walked down to the common room and approached the bar. I remembered Cole had told me that the big guy with the beard was Mick. He was hanging out behind the bar, leaning on the counter playing with what looked like a bottle opener. He straightened up when he saw me approaching. He stuck his hand out to greet me. “Name’s Mick. How can I help you out today?” “Hey, Mick, I’m Lilah,” I said, accepting his hand.

“Let me guess,” he said, looking me up and down while he pointed at me. “You’re here with Saw.” “Yes, I am. He must have told you.” “Nope. You just have that look. You look like his dream girl. That’s all,” Mick said with a wink. “What can I get you?” “Is it too early to have a drink?” “Too early? There’s no such thing. What would you like?” He stepped aside so I could see the wall of liquor bottles behind him and the beers in the cooler. I stared at all the drinks and thought about all the names I knew. I hadn’t been much of a drinker while I was married. We drank every once in a while, but I had whatever Troy was drinking or whatever “girly” drink he bought for me. I wanted something hard, and there was plenty of it staring back at me from behind the bar. It would have been easy to order something that completely flew in the face of my ex-husband and his controlling bullshit. But I decided against it since I didn’t want to be wasted when Cole came home.

“I’d better stick with a Coke for now,” I told him. “Maybe later, when Col – Saw – is back.” “Coke it is. Is there anything else?” “What do you guys do for food around here?” I asked. “There’s a kitchen in the back, and we keep it pretty well stocked. And sometimes we have a few of the MC’s old ladies come in to cook for whoever’s hanging out at the clubhouse. I don’t think anyone’s here today though,” he explained. “That sounds pretty cool, but I’ll be happy just to check out the kitchen,” I told him. “Yeah, it’s right back there. Knock yourself out, kiddo.” He pointed to an open doorway in the back of the room. I grabbed a frozen meal and heated it up in the microwave. I ate at one of the tables near the bar and watched a few guys shooting pool. This life was very different from the one I had lived all my life. It was more laidback and relaxed. People in the MC came and went as they pleased. It seemed like some of them stayed there permanently like

Cole. I got the impression that there were usually women hanging around the clubhouse as well, either attached to the members or not. After I ate my lunch, I crashed on the couch in front of the big flat screen TV on the wall. I turned it on and was not surprised to find that the MC had a Netflix account set up on the TV. I browsed for a while to see if there was anything I felt like watching. I pulled up Casablanca and put it on. I had to admit I felt a little awkward putting a movie like that on in a room where several rough bikers were hanging out. I figured Mick would have either watched it or ignored it without any judgment. The guys standing around the pool table weren’t paying any attention to what I was watching. After a while, it didn’t matter what anyone thought. I was too into the movie to care. I started to realize why the MC lifestyle attracted so many people. I was free to do pretty much anything I wanted for most of the day. I didn’t have to ask for permission, and I didn’t have to pay for anything. It was all right there for the taking, and it was how the members of the Steel Devils and their old ladies lived basically all the time.

As the afternoon wore on into the evening, a few of the old ladies came in and ordered pizza for everyone hanging out, saying that they didn’t want to cook for just a few people. The MC paid for it, and the delivery guy came right in like he belonged there. He dropped the pizzas off at the bar, and Mick handed him a tip. Once he was gone, the old ladies served up the pizza for everyone there. I talked with a few people there, but I didn’t really get any names or hang around too much after dinner. I wasn’t sure what time Cole was going to be back, so I made sure that I was back up in his room waiting for him to return. If he wanted to have me in his bed every night, we were going to start with my first night under his demands. The fact that he’d told me what he wanted from me and still let me make the choice to do it turned me on even more. After having my fill of pizza and grabbing a beer from the bar, I went upstairs to his room and dropped all of my clothes to the floor. I climbed into his bed naked and pulled the sheets up over my body to wait for him. I sipped the beer I’d picked up from the bar while I waited on him. I didn’t know how late he’d be, but something told me he wasn’t going to stay at work as late as he could have. I figured he’d want to get home soon to play

with his new toy. Or at least make sure I was still there. I didn’t turn on any lights other than the lamp on his side of the bed and laid down as if I were asleep. When he finally came in from work, he was quiet, and I laid there listening to him moving around. He sat on his side of the bed and carefully pulled off his boots. I felt him trying not to shake the bed. I lay there and waited to see how long he let the charade go on. He put his vest on the corner of the bed and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I heard the shower water turn on, and I imagined his muscles glistening under the hot water with steam rising all around him behind his shower curtain. I imagined his body covered in soap, his hands roaming all over himself. I pulled the sheets down from my body, uncovering myself for him. I wanted him to know without a doubt when he came out of the shower that I was awake and ready for him. I also wanted him to know that I wasn’t just complying with his wishes. I was giving myself to him because I wanted to. The water shut off in the bathroom, and I heard the

shower curtain pull back. It was quiet for a moment, and I imagined him, fully naked, toweling off. I imagined his wavy golden-brown hair looking tousled as he ran his towel over it to get it dry. The door opened to the bathroom, and he stood in front of me, silhouetted against the light coming from the room behind him. Even his shadow was built with rippling muscles, his body ready to devour me. “You are awake,” he said, switching the light behind him off. His body came into view in the light from the lamp as my eyes adjusted. Every bit of him was toned. He had tattoos all over, but he was far from completely covered. There was still a lot of untouched skin exposed, giving me the best of both worlds. The towel was wrapped tantalizingly low on his hips, and I had to fight the urge to rip it off so that I could see all of him. “I’ve been waiting for you,” I said. Now come here before I lose my nerve. I reached a hand out toward him as he approached the bed. My fingertips touched his smooth skin, feeling the firm muscles underneath. He came closer, letting my palms meet his flesh. I ran my

hands over the contours of his muscles. I fought back the urge to compare him to Troy. There was no comparison. If Troy had been a man – he hadn’t been – Cole was a god. He was a class of man I’d never experienced before in so many ways. “I take it you’ve made your decision,” he said, climbing onto the bed. I rolled onto my back as he moved over me, his shoulders wider than I was. It felt so good to feel the weight on him on top of me, pinning me down. I realized that I craved it. I craved his attention, his dominance over me. It made me feel safe and secure, and I trusted him. “I have made my decision,” I told him, letting a sly little smile play across my lips. He leaned down and kissed me as I was smiling up at him. When his lips touched mine, my body ignited with pleasure and excitement. His tongue pressed against my lips, opening my mouth and plunging in to taste me. He pulled away after biting my bottom lip and started kissing my neck. “I want to see all of you,” he murmured into my

collarbone as he ripped the sheet off of me. I felt vulnerable and excited the way he looked at my exposed body. Starting at my ankles, he felt his way up my calves and over my thighs to my waist. My breathing started to increase, and his hands moved up to cup my breasts, and he leaned down to take my nipple into his mouth. I tangled my fingers in his hand holding him close to my body, and when I couldn’t take it anymore, I pulled him up to kiss him again. With a swift movement, he threw off his towel, and I could see his whole body. With a carnal need, I grabbed at him so he could lower his weight onto my body, inviting him down onto me. He pressed against my mound, and I felt his desire, as hard and solid as the rest of his body. I wanted it inside me, wanted him to fill me. I rolled my hips, rubbing myself up and down his shaft, and he hardened even more under my touch. He reached over to the nightstand and pulled a condom out of the drawer. He pulled his hips back, sliding his shaft down between my legs, and I felt his fingers brushing my tender wet lips as he rolled the condom down his length. He kissed my neck, my shoulders. He parted the sensitive folds of flesh at my center and slid his

fingers up and down my wet slit. He brushed my clitoris with his fingertips, and my body jerked. I grabbed his arms and held onto him as every little touch threatened to take me to ecstasy. “I want you now,” I whispered into his ear before giving it a bite. He let out a low, guttural growl as he spread my lips and pressed his head against me. I could feel him sliding slowly into me. I arched my back and moaned as he entered me. I gripped his arms harder as pleasure filled my body. “Oh God, Cole,” I cried out. “Yes, baby, take me,” I begged him as I felt his hips rest against mine, driving himself all the way in to the base of his shaft. He began rhythmically stroking himself with my lips and my muscles gripping him. His body was a work of art, and he was the artist, sculpting my pleasure with his lips and tongue, his hands, his manhood, and the motion of his body against mine. He kissed and bit my neck while his hands massaged my breasts. I was riding waves of ecstasy before my orgasm even peaked for him. He pumped himself into me, keeping a steady pace, driving himself deep into me and pulling back. Every time he pressed into me, it took away my

breath. Everything he did felt good, and every touch added to my pleasure. My body shook with mounting pleasure as he continued to take me closer and closer. I listened to our panting, our bodies moving together against the bed. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, gripping his arms for leverage as my whole body began to erupt in ecstasy. My legs shook. The muscles around my entrance gripped him, holding him in my core. My breath came in jerks. Then, I felt it. As wave after wave of pleasure rolled through my body and crashed against his hips, I felt him erupted inside me. I felt his shaft flex as it pumped out his seed. I moaned and let go of him, pressing my flat palms against his shoulders. I craved his heat. I craved feeling him. I wanted to feel him inside of me. I rocked my hips furiously against his, working him until he’d emptied himself. “Fuck.” He grunted above me, shoving himself hard against my hips one last time. I felt him starting to relax after that final thrust, his body coming down from the height of ecstasy.

He lowered himself back to me and kissed me again. This time, the kiss was gentle, and he rolled over beside me, our lips slowly parting from each other. I shuddered again, something like an aftershock rocking my body. I let out a shaky breath as if I’d been holding it in the whole time. I wanted more of him. I wondered what else this beautiful lover next to me had to teach me about pleasure.

Chapter Ten Cole My phone buzzed right by my head. It was a furious noise right in my ear. It felt like someone drilling into my head. “Baby, your phone,” Lilah said, pressing her hand against my chest and shaking me gently. “I know,” I groaned out. I reached over next to me without opening my eyes, feeling around the nightstand. Before I could grab it, it stopped going off. I let my hand rest heavily against my forehead. “What if it was important?” she asked, her voice full of concern like she knew something was wrong. I must have known it, too, because I didn’t pull my hand back and put my arm back around her. I waited. “If it’s really important,” I told her, “they’ll call ba —” The phone was going off again. It seemed even louder the second time. I reached for it, moving my hand all over the top of my nightstand. Finally, I sat up and opened my

eyes. It was on the bed, right next to the pillow. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway – since they were calling back. The voice on the other end was going before I had my phone all the way up to my ear. “Saw, man, it’s Jake, one of Trent’s prospects. We’re up here at the shop. Someone tried to break in, and we got him. What do you want us to do?” “You caught him?” I asked, pushing the blankets off and turning to sit on the side of the bed. Lilah lifted up her head and yawned. “Yeah, we got him right here. We can get rid of him if you’d like, or whatever,” he offered. “Hold him. I’m on my way.” “Alright, we see you in a few. We’re around back by the dumpster.” “Awesome. Don’t go anywhere,” I said, hanging up the phone. “What’s going on?” Lilah asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Oh, I didn’t get a chance to tell you. Someone

tried to break into the shop the other night. We put a couple of our prospects on it, and they caught him trying again tonight,” I explained. “Do you think it’s tied to what happened at my house?” She was slumped forward a little, leaning her elbows on her knees, looking at me with wide green eyes. “It might be. There aren’t any coincidences when it comes to stuff like this, so I’d put my money on ‘yes’,” I said, getting up from the bed, still naked. “I’m coming with you,” Lilah announced, turning to slide out of bed. “No, you’re not. You’re staying here where it’s safe. I don’t know if he’s the only one. There could be someone else waiting on me to show up. The whole thing could be a setup. I don’t know. You’re staying here,” I told her sternly. I grabbed the first clothes I could find on the floor and got dressed. I threw my kutte on over my Tshirt and walked over to my dresser. I opened my sock drawer and pulled out my 9mm Glock. I slid it behind the waist of my jeans. “Are you really going to need that?” she asked,

obviously not a fan of guns. “I hope not, but if I do, I’d rather have one with me, you know? I don’t know what this guy’s packing. I’d hate to show up underequipped,” I told her. I walked around to her side of the bed and leaned down to kiss her. Our lips met tenderly and lingered together. I pulled back slowly. “Keep the bed warm for me,” I said. “I’ll be back soon, baby.” She shot me a wary look, like she really wanted to go but was settling for letting me handle it this time. I walked out of the room and locked the door behind me. If anything got strange at the clubhouse, I didn’t want her worrying about anyone walking in on her. Not that I expected anyone to show up and make it to the third floor, but strange things were happening, and I couldn’t rule anything out. I looked around when I made it downstairs, checking to see who was still awake and hanging around. We always had someone keeping an eye on the clubhouse. There were still people downstairs shooting pool and watching movies at stupid o’clock in the morning as I was on my way out to

check on my tattoo parlor. I pulled up just a few minutes later and coasted into the lot behind my building. Sure enough, the prospects were standing there with another man on his knees between them, his face all bloody from where they’d obviously had to convince him to follow them around back. He sat like his hands were restrained behind his back. And the look on his face said they’d beat his ass senseless before I got there. I hoped he could still talk. I hopped off the bike and walked up to him. “What do we have here, boys?” I asked our prospects. “We caught him back here trying to break in the back door this time,” one of them spoke up. I raised my eyebrows and nodded. “Gotta hand it to you,” I said to the bloody man kneeling between them, “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for, even though it is pretty idiotic to return to a place like this after an unsuccessful attempt to break in the first time.” “We had to rough him up a little bit to subdue him,” the other prospect told me.

I chuckled. “Yeah, I was thinking you guys had done this to get him to talk. Not too shabby. Good job, guys. I’ll make sure Trent and Bruce find out about this,” I told them. They shared a promising look between them. It probably wasn’t going to be quite the job to get them promoted to full members, but something like what they did would go a long way with the senior members like Trent, my brother Axel, and Bruce. I knelt down in front of their catch and looked him over. He wore a nice dark suit, not something I would have expected someone to wear while breaking into businesses. I hoped he at least wore gloves. “So, who do you work for?” I asked him. “Go fuck yourself,” he replied and spat blood on my face. So, I punched him right in his ugly, bloody nose. He fell over backward, and I grabbed the handkerchief from the pocket of his coat to wipe off my face. I stood up after that, looking down on him. “I’ll ask you again. Who do you work for?”

He shifted his eyes toward me again, and his mouth started to move. I held up a finger. “Before you answer with something stupid, I want you to understand something.” I pulled my gun out from behind me and cocked it. “Do you understand me?” He spat blood on the pavement next to his head. I took that as a “Yes.” “I work for Troy Romero,” he said, grinning to show me his bloody teeth. “Troy, huh? What’s his game?” I asked. His grin broadened into a smile. “Not telling? Alright. Guys, teach him about fucking with the Steel Devils.” I stepped back to make room for the prospects to step in. “Oh, gladly,” one of them said. I heard how eager he was to stomp the shit out of the man in the suit lying at our feet. They both punched and kicked and stomped on him. I put my hands on their shoulders and pulled them back.

“Had enough?” I asked. “You ready to tell me more?” His eyes were closed. His breath was raspy. He spat up more blood and tried to relax his breathing. He wasn’t going to say anything else. If he even could. “Good job, guys. Now, help me get him up on the back of my bike. “How are we going to get him to sit up straight?” one of them asked. “Figure it out. Tie him down somehow,” I told them. “And cover his head. I don’t want him to see where I’m taking him.” They set to work without asking any other questions. They pulled a canvas bag out of the trash – why there was a canvas bag in my dumpster, I wasn’t sure, but weirder shit had come out of there before. “Come on, hurry up,” I urged them. They pulled twine out of my saddlebags and tied him so that he sat up pretty straight on the back of the motorcycle. Another job well done by these two

aspiring members of the MC. They just kept giving me more good things to say about them at my next meeting with the senior members. “Good job. Keep an eye out in case he wasn’t alone. Let me know if anyone else shows up.” I climbed on the back of my bike and cranked it up with a roar. They stood back and watched as I peeled out and drove off. They didn’t know where I was going, and neither did the jackass on the back of my bike. I drove him past Lilah’s house, out past where we’d had our picnic. I took him down a dirt road in the middle of the night. The only light for miles was my headlight. I parked the bike, running, and walked him into the trees, where I took the twine that had been used to tie him to the motorcycle and tied him loosely to a tree, leaving the bag over his head. I figured in the morning, he’d wake up and find himself lost in the woods. I wondered how long it would take him to find his way out, and once he did, I wondered how long it was going to take him to find his way back home. I hopped back on the bike and drove off, leaving him there. If he died, fine. If not, he’d have a hell of a time finding his way back to society.

I drove through the predawn darkness, heading back to the clubhouse and the beautiful woman waiting for me in my bed. I wondered if she would give herself to me again before morning came to wake us up. I did have some news for her. Her husband was behind the attempted break-ins at the shop, which meant he was probably behind the break-in at her house, despite what he’d told her about it being someone he owed money to. I wondered why he was targeting us. They were already divorced long before we met, so it wasn’t like I had been sleeping with her while they were together. He was holding her kid, and there was a good chance he was behind everything. I didn’t like that combination. That put him in a position of power. I had to find out where he was, who he was working with, and what his deal was. I also had to tell Lilah what was going on. I had to tell her that I suspected her ex-husband was behind her break-in and that his whole story about leaving town to take her son somewhere safe was a crock of shit. He was using that to cover something else up. I had no clue what it was, and that left me in a bad position, taking partial information and

incomplete theories to her. I was going to sound crazy. Hell, it already sounded crazy to me, but it was all I had to go on. I couldn’t make it home fast enough. The drive home seemed to take longer than the drive out had. Maybe it was because I had information to give Lilah, and I was anxious to get there. Maybe it was because I was tired, and even though I was glad to have some information on what was going on, I was still pissed I’d been pulled out of bed at an ungodly hour for it.

Chapter Eleven Lilah “Hey, you’re Saw’s old lady, aren’t you?” a guy downstairs asked me. I wasn’t. At least, we hadn’t talked about it any, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from using it to strike up a conversation and get the help I needed. I had grown restless upstairs waiting for him to come back, and that was when I realized I had to return to work the next day. I needed to grab a few things from the house before morning. If being Cole’s “old lady” helped me convince one of his MC brothers to help me get the stuff I needed, then I was his old lady. “Yeah, that’s me,” I told him. “Lilah,” I added, holding my hand out to him. “Tate,” he said, taking my hand. “But they all call me Razor.” His dark eyes sparkled as he shook my hand, another one taken with my beauty. “Razor, I need some help,” I told him. “I need someone to go to my house with me.”

“What’s up?” he asked, putting his pool stick across the table. He crossed his thin, muscular, tattooed arms. I could only imagine how he got the nickname Razor. There were scars all up and down his arms, wounds from old fights most likely. “I’m staying here with Saw tonight, but I’ve got to go to work tomorrow, and I left all my work stuff at home. He’s gone to check on his tattoo shop because someone was trying to break into it earlier tonight. I can’t really wait for him to get back. He’s been gone a while, and I don’t know when he’ll be home,” I explained. “Say no more. I will be glad to help you out. You wanna ride on my bike to get there?” he asked. “No, my car’s here. I just need someone to come with me.” He gave me a suspicious look and turned his head. “What do you mean you want someone to ride with you to your house? What’s wrong with your house?” “I’m staying here because someone broke in the other night, and I’m worried somebody might show up while I’m there.”

“Oh, you think the break-in at Titan Ink and the break-in at your house are related,” he said as if it were a revelation to him that they even could have been connected. “Yep, that’s it exactly. According to Saw, coincidences like that don’t just happen at random,” I said. It was so weird calling him Saw around the guys in the MC. I was so used to calling him Cole, and he’d never corrected me, but it seemed like the guys preferred their nicknames, except for a couple of them. So, I had to deal with it as long as I was talking to them. “I mean, he’s been in it a long time. He’d know,” Razor conceded. “That’s what I’m thinking. So, are you down with helping me out?” I asked. “Yeah, I can ride with you and watch your back. It could be exciting.” “Good.” The truth was I really needed to get out of the clubhouse for a few minutes and try to clear my

head. I was worried that if the two break-ins were connected, Cole was going to be angry once he figured out that I’d brought trouble to his doorstep. I didn’t know what that meant for me. That was the problem. Was he going to kick me out of the room when he got back? Was he going to storm in and accuse me of setting him up? What then? What if he did? I didn’t have anywhere to go. I didn’t have enough saved up to rent a hotel room for more than a few nights. I supposed I could have asked Jenna to let me crash on her couch, but I didn’t want to dump my crazy on her either. What about my son? If he thought I set him up, was he going to give up on the search for Micah and Troy? Was I going to have to rely on the police to help me find my son? That wouldn’t have worked. I was going to need someone like Cole to help me navigate this new world I’d found myself in. That was when I decided to go to the house and grab a few things for work. I didn’t actually need them before morning. I could have left a few minutes early to run by the house and pick them up in daylight – when I didn’t have to worry about anyone hiding at the house – but that didn’t give me an excuse to get out and get some fresh air.

Thankfully I had a member of the MC with me to make sure I was safe. “Which car is yours?” Razor asked as we walked outside. No matter what time of year it was, the early morning air always felt the same. There was something sweet about it, something light. It was as if the weight of the night was preparing to be lifted off the world so that the sun could shine again. The air felt that way when we walked outside. There was an energy in those early morning hours that the rest of the day didn’t seem to have. I pointed to my car, parked in the line of cars along the edge of the parking lot. He walked beside me all the way to it. The guys in the Steel Devils were definitely respectful of the women surrounding the MC. They believed in taking care of us, and I wasn’t mad at them for it. It was nice to be treated like I mattered for a change, and not just by one person, but by his friends and associates as well. I never got that with Troy or his people. I unlocked the driver side door, turning the key twice to unlock the rest of the car. We both opened our doors and slid in.

“Alright, where to?” Razor asked, eager to get moving. I figured he was probably more eager to try to find a fight than to actually help me, but if there was a fight, that was fine, too, as long as I grabbed what I needed and got out of there, allowing myself a few minutes away from the clubhouse while still coming back afterwards to where I was safest. “You’ll see. I live on the outskirts of town,” I said as I pulled out of the parking space. “Excellent.” He adjusted himself in the seat, getting more comfortable. As we rode along, he pretended to enjoy the pop music playing on my radio. He bobbed his head and tapped his fingers distractedly on the door. I could tell he wasn’t really enjoying the music, but he was trying to play it off, so he wasn’t as bored. “If you’d rather listen to something else, feel free to change the station,” I told him. “You don’t mind?” he asked, reaching for the buttons on the face of my radio. “No, go ahead,” I said dismissively.

I should have known what he was going to turn it to. A moment later, the car was filled with the sounds of the classic rock station. Guitars and drums filled the car, along with the loud vocals of whatever band they were playing. I wasn’t that familiar with the music the guys all probably preferred. I knew I’d have to get used to things like that if I expected to hang around longer with Cole. “Now that’s good music,” Razor remarked, his tapping more determined as he followed the beat of the song. Whatever you say. We pulled up to the house, and my heart stopped when I saw it sitting in darkness. All of the lights inside were off. No one had been there since we’d rolled up on the front door opened. It looked abandoned like a memory of my home. It had never felt menacing or dangerous before, and a fresh wave of anger flowed through me at the people who did this to my home. I pulled up the driveway and shut off the car, killing the engine and the lights. “You want me to go in first?” Razor asked. Again,

his voice sounded eager. “If you don’t mind. Check to make sure there’s no one in there,” I said. “Can I turn on the lights when I go in? It seems pretty dark.” “Yes, please.” “Alright, sounds like a plan.” He pulled out his phone and turned on his flashlight app, turning the camera flash on permanently so he could see in the dark. “Oh, and we have to go around back because the front door is barred after being kicked in the other day,” I told him as we got out of the car. “Alright, cool. Let’s go.” We got out and closed the doors to the car. We both had our flashlights on and walked around the backside of the house. I marveled at how dark the house was as we made our way to the back door. I was surprised to see it still closed. I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door with the light of my phone.

“That’s all you,” I told Razor, holding out my hand for him to enter. “Thanks. I’ll be back in a minute.” He walked in and reached on the wall for a light switch. The kitchen lights came on, revealing the empty, ransacked kitchen. I realized that my house was more heartbreaking in the light than in the dark. At least in the dark, the damage and the mess was hidden from sight. With the lights on, everything was on display for me to see. My home was a disaster. But it wasn’t just my home. It was my son’s home, too, and that had been wrecked. I had to take a deep breath to keep the thought from bringing back the tears. I waited for Razor to come back through the door. The whole time he was inside, I watched as room after room became lit. Soon, every light on the inside was on, showing off how disastrous my home was. But they also showed that my house was empty and safe to enter. “All clear,” Razor said, poking his head out the back door. “And your front door is still barred with the chair.”

“Good. Thank you, Razor.” I walked in, stepping past him to get into my kitchen. “Watch your step though. It’s a mess. They really did a number on your place, man. I hope you guys figure out who it was. I’ll be happy to take care of them for you,” he said. “That’s fine. I’m sure Saw will let you know if he needs your help. Would you mind following me back to my bedroom? All you have to do is stand outside the door while I grab a few clothes. I don’t want anyone sneaking up on me,” I said on my way out of the kitchen and into the rest of the house. “No problem.” I heard some unidentified debris under our feet crunch as we both walked down the hallway to my bedroom. He stopped at the door as I walked in. I grabbed a suitcase and started filling it with work clothes. I knew I probably wasn’t going to get any sleep before leaving for work in the morning. It was so strange pulling items from what felt like my old life into my new one. It had only been two days since the last time I’d left work, but it felt like everything had changed in the last two days.

Everything. I was going to return to work after only two days for everyone else, but after a lifetime of change for me. It almost felt futile to keep pretending I was still part of that old life. That was the old me.

Chapter Twelve Cole “Hey, I’ve got some news,” I started as I opened the door to our room. When the door swung open, I stared at the empty bed where I’d left Lilah, and I stopped short. Whatever, maybe she’s in the bathroom or something. I walked in, closed the door behind me, and went to check the bathroom. The door was open, the light was off, and no one was inside. “Lilah?” I called out in the small room like there was somewhere she could have hidden where I wouldn’t have seen her. I checked the windows facing out from the front of the building, but they were still closed and locked. I wondered if I had passed her downstairs somehow when I came in. That didn’t seem likely, but I thought that it was worth a check. I wandered back downstairs, checking in the main room to see if she was there, if there was a way I

could have possibly missed her. I didn’t see her, but a few people were hanging out playing pool and having a few drinks. Mick wasn’t behind the bar. Everyone was sort of helping themselves. He had to sleep sometime, I figured. She wasn’t hanging out with the old ladies, the groupies, or any of the guys. I stood in the middle of the room, looking from the TV and couch to the pool tables, and from them to the bar. I was starting to get worried. Girls came and went all the time. It was likely she’d just walked out without even being noticed, except some of the guys already knew who she was and could easily recognize her. Someone had to have seen her, I convinced myself. “Hey, lookin’ for your old lady?” a voice behind me asked. I turned around to find one of our pool sharks, QBall, leaning on one of the tables. He often played alone, practicing trick shots or simply running the table. Most of the guys in the MC weren’t dumb enough to play him. “Yeah,” I answered simply, not wanting to explain to him that Lilah wasn’t my old lady but that she was just staying with me. It was easier to run with whatever he said.

“Saw her leaving with Razor a little while ago,” he said absently, turning back to the table to take another shot. “What’s she doing with Razor?” I asked, walking over to the table where he leaned over sighting his different possibilities. He was looking for the least likely shot, probably trying to figure out how to make it as if it were the only one available. He didn’t look up from the table. He was wholly focused on the shot. In his mind, as long as I wasn’t reaching for him or the table, I probably didn’t even exist. “Q, what do you mean she left with Razor?” I asked again, standing over him. He was bald and ripped. He looked like muscle rather than a hustler of any type. The truth was, he was both. He had to be; people hated to lose. He answered in a tight, low tone, like the low warning growl of a large cat. “I mean, she left with Razor. I didn’t ask where they went.” He glanced to the side and turned his eyes from his shot for a moment without looking all the way over at me. He wasn’t answering any more questions.

I left him to his game and pulled out my phone as I walked away. I pulled up Razor’s number and tapped it. What the hell was going on? “Hey, Saw,” he answered as if there was nothing strange about having gone off with my girl at all. “Razor, where are you?” I asked. “Hey, man, your old lady asked me to ride with her over to her place so she could grab a few things. We’ll be back as soon as she’s got everything she needs. No funny business, brother,” he answered nervously. He’d heard the accusation in my tone. “What few things is she grabbing?” I asked, and why the hell hadn’t she waited for me to get back before running off like that? “I don’t know. She said she needed something for work.” “Work,” I repeated. I put my hand over my eyes and rubbed my temples. “Yeah, that’s what she said. Hey, if you want, I can put her on the phone for you so you can talk to her and see what she’s up to.”

“No, that’s fine. Just make sure she’s safe. Keep an eye out for her. I mean it. People are looking for her right now. There could easily be somebody watching her house right now,” I told him, hoping he’d take me seriously instead of thinking I was being paranoid. “That’s why I’m here,” he assured me. “Alright, I’ll see you when you get back.” I tried to relax my tone, so he knew I wasn’t going to try to start anything with him when he finally got back. I hung up and slid the phone back into my pocket. I needed a drink. She didn’t need to be out running around, and she certainly didn’t need to try to go to work right now. I needed her to stay where I could protect her. At least she had Razor with her. I laughed to myself. I felt sorry for anyone who fucked with him. He didn’t play when it came to hurting people. He enjoyed it. She was pretty safe with him. “You look like you need a drink,” Mick said, clapping a hand on my shoulder and walking me to the bar. One of the young groupies who hung around the

clubhouse walked outside huddled in her own arms, her hair and makeup a mess. The walk of shame. She didn’t look at anyone as she left the building, presumably to walk home. “Do you ever sleep?” I asked him. “Sometimes.” He walked behind the bar, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and poured us a couple of glasses on the rocks. He fished out a cigarette from a crushed pack he kept in his jeans. He nodded toward the door as he put the cigarette in his mouth and grabbed his glass. We walked away from the bar as he pulled out a lighter and lit his smoke. “I don’t like smoking behind the bar, and I’m not going to hang around inside so everyone can start asking me for drinks,” he grunted out as we walked through the bay door. He took a sip of his drink and a couple of puffs of his cigarette. “You smoke, Saw? I didn’t even think to offer you one.” “Nah, I’m good,” I told him. “Not a habit I ever wanted to pick up.” He chuckled. “Yeah, I usually only smoke on certain occasions, as you can probably tell.”

We stood staring out into the darkness, not facing each other. Standing there, looking at the night, listening to how peaceful it was outside, sipping a drink with one of my brothers, I felt my worries trying to melt away. “How old was she?” I asked him. He shrugged. “Old enough. She had a few tattoos. And dirty, man. You wouldn’t have liked her. You would have kicked her out hours ago.” He let out a hoarse laugh. “No more of those girls for me,” I said. “They may look young and innocent, but when you get them upstairs, it’s a different story.” “Yeah, she taught me a couple of things,” Mick bragged. “I’ll stick with my inexperienced girl.” “Careful that her inexperience doesn’t cause you more trouble than it’s worth, brother. Where is she now?” He took a sip of his whiskey. “She got Razor to go to her house with her so she could pick up some stuff for work. I imagine she’s

getting a couple of changes of clothes.” “You letting her go to work?” he asked. His tone said it all; he felt the same way I did about it. “I know you like playing nice with the ladies, brother, but you’ve got to put your foot down with her. You don’t need her running around with other guys, not even from the MC. If she needs an escort, it needs to be you.” “You have no idea how right you are.” “I might know more than you realize. Trent tells me everything that’s going on with the MC.” “Well, there’s more.” “Tonight?” I told him about the attempted break-in and the guy I left in the woods on the outskirts of town. I told him what the guy had told me about working for Lilah’s ex. He shook his head and finished his cigarette, flicking it out to the parking lot. “You definitely need to keep her on a short leash. If the guy’s coming after both of you, might as well force him to show up here,” Mick grumbled out.

He turned around and started to walk back inside. “You want another one?” he asked, nodding at my drink, which I’d barely touched. I shook my head. “Nah, I want to be awake when she gets back. I think you’re right. It’s time to put her on lockdown.” Sure, I’d told her what I required of her if she wanted to stay with me, but I needed to assert some kind of authority over this situation with her. What she was doing – running around like everything was okay – was not okay. It wasn’t safe, and it made me look like a joke. When she got back, I was going to have to put a stop to it. She needed to understand how much danger she was in. “Alright, brother,” Mick said. “I’m going to get some shut-eye before morning. Don’t go too hard on her.” He put his glass on the bar and headed upstairs for what was left of the night. I sat at the bar and finished my drink, trying to go over what I was going to say in my head. I didn’t want to run her off. There wasn’t anything stopping her from packing up and heading home. Not really. She had to stay of her own accord. I couldn’t force her.

Her problems with her ex-husband seemed fresh enough to make her likely to run if I came down too hard on her. Then again, she seemed to want some of the control I tried to exert over her. She had given herself to me after I’d told her I wanted her to put out if she planned on staying. I drank the rest of my whiskey and checked the time. How long did it take to pack a few more changes of clothes? Or to drive back from her house? I found another reason to stay awake until she got back: to make sure she got back. I didn’t need to pass out and wake up in the morning to realize that something had gone wrong while they were at her house or on their way back. I ran a hand over my face. Well, I was certainly getting what I’d asked for. I had an inexperienced woman who was willing to trust me in bed, but she’d maintained such a sheltered life that she didn’t know when to stay put without someone telling her. I left my glass next to Mick’s and got up from the bar. I knew if I went upstairs, I’d probably kick off my boots and call it a night, so I grabbed a pool

stick and walked over to the table where Q-Ball was practicing. “Rack ‘em up,” I told him. He looked at me with a sadistic grin. I didn’t stand a chance, but it was something to do to occupy my time. Besides, on the off chance that I beat him, I’d have bragging rights from here until eternity. I had a better chance of winning the lottery by not playing.

Chapter Thirteen Lilah “You got it?” Razor asked as we walked back into the clubhouse. “Yeah, I’m good,” I told him, lugging my suitcase at my side. “Thanks for your help, Razor.” “Anytime,” he said, walking off in the direction of the bar. I heard the clang of a pool stick landing on the table before I saw Cole. He emerged from the members playing pool with an angry scowl on his face. He stormed over to me and grabbed my suitcase out of my hands before I could object. “Upstairs. Now.” I knew better than to argue with a man who sounded the way he did. I let him take the suitcase and walked ahead of him, taking the stairs up to his room. I knew he wanted to walk behind me to make sure I went up to the room. I didn’t say anything on the way up. I had a pretty good feeling I knew what was wrong, but I could also tell he didn’t want to talk about it in front of

everyone else. If I said anything at the wrong time, it might have set him off. I had a feeling we were about to set new boundaries in our relationship – whatever that relationship was. I walked into the room and sat down on the bed. Cole came in behind me with my luggage and set it next to the closet. His silence was anything but quiet. His anger roared around him. I felt the energy emanating from his body, and I could tell that he was barely holding it together as he walked back to the door, closed it, and locked it. “What the hell were you thinking?” he growled out. He turned around from the door and walked over to the bed, standing over me. “I needed some things for work,” I explained. “You should have waited for me. You made me look like a fool in front of everyone by running off behind my back like that.” “Whoa, hold up. I thought you guys were okay with looking out for each other,” I argued. What was the point of having an MC like the Steel Devils if the guys didn’t look after each other? “Not like that. You put yourself and another

member in danger,” he told me. “You should have waited, so I could have taken you and could have made sure you were safe.” “Am I supposed to get your permission now?” I snapped. “You haven’t called me your girlfriend, old lady, or anything else. All you’ve done is bring me in here and tell me I have to sleep with you if I want you to keep me safe.” “You keep acting stupid, and no one’s going to want to call you their old lady,” he said. Stupid? Really? “You know what, Cole? I took this from my exhusband, and I don’t have to take it from you. I’m not your property.” I stood up and tried to step around him, but he stepped to the side and used his size to block me from leaving. “I’m going home,” I told him. “Get out of my way. You’re not going to keep me here.” “You won’t be safe if you go home,” he insisted, his tone still full of rage.

“Then, I’ll crash on a friend’s couch, but you’re not going to control me. That’s not what I signed up for. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I put a hand on his chest to push him out of the way. I meant what I said. I wasn’t going to put up with another controlling man like my ex. I thought Cole was going to be different. He’d seemed thoughtful and sensitive under that rough tattooed biker façade of his, but I figured I was finally seeing the real Cole. Just another controlling, testosteronefueled jackass. “I can’t let you leave,” he said, stepping in my way again. “Why not?” Our eyes met, and we both froze. Our anger burned between us. We were locked into each other. Neither of us wanted to be the first to move. Slowly, our rage at each other seemed to burn itself out, cooling off a little at a time. My hand relaxed on his chest, and I eventually let it slip down. “Why can’t you let me go home, Cole?” I asked finally. It would have been the perfect time for him to admit that he was starting to feel the same way I was, but I should have known that wasn’t going to

happen. “I agreed to protect you and watch out for you. You can’t go back there. It’s not safe. It’s not even safe for you to go to work,” he said, his tone calmer than before. “How is my work not safe? I work in a library, Cole.” “Trust me,” he insisted, stepping closer to me. “If I’m not even safe at work, how am I supposed to trust that I’m safe here?” He closed what little distance was between us. His arms slid around my waist, and he pulled me against his body. I felt his warmth, his hard body, his pounding heart. “Trust me,” he said, breathing out, his lips almost close enough to touch. I closed my eyes, overcome with my desire for him. I couldn’t stay angry when I knew that he was right and when my body was telling me that I wanted him. My insides quivered as he pressed his hips against me. I felt him growing harder while our bodies were pressed together.

“I do,” I whispered to him. His lips met mine, pressing against me like he owned me. It was a possessive kiss, the kind that told anyone watching that I was his. I belonged to him. I grabbed his waist as his hands slid up to the back of my head. He tangled his fingers in my hair as his tongue probed and claimed my mouth. He held my face against his as I pulled his hips against mine. His teeth grazed my lips gently as he pulled my hair, exposing my neck to his rough kissing and bites. I gasped as his lips touched my neck. My muscles tightened between my legs, and my legs threatened to buckle underneath me. “Take me,” I told him, sliding my hands up his back to hold onto him. He let go of my hair and grabbed my arms. I opened my eyes and looked into his face in shock. His dirty blonde hair was disheveled, some of it hanging down around his face. His eyes no longer stared at me in anger. They looked at me with an insatiable hunger that I knew he was going to try to satisfy with me.

He turned me around and took me back in his arms. He kissed my neck and my shoulders while pressing himself against my ass and running his hands up the front of my shirt. He took my breasts in his hands and squeezed me a little harder than I was used to. My bottom lip quivered, and I drew in a sharp breath as he laced my pleasure with pain. My hands grabbed his and held them in place. I pressed my ass against him, feeling his eager erection fighting to get out of his jeans and into me. He pulled me forward by my breasts until I had to put my hands on the bed to keep from falling over onto it. Then, he grabbed my jeans and opened the front of them. He yanked them down from behind and pulled my panties down with them. I bit my lower lip and felt my sex clenching, aching for him to enter me again. He moved his hands under my shirt and pulled it over my head, leaving a trail of kisses down my back. I heard his belt and his jeans behind me as he dropped his pants. Soon, his erection rested between my cheeks. I pushed back, sliding him up and down along my ass. He reached down and parted me with his fingers, running one between my soaking wet lips.

“Yes, baby,” I said, grabbing his sheets and letting myself bend down a little further until I pressed my face onto the bed. He flicked my clitoris with his wet fingertip a few times, taking my breath away, before sliding a finger inside me. He ran along my front wall, hitting my G-spot. He moved his finger in such a way that I felt myself getting wetter with each movement. I clenched my legs together as the most intense pleasure shot through my body. He took his hand away and moved his hands to my hips. As he held me tightly with his hands, he pressed himself against my entrance. He pushed into me slowly, stretching me again to fit all of him inside. I felt the texture of his solid shaft as he slid along my walls. He pulled my head up from the bed, guiding me back with his hand buried in my hair. He put his other hand near my mouth, placing his fingers just in front of my lips. I pulled his wet finger into my mouth, sucking my flavor from it. I felt him getting more aroused as I sucked on his finger, running my tongue over it and pulling on it. He started moving with more intensity and passion each time I took his finger fully into my mouth.

The ridge along the bottom of his shaft ran across my G-spot, making it incredibly difficult to focus on his finger for long. He pulled his hand from my mouth and pressed it against my back, holding me down against the bed as he rammed his hips into me. My body shook with each thrust. I gripped the sheets in my hands and cried out with each orgasmic thrust. My body started to quake as he shoved his manhood deep into me from pleasure as well as from the force of his body colliding with mine. It took all my strength to hold myself up against his powerful thrusts. “Is it good?” he panted out above me. “Oh, God, yes, baby,” I answered with my eyes closed and my breath coming in jerks as he pummeled me. He slid back slowly, creating a vacuum where he’d been. My body tried to hold him in, but I just shook as ecstasy overtook me. “Don’t stop,” I begged. “I’m coming.” My voice came out as a whimper. He slid back into me quickly this time, and I felt

myself explode with pleasure as he drove himself along my walls. I shook and pressed back against him. He grabbed my hips and pulled me onto him, pushing himself even deeper. He began taking slow, measured strokes into me. His cock strained. I felt his orgasm working its way up. He felt like he was going to finish at any moment. I pressed back as he pulled out of me, trying to keep him inside me. I gasped as he left me. “I’m coming,” he groaned out behind me. I gasped again as his warm seed landed on my lower back. “Oh fuck, baby,” he moaned out over me as he spilled every drop onto my smooth, pale skin. I pressed myself against him and felt his hand sliding along his shaft as he finished himself on my back. “Give it all to me,” I told him. “Let me have it.” I had never had a partner make me feel so wanted before. Compared to Cole, they’d all barely been interested in me. I wanted him to want me. I wanted him to have me any way he wanted me.

I let my body relax on the bed as he grabbed some tissues from his nightstand to wipe me off. His touch, even with the tissue, was both thrilling and comforting. I knew I was safe with him. I knew I could trust him to take care of me, but each time he touched me, he ignited my desire again. After he finished cleaning me off, he slid his bare hand across my back, where he’d finished himself on me. I climbed on the bed, rolling over to see his sparkling eyes and satisfied smile as he climbed into bed with me. He took me in his arms and held me close as I pulled the covers over us. “Let me keep you safe,” he said dreamily beside me, as if he was already passing out and talking in his sleep. I opened my mouth to say something, but I wasn’t sure what was about to come out. I decided to leave it at that with his request to allow him to protect me. I snuggled up against him and let myself fall asleep next to the man I was falling for so quickly.

Chapter Fourteen Cole “Call me this evening when it’s time to come pick you up, and I’ll be right here,” I told Lilah as she got out of the car. It was entirely too early in the morning to be up and running around, especially after being up with her all night, but I felt a lot better about letting her go to work if I could at least see her. “Will do. Thanks for the ride, but you didn’t have to,” she said as she got out of the car. I had borrowed one of the black sedans belonging to the MC to take her to work. “I feel better this way,” I insisted. She closed the door and walked around to my side of the car. She leaned down to the window. “I’ll be safe. You don’t have to worry,” she said before turning around to go back inside. “You certainly will,” I said under my breath as she walked into the library. I drove around to the back of the building where Trent’s prospects were waiting. We were putting those boys to work again.

They stood by their bikes, waiting for me, both dressed in relatively normal looking clothes. I saw that they had left their kuttes at the clubhouse like I’d requested. I didn’t want them to be identified as bikers, much less as Steel Devils. If anyone was around who shouldn’t have been, I didn’t want them to tip them off. “Alright, guys. You know what to do,” I told them. “Call me if you see anything. Any threat to her at all. And if it gets ugly, handle it. Then, call me. Make sure she’s safe in there. Also, do what you can to remain unnoticed. Browse books, whatever you need to do, but try to be as inconspicuous as possible.” The things we had our prospects do to earn their place. “Got it,” they both said in unison. They looked at each other, surprised they’d spoken at the same time. “The place opens in thirty. Don’t be the first ones in,” I told them. Then, I drove off. There were other things I needed to do. I only had the prospects watching the library because I couldn’t. Even though I didn’t like the idea of Lilah being at work and out of sight, it gave me time to investigate

her ex a little more. I had decided not to say anything to her until I had more information, so I needed to get it. I drove back to the clubhouse after dropping her off and making sure the library was secure. I needed to find her ex. I needed to verify what the guy at my tattoo shop had told me, and I desperately needed to know what his endgame was. What was he trying to pull? He wasn’t just jealous of our relationship. I had a sense that there was something bigger at play here. My intuition told me that he had a real plan, and he’d just been playing with us to distract us from it. I called Buck, our resident investigative hacker. If the information were out there somewhere, he’d find it. It was amazing the things he could find about people and businesses. “Saw, what’s going on, brother?” he asked when he answered the phone, sounding a bit groggy. “Not a whole lot, but I need your help. Would you mind coming by the clubhouse? Bring your laptop,” I told him. “On my way, brother.” I heard him chuckle as he hung up the phone.

A few minutes later he pulled up and parked in front of the building. He came in with his laptop in a messenger bag strapped across his back. He walked over to one of the tables near the bar and opened it up, logging into our Wi-Fi network while I grabbed us a couple of drinks and joined him. “Whaddaya need?” he asked as I sat down, taking the beer from my hand without even looking up from his computer screen. “I need to know everything we can learn about Troy Romero,” I told him. “With a K.” “Everything? Let’s be more specific. Why do you need to know everything there is to know about Troy Romero? I mean, I can tell you his date of birth, the time and location, his social security number, and the number of parking tickets he’s had already, but what are you looking for specifically?” “You’ve already got all that?” I asked, leaning over to try to look at his computer screen. He turned the laptop slightly so I could see. Sure enough, it was all there. It was in different windows, which I assumed meant he’d used different applications, but it was all there and more.

“I can tell you he flunked geometry the first time he took it in high school even, so why do we need info on this guy?” He sat back and sipped his beer. He poked his chest out in pride and wore a smug little smile on his face. He was so proud of himself. “Alright, I’m trying to help out his ex, Lilah Romero. He’s run off with her son, and he has sent people to break into her house and vandalize my tattoo shop.” “Whoa, wait a minute. Are you seeing this woman? Is she your old lady or something?” He sat forward in his chair and put his beer on the table. His tone changed to one of concern and almost anger. “Or something,” I admitted. “I think she’s in danger. I want to help her find her son, and I want to take this guy out. He’s becoming a nuisance.” “Let’s do it, then,” he said, turning his computer back to face him. “Welcome to Buck’s Pest Control. I’ll help you locate your pest, figure out what its next move is, and even give you the tools you need to exterminate it.” His fingers flew across his laptop keyboard while he talked. I sat back with my beer and watched his eyes read

across his screen while he typed away and searched for whatever he could find on Troy Romero. He would occasionally pause while he took a moment longer to read the screen. Then, he was right back to it, tapping away on the keys. “Alright, I’ve got a few different properties in his name. I don’t know how certain I am that he’d be staying at one of these places, but I’m working on that right now. His name is listed with Lilah’s on a house just outside of town.” “That’s her house. He left it to her,” I interjected. “That one’s out. There’s a rental property he leased a few months ago, but if he’s up to something, I wouldn’t count on it.” “What is it?” I asked. “It’s a suite at the Hyatt downtown,” he told me, looking up from his screen. “Are you thinking about having someone check it out anyway?” “Might as well.” I turned around and motioned for Mick to come over from the bar. “What’s up?” he asked, drying his hands with his bar towel.

“We need someone to run by and check on the penthouse suite at the Hyatt downtown. We think Troy Romero is staying there,” I explained. “As in Lilah’s Troy?” “Right. Tell whoever you send to be careful. If he’s there, he’ll have their son with him. No confrontation, just scope it out and get back to us, and let us know if he’s there or not,” I continued. “What if he’s there?” Mick asked, taking my directions like taking an order. “Hang out and keep an eye on him until I show up.” “Hold up. I’ve got a cabin in his name just a few miles from here,” Buck interrupted. I nodded to Mick to go ahead and send the guy to the suite before turning my attention to the hacker sitting next to me. He typed furiously on his keyboard. His eyes pored over the information on his screen. “He’s there,” he said suddenly. “He’s at the cabin.”

“How do you know?” I asked, sliding my chair around to see his screen. Unfortunately, the interfaces he used weren’t as sophisticated as what showed up on TV and in the movies. Every window he had open looked like either a web browser or a DOS prompt. “See this right here?” he said, pointing at a line of information that didn’t make any sense to me, but I played along. “This is his laptop. It’s connected to a mobile hotspot at that cabin.” “What else can you tell?” “Well, if he’s online, I can give you whatever’s on his computer. Give me a moment to work some magic.” He tapped away on his keys, working to gain access to the computer. Meanwhile, I walked over to the bar for another beer. “Still need the guy?” Mick asked. “Yeah, tell him to scope it out and hang tight. I might need him to go through the suite to see if we can find any dirt on him. Or maybe just ransack the place for the hell of it,” I told him.

He smiled as he opened another bottle for me and sent me back to the table. “Bingo,” Buck shouted. “I got into his email. Oh, man. Saw, you’re going to want to hear this.” “What’s going on?” I asked, sitting back down. “He’s been emailing some woman in Belize. There’s something here about getting passports for himself and his son,” he told me. “You’re kidding me.” My heart sank into my stomach. Was I hearing this correctly? Was he planning on leaving the country with his son? “Check his bank statements if you can. See if there are any plane tickets, hotel reservations, or anything else in his name that would indicate he’s got a trip planned.” My heart pounded in my chest in anticipation of his answer. He typed a few words or commands and clicked on a couple of things, moving a little more slowly than before. I assumed he was slowing down because he was looking for something very specific. “Got it. Two plane tickets, destination: Belize,” he said.

“When?” “In about a week,” he said after searching a moment longer. “Why so long?” I wondered aloud. It didn’t make sense for him to take his son so far in advance – unless he had some other business to handle first. It was my job to make sure that business didn’t get handled. “Now, that I can’t tell you,” Buck said with a shrug. “Alright, where’s that cabin?” I asked him. “Texting you the GPS coordinates for it now,” he said, without even pulling out a phone. My phone notified me of the text, and I checked it. Sure enough, the coordinates of the cabin were included as an attachment. I tapped on the link and pulled up the map image of the cabin’s location. I knew exactly where it was. “So, what do you want to do now?” Buck asked me, closing his laptop. His tone and the look in his eyes told me that he wanted to storm the cabin.

“I’m not sure,” I told him. “I feel like I’m still missing something. If he’s been planning this trip the whole time, why did he put the flight out so far, and why did he have someone ransack the house? Why did he try to break into my shop? It seems so unrelated.” I shook my head. “Maybe he’s trying to misdirect you guys, so you don’t realize what he’s doing. When did he get their kid?” Then it hit me. He wasn’t planning on already having Micah. “He got him from school after Lilah’s house was ransacked. He wasn’t feeling well at school, and she couldn’t get him herself because she was handling the break-in. Okay, that makes sense now. He was originally planning on it taking longer to get Micah.” My blood froze in my veins and chills ran down my back. My jaw went slack, and my vision went out of focus, staring off past Buck at nothing in particular. “What is it?” he asked. “We don’t have long. Now that he’s got the kid and Lilah is away from home, he might decide to pick

up the pace. Keep an eye on his email, especially if he starts talking to that lady again. He might decide to move the date up on the flight, if possible, and get out of here before anyone catches on. Especially now that I’ve talked to one of his men.” Buck nodded as I sprang up from the chair and hurried over to Mick at the bar. I felt like I was walking under water. My heart started pounding in my chest, but my motions were restricted. “Hey, call the guy off,” I told him. “We don’t need Troy to know we’re onto him.” “Got it,” he said, pulling out his phone and texting the guy he’d sent to the suite. I had no idea what to do with the information I had. I had to talk to Lilah at some point about it. She needed to know what I knew. She needed to know where her son was and what our options were for getting him back before he was taken out of the country.

Chapter Fifteen Lilah “Saw couldn’t make it,” said another biker wearing Steel Devils MC colors on his kutte when he met me outside with the passenger door open to the black sedan he drove from the clubhouse. “Did he say why?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “He went up to the shop, I think,” the biker said. He held the door until I was in the car. Then, he closed it and walked around to the other side to get in. Somehow, it didn’t seem gentlemanly when he held my door. If anything, it was intimidating. He was tall, muscular, and quiet. Of course, just like everyone else, he was covered in ink. He had long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and mustache that reached down to his goatee, which he kept neatly cut just beyond his chin. He certainly looked like one of the guys from the MC. “Did he say when he was going to be back?” I asked.

My driver shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road. I groaned and sank back into my seat. I wondered if anything was wrong. It seemed entirely plausible to me that I’d upset him again by going to work. He didn’t want to come across as controlling, but damn he was controlling. Cole’s bike was gone when we reached the clubhouse and HQ. It wasn’t that strange for him to be at work, but it was a little odd for him not to pick me up after he said he would. The driver pulled around to the back of the lot where the cars, trucks, and SUVs belonging to the MC were parked. “Thanks for the ride,” I told him as I got out of the car and started towards the building. “No problem,” he muttered, cutting off the car and getting out behind me. I hurried upstairs. I was going to grab the keys to my car and head up to Titan Ink, Cole’s tattoo parlor. I walked into the room and went to grab them off my nightstand, but they were gone. “You’re kidding, right?” I said aloud as I started looking around the room for my keys, thinking I had put them somewhere besides the nightstand.

No, I hadn’t misplaced them. He’d take them. I was basically grounded. I laughed to myself. It was ridiculous. I knew why he’d grounded me. It was because I had gone off with Razor to get stuff from my house so I could return to work. And returning to work probably played a role in my getting grounded as well. I was starting to think he knew something about my situation that I didn’t. That would have explained why he was being so overly protective. It would have been nice to have been clued in. Was that too much to ask? Apparently. Then again, if he didn’t have some secret information about Troy and Micah that he was holding from me, it meant he was being controlling because that was who he was. If that were the case, I needed to start looking for somewhere to go. If he was mad because I was going against his wishes by going back work and all that, I couldn’t continue to stay with him. I was starting to see potential in our relationship, potential to grow into something more than whatever was going on. However, if he was going to be controlling for the sake of being controlling, I wasn’t going to put up with that. I couldn’t be in

another relationship like that. The more I thought about the whole thing, the more I missed my son. I pulled out my phone and called Troy to see if he’d let me talk to Micah. He didn’t answer. It rang through to voicemail. I hung up and texted him. I want to talk to Micah. Let me Skype with him. I stared at my screen for a few minutes, waiting for a response. When he didn’t reply after a few minutes, I turned up my ringer and set my phone on the nightstand on my side of the bed. I lay back on the pillows on my side and stared at the ceiling, trying not to think about everything that was going on. Troy had told me he was taking Micah away so they would be safe. He said the person who’d ransacked my house was trying to settle a debt. But someone also tried to break into the tattoo parlor after Jenna and I went by there. Cole had no connection with my ex, so there was no reason for anyone to be targeting him – unless the two incidents were related. That wasn’t very likely. If they were connected, it seemed to me there had

to be another motive besides settling a debt. It also started to seem more likely that Troy had more to do with it than being a possible victim as well. I needed to know where he had taken Micah. I knew his phone was on because it rang when I called instead of going straight to voicemail. A while back, while we were still married, Troy had installed tracking apps on both our phones. He’d done it to keep track of me, to make sure I was where he thought I should be at any given time. The only thing about it was that the app worked both ways. I could also track him, as long as his location services were on. I opened the app and tried to pull him up. He wasn’t coming up. The app told me his phone wasn’t available. He’d probably assumed that I was going to try to use that app against him, so he’d turned off his location. “There’s got to be another way,” I told myself, sitting on the side of the bed. “Come on, don’t let all this time with these rough and tough bikers go to waste. Grow some confidence, Lilah.” I pocketed my phone, slid my shoes back on, and headed out the door. I didn’t have the keys to my car, but I knew where the keys to the MC cars were

kept. I went down to the common room. The keys were kept behind the bar, where someone always had an eye on them. Mick was behind the bar, so I couldn’t just run back there and grab a set. It wasn’t like I could go down there and ask him for the keys either. He knew I wasn’t supposed to be leaving the clubhouse. He and Cole were too close for him not to know I was grounded. I stayed back and kept an eye on him, waiting for an opportunity to dart back there. There wasn’t anyone at the bar except him. The moment he turned his back, I was taking a car. Sure enough, my patience was eventually rewarded. He stepped away from the bar, heading for the bathrooms in the back. Once he was out of sight, I crept around and snagged a key. I didn’t know what it was for, but when I got outside without being seen, I pressed the button to unlock the car and saw that I had grabbed the key for one of the black Dodge trucks in the parking lot. I hopped in, cranked it up, and backed out of the space. I drove away from the clubhouse towards Troy’s penthouse suite. There had to be some clue he left behind to let me know where he’d gone with Micah.

I parked in the parking deck behind the Hyatt. I put the truck out of the way, keeping it out of view from the street. The last thing I wanted was for one of the guys to ride by and see the truck. I locked it with the button on the key and headed inside. I took the elevator up to the top floor, my stomach doing somersaults the whole way up. I was actually afraid that I would find him at home. I didn’t know what I was going to do if I ran into him. When the elevator door opened on his floor, I hesitated. I considered calling Cole for backup, but if I told him where I was, I was done for. The door started to close, giving me the perfect excuse to go back down to the parking deck and drive back to the clubhouse before Cole realized I was gone. But I stuck my hand out and caught the door, sending it back to let me out. I took the first step into the hallway. “There’s no turning back now,” I encouraged myself. I kept walking until I got to his door. I realized that I hadn’t considered how I was going to get inside. Breaking into places wasn’t exactly a normal occurrence for me. But his door was open when I reached it, just slightly, like it hadn’t closed all the way the last time someone let it shut.

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit,” I said under my breath as I touched the door handle lightly to push it open. I hadn’t been prepared to see what I found behind that door. His suite was empty and clean. Everything was gone – every piece of furniture, every picture, all of his clothes, all of the stuff Micah kept over there for his visits, all of it, everything. If that wasn’t proof that something was up, I didn’t know what could have been. Whatever was going on was bigger than some guy trying to collect on a debt. It was obvious to me that Troy had packed up to get out of there. Judging by how clean the place was, it seemed like he’d taken his time and scrubbed it top to bottom. I could have been wrong about that. I took the elevator back down, going all the way to the main floor. When the doors opened, I hurried to the front desk. I tried not to look like I was panicking, but I could tell from the look on the young man’s face, I wasn’t doing a very good job. I needed to know where my son was. What the hell was Troy up to? “How can I help you?” he asked. “Is everything

okay?” “I need to know if you can give me some information. I’m looking for my son. He was supposed to be staying here with his father, Troy Romero. I’m Lilah Romero, his ex-wife.” I fished my wallet out of my purse and showed him my ID. “Troy was staying in the penthouse suite, but I just went up there, and it’s empty.” “Let me see,” he said, stepping away to check the system. He keyed something up on the computer, and I watched him read the screen with focused eyes. He came back shaking his head. “What does that mean?” I asked him, trying not to snap as my impatience grew. “He checked out of the suite a few days ago. I’m sorry.” “Did he use another address when he left?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but he didn’t leave a forwarding or billing address. There was no outstanding balance on his account.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” I cried out, exasperated. I looked down at the floor and took a few deep breaths. I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. He’d pulled the wool over my eyes, and I’d completely fell for it. He’d run off with Micah. “Ms. Romero? Are you going to be okay?” the young man asked. I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath, pushing it all down. “I’ll be fine,” I told him. “Thank you for your help.” I turned to leave and took the elevator back up to the level on the deck where I’d parked the truck. My heart pounded against my ribs frantically as I walked back to the truck. Cole was probably wondering where I was. I was wondering where my son was. Troy had run off with him. It was too much, entirely too much, to handle. And, still, I felt that Cole was hiding something from me.

Chapter Sixteen Cole “Hey, bro, don’t you think you’ve had enough?” Axel asked, appearing out of the fog next to me at the bar. He slid my glass away from me. “What are you doing here?” I asked him. “And gimme that back, bro. What are you doing?” “Mick called and told me you were sitting down here getting shit-faced. What’s up?” He pulled up on the stool next to mine. I shook my head and closed my eyes. I ran a hand down my face. I had forgotten how long I’d been at the bar drinking. It didn’t seem like it could have been that long. “I want an answer, kid. What’s going on?” Axel insisted. I couldn’t answer. I felt myself drifting off, trying to pass out at the bar. “Hey, man, help me get this punk upstairs,” I heard Axel mutter to Mick.

A moment later, I felt their hands under my arms, lifting me up from the bar. I felt heavier than normal, but after a moment, it felt like I was floating away. I opened my eyes briefly to look around as they carted me off. The room wasn’t spinning or anything. I was just done for the night. “Man, I don’t know what I’m going to do if she doesn’t come back,” I found myself saying once we were out of the common room downstairs and marching up the hallway. “What are you talking about?” Axel asked. “She left, man. She took... talk to Mick, man. He knows,” I said, disgusted with how hard it was to form words with any confidence that I was saying what I thought I was saying. “What’s he talking about, Mick?” The big man sighed. “Lilah, the girl who’s been staying with him, the one he refuses to call his old lady, but you see how she’s got him.” Axel chuckled, agreeing with his implication that she was my old lady regardless of what I’d said about her.

“She took one of the MC trucks tonight. She must have grabbed the key when I wasn’t looking. I have no idea where she went, but I tried to tell him if she took one of our cars, I figured she’d be back. That’s when he started drinking.” I laughed at the thought of how much I’d had to drink. I had no clue how much it was, but I knew how fucking great I felt at the moment, soaring up the stairs with my eyes closed and a stupid smile on my face. When I opened my eyes, I was lying on my side on the bed. I heard my door close as Mick was headed back downstairs after dropping me off. Axel leaned against the wall facing the bed. “You ready to talk now?” he asked. “Talk about what?” I asked in return, smiling. “Stop playing stupid. Just because you’re drunk doesn’t mean you don’t know what I’m talking about.” He crossed his arms and looked down at me with a blend of anger and disappointment on his face. I remembered what I’d said in the hallway, and I

laughed. “I guess I admitted a little too much tonight, huh?” “How do you mean?” “You know what I mean, brother. Talking about Lilah.” “There’s no shame in it, brother, but you shouldn’t be getting sloshed downstairs just because you don’t know what to do about the way you feel about her. What sense does that make?” “That’s not why I got trashed,” I told him. The bed felt good. My head rested on the pillow, and it was persuading me to stop talking and got to sleep. I took a couple of deep breaths with my eyes closed, fighting off the sleep that kept trying to pull me under. “I mean, it was one reason, sure, but it wasn’t the only reason,” I added after a long pause. “Okay, hit me. What was the rest of it?” my brother asked. Axel was my oldest brother. He’d pretty much raised me, along with the MC. They were the only

family I ever really knew. It was embarrassing to be this damn drunk in front of him, to be so inebriated that I was having trouble maintaining a steady train of thought. I was really starting to get mad at myself for it. “Stay with me, Saw,” he said. “You can sleep after you tell me what’s going on.” “You’re right,” I said, pushing myself up. “Hang on a second.” I got up from the bed and went into the bathroom to splash cold water on my face. I shook my head a little, trying to literally shake off the buzz. I splashed water on my face a few more times before walking back into the other room. I felt a little better. I was still drunk, but at least I was awake and could focus through it a little better. I sat back down on the bed. “Better?” Axel asked. “Yeah, a little bit,” I told him. “So, the main reason I found you hammered, drooling on the bar tonight?” he reminded me. “It’s a long story, man,” I said, stalling. “Try me.” He wasn’t having it. I had to tell him.

I took a deep breath. “Okay, here goes. You know about the break-in at her place and the attempted break-ins at the tattoo shop, right?” “Yeah, I’ve been caught up to speed on why she’s here. Cut to the chase, Saw,” he said forcefully. “I found out her ex-husband is behind it all. He staged the break-in at her house, and he sent a guy to vandalize the tattoo shop.” “Why?” “Because he’s trying to cover up the fact that he’s run off with her kid. He’s taking him to Belize with him, and I think he’s supposed to be meeting up with a woman there.” I realized that other than the trip, I hadn’t gotten any other information about the emails from Buck. “I don’t know his relationship with the woman. I’m guessing he’s running off with her.” “Or he’s getting mixed up with a cartel,” my brother said. I chuckled. It seemed unlikely from everything else I knew, but I figured it could have been a thing for him.

“Have you told her any of this?” Axel asked. I shook my head slowly. “Nope. I knew he was behind it all. The guy who tried to break into the tattoo parlor had told me as much, but I didn’t find out the rest until today, while she was at work.” “You need to tell her.” “But how?” “When she gets back, tell her like you told me. What are you going to do about it? Do you have a plan in place to get her son back and stop her ex from leaving the country with him?” “I don’t. I’ve been trying to figure all that out today. I told everybody I went to the shop to work this afternoon, but really, I rode around on my bike for a while trying to come up with a plan that will get us her son and stop him. I’ve got nothing.” Axel sighed. “Talk to her when she gets home, get some sleep, and first thing tomorrow we need to get together to make plans. I’ll be sure to be here for it.” He pushed himself off the wall like he was about to walk out of my room.

“I almost sent someone to his suite tonight,” I continued, stopping him. “I decided not to. He’s got a pretty elaborate plan set up, it seems, so I didn’t want to tip him off that we’re onto him or anything. I didn’t want to put her son in any danger.” “What was your guy going to do?” “I was sending him to check the place out, to see if he was there, and to see if he could find any sign of where he went.” I laughed. “At the very least, I was going to have him ransack the place to see how Troy likes it when someone tears up his shit.” Axel shook his head. “Be thankful you didn’t waste your time. No one was there,” a voice said at my door. We both snapped our heads around to see who had spoken. Lilah stood with the door open. I hadn’t even heard her come in. While we watched, she walked in and let the door close behind her. I picked my jaw up off the floor. I wondered how much she’d heard. She walked in and crossed the room with an air of confidence. She knew she had taken us by surprise. I had no idea what she knew, which put me at a

distinct disadvantage. It was possible I had just spilled the beans to her without even meaning to. “I’m going to leave you two to talk,” Axel said, flashing a quick smile at Lilah as he started to walk away. “Lilah, have you met my brother, Axel?” I asked her, keeping him from leaving right away and buying myself a little time before I had to face her. “Real brother, not just MC brother,” I added. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Axel said. “You need to straighten him out. If you need any help, let me know.” He winked and left the room, closing the door slowly behind him. Lilah turned and looked at me. Even in anger, her face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. Of course, there was a threatening element to it when she was angry, but she was still gorgeous. I wanted to look away, but her eyes held me in place. I knew that once she found the words to speak, I was going to be in big trouble. “How much did you hear?” I asked finally, trying to brace myself for her response. “Enough,” she said, her voice cold and hard.

Her response gave me chills. I knew what she meant, but at the same time, I didn’t know exactly what she’d heard. Had she heard everything? What did she miss? Why the hell did I have to get drunk? I had put myself in a bad position to try to handle the situation by having too much to drink too quickly. The good news was that I was sobering up pretty quickly now that she was standing right in front of me. “What do you have to say for yourself?” she asked. I shook my head and lowered it into my hands. I wasn’t sober enough to deal with the anger in her tone and her eyes. It was completely understandable. I should have been more open with her as soon as I knew something. “That’s what I thought,” she said. “No, let me explain,” I said, lifting my head up from my hands. Whether I had the words or not, it was time to talk. Hell, for all I knew, she already knew everything anyway, depending on how long she’d been standing in the doorway before she said anything.

“Please do,” she said, crossing her arms. I stood up from the bed, still a little shaky and weak on my feet. I had to present some level of confidence to her. It wasn’t a good time to be sloppy. I had started the evening off worrying that she wasn’t going to come back, and I was finishing it off by giving her a reason not to.

Chapter Seventeen[LC5] Lilah “Look, I should have said something sooner, but I wanted to make sure I had accurate information,” Cole told me, barely able to hold himself up. He reeked of alcohol, and I could smell it even from where I stood, a few steps away from him. “How much have you had to drink tonight?” I asked him. “Just a few.” “Yeah. Maybe we should forget the whole thing,” I said, not trying to hide my disgust. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and seeing from him. I thought I had prepared myself for that kind of disappointment from him, but I wasn’t prepared to find him sloppy drunk on top of the realization that he’d been withholding information from me. I was tempted to walk out, but I didn’t. Something kept me there. Perhaps it was the way I was beginning to feel about him. Maybe I felt sorry for him – for what he’d put himself through. Largely, though, I needed answers.

“No, I need to explain myself to you now,” he said, forcing himself to stand up a little straighter, as if that was going to make him seem soberer than he was. “Maybe you should sit down,” I suggested to him, but he wasn’t having it. “No, I’m good,” he said, shaking his head. “Fine. Start explaining. How did you learn what you know about Troy?” “The other night when I had to go to the tattoo parlor because the guys caught the person trying to break in. The guy they caught told me he was working for Troy. Troy staged the break-in at your house, too,” he told me. “I knew it. The bastard. He’s trying to take Micah from me.” Which, I knew, was exactly what Cole had just said to his brother while I was standing at the door. “Yeah, but we found out where he’s staying in the meantime, before they leave the country,” he added.

“What?” “Yeah, I had a guy hack into his computer today to figure out where he was. He’s at a cabin not too far from here. That’s how we found the emails – he’s been talking to some lady in Belize.” “Are you serious? You found this out today, and you decided for whatever reason to keep it from me? You could have called, texted, stopped by the library, or anything, but you decided you wanted to go for a ride to clear your head and help you decide when you were going to let me know and how you were going to go about stopping him?” “I didn’t know how to tell you. I was waiting for the right time to break it to you.” “That’s the lamest excuse I’ve ever heard.” “I didn’t want you to run off again. I wanted to be able to help you,” he insisted. “No,” I said, shaking my head. “No, you’re just trying to control me. Ever since we slept together the first time, you’ve been trying to control my actions – when I come and go, everything.” “I’m trying to protect you. I’m not your ex. Stop

trying to paint me that way,” he said, stepping closer to me and putting his arms around me again. Before I realized what I was doing, my hand smacked his face. His head turned from the force of it. I didn’t regret it. He’d earned it. Several times over. “Don’t touch me,” I growled out. “Hand me my keys,” I demanded. He opened the drawer to his nightstand and lifted the false bottom in it – yeah, I felt like an idiot, realizing I had overlooked it. “Here,” he said calmly, handing me the keys to my car and house. “Thank you.” I took them and pointed a finger at his face. “Stay away from me. You hear me? Stay away from me.” “Where are you going?” “To get my son,” I said, turning to walk away. “Don’t follow me.” I paused at the door. I had forgotten all about that damn cabin. I had never been allowed to visit it. It was just for Troy. It was his special sanctuary in the woods. I hated him for it. Now he was hiding out there with our son

while he prepared to take him out of the country. That shit wasn’t going to happen. I hopped in my car and peeled out as I left the parking lot, heading for the cabin, going to take my son back. Once Micah was safely in my hands, I was going to make sure Troy never got his hands on him again. Sure, I’d called him to pick Micah up from school because I couldn’t, but I hadn’t known that he had set up the break-in at my house. It made my blood boil to think about it. This was one of those moments when I was glad I didn’t have a gun. I would have wound up in prison if I owned a firearm, and leaving my son fatherless was something I would have regretted for the rest of my life. The cabin was only a few miles out of town, but it was in a whole different world. Off the main road, I took a long, dirt driveway deep into the woods to a small clearing. I hated that driveway. I hated almost everything about the cabin except for the isolated feel of it. It wasn’t far from everything, but it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. I pulled up out front and parked right by the front door. I didn’t see Troy’s car anywhere, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t parked in the woods behind

the cabin, out of sight, hidden from prying eyes. There was a light on inside, so it was likely that someone was there. I got out of the car and walked to the door. I paused and listened to the night. I listened for any sign that someone was inside. All I heard, though, was the night all around me. I heard the crickets, the frogs from the nearby pond, and the breeze blowing through the trees, but there were no sounds from inside the cabin. I tried the front door. It was unlocked. I figured he must not have been too worried about people stumbling upon him at random. I pushed it open and stepped inside. I expected to hear something – Troy in the kitchen, Micah laughing at something or asking him a question. But there was still nothing. My stomach felt cold. Something wasn’t right. I was chilled to the bone, but it was the kind of chill that came from inside. I stayed silent as I crept through the cabin. I walked through the living room, with the single light that was on. The kitchen was dark, but I could see from the living room that it was empty. I walked through the bathroom and the two bedrooms. No one was there, but there were clothes laid out on both beds, so it looked like they could have been back at any

time. I went and sat in the living room on the couch in front of the stone fireplace. I listened to the blissful silence. Anyone or anything approaching the cabin would have been announced. Like the motorcycle coming up the drive. “What the hell, Cole?” I asked the empty living room. The engine died down in the front yard, probably next to my car. A moment later, the door opened. He wasn’t quiet at all, and he had no business trying to drive in his state. “Didn’t I tell you not to follow me?” I snapped when Cole stumbled in. “What the hell are you doing driving right now anyway? You should be back at the clubhouse trying to sleep this off.” “I couldn’t let you do this by yourself,” he told me, taking a step towards me. “You stay back. Stay back. I want you out of my life. I don’t have room for someone who’s going to try to control me and manipulate my behavior the way you’ve been trying. It’s like you’re working

with Troy on this to keep me from finding him.” “What?! You can’t really believe that, Lilah,” he argued. “I would never conspire against you.” “But that’s how it’s working out. That’s exactly how it’s working out.” “No,” he said, taking a few more clumsy steps toward me. “Not at all.” “Don’t come any closer,” I told him, holding a hand out. “Don’t do this to me, Lilah,” he pleaded. “I can’t leave you alone, baby. I care about you too much. I’m starting to have feelings for you.” He kept walking towards me… until his chest pressed against my outstretched hand. I relaxed my arm and let him come closer to me. He took me in his arms. The smell of whiskey enveloped me. He didn’t reek of it now, and it had dulled to an enticing aroma. “I want you in my life. I’m afraid if I let go, you’ll leave,” he continued. “You should have thought about that before,” I told

him. “After I told you about my ex, you should have realized that I didn’t want another controlling man in my life.” A low rumble roared gently through the woods. “Was that thunder?” I asked him. I hadn’t noticed a cloud in the sky all day. Then again, I wasn’t the type to pay attention to the forecast. I didn’t know what the weather was doing until it did it. “Sounded like it,” Cole said, backing away from me and turning his ear toward the door, as if he was listening for more. About that time, there was a bright flash of light and an almost immediate peal of thunder. I groaned. I couldn’t believe I was going to be stuck in here with him. “You need to go if you’re going to go,” I told him. “Before the rain hits.” “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied. Instead, he walked over to the door he’d left open and looked outside. I heard a few drops here and there as the storm moved in and the rain began. The slow drumming

of the rain soon gave way to a downpour. I looked past him out the door and saw the rain coming down like one solid wall out there. There was no way I was going to try to convince him to ride back on his motorcycle in that. “Do you need to bring your bike in?” I asked him. “Nah, she’ll be fine out there. She’ll dry overnight,” he said, closing the door and coming back in. “My words still stand,” I told him. “You can stay here only because you can’t leave right now, but you stay away from me.” “Fine,” he said, holding his hands up in surrender. He walked over to the couch, standing almost next to me but not touching me. He made sure I saw that he was keeping himself apart from me. “Where am I sleeping?” he asked. “I’ll show you the rooms,” I said, leading him into Troy’s room and then the other bedroom. The second bedroom was supposed to be Micah’s whenever he stayed up here with Troy, so the bed was much smaller, a twin. Troy’s bed, of course,

was a king, which made absolutely no sense if he was only ever up here by himself. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t both sleep on the king-size bed. There’s enough room we don’t even really have to share it. We can sleep on our own sides and never touch each other,” he said. His voice was heavy with exhaustion and the effects of the alcohol he’d had earlier, slowly wearing off. I wasn’t sure if I was buying what he was selling, but the bed was a lot more comfortable than the couch. That much I did know for sure. While I considered his suggestion, he kicked off his boots and climbed into bed, sliding underneath my exhusband’s sheets. “Well, I guess that decides that, doesn’t it?” I mused out loud. “Goodnight, Cole,” I said, turning to walk out of the room. He was already snoring as soon as his head hit the pillow. I was going to try to stay awake to wait for Troy’s return, but it was late. If he hadn’t come back by now, he was probably spending the night somewhere else. I cut out the living room light and lay down on the couch, pulling the thin blanket that lived on the back of the couch over me. I listened to the rain waging war on the cabin. Then, I heard

crashing sounds outside as the wind took old limbs down from the trees surrounding the cabin. Sleep eluded me until I finally decided to join Cole in the master bedroom. I climbed into bed on my side and pulled the covers up, careful not to disturb him. I lay there and stared at the wall, trying to focus on anything but the man who had followed me out into the woods to tell me that he cared for me, despite the mistakes he’d made. It was those mistakes that made me so angry. I closed my eyes and listened to him breathing on the other side of the bed. It was calming enough to lull me to sleep finally, despite the distance between us. I couldn’t control my feelings. I wanted to be angry at him, and I was, but it didn’t change how I really felt.

Chapter Eighteen Cole “Good morning, sunshine,” Lilah said with a wiseass tone to her voice. I cracked my eyelids and groaned. The light bombarding my vision made my head ache. I shut my eyes tighter and put a hand over my face. “How much did I have to drink last night?” I croaked out. I couldn’t remember. “I don’t know. I wasn’t there when you started drinking,” she replied. Her voice sounded like a shrug, like she was saying she didn’t know and really didn’t care how much I’d had. I rolled onto my stomach and buried my face in the pillow. I lay there while the details of the night before came back into my memory. I could remember bits and pieces, like drinking and spilling my guts to Axel in front of her. Then, there was driving out to the cabin, and the rain. That meant I was still in the bedroom at the cabin. “Anyway, I brought you some coffee and a couple

of Advil. I’ll leave them right here by the bed. You can come out when you’re ready,” she said, and I heard the cup touch the nightstand. “Can you turn the light off on your way out of the room?” I asked, my voice muffled by the pillow. “It is off. That’s the light from outside,” she informed me. “It’s a beautiful morning.” “You gotta be kidding me.” I reached over and grabbed the Advil and the cup of coffee. I sat up and popped the pills back, then washed them down with the hot, heavy coffee. I knew the only way I was going to get past my splitting headache was to get up and get moving. A moment later, I was standing in the living room, looking down at the floor and listening to the sizzling sounds coming from the kitchen. The cabin was full of the smell of sausage cooking. Coupled with the coffee, it seemed to be settling my stomach and soothing my headache. “There are sausages and toast,” Lilah called from the kitchen. “It’s all Troy had in here, so that’s what we’re having for breakfast.” “Sounds good to me,” I croaked out. I walked to

the windows looking out at the woods behind the cabin, facing away from the morning sun. The sky was a perfect blue, the kind of blue that only appeared after a good, cleansing rain, as if it didn’t just wash away the grime of the world but the grime in the sky as well. With each sip of coffee, my head felt better. There was no way I could have had that much to drink the night before. There hadn’t been enough time for that much to drink, but I remembered being pretty sloppy by the time she showed up at the clubhouse. I thought I had sobered up a lot by the end of the night. My head didn’t care. “So it looks like that storm just roared through last night and left us a beautiful day today,” I mused out loud, still looking outside. “It would seem that way. I hope all the storms from last night have passed.” I glanced into the kitchen to see her staring back at me. Even when she was mad at me, she was still gorgeous, especially standing over the stove like she was. Her perfect, pure little body poised over the food she was cooking. That sweet little ass, those perky tits, her beautiful red hair, and that delicate pale skin. I bet she had something better

than Advil and coffee under those clothes. “I think they have,” I told her, walking around the bar separating the living room from the kitchen. “You think they have, huh?” She smiled down at the sausage patties sizzling in the pan. “How about you get some toast going and let me know what you think after that,” she added. I put my coffee down and started helping her with breakfast. Soon, I forgot all about my headache or my stomach twisting in knots from all the liquor I’d had. It felt good, and oddly comforting, to be working in the kitchen with her. I remembered her being angry with me the night before, so it was nice to see that it was behind us so that we could work as a team. “Alright, breakfast is ready,” she said, pulling the sausage patties off the pan and sliding them onto the plates with two slices of toast each. “Is there any butter for the toast?” I asked her. She opened the fridge and looked in. A moment later, she came back out, shaking her head. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was a nice, scaled down breakfast.

“So sorry,” she said. “Guess you’ll have to do without.” She grabbed her plate and walked into the living room. “It’s not a big deal.” I furrowed my brow. How the hell did she go from being slightly flirtatious to being cold again? I followed her into the living room. “So, about last night…” she said after I sat down next to her. “I’m really sorry about last night. Not about following you out here, but about the way you learned everything,” I clarified before she could say anything else. She nodded. “Yeah, that could have been handled better. I wasn’t too terribly impressed with how last night went.” “I know, but look, I promise you that I will help you find your son. We traced Troy’s computer back to this cabin yesterday, so he was here at some point. We’re on his trail.” “Yeah, when I got here, there were clothes laid out on the beds. It looked like they hadn’t been gone

for long.” I thought about it while I ate. Where would he have gone? Did he know we were coming? I wondered if someone had given us up or if he’d known some other way. Regardless if he knew about it, he’d been able to get a head start by leaving ahead of us. “He’s got some time on us now,” I said finally. “But I’m still going to do whatever I can to find them.” It was the least I could do to prove I cared about her. “When you find Micah, I want to be there,” she said. “I have to come with you.” “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I argued. “When we go after this guy, it’s not going to be a safe situation. You need to stay back and let us bring Micah to you.” “It’ll never work,” she said confidently. “What do you mean?” “He’ll never go with people he doesn’t know.” She cocked an eyebrow, as if to emphasize that she had me there. “Smart kid.” I took another bite of my toast.

“And don’t you forget it,” she said, setting her plate on the wooden coffee table. I was going to have to take her along to confront Troy and get Micah. There wasn’t really any way that I could see to get around it unless I wanted to traumatize her kid. That was one hell of a way to be introduced to someone’s kid, though – grabbing him from his father’s arms and sending him to be with his mom so his father could be taken care of. No matter what, since he was Lilah’s son, Micah deserved my protection. He had it. I was already looking after him by trying to help her find him. There were still the questions of tracking Troy down and what to do with him once we found him, but those questions were going to have to be answered as we got to them. “Where do we start?” Lilah asked me after I finished my breakfast. She grabbed my plate with hers and took them both into the kitchen. She turned on the water in the sink and washed them by hand. I wouldn’t have done his dishes. It wasn’t like Troy was going to be coming back to this cabin. I sipped my coffee and followed her into the kitchen. I leaned against the counter opposite her.

“First, we need to go to the clubhouse. I don’t have any resources here,” I told her. “Resources?” “People. I need to send someone to cover the shop while I’m out working on this with you, and I need to put some feelers out to locate your ex,” I explained. She nodded. “Okay, so you’re going to use the MC?” “I’ll use what’s available to us,” I told her. “Everybody we use isn’t necessarily a member. There are people on the street who help us out from time to time, and a few people in other places as well.” “You mean, like, official people? People in legitimate positions you guys have on your payroll basically,” she guessed, not turning around from the sink. “Something like that.” I smirked. She was trying to wrap her head around the scope of our reach, and it was pretty hot. Her mind was opening to a different world, and that was such a turn on.

Now that she wasn’t trying to push me away or telling me to get out of her life, I wanted to take her again, to prove to her that she was mine. Because she was mine. She may not have realized it. She may not have said it in so many words, but that sexy little redhead belonged to me. I was going to convince her to admit it before it was all said and done. If she weren’t mine, she would have been more convincing in trying to kick me out. She wouldn’t have joined me in bed. Things would have been different. There wouldn’t have been coffee or breakfast, or any of that. “I guess it’s better I don’t know everything you get up to, huh?” she asked. She cut the water off and put the plates on the dish rack next to the sink to dry. She turned around and grabbed the pan from the stove, eyeing me with a playful, suggestive little smile as she walked by. “There’s more coffee if you want it,” she offered on her way back to the sink. “Thanks. I think I will,” I told her. I turned around and poured another cup of the black liquid. “We need to go as soon as we can,” I added over my

shoulder. “I’ll be ready to go as soon as I finish cleaning up breakfast.” [LC6] “Then I’ll go ahead and get ready.” I left my cup on the counter and went back into the bedroom. I sat on the side of the bed as I pulled my boots on my feet. Everything felt so normal and routine all of a sudden, the complete opposite of all the confrontation the night before. It was comfortable, familiar, like we’d been doing this sort of thing for years. We were a team. She brought out the nice guy in me, and she seemed more confident around me now than she had the first time we met. I laughed, thinking about how nervous she’d been the first time she came into the shop. That reminded me that we still hadn’t settled the issue of that tattoo. I still wanted to cover her in ink and turn her into my masterpiece. I also wanted to enjoy that bare pale skin a little longer before I started inking all over it. She was more than just a blank canvas that needed to be filled. I hoped she knew that as well. “Alright, you ready?” I asked when I walked into

the living room a few minutes later. “Almost,” she said. She was still straightening up, putting the blanket back over the back of the couch, where it had been when we came in the night before. “Look, that’s enough,” I told her. I put my hands on her arms, pressing them down gently so that she couldn’t keep cleaning. I turned her to face me and looked her dead in the eye. “You don’t owe Troy anything. Certainly, not a clean cabin. The only reason you were here last night was because that bastard ran off with your son. And when you got here, he’d run off again. You don’t owe him shit. You got that?” She nodded, not taking her eyes off mine. She looked like a child who’d just been caught doing something they shouldn’t have been. “Okay. Let’s go,” she said before throwing the blanket on the floor.

Chapter Nineteen Lilah “Alright, nothing? Thanks, brother. Yeah, let me know if anything pops up,” Cole said into his phone before hanging up. He rubbed his temples and took another sip of the coffee he’d made once we got to the clubhouse. I knew he was doing everything he could to find Troy and Micah. I knew I should have been grateful, but there was part of me that couldn’t help being resentful that he’d hidden so much information from me before. We still hadn’t really talked about it. I figured he thought he was going to be able to make it all right again by helping me find them. Maybe he could have. I didn’t have any other choice but to go along with him. There was no one else to call, no one else I knew who could help me. If there were anyone who knew how to handle situations like this, it would have been Cole or another member of the MC. “What now?” I asked him. He hadn’t gone right back to his phone, so I wanted to make sure he

didn’t lose his momentum. “I might know someone else who can help us. He hasn’t logged back onto his computer, and if he has, he’s hidden it somehow,” he explained to me. “But I might know someone who can help us find him the old-fashioned way.” “The ‘old-fashioned’ way sounds illegal,” I commented, not really protesting, just observing more than anything. “It might be. I don’t know. All I know is we need to find your boy, and we’re running out of options. So, I know this guy who might be able to help us find him.” “Who is he?” “You don’t really need to know who he is. The less you know, the better,” he said, stepping close and running a hand through my hair. He leaned down and kissed me on my head, holding his lips to me for a long, tender moment before standing back up. Dammit, why did he have to care so much? He was so loving, and I was sitting there questioning whether or not letting him help me was really a good idea. I had tried to overcome my doubts, but I

didn’t feel the same way I had before. There didn’t seem to be an easy way to bounce back from the controlling behavior and the lying. “You want to ride?” he asked. “You’re taking me with you? But I thought you said that I didn’t need to know who this guy was?” I questioned him. “You don’t. You won’t get his name, but he’s going to probably want to see the person he’s helping. There’s no real harm in that, I guess,” he said with a shrug. “Come on.” “Why don’t we take my car?” I asked on the way out of the clubhouse. “Do we have to take your motorcycle?” “Do you know where we’re going?” he shot back over his shoulder. “Okay, fine. Thought I’d offer,” I told him, catching up with him. “I mean, if you don’t want to ride the bike, you don’t have to,” Cole said, handing me a helmet. “I can go alone, but he’ll still want to see you.”

I wondered why it mattered, but I felt like I was better off not knowing, just like he’d said before. There were probably a lot of things I didn’t need to know about in his life. I put on the helmet and left it at that. I slid onto the bike and put my arms around his waist. It felt like it had been so long since I’d been on the back of his motorcycle, but it had only been a few days since the first ride he’d given me. I remembered how that first ride had felt a little scary, but exhilarating at the same time. The butterflies in my stomach were going crazy in anticipation of feeling those two emotions again. The bike roared to life underneath me. I gripped him tighter, feeling his hard abs under my arms. He pulled away from the building and slowed down at the entrance to the parking lot for a brief moment before gunning it. I squeezed myself against him to hold on, terrified I was going to fall off if I didn’t hold on tight enough. We road into downtown and cruised around for a while before he pulled down an alley next to a parking deck. He parked the bike against a low concrete wall and pulled off his helmet. I didn’t see anyone stopping to meet us or anywhere to go to meet someone. I hesitated before taking my helmet

off and getting off the bike. “Come on. It’s right around the corner,” he said. He held out his arm for me to walk with him. I stayed just behind him as we walked up the alley a few feet to a space between the buildings. It didn’t offer enough room for cars to get down, just enough for people to walk through, enough for doors to open between the two buildings. It was one of the strangest things I’d seen, but I knew downtown held all kinds of secrets from the uninitiated. “Hold on right there,” he said, holding his hand out to keep me from standing right in front of the door. He knocked out a code – two knocks, a pause, two more, a pause, and three to finish. I assumed that identified him for the people on the other side. I heard something slide across the door. I imagined it was someone sliding open a slot in the door like they always did in the movies, so they could see who was standing there and verify it was actually Cole or another member of the MC. I couldn’t see from where I was standing. A moment later, I heard all the locks slide through as the door was unbolted. Cole waved me back

over to him as the door opened. I stepped to the side in time to see the door open out toward the alley. It was dark inside, but a large bald man was standing in the doorway. He glanced at us, but he took a moment to look me up and down. He didn’t know me, and he was obviously sizing me up. His intimidating size and the hard expression on his face made me hope he wasn’t the person we were there to see. “He’s in the back,” he told us, stepping aside to let us in. Cole put a hand on the small of my back and pushed me ahead of him through the door. I looked around the room as we entered. A few people were sitting around at a small table playing cards. There were other rooms, leading back to a closed door, which I figured was where we were going. The door slammed shut behind us, and I jumped. Cole chuckled. “It’s okay. We’re going all the way back,” he told me, guiding me with the hand on my back. “Okay, why does he need to see me?” I finally asked, whispering. “Wouldn’t it be easier for me to keep an eye on the bike or hang out at the

clubhouse while you handle this?” “You want the truth?” he asked, and I knew right then that I really didn’t, but I persisted anyway. Maybe I was feeling low on repulsion and nightmare fuel, but I had to know. “Yes, I want to know the truth,” I insisted. “He’s more likely to help if I bring him someone nice to look at it.” Okay, that wasn’t so bad by itself. But when the thin wooden door in the back opened, and we walked into the room to stand in front of the man we were going to meet, it got gross. His greasy hair was slicked back. He wore a dress shirt that was at least one size too small, possibly more by the way the buttons were hanging on for dear life. He held an unlit cigar in one of his fat hands, and he summoned me to step closer by wiggling his fat fingers. “Saw, it’s good to see you, buddy,” he said in a voice as thick as molasses and sweet as honey. “Well, you know I wouldn’t bother you if I didn’t need some help,” he told the man.

“What is it you need, sugar?” the fat man asked me, looking me up and down with a perverse hunger in his eyes. Guys looked at me lustfully more often than I cared to notice, but there was something disgusting in his eyes that made me cringe. I tried not to visibly recoil when his tongue snaked out and licked his lips. I wondered what I’d done to Cole to deserve being subjected to this guy. Whatever it was, I was going to apologize for it as soon as we left this guy’s hideout. “We’re trying to find her ex-husband, Troy Romero.” “You’re Troy Romero’s ex?” the big guy asked. He laughed heartily, holding his belly. “What a small world it can be.” “Great, you know where he is?” Cole asked. He stepped up and put an arm around my waist, reassuring me that he had me. I was safe. “Not at the moment, but I can find him for you. Are you going to be at the clubhouse later this afternoon?” “We can be if we need to be.”

“Alright, I’ll send my guys out to find him, and I’ll send a message to the clubhouse once we know.” When he had said this, he dropped the creepy, sweet tone and talked like it was all business. “Thanks,” I said, figuring he probably wanted my gratitude as a reward. I hoped he didn’t expect me to express it any other way. I watched the movies. I knew there were guys out there who expected it. Hell, Cole had told me that he expected it, but that was different. I had wanted to give it to him. “Anything for a girl as delicious as you,” the big guy said. He tilted his head toward the door, sending us back out. Once the thin wooden door closed behind us, Cole grabbed my hand and picked up his pace. There was an urgency in his walk. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I’ll tell you when we get out,” he said, walking quickly for the door. The bald doorman opened the metal door in the wall and let us out of the building. We walked outside and kept on toward the bike, where Cole

finally let go of my hand. “What was that about?” I asked. “I want to get you out of here before he decides he wants more than a thank you.” “If you’re worried about what he’ll want from me, why did you even bring me out here?” “You need to know that I’m doing everything I can to get your son.” “Okay, fine, I trust that you’re doing that, but at the same time, you may have just put me in danger by introducing me to that man. Could you have taken those guys if they’d decided to hold you down while he took whatever liberties he wanted with me?” “I’m sure I could’ve managed,” he said, pulling his gun from behind his back. “How many do you think you could have taken down before they overpowered you?” I held up my hand to keep him from answering. “You know what? I don’t care. Get me back to the clubhouse. I need a shower after that. I feel so disgusting right now.”

I wondered if he meant what he was saying – that he was trying to prove to me what he was willing to do to find and reunite me with Micah. I also wondered how in the hell he thought bringing me to see a creep like that was a good idea. I wanted to trust him, but he kept doing things that made it hard. Part of me, the part that always gave people the benefit of the doubt, said it was all part of learning how to trust him because there were going to be times when his trust was going to be put in men like that – when no one else was available. I put my helmet on and hopped on the bike behind him, hoping our next stop was the clubhouse like he’d told his sleazy friend back there.

Chapter Twenty Cole It didn’t take long for someone to show up with a message from Sanchez, the man we’d gone to see. While Lilah was still in the shower, I got a text message from Axel. Someone’s here to see you. Better come down. Alone. On my way, I texted back. I got up from the bed, slid my boots on, and walked downstairs to meet the messenger who’d been sent to let us know what Sanchez had found out about Troy and Micah. “Saw?” the scrawny kid asked as I walked up. There was no better way to make sure no one punished his messengers than to make sure they weren’t worth the effort. “Yeah, that’s me,” I said. “What do you have for me?” “Troy Romero is squatting in a cabin about a mile from the one he owns. He’s got his son there with him.”

I narrowed my eyes. “How do I know I can trust this information?” “They, um, th-they saw his car there,” he said, shaking suddenly. I glanced over his shoulder at Axel, sitting at the bar. He shrugged as if to say, “Might as well check it out.” “Tell Sanchez I said ‘thank you,’ and if he ever needs anything, he knows where to find me,” I told the kid. “Now get out of here.” While the kid rushed out of the clubhouse, I walked over to Axel at the bar. He held up his beer to me as I approached. He nodded. “Good job,” he said. “Now what?” “Now we need to get over there and get her kid,” I replied. “What about Troy? How are we going to handle him?” Axel asked thoughtfully, as if he was checking my thinking on the situation. “I can’t kill him. I can’t leave that kid without a

dad. I know how that is. I don’t even remember our dad. I can’t do that to someone else, man.” Axel put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You’re a good man, little brother. Tell you what, let’s get some guys together to go out there, and we’ll leave Troy to you. You do whatever you see fit. This is your show.” He tilted his beer back and chugged the rest of his bottle. “Alright, first, let’s get the guys together. Then, we need someone to take Lilah out there in a car behind the rest of us.” He opened his mouth to argue and suggest that it was a bad idea to take her along, but I stopped him. “I already told her I was going to bring her along, and she needs to be there to get her son anyway,” I explained to him. “Fair enough. You get her. I’ll get everyone else,” he said, getting up from the bar. I hurried upstairs to find Lilah getting out of the shower. She had a towel wrapped around her body and one around her beautiful hair. When I entered the room, she was standing next to the bed. I startled her, and she put up a hand to cover her

already covered breasts. “Get dressed,” I told her. “You’ve got something?” “Yeah, and Axel’s getting guys together downstairs to go out there, so let’s get ready to go. We’re leaving as soon as you and I are ready.” She dropped her towel, revealing her gorgeous naked body to me. That pale skin did it every time. I felt myself growing hard just looking at her with those soft pink nipples, that fair skin just begging for my touch and my ink, and her hairless mound ready to be touched, licked, and fucked. I wanted to grab her right there, but I knew there’d be time for that later, once we got her kid. But we had to go right away before Troy realized we were onto him again. She threw on her clothes quickly, pulling her black cotton panties up her legs and covering herself with them. She pulled her tight jeans up, letting the fabric hug her ass and hips. She dried her hair again quickly with her towel and pulled on a bra and shirt.

She was passing me on her way out the door and then down the stairs to the common room. We walked out to find Axel standing with ten other guys. Ham stepped up eating a piece of pizza he’d grabbed from the bar. “Alright,” I said to Lilah, “you’re going to be riding in the car with one of these guys.” I turned and held my hand out, waiting to find out who was supposed to be driving her. Ham raised his hand. “I’ll drive her out there.” “We’re taking my car,” she blurted out. He shrugged. “Fine by me, but I’m driving.” She hesitated, but I stepped in to help her accept his offer. “Lilah, this is my other brother, Ham. He’s the middle child,” I explained. She huffed. “Yeah, you can drive,” she finally conceded. “Okay, the rest of us are riding our bikes. That’s going to alarm him when he hears us coming, but there’s not a whole lot he’ll be able to do about it then,” I explained to her.

“Won’t that put Micah in danger?” Lilah asked. “Nope. He’s trying to take Micah with him. He’s not using him as collateral for anything. The goal is to take him along. He’s not going to do anything stupid to risk getting him hurt,” I assured her. “Look, we’ll make sure that he doesn’t get hurt.” She nodded and turned to Ham. “Shall we?” He smirked. “I like your old lady, bro. She’s pretty cool.” Lilah blushed, and I shot him a cold look. I shook my head. She wasn’t my old lady. “Alright, we ready guys? Follow me,” I told them as we poured out of the building. We hopped on our bikes, and our engines roared to life. It was a beautiful sound, hearing that many motorcycles cranking up and revving their engines. It did something to us when we rode together. Suddenly, we weren’t individual bikers. We were Steel Devils, the MC itself. We became one unit that way. It was a great feeling to have my brothers at my back as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.

We needed to go about a mile further than Troy’s other cabin. We pulled onto the gravel drive and roared up through the woods to the dark cabin. Sure enough, his car was parked in front. As we pulled up to the little house, a shot rang out. What the hell is this idiot doing? I held up a hand to stop everyone. It was a warning shot. Troy had fired his shotgun into the air instead of firing it at any of us. We stopped in the driveway, and Ham pulled Lilah’s car around into the yard. Troy stood at the door to the cabin, his gun in front of him, pointing towards the sky. He watched as Lilah got out of the passenger side of her car. I heard Ham trying to convince her to stay in. “What now?” I asked Axel, pulling off my helmet, but he was already signaling to a few guys to circle around to the back of the house while Lilah had Troy distracted. He stepped down from the stoop in front of the door, creating distance between him and cabin. With each step, he gave us more room to work with. “What are you doing here? And what is all this?”

Troy asked her, waving a hand at our motorcycles lined up in his driveway. “I want my son back,” Lilah shouted. “You have no right to take him away with you.” “He’s just staying with me until he gets well,” Troy lied. “Troy, I know about the passports and the plane tickets to Belize. I know about the woman you’re meeting down there. I know that you moved out of your suite.” She took a couple of steps towards him from the car. I waited and watched pensively. I wanted to run in and grab Micah, but I knew the guys who’d gone around back were doing that. All I could do was watch to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid. Then, a yell came from inside. It sounded like a kid – Micah. Troy looked at us, muttered something I couldn’t hear, and darted back inside. That was my cue. I ran in after him. This cabin was laid out the same as the one he owned. As soon as I came in the door, I saw our guys pulling Micah out through the back door. Troy was running after them. I ran up behind him and grabbed his shotgun,

pulling it across him to hold him back. “Micah, they’re taking you to your mom,” I yelled to the kid. “She’s out front waiting for you. I promise. You’ll see.” He looked at me with his mother’s green eyes. He was scared, but the fact that I’d spoken to him seemed to reach him. He stopped struggling long enough for one of the guys to pick him up and throw him over his shoulder. Once Micah was out of view, I ripped the gun out of Troy’s hands and shoved him into the bar in the kitchen. I checked to see if it was loaded. It was. I could have blown his ass away right there, but as satisfying as that was, his son was right outside. And to make it worse, he would have known it was me. That was not how I wanted to start my relationship with that boy. “Go ahead and shoot me,” Troy barked out at me. “Get it over with.” “I’m not here to kill you,” I told him. “You’ve already taken my son away, so you might as well. What’s stopping you?” he continued, his voice full of anger, pain, and fear. “That boy out there is stopping me. Whatever

happens now is between you and his mother, but you’re not going to be taking him out of the country, and you’re going to stop harassing us both.” “Oh, that’s right,” he said in mock surprise. “You’re that sleazy tattoo artist she’s been hanging out with. Tell me, did you fuck her yet?” He sneered at me as he talked. “It’s good, isn’t it? That sweet little tart. Tell me, does she still taste like—” I couldn’t listen to him anymore. I slammed the butt of the gun into the side of his face and watched him crumble to the floor. I dropped the gun and dragged his limp body over to a chair in the living room. I needed rope or anything else I could use. I snatched down one of the curtains from the living room windows and tied them around his chair, tying him into it. He wasn’t going anywhere for a while. I closed the door as I walked out of the cabin. The guys were hanging out by the bikes. Ham and Axel were standing around Lilah and Micah. I walked over to them and knelt down in front of the boy. “Your dad’s okay,” I told him. “He’s staying inside, for now, waiting for us to leave, okay? He said he’ll see you as soon as he can, but I think he and your mom need to talk about that first, okay?”

Micah nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said. “Thanks for coming to get me, Mr. Saw. He was talking about leaving to see some lady. He said something about a new mom.” I looked up at Lilah and my brothers. I was shocked at how open Troy had been about his plans with Micah. I looked back down at Micah and smiled. “I don’t think you need a new mom. Do you?” I asked him. “No, sir,” he said with a smile, hugging Lilah around the waist. “Thatta boy.” I ruffled his hair, then stood up and stretched. “Is Troy okay?” Lilah asked cautiously. “Yeah, he’s fine. We scuffled a little bit while I took the gun from him so we could talk, but I convinced him to have a seat and let you take Micah back with you,” I explained with a wink. “I want to take Micah home,” she said. “I think we need to go home, just the two of us.”

“You mean your home,” I said for clarification. I looked at my brothers. They knew what had happened with the break-in and everything, but they simply held their hands up and backed away to let us talk.

Chapter Twenty-One Lilah “Hey, pumpkin, why don’t you go over there with Mr. Axel and let us talk for a minute?” I suggested to Micah, sending him off to hang out with the bikers who had just helped me to get him back. I couldn’t believe I was sending my son to hang out with bikers of all people. A few days ago, I would have held him closer in their presence instead of thinking it was okay to let him mingle with them. “He’s a handsome boy,” Cole remarked, keeping an eye on him as he walked over to the other guys. “He called me Saw,” he added with a laugh. “Yeah, I hope that’s alright. Your brothers introduced themselves by their street names, so I felt it was only appropriate,” I said. “That’s going to be awkward at PTA meetings, isn’t it?” Cole said, still looking over at my boy. “PTA meetings? Isn’t that a bit presumptuous?” I chuckled. He turned his blue eyes to mine. “Isn’t that

something you would need me to do from time to time for you?” I laughed and blushed. I rested a hand on his chest. “Look, Cole, this has definitely been different for me. And that’s exactly what I was looking for when I walked into your shop the other day, but this might be a little too wild for me, especially with Micah.” He cocked his head to the side. “Nah, Micah will be fine around us. He certainly wouldn’t be the first kid raised by the MC. Ham has a few guys working for him who grew up as Steel Devils. Axel and Trent raised me in the MC. I don’t even remember my parents, but my older brother’s been like a dad, and Trent has been like my uncle.” “Give me some time, okay?” I pleaded with him. He had proven that he cared about Micah and me, and he’d already shown me that he could be good with my boy, but I didn’t know if I was ready. I had thought I was, but riding along and seeing all that he did with the MC, plus spending so much time around them, I didn’t know if I felt the same way anymore. “It’s not always this hectic. You’ve seen how things are at the clubhouse. Usually, the most exciting

thing is when someone beats someone else at pool or darts. Or if we watch the fight together on the TV,” he assured me. “I know,” I admitted. Taking the clubhouse into consideration by itself, life with the Steel Devils was far more stable than my life had been before. They were a large family, and they looked out for each other no matter what. I glanced over to see the guys looking out for my kid while Cole and I talked in the yard. Axel had him sitting on one of the motorcycles, pretending he was driving it. It was off, of course, but I knew one word from me could have fixed that. He would have cranked it up for my boy in a heartbeat. I smiled and waved as Micah looked over to make sure I saw what he was doing. I sighed and looked at Cole. “It’s nothing against you,” I told him. “I want some alone time with my son, and I need a break to figure out what I want to do going forward. I thought I had it all sorted out in my head, but after all of this, I need some downtime. Back to my boring life for a while, you know?” I crossed my arms and leaned against my car. Cole put a hand on one of my arms and grabbed it. He

didn’t pull me to him. He didn’t try to embrace me, though his touch told me he wanted to, and I was thankful he didn’t. I had no idea how to explain dating to my son yet. “I understand,” he said. “But before you go, can I ask you a question?” “Sure, anything?” I said, expecting him to ask something sappy like, Do you think we have a chance? “Do you think it’s a good idea to take him back to your house?” he asked, and that was something I hadn’t thought about. I’d only been thinking about trying to get home and away from everything. I looked at Micah again, watching him laugh and smile with the bikers. They were treating him like he was the coolest kid in the world, and he looked like he was having the time of his life. “I mean, with the house in the shape it’s in? Also, with Troy incapacitated and tied to a chair in there, it’s only a matter of time before he comes to, gets free, and calls someone to retaliate,” he explained. “You really left him knocked out in there? You didn’t kill him or anything?” I asked, turning my

attention back to Cole. “I couldn’t do that to Micah. The boy needs his father, even if their contact has to be restricted.” I felt like he was saying under different circumstances, he would have offed my exhusband. That type of behavior was something else I was going to have to take into consideration when letting these guys in my son’s life. Or, hell, in mine. “I think we’ll be fine for now. If anything happens, we’ll call,” I told him. “I hope you call me before that,” he said with a smile. “If you’re lucky,” I said, playing along. “Alright, look, I’ll agree to let you and Micah go home under one condition.” He pulled his hand back from my arm. “What’s that?” I asked, bracing myself for one of his controlling conditions. “Let me follow you to make sure everything is alright.”

“Cole.” I sighed. “Let me make sure the house is safe before you try to stay there. If it is, I’ll leave you alone. If it’s not, we’ll figure something out. I’ll get you a hotel room or something.” “You’d do that?” “Absolutely. I know you’re uncomfortable about having him at the clubhouse or around us too much, so whatever I have to do to make sure you guys are safe.” He was living up to what he’d said he was going to do. It hurt my heart to see him putting himself out there for me like that when I just wanted to be left alone with my boy for a while. “Okay,” I finally agreed. “I’ll do it. You follow us home and make sure the house is okay, and we’ll go from there.” “Great.” He patted my arm again, settling for that contact instead of hugging or kissing me. Then, he walked over to the guys and Micah. He sent Micah running back over to me while he talked to the guys, presumably telling Ham and Axel what the plan was. Ham hopped on the bike with his brother, and a

moment later, all the motorcycles roared to life. Micah jumped at first, but he turned around and waved at the guys as they left. His face glowed with excitement. “Can I ride a motorcycle like them one day?” he asked, looking up at me with his big green eyes. His face was full of hope and excitement. “You’ll have to ask Mr. Saw,” I said as Cole walked back over. “Ask me what?” he asked as he approached, looking down at Micah. “If I could ride with you one day,” Micah said, looking up at him like he’d found a new role model. “One day, when your mom says it’s okay.” “But she said to ask you,” he countered. “Then, when I think it’s okay, I’ll ask her for you. How about that?” Cole winked. “Whatever,” Micah huffed out. “Yeah, it’s never that easy, kiddo.” Then, looking at me, Cole asked, “You ready?”

“If you are, sure,” I replied. He nodded and walked away, back over toward his bike. He put on his helmet and climbed on, cranking it up. “Ready for what?” Micah asked. “He’s going to follow us home to make sure we get home safe,” I explained to my boy. “Awesome!” he shouted, climbing into the back seat. I was glad to see him so excited. Maybe I didn’t have to do as much as I thought to explain to him what was going on. He’d already taken to Cole and the other guys he’d met from the MC. I figured if I stuck with the way things were already going, everything would have worked out. I got in the car, backed out of the driveway, and pulled onto the road. I started driving toward our house. Cole pulled out behind us and followed us. I glanced at the back seat and saw Micah looking through the back window at him, watching him as he kept up with us. “Is Mr. Saw going to be staying with us?” he asked

excitedly. “What makes you ask?” I responded. “He’s cool. Did you see all the tattoos he has? And the others told me he did all their tattoos. That’s awesome!” I smiled. “Yeah, that’s pretty awesome,” I said, remembering my conversations with Cole about getting my first tattoo. “Plus, I can tell he likes you. And you like him, too, don’t you?” I opened my mouth to answer him, but nothing came out. I felt my cheeks burning as I blushed. I smiled and shook my head. I’d just been called out by my kid, and there was nothing I could say to deny it. “I knew it! You do!” “Alright, Micah. That’s enough,” I said, realizing I wasn’t denying anything, just telling him to quiet down. Meanwhile, the man I had been struggling with my feelings for was riding behind us on his motorcycle. There was no escaping it.

Micah sat in the back seat smiling. Apparently, he liked the idea of us liking each other. I started to think that maybe I’d struck gold with Cole, despite the problems we’d already experienced in our short, whirlwind relationship. “Okay, look, when we get to the house, don’t say a word about it to him, okay? I don’t want you to embarrass him or anything,” I explained. “Got it,” Micah said. I was surprised he didn’t argue that we didn’t need to be embarrassed by it. That was more like something Micah would have said instead of just going with what I’d told him. He really must have liked Cole if the thought of messing something up with him made him agreeable. All I wanted was some time to process what all had happened, but it didn’t seem to be slowing down any. I was starting to think I wasn’t going to get any downtime from it. My son seemed to be pushing me towards Cole. It seemed my mind may have already been made up for me. Who was I kidding? I had already made my mind up. I was only asking to be left at home with Micah so I could spend some time with my son and make

sure it was a good idea to introduce him to the MC. He’d already met the guys, and he was far more excited about them than he ever seemed about his dad. That should have been my answer right there. I couldn’t help feeling like I still needed some time alone to digest everything that had happened so far. I knew I wanted to be with Cole. He was protective of me, and he already showed signs of being that way about Micah. When my safety was at stake, he got controlling, but that was only because he was trying to protect me. “We’re almost home, baby,” I told Micah as we pulled up closer to the driveway, breaking my attention from my own thoughts for a moment.

Chapter Twenty-Two Cole I knew something was wrong as soon as Lilah turned into her driveway. She stopped mid-turn, her car barely in the driveway all the way. I slowed down as I came up behind her, prepared to go around her and pull directly into her yard if I needed to. She eventually started pulling forward again, and I turned into the driveway behind her. There was a row of hedges that blocked the view of her yard and house from the road. As I came around that row, I saw why she had stopped as soon as she turned into the driveway. Her house had been burned to the ground. She pulled up the driveway, parked, and cut off the car. She got out and walked over in front of where the front door should have been. She collapsed onto her knees, crying, her hands buried in her hair. I pulled into the yard and glanced over at Micah. The look on his face, gazing through the window on his door, said it all. He was distraught, shocked, devastated. I opened the door and took him by the

hand. I walked him over to Lilah and put my hand on her shoulder. She turned towards me and took Micah in her arms. They held each other on the ground. They cried to each other and rocked back and forth, trying to comfort each other. I didn’t know what to say, but I did know what to do. I pulled out my phone and stepped back away from them. The fire answered the question of what to do about Troy. He wasn’t going to get away with it. “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the emergency operator answered. “I’ve got some information about a missing person who was reported a few days ago.” “The person’s name, please.” “Micah Romero. He’s been located, but I know who the abductor was. He also set fire to Micah’s home. I’m at the home now. It’s been burned to the ground.” I gave her the address for Lilah’s house and also told her where to find Troy. I assured her I knew for a fact he was behind both of them, but I declined to give her my information when she asked for it, referring to myself only as a concerned

citizen. “Alright, I’ve got units on the way to both locations,” she said. The last words I ever wanted to hear. After I hung up the phone, I walked back over to where Lilah and Micah sat in the yard looking at what was left of their smoldering home. I walked up next to Lilah. I didn’t kneel down next to her because I didn’t want her to think we had much time. “I called it in,” I said. “If you don’t want to talk to law enforcement right now, I suggest we get out of here.” “What did you tell them?” she asked. “I told them I know who did it and where to find ‘em,” I said quickly, trying to keep my meaning from being obvious to Micah. “If we leave, where are we going to go?” “We could go to my place.” “The clubhouse?”

“No, my place,” I insisted. “I’ve got an apartment downtown. I just prefer to stay at HQ,” I said with a laugh.[LC7] “Is there anything else you’re not telling me, Saw?” She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. She laughed and shook her head. “Honestly? Probably,” I admitted. “But come on. It’s got two bedrooms so Micah here will have a place to sleep. But let’s get out of here and let the authorities handle everything,” I insisted. “Where are we going?” she asked again. “Follow me,” I told her. “But I want to stay home,” Micah begged. “Hey, little man, there’s not much of a place to stay here anymore is there?” I asked him. He shook his head and looked like he was going to cry again. “I know it sucks, dude, but I’ve got a pretty sweet pad where you and your mom can crash as long as you want. You like video games?”

His eyes lit up, but then he looked back at the house. “My games.” “What’s your favorite system?” I asked him. “We only had an Xbox 360,” Lilah said. “Micah, seriously? You’ll be fine at my place, man. You and I will have to play some games, okay?” He nodded again. “Alright, but let’s go ahead and get over there first. Come on, let’s get in the car.” I walked him back to the car and helped him in. “I’ll see you over there.” I looked at Lilah. “Follow me.” She nodded and wiped her eyes again with the back of her hand. It killed me to see her eyes red and puffy from crying, but I had to be strong for her and for Micah. There would be time for comforting them once we got out of the way of law enforcement. If we were there when they showed up, there were going to be questions about how I knew where to find Troy and who tied him up, stuff like that. I didn’t want to be bothered with all of that, and I didn’t want Lilah or Micah to be exposed to the details of what happened in the cabin. They didn’t need to know everything, just

that he was out of the way. We pulled into the parking deck next to my apartment building. One of the reasons I preferred staying at the clubhouse instead of at home was because I lived in one of the older buildings in town. They weren’t the nicest apartments, though they were definitely cozy. Lilah parked next to me, and I could see already that Micah had passed out on the short car ride. I got off the bike and handed her my keys with the apartment key separate from the rest, so she knew which one it was. Then, I opened the back door and grabbed Micah, picking him up over my shoulder. “You got him?” Lilah asked me, putting a hand on my arm. I smirked. “Yeah, I got him. He’s good,” I assured her. “Just get the door for me if you don’t mind.” Lilah got the door leading in from the parking deck, and we took the elevator up to the top floor. I directed to her to my door while I carried Micah behind her. He rested his head on my shoulder and put his arms around me. It warmed my heart to be accepted by her boy the way I had been so quickly, and I looked forward to being a part of his life.

Once we were inside, I walked him to the spare bedroom and lay him down. Lilah came in behind me. I stepped back and took my keys from her. “I’ll let you handle the rest,” I told her. She smiled and laughed silently as she got him ready for bed. She pulled the covers back after she’d pulled off his socks and shoes, leaving him in his jeans and shirt. I had expected her to get him out of his daytime clothes for bed, but she explained why she didn’t when she walked out of the room with me. “He’s really modest. He’d freak out in the morning if he woke up here in just his underwear,” she said. “Ah, I get it. I guess we need to get him some new pajamas tomorrow,” I told her. She put a hand on the back of my head while I was talking and pulled me to her, locking her lips onto mine. It turned me on that she was being the aggressor. She ran her other hand down between my legs and stroked me through my jeans. “Where’s your room?” she panted out as she pulled her face back from mine.

“I’ll guide you,” I said, pressing my lips against hers again. I put a hand behind her back and pressed myself against her, pushing her toward my bedroom door. She held onto my kutte, pulling me to her as she walked backward, into my room. I pushed her back against the bed, and she let herself fall back onto it. I closed my bedroom door and locked it – the first time I’d had to do that at home since I’d moved out on my own. I shrugged off my kutte and kicked off my boots. I pulled off my shirt and dropped my jeans to the floor as I walked over to her. She pulled her clothes off on the bed and spread her legs to welcome me. I climbed onto the bed and kissed her stomach. She ran her hands through my hair and guided me slowly up her body. I placed one hand next to her on the bed and touched her lightly with a finger between her legs. I spread the delicate folds of flesh apart and slid my finger between her wet lips. She arched her back as my lips moved up between her breasts and my finger entered her tight, smooth center. She sucked her breath in sharply as I slid my finger along her G-spot. Her body quaked beneath

me. I pressed my lips to her soft, pink nipple and flicked the tip of it with my tongue, hardening it into a little peak before sucking on it. She gripped me by my hair and pulled me against her chest, forcing herself deeper into my mouth. I sucked her harder, deeper into my mouth. “Oh, God, yes, Cole,” she cried out. I kissed up from her nipple to her collarbone. Then, I kissed her neck. My finger slid out of her and ran up along the ridge of her clitoris, flicking it a couple of times, gently, sending her into convulsions beneath me. She moaned and buried my face into her neck and shoulder as she rolled her hips towards me. Her lips rubbed against the tip of my head, and I gripped myself, pulling my hand away from her sex. I pushed all the way in to the base of my shaft, and she wrapped her legs around my hips holding me close to her. I moved slowly, taking measured strokes, checking her body for cues. It wasn’t just about me this time. I wasn’t just trying to get my rocks off with a hot little redhead with porcelain white skin and puffy pink nipples at

the ends of her perfect, perky tits. I was making love to a woman I wanted to claim for my own. I wanted to feel her reach her climax before I even got close to mine. With each stroke, I felt her getting closer. She moaned underneath me and held onto my shoulders with her soft touch. She tightened around my shaft as I drove it into her, trembling beneath me as I pulled out. As I felt myself growing closer, I started pumping myself into her faster, harder. She responded in kind, rolling her hips against me with each thrust, taking me deeper. I felt her growing wetter around me. She closed her legs on me, squeezing me as I entered her and pulled back. “I’m going to come, Cole,” she panted out. “God, yes. Yes!” She dug her fingers into my arms, holding on for dear life as I sent her over the edge. She shook beneath me as she whimpered, closing her eyes tight and biting her lower lip while her orgasm roared through her body. I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I erupted inside her.

“Fuck,” I cried out as I filled her with my seed. I couldn’t stop. I had already come inside her. I pumped myself into her, emptying myself completely. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down to kiss her. Our lips met, and I tasted her desire on her tongue. Her thighs quivered. Her muscles tightened around me. I began to slow down as the last few drops emptied into her. I rolled over next to her and pulled her into my arms, holding her against my chest. “I love you,” she said breathlessly, her body barely coming down from her ecstasy. “I love you, too,” I told her, kissing her forehead. We lay like that, in silence, for a long time, listening to each other’s breathing, to our hearts pounding out the same rhythm in our chests. After a few minutes, I laughed. “I guess I should unlock the door, huh?” “Yeah, probably,” she agreed.

And just like that, the moment was over. We were both up and getting dressed. I unlocked the door and walked up the hallway from my room to check on Micah. It was instinct kicking in. I peeked into the room where he was sleeping. He hadn’t moved and was sleeping soundly. I didn’t disturb him. I walked back to my room and climbed into bed with Lilah. She didn’t say anything about my checking on her son. She rolled over toward me and slid an arm around my waist, resting her head on my chest. She fell asleep with a smile on her face. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend the night than with her lying across me and her son sleeping across the hall. They were both safe, and that was all that really mattered.

Epilogue Lilah “You’re never going to guess what happened today,” Micah said as he got in the car outside the clubhouse. I let him hang out there after school when I was at work, and I’d swing by to pick him up on the way home. I never thought in a million years I’d be letting him hang out with a bunch of bikers on the wilder side of life, but they were taking such great care of my kid, I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. He was doing better in school. He seemed happier overall, and he treated people with more respect than he did before. He finally had positive male role models. His father certainly hadn’t been one. “What happened?” I asked. “I beat Q-Ball today, Mom,” he said, and I could hear in his tone that it was a huge, momentous occasion for him. “He didn’t even let me win.” Now, I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about him playing pool so well that he was able to beat QBall. I had to hope that the pool shark had gone

easy on him and had given him the win. Regardless, it was a real win for him. “Way to go, kiddo,” I congratulated him. “That’s pretty awesome.” “Thanks.” He grabbed the front of his little kidsized biker vest and adjusted it. He had his name on it – Micah the Kid – but, of course, no official MC colors. The guys named him an honorary member shortly after I started bringing him by the clubhouse almost every day. “Did you get your homework done before you played against Q today?” I asked him. “Of course,” he said. He beamed with pride. Suddenly, it sounded like everything else in the world was a piece of cake. All I could do was laugh as I drove him home to the apartment we’d been sharing with Cole for the last few months. My boy was too adorable with all his biker gear and his newfound confidence in life. The guys were good to him, and they were good for him, too. “When’s Saw going to be home?” he asked.

“You can call him Cole,” I reminded him. “No way. I’m an honorary junior member. I have to call him Saw.” He was totally serious, too, but it was fine because it was that seriousness that made him take other things seriously. “As soon as he’s done tonight,” I replied. “Man, I hope he gets home before I go to bed. I want to tell him my news. If he doesn’t make it before bed, don’t tell him, okay?” “Got it.” “Right on.” “Did you eat tonight?” I asked him as we got out of the car and started toward the building. “No, they had pizza again, so I figured I’d eat at home.” “Whoa, you turned down pizza?” I asked, laughing, as I unlocked the door for us to go in. “We have it all the time, Mom.” “I guess it does get old after a while. How about

spaghetti tonight?” It was quick and easy, and it made a lot. “Perfect. Can I play video games while you cook?” “No, you need to shower.” He whined and complained about how other kids in his class took showers in the morning instead of at night, reminding me again that no matter how serious he was about his MC participation, he was still very much a kid. I eventually got him into the shower so I could start dinner, threatening to send him to bed hungry if he didn’t let me cook. Cole made it home in time to eat with us. He walked in the door right as we were sitting down with our food. Perfect timing. “Hey, Kid,” he called out as he closed the door behind him. “Saw,” Micah shouted. If he hadn’t been eating, he would have jumped up from the table to run over and give Cole a big hug. Cole kissed me on the cheek as he walked into the kitchen to wash up and get his food. We weren’t shy about light affection in front him. I figured it

was healthy for him to understand that we were together. The three of us were a family, and the MC, of course, was our extended family. I watched the two of them play and joke at the table. They were like two kids, but when Cole switched into adult mode, it was amazing how much Micah respected him. Micah told him about winning at pool, and Cole was amazed. He even bragged to me about how much skill it took to beat Q-Ball. When dinner was over, the two of them went into Micah’s room to read a story. Cole had completely converted the room into a boy’s room. From the bedsheets to the posters and furniture, everything in there was tailored to Micah’s tastes. He had really gone out of his way to accommodate us while we stayed with him. It felt permanent, even though we hadn’t discussed it. Troy was in jail, and I had sole custody of Micah, so my old life was gone. All I had was the life I’d been living since Troy tried to take everything from me. “Man, he’s a good kid, you know that?” Cole said, coming out of Micah’s room after story time. He said the same thing almost every night.

“Yeah, he’s pretty awesome,” I told him. “But he’s got a lot of great role models to help with that, so I don’t know.” He took me in his arms on the couch in the living room and kissed me. Our lips lingered together for a moment. I put my hand up to his face and ran my fingers along the stubble from where he hadn’t shaved in a few days. “So, I want to talk to you about something,” he said after our lips parted. “Okay.” “You and Micah have been staying here for a while, and it’s been pretty nice, hasn’t it?” he asked, but he continued before I could answer. “I think it’s been pretty nice. It’s been good having the two of you here. It finally feels more like a home, you know? I don’t mind staying here now. In fact, I look forward to coming home from work every day.” “Yeah, it’s pretty good,” I said, taking the first opening I could to speak. “It’s done a lot of good for Micah. You and the rest of the MC have provided him with a lot of great experiences, and you’ve helped him grow up a lot.”

“Well, I’ve been thinking,” he said, pausing again. “Yeah?” I scooted back from him. I felt like something big was coming. He slid off the couch onto one knee on the floor, taking my hand with him. “Lilah Romero, you are the answer to so many of my hopes and dreams. I can’t begin to tell you how long I waited for you to come along. You and your son, Micah, have brought so much joy and purpose to my life. I’m not drifting aimlessly anymore. I have a reason now, beyond the MC.” I put a hand up to my face. I felt tears starting to well up in my eyes. I knew where his speech was going already. I knew what he was going to ask me, and I had to keep myself from blurting out my answer prematurely. “Lilah Romero, will you marry me?” “Oh God, yes! Yes, yes, yes!” I shouted, throwing my arms around his neck. While I squeezed his neck, I felt his arms moving. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring

box. He opened it as I sat back from the embrace, and I saw the diamond ring inside. I had no idea how he could have afforded that ring, but I knew I didn’t want any idea. He pulled it out and slid it onto my finger. It fit, and I held it up so we both could see how beautiful it was. I fanned myself as tears started to flow down my face. “So, it’s official?” I asked him, starting to laugh through my tears. “I’m going to be your old lady? Finally?” He laughed hard and pulled me into another embrace, kissing me deeply and passionately. Every time he touched me with his lips, it sent thrills throughout my body. I couldn’t help myself. I wanted him immediately. “I love you, Lilah,” he said as we parted. “And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to welcome you and your son into my life permanently, and that includes being part of the Steel Devils. We are all your family.” “If there were a way to answer with more than a yes, I would say it,” I told him. “You and the rest of the guys have been so good to us. Ever since the

first time I walked into that clubhouse.” “That’s how it’s supposed to work.” I looked at the ring again, and I wondered how we were going to explain to Micah that we were getting married. Knowing Micah and how much he already loved Cole, he would have been as excited as I was. He was probably already wondering when it was going to happen. Now, when he woke up in the morning, I’d have to share the news with him. Hopefully, all three of us would be able to sit down for the conversation. It was so good to finally feel like I had a family and a decent home for my son. Cole had no idea how much it meant to me that they were all so accepting of my son, or how awesome it was to see him light up the way he did when he saw them. I had set out several months ago to change my life and to take control of it. I had definitely done that. I had found myself an amazing man who was everything I had ever wanted and everything I never thought I would have looked for. “Now,” I said, staring into his eyes, “about that tattoo.”

THE END Thanks for reading! Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/sqou66sq56 Also, follow me on Facebook for hot content and free giveaways! https://www.facebook.com/Sophia-Gray1096596530486125/

HIS INKED BRIDE: Black Aces MC By Sophia Gray

SHE’LL BE WEARING MY RING… AND NOTHING ELSE.

She thought she could lie to me. Big mistake. I won’t rest until I punish her for her mistakes… By branding her as my bride. She wanted to pull the wool over my eyes. It almost worked, too. A pretty girl like that can have her way with most men. But the thing is, I’m not most men. I’m a different breed. Hell, I’m a different animal entirely. Others are soft. I am carved from marble. Others are weak. I’ve got blood on my hands and fire in my chest. Others would forgive her… But I’m going to bend her over, claim her as mine… And end it all with my ring on her finger. And she doesn’t get a choice in the matter.

Chapter One “You’ve got this, Janessa.” I wasn’t sure that I really did, even as I spoke the words into the mirror. I had no choice though. This is what I had signed up for. This is what I had to do to if I ever wanted to get to the truth. It hadn’t been easy to get a job at the Rockefeller Casino, but I had managed. That was only a small portion of the battle. The war would most likely be fought straight uphill, but I was ready for it. Maybe. Stepping out onto the casino floor, I looked around. It was hard to know where to start. I needed to get close to Damian Diaz, known to most simply as “D,” but I would have to pace myself. He was way too smart to not be suspicious of a new girl trying to get too close, too soon. I had come here knowing I would have to do things that weren’t in my nature, things I found distasteful. I took a deep breath and began walking about the floor. I had studied the members of the Black Aces Motorcycle Club, knew many of their faces already. There were other familiar faces as well, those men who were known to associate with them and come to the casino to do business or consort

with the girls who were employed there. Girls like me, paid to make them feel manly and appreciated. Girls paid to take care of any and all of their special needs, be they carnal or contraband in nature. I had also studied the backgrounds of the women who worked here. It gave me some insight into who to trust and who to watch. Many had come from broken homes and been in trouble all their lives. Others were just trying to make ends meet. It helped to have a heads up on what each of them was about. “Lock and load, Janessa.” The words were spoken quietly aloud to myself as I mentally prepared myself for my first night of work and the beginning of what was bound to be an uphill battle to get to the truth. A fight to bring this entire place down.

Chapter Two “You’re new here. What’s your name, doll?” I looked over at the young man who had addressed me and smiled at him invitingly. Jackpot! He was on my list. This was good. It made me happy that I was starting out with one of the major players. “Janessa Cabri. Today is my first day. What’s your name?” “They call me Jack Knife.” “Jack Knife? That’s an interesting nickname. Should I ask how you got it?” “You probably shouldn’t. Come sit with me. Maybe I’ll tell you about it later.” I joined him at his table, giving him my best doeeyed new girl look. I knew I was fresh meat, and I also knew I was just his type. He had a thing for tall brunettes with dark features, and I possessed all those features with the aid of contacts and dye. It wasn’t really a surprise that he picked me out so quickly. In fact, I had hoped for it, though I didn’t expect to get lucky on my very first night.

“Would you like me to get you a drink first?” “Nah. One of the other girls can do that. I want to look at you for a while.” His tone was seductive and that played well into my plans. I had no desire to waste any time in getting what I wanted from this place and its members. One of them killed my father even after he paid off the debt he owed to them. I had every intention of finding out which one, no matter what the personal cost. If I had to liquor up Samuel “Jack Knife” Robinson and fuck information out of him, then that was what I would do. “Like what you see?” “I sure do. Where are you from?” “Upstate. Small town girl come to the big city.” “Big switch from the country side to working in a casino.” “That’s for sure. I was bored though. Nothing ever happens out in the middle of nowhere. I’m ready for a bit of fun. You know, cut loose and let my hair down for a while. I guess you could say I’m sewing

my wild oats.” “That’s what I like to hear from a beautiful girl. I like to sew a few wild seeds myself.” “I’ll just bet you do.” The truth was that I had never seen a farm in my life. I had grown up in small town with my mother after she and my father had divorced. He was always a bit of a nomad, moving from place to place, but the one thing he never left behind was me. Though I was rarely allowed to go out with him as a child, he routinely stopped by to see me and spend time with me. Often, my mother would use to the time to go out and let her hair down for a while, her stress relief from being a single mother under harsh conditions. We lived in a bit of a shack on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks. It was all she could afford and Dad wasn’t any help other than the random amounts of money he sometimes gave her when he visited. There was never enough of anything in our house, but it was always clean and safe. My mother did the best she could, and when she died, right after my seventeenth birthday, I had gone to live with my father in a tiny, cramped apartment in the city.

I had stayed there to take care of him even after I finished high school and got an accounting degree from the local community college. He had been all I had and the Black Aces had taken him away. That was the only reason I was here and the only reason I would do whatever I had to do to make sure his death did not end up in a cold case box somewhere at the back of the local police station. If it was the last thing I ever did, I would find the truth. I just wasn’t sure that I had any clue what I was up against. Despite my initial bravado, I found that I felt a little ill at the thought of what I might have to do with Jack Knife. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy. Six foot four, broad shouldered…a very nice physique. He was well known muscle for the Black Aces MC. He got his nickname after making an example of a narc by putting him in a wheelchair with a broken back – folding him in half like a jack knife. It was pretty typical of how the Black Aces operated. They preferred to leave someone as an example rather than take them out completely. That fact made the murder of my father even more out of place for the group. Not only was he killed over a debt that was no longer due, but it wasn’t their usual style. Nothing the authorities had found

led to any information that the overzealous punishment might have been caused by something other the debt, so it didn’t make sense. I was determined that it would before I was done. It would be crystal clear why it happened and the people responsible would be punished. “Sandy, bring us some shots of tequila.” Sandy smiled at him but shot a cool look in my direction before making her way toward the bar. It was a hazard of what I was doing that I’d most likely step on the toes of a few of the other girls by putting the moves on guys they deemed their territory. For some, it was affection. For others, it was merely business. They took care of these guys, and they were taken care of, simple as that. Some of them were just as lethal as the men they served. “I don’t think she is very happy about my being here.” “Fuck her. She was getting too clingy anyway. It will do her good to see she doesn’t own me. Besides, she fucks like a crazy bitch when she’s pissed and jealous.” “Is that why you called me over? Just making things a bit more interesting with your usual girl?”

“Hell nah. She’s everyone’s usual girl. That slut’s been rode more than a retired race horse. Ain’t a guy in here that hasn’t been fucked or sucked by her.” I was quiet for a moment as Sandy dropped the drinks off. I felt almost sorry for her. She was nearing thirty with three kids by three different fathers, none of which she was absolutely sure should be on their birth certificates beyond a doubt. She looked older than her years and had a rap sheet longer than her legs. Depending on men to get ahead had only set her back in the world and she probably didn’t even realize it. “Is that all?” “Yeah, that’s all, Sandy.” I watched as she snapped around and headed for a nearby table, leaning over it seductively and smiling at the man there, one that I didn’t recognize from any of my research. It was obvious that she intended to cut her losses and replace Jack Knife with someone else, or perhaps more than one someone else. “See? I told you. Didn’t waste one single minute

locking in on another pair of legs to climb between tonight. Enough about her though. Let’s have some drinks.” “I’m all in, babe.” “That’s what I like to hear.” Jack Knife handed me a shot and held his up in a toast, clinking our glasses together before we each downed a shot. Despite my practice at holding my liquor a little better than I usually did in preparation for the heavy drinking, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fake here. It burned all the way down. I would have to start strong and then pace myself after he was a bit fuzzy to keep up appearances. Luckily, he was already way ahead of me. As the evening progressed, I was surprised that he wasn’t really getting as drunk as fast as I had thought, though he was plenty intoxicated. It was too soon to ask any questions, not from someone like him, so I had to just accept that I might not learn anything on the first go around and instead just do what I needed to in order to win his trust. Still, I tried to broach a few with him when it fit into the conversation. It quickly became obvious that he had other things in mind.

“Why don’t we blow out of this place and have a little private fun?” “I thought you’d never ask. Let me get us a room key and a bottle to go.” “My kind of girl.” I made my way to the bar for the bottle and a set of keys to one of the rooms held in reserve for the MC. All my efforts to get Jack Knife to open up without being obvious about it had proved futile. He wasn’t about to talk too much to a new girl he didn’t know. My only option was to make him feel like he knew me much better, and that was going to include fucking him in a way that would keep him coming back for more until I could get what I wanted from him.

Chapter Three “Let’s get this show on the road, sexy.” I stood in front of him with the bottle in one hand and the keys dangling from the other as I spoke, looking at him provocatively. I was pleased to see him wobble a bit as he got up from the table. He was right where I wanted him, just drunk enough to be loose-lipped, but not too drunk to be incoherent. “I’m right behind that sweet little ass of yours.” “Well, let’s just see where it leads us to, then.” We made our way to the elevators and up to the room. His hands were already all over me as I tried to get the door unlocked. I was perhaps a bit too tipsy myself as it took a few attempts to gain entry. He wasted no time at all in getting down to business once we were behind closed doors. His mouth covered mine the moment we were inside the door, kissing me roughly as he walked me backward toward the bed. I reminded myself why I was here, forcing myself not to back down, not to run from what I had to do. Dropping the bottle on the chair by the bed, I let him push me across it, his hand

already beneath my skirt, digging his fingers into my thighs greedily. “You taste so sweet. I could eat you up.” “Go ahead.” “Not just yet.” “Why not?” “I have other things in mind to start with.” He pulled me upward from the bed and stood me in front of it before turning to sit in a nearby chair to look at me. His hand drifted toward his crotch, his rapidly ascending cock already visibly pressing against his zipper as he stroked it softly through the material. “Take your clothes off for me.” He never took his eyes off mine. I did as he asked, holding his gaze as I peeled away each article of clothing, slowly, deliberately. I tossed my bra onto the bed and began slipping out of my skirt, standing before him in only my panties and stiletto heels. “Is this better?”

“Yes. Now, get down on your knees.” “What?” I wasn’t sure what he had in mind, but found myself feeling more nervous than I had anticipated. Signing up for all of this was one thing, but actually going through with it was quite another. I had planned a quick romp in the hay, not anything too involved, certainly nothing that involved being put on my knees. “Don’t question, just do as I tell you to do.” The look in his eyes spelled trouble to me. I was really not sure I could handle whatever he was about to dish out. Even worse, I found myself a little excited by that. I’d been with plenty of guys before, but I’d always been partial to the dominant sort and I was getting the impression that I was in for quite a bit of roughness with Jack Knife. I just hoped he knew where the line was between pleasure and pain. “I don’t think . . .” “You aren’t supposed to think. Just do what I ask. Trust me and do as I ask.”

His voice was firm, authoritative. I was getting wetter just thinking about what he might do and I chastised myself for being so excited about fucking him. This could very well be the man who killed my father, and I had come here to bring justice about, not get my rocks off with some biker thug. Call it instinct, but there was something that told me he wasn’t my guy. Still, it didn’t mean he knew nothing about it. I felt incredibly awkward and uncomfortable, but I went along with it, doing as he asked. Looking up at him, mostly naked and kneeling in front of him, I watched as he stood, reaching into his vest and brought out a pair of leather bracelets. As I got a better view of them, I realized that they were joined by a chain. Dear Lord, they are handcuffs, I thought. I had read about stuff like this, but it wasn’t something I had considered or thought would appeal to me. Still, I had already come too far to back out now, so I remained silent while he leaned over me to pull my hands behind my back and slip them onto my wrists. I felt both frightened and erotically charged as he walked back around me and started removing his belt. That’s when the alarms went off in my head and I opened my mouth in protest.

“You aren’t planning on using that on me?” “Not at the moment, but you’ll need to behave or I might have to reconsider. His tone had a bemused, menacing sound to it that I wasn’t sure I liked very much. Surely he was kidding. I should have gotten him drunker before we came here. I was never going to get anything out of him. Instead, I was about to get a lot more than I had expected and I wasn’t sure it was in a good way. “Jack Knife, I am not very comfortable with what is happening.” “You wanted to be with me. This is me. This is what I like. I want you to obey me. Can you do that?” His face was only inches from mine as he spoke the words. My heart beat wildly in my chest as my mind raced out of control alongside it. I had to admit I was partially excited by it. The thought of just handing myself over to him to do as he pleased, within reason, was hot, but how far was I willing to let him go and how far would he take it? I nodded uncertainly, looking down at the floor.

“Then I will require you to do everything I tell you. Okay?” He reached forward with his large hands, pulling my chin up and forcing me to maintain eye contact with him as I answered a bit breathlessly. “Don’t look down. You are to look up at me and do what I say. Do you understand?” “Yes.” My voice cracked a bit as I answered. He had to be able to see the fright in my eyes. A smile crossed his face. The knowledge that my fear excited him that much more only made me warier of what was happening. I could only hope this didn’t go horribly, horribly wrong for me. “Yes, sir. It is always yes, sir.” I found his hand suddenly around my neck, not exerting any serious pressure, but firmly holding onto me, letting me know that he was in charge. I felt a surge of pure fear pass through me as he reached between my legs, grabbing a handful of the material that made up my panties and yanking them free of me. I continued to look up at him, waiting to

see what he had planned for me next. “Yes, sir.” He let go of my throat and stepped back, letting what was left of my panties fall to the floor. I swallowed hard as I watched him begin to unzip his pants and let them drop to the floor, along with his boxer briefs. There was a good reason Jack Knife was an alpha male. He had the equipment to back it up. I tried not to stare at the sheer girth of his cock, but it was right in my face and difficult to miss. “Have you ever sucked a cock this big?” “No. I mean, no, sir.” “Well, I think it is time you had the pleasure,” he told me, sliding the heavy mushroomed head across my lips. “Open your mouth. Suck on the tip.” I did as I was told, following his instructions as he taught me exactly how and where he wanted to be tasted. I was outside of myself again, pretending this was happening with someone else, someone who meant something to me. I denied the parts of me that were enjoying the way he hardened against my mouth as I flicked my tongue back and forth along the throbbing vein underneath, feeling it

pulsating wildly each time I touched it. “Open wider.” He grabbed my hair and tilted my head back as he slid further and further into my open orifice. I lost all control as he took over, plunging deeply into the back of my throat as I struggled to breathe and maintain rhythm with his deep thrusts, fucking my mouth roughly as he groaned loudly with each stroke. I could feel him well down into my tonsils as he pushed deeper into my mouth with each stroke. His hands were on either side of my head, guiding me, using me for his pleasure. I knelt in place, cuffed and at his mercy as he pulsated thickly against my tongue. I felt dirty, and not a sexy kind of it, but that cheap, used dirty you feel when you are being treated like an object rather than a woman. I had no doubt that it was exactly how he wanted me to feel. He seemed to last forever, enjoying fucking my mouth ruthlessly until he could hold back no longer. Pushing against the back of my throat, he exploded a heavy stream of cum. I struggled to swallow it all, trying to push him away to relieve the pressure of having his thickness packed against my tonsils.

“You are a very good girl, and I’m pleased with you.” I gasped for breath as he pulled free of me, looking down at me quietly. “Thank you, sir.” I was no longer sure how I felt about what had just happened. This was not how I had imagined this playing out. I had expected him to just fuck me and then keep plying him with drinks in bed until he was drunk enough to be a bit loose-tongued. Now he had the upper hand, and I had to get it back. Otherwise, I was relegating myself to endless sessions of being ordered onto the floor to pleasure him while being cuffed. “I’m going to take your cuffs off for now. I want you to go sit on the bed and wait for me there.” “Yes, sir.” I wasn’t sure if I was to keep that up now that we were done with our little role playing encounter or not. I waited patiently for him to remove the cuffs and began picking up my clothes to get dressed. Maybe I could sort all of this out in my head while

he was gone wherever he was going. I was caught off guard when he stopped me. “No clothes. I want you naked and waiting for me when I return. Finish undressing.” I looked at him for a moment and then lay the clothes across a nearby chair, adding my panties and heels to the pile, before walking to the bed wearing nothing and sitting down to ponder what might happen next. I sat there for almost an hour, hugging a pillow for warmth and considering getting beneath the covers. When he finally returned, he merely sat down and said nothing for a few moments, then turned toward me. “Did you enjoy that, Janessa?” ‘I don’t know.” It was about as close to honest as I knew to be. There was some level of excitement, but I wasn’t really able to say I had found it enjoyable to be treated like a common whore. “You either did or you didn’t.” “I did. I enjoyed pleasing you. I’m just not used to being treated that way.”

“It doesn’t fit the pretty little picture you had in your head of what lovemaking is supposed to be.” “No, it didn’t.” “Sex should be about feeling free, removing your boundaries, feeling free to do whatever you want with one another without fear of judgement or abandonment. I enjoyed taking you like that, watching you struggle to take all of me in your mouth. I like that you enjoyed giving me pleasure.” “It frightened me. I’ve never given anyone that kind of control, and I hardly know you.” “I know, but isn’t that part of the thrill? Being a little frightened by what you find sensual? Tell me something, Janessa. Were you afraid of me when I had my hand wrapped tightly around your throat?” “I was.” “Why?” “Because I knew you could cut off my breath at any moment, and I might not recover,” I told him. “Then why didn’t you ask me to move it? Why

didn’t you tell me it frightened you?’ “I didn’t want you to stop. I liked it, and somewhere deep down I knew you wouldn’t go too far.” “Exactly. I think you were not frightened by what I did, but by the fact that you liked it. If left to your own ideas, you will live a life with men who don’t truly excite you. The sex will be so vanilla you will lose all taste for it. Let me guide you to a different place, Janessa. Let me give you what you need, what you truly crave.” “Yes, sir.” I was shaking all over, whether from fear, the chill in the air or both, I wasn’t sure, but I knew that I wanted what Jack Knife was offering. Sexual liberation. There was no reason that what I was doing here had to be mutually exclusive from enjoying the sex, was there? The answer came to me in a flash. Getting attached to one particular biker might net me some benefits in gaining his confidence, but it would keep me from pursuing others. “Good girl. Now, I want to watch you touch yourself. Turn so that you are facing me as I sit in

the chair across from the bed open your legs toward me while you finger fuck yourself. I bit my lip, looking at him nervously for a moment before finally doing as he asked. I felt awkward at first. I barely touched myself when I was alone, much less in front of someone. My hands drifted across my breasts, my nipples hard and aching. Slipping my hand between my legs, I found that my excitement was already evident in the moisture creating dew on my pussy lips. I touched myself a bit timidly. “Close your eyes for a moment. Pretend I’m not here and touch yourself like you would if no one was watching.” I did as he said, letting my legs fall open so that I was fully exposed to him as my fingers slid into my center, massaging my dripping folds and rubbing my throbbing clit as he watched. The sensations took over as I shut out everything around me and allowed myself to become completely immersed in my own pleasure, bringing myself to several small orgasms before culminating in one so powerful my bodily rocked violently with its force. “That was beautiful. I adore how you bite your lips as you tease yourself.”

I found his eyes on mine as I looked up at him from where I was on the bed. Though he wasn’t touching himself, I could see the sizeable bulge was once again visible against his pants and felt happy that he had gotten so excited watching me and listening to my moans as I came. “Thank you, sir.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do now. I started to close my legs, drawing my hand back upward across my belly. I was surprised when he told me to stop. “No, leave your legs open for a moment. I want you to slip your fingers inside of yourself and then suck them clean.” “I’ve never tasted myself before.” “You are about to. Do as I asked you to do, Janessa.” “Yes, sir.” I followed his order. My taste was very much different from his. He had been salty when he came in my mouth earlier, but my own taste was sweet,

creamy. It wasn’t foul like I had thought it would be, and I wondered why I had never considered tasting myself before. It wasn’t as if I was prudish or inexperienced. I just never had considered it as being erotic. “Now, slip your fingers back inside and bring them to me so that I can taste.” I did as I was told, approaching his chair and offering them to him. I watched as he licked each of my cum-coated fingers clean and smiled down at me. I knew he was pleased with me and on some weird level I was glad that he was. I knew it didn’t make sense that I could separate enjoying sex with him from who he was and what he stood for, but I seemed to be able to do so. I supposed it was how good women involved with bad men coped with what their lovers really were. “What do you want me to do now?” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing and was beginning to feel more awkward than aroused, but Jack Knife was quick to bring me back into his carnal fold. “What would you like to do?”

“I want you, sir.” “You want me to what?” “I want you to make love to me, Sir.” “Is that really what you want? Tell me the truth, Janessa. I know how turned on you are right now. I can see how much your eyes have darkened with desire. It’s not the look of a woman who wants to be gently laid on the bed and romanced.” I sucked in my breath for a moment, building my courage. Exhaling quickly and saying the words before I chickened out. This was all new and unexpected, but it might never happen again. I might as well enjoy it to the fullest. “I want you to fuck me, sir.” “Fuck you how?” “I want to ride you. I would to feel your enormous cock buried deep inside me, sir.” “Then take what you want. You have my permission.” He held his arms out as if to leave himself open to

me, waiting to see what I would do with his invitation. I wordlessly began undressing him, not bothering to take my time. I felt like a wild animal in heat, primed and ready to take my pleasure how I saw fit. I didn’t bother fully removing his pants, just letting them drop around his ankles as I mounted him, letting him impale me as I dropped down onto his thick cock and began pumping up and down. His hands found their way to my hips, pulling me down onto him harder and harder each time as we both grunted and moaned loudly into the quiet of the room around us. His thumb found my clit, rubbing it vigorously as he drove into me furiously, sending me into multiple orgasms that ripped through my body. It was so intense I thought I might pass out. I cried out as his teeth sank into my flesh, biting one of my nipples and then the other as I rode him violently to orgasm after orgasm. By the time he joined me, filling me once again with his own bliss, I was spent, collapsing against him for a moment until he finally pulled me free of me and slid his fingers inside of my now tender pussy, placing them inside my mouth to let me experience the way our juices tasted mixed together.

“That was fucking beautiful.” “Yes, sir. It was.” “Why don’t you get us a couple more drinks?” Climbing off of him, I made my way to the mini bar, preparing drinks and returning to hand him one. I had made sure to use most of the tequila in his and very little of it in mine. The part of my brain that was supposed to be here for one reason had suddenly kicked back in and was right back on track, even with my pussy still throbbing from the incredible way he had fucked me.

Chapter Four “You were fucking off the charts hot last night. Let’s go down and get something to eat. Then I’ll take you home.” I looked at Jack Knife as he stirred in the bed, propping up on the pillow to look at me. We had fallen asleep for a while before waking for another mind-blowing round of sex that had left me panting for breath. He might be a bad guy, but he was insanely good when it came to sex. “Sure. Just let me shower.” “No. I like smelling your pussy when it’s still dripping with my cum.” “I don’t have any panties. You tore them off. Remember?” “Even better, I can slip my fingers in and get a bit of a taste of you here and there during our meal.” “You are a very bad boy, Jack Knife.” “You ain’t seen nothing yet. Last night was just a small taste of what is in store for you if you stick

with me. I have a lovely little place that we can go and play.” “I’ll look forward to future rounds, then.” “So will I. Get dressed, and let’s get out of here. I have things to do today.” “Alright. Let me at least freshen up, and I’ll meet you downstairs, okay?” “Sounds good. Don’t keep me waiting too long.” I breathed a sigh of relief as he left the room. I didn’t have much time or he would get suspicious. I stood looking at myself in the bathroom mirror for a long while before brushing my hair and washing off in the sink. Shower might have to wait, but I needed to at least clean myself off a bit. I felt dirtier than I had ever been in my life and it went far beyond personal hygiene. Walking out of the room, I was surprised to find myself face to face with none other than D, walking down the hallway with a petite blonde in tow. It was obvious that she had been crying as she trailed behind him and I made a note to get to know her a bit better. Perhaps she was just another one of the girls and upset about something unrelated, but if

she was close enough to D for him to cause her emotional turmoil, she might be a weak link that I could exploit to get to him. “What are you doing up here alone?” It took a moment to realize he was talking to me. His voice was stern, commanding. Despite his young age, barely twenty-six and only a year older than myself, he was a powerful man. His tone was foreboding and I found that I was a bit nervous just talking to him directly. “I was just going down to meet Jack Knife for breakfast.” “Get a move on, then.” “Okay.” It was a weak reply, but I found it was all I could manage. I hastily made my way downstairs. The last thing I needed to do was garner the wrong kind of curiosity from him. I knew that seeming threatening in any way to the MC could get me tossed out without a second chance or worse. The only way to stay and play was to keep my head down.

Chapter Five “What’s up with the chick you were with last night?” I arrived just in time to hear the conversation between D and Jack Knife. I hesitated, holding my plate from the breakfast buffet they served at the casino in one hand and debating what to do with myself. I didn’t want to interrupt. In fact, I wanted to hear what was said. I was just afraid to be noticed eavesdropping. “The new girl? Janessa? She’s hot. Very cool. We had a nice chat.” “Chatting? Is that what you call it these days?” “Yeah.” Jack Knife laughed and glanced up, seeing me frozen nearby. He smiled at me and motioned me over. “Come on, babe. You aren’t bothering anything.” D turned just as I took a step forward, his eyes narrowing. Jack Knife might have taken my

hesitation as just being uncertain whether to interrupt, but it was clear from the look on D’s face that he suspected more was afoot. He was no fool, and I couldn’t help but be afraid that I was way out of my league in thinking I could take him down. “Didn’t realize you were standing there.” “I was just bringing my food to the table. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I waited.” “Looks that way, anyway.” The implication wasn’t missed as I met his gaze. Looking away would only make me look guilty of something, and I had hardly gathered enough information about anything at all to get yanked out of here so quickly. “We met in the hallway earlier. I’m Janessa.” “I know who you are. No one comes in this club without my say so. Just do what you were hired to do and don’t give me, or you, a reason to regret my letting you in.” “Come on, D. She just got here yesterday. Give her a minute or two to settle in before you bust her chops.”

D smiled slowly and looked over at him before turning back toward me. He gave me a once over, taking in my body as if he was assessing my worth at a cattle auction. To men like D, I was a commodity to be traded or used. “Sit down. Eat your food. Welcome to the Black Aces.” “Thank you.” I sat down across from Jack Knife with my plate as D wordlessly left, exiting into a backroom where I noted he often went. I could only assume it was the private quarters the club kept in the casino for doing the real business that the casino masked. My hope was to make it into that inner sanctum very soon. “I’m going to head up to the bay after we eat. I need to handle some club business. I’ll drop you off at your place on the way and then see you back for your shift tonight.” I noted that it wasn’t a question, but a statement. It seemed that I was already becoming the property of Jack Knife, and I still wasn’t certain that it was a good idea. Then again, it might be a great one. This

was all too new to me to know if I was doing it right. Jack Knife was close to D and that just might get me close to him too. Whether it be directly or just by virtue of knowing what Jack Knife knew once I gained his trust. “Sounds good.” “There are some important people coming in tonight. People D wants to have a really good time. I’m going to give you some party favors for them, but they can go to the other girls if they want to get laid. I’ve got plans for you.” “What sort of plans?” “The kind that are putting that huge smile on your face right now. I thought we would skip the room tonight and go back to my place. I have a few things there you’re going to really enjoy.” “I’ll just bet you have.” I was a little frightened at the prospect of being outside the casino with him, but I told myself it would be fine. There seemed to be a thoughtful side to him, despite his dominant proclivities in the bedroom and his brutish work habits. I really didn’t think I had to worry about him hurting me. We

finished our breakfast making small talk and then left together on his hog. “This is where you live?” He was surveying the tiny little house I had rented for next to nothing. The paint was peeling and most of the fence was on the ground or in disrepair. “Yeah. It’s not much, but it will do until I get on my feet.” “Rough neighborhood.” “It can be. Thanks for the lift. I will see you later this evening.” “You sure will.” I had rented the house more than a year ago when I first started planning my infiltration of the Black Aces MC. I couldn’t risk it being found out that I lived in a suburb on the nicer side of town. I’d gone through some rather seedy channels to get fake identification and rented the place with cash. Anyone checking into my background would hit some dead ends that I planned to explain with a violent ex. Oldest story in the books to be hiding out from some maniac you used to bang.

I suspected that D had already checked out my story to a large extent, and I had covered my tracks just as far as possible in hopes that he wouldn’t take it too far. There was only so much I could do without full police backing. I had one DEA officer in my corner who wanted the Black Aces as much as I did. He was my sole contact and hadn’t been very thrilled about what I insisted upon doing either, but he would do what he could to help me as needed. The first thing I did was take the longest shower of my life. Though a part of me had enjoyed the sexual encounter with Jack Knife, I still felt like some sort of whore that had taken up work in a local brothel. I supposed it was something I’d have to get used to in order to get through this, but I just didn’t see how I ever could. The worst of it was that I knew I might well have to sleep with more than just him to fit in. After my shower, I went into my closet and pulled loose a board beneath a stack of shoe boxes that hid it from sight. I removed the journal there and made some notes about my observances from my first day. There wasn’t a lot to say of any worth just yet, but I didn’t want to forget anything. Perhaps something that didn’t seem important now might be

at a later time. I felt exhausted from a lack of sleep and didn’t see getting any tonight either, so I headed to my bed. I woke up to the sound of someone beating on the door. “Janessa?” His voice sounded angry. I glanced at my clock. I had only been asleep for an hour and Jack Knife was already back. Immediately I was on edge. Something was wrong. My instinct was to run, just get out the back door and keep going. It took all of my will power to walk to the door and open it without showing the panic that I felt. “What’s going on? I wasn’t expecting you back until time to go to work.” “Get in. Close the door.” I did as he said, watching as he pushed the door closed and locked it. Now, I was really scared. This didn’t feel good at all. Had he found me out somehow? Perhaps he or D had done a little more digging than I had expected. I braced myself for the worst. “I thought you had business to take care of.”

“I did take care of it. Now, I need to lay low for a bit. My bike is parked around back in the alley, so it can’t be seen from the street.” “Okay. I was sleeping. I didn’t get much of that last night.” I looked at him suggestively, playing my cards the way I needed to. He smirked and ran a single finger down the side of my face, letting it trace softly along the tops of my breasts that were exposed above the spaghetti strapped pajama top I was wearing. “I didn’t get much sleep either. Some little vixen kept me awake most of the night.” “I suppose you could take a nap with me, then.” “Best idea I’ve heard all day.” He followed me to the bedroom, stripping down to just his boxer briefs as I climbed into bed. Slipping beneath the covers beside me, I expected that he would make a move to have sex again, instead he kissed me on the cheek and pulled me close, letting me lay my head on his shoulder. I fell back asleep almost immediately.

Chapter Six “God, you are incredible.” His voice woke me, along with the heated kisses across my stomach. My shirt was pushed upward to reveal the sensitive flesh beneath and exposing the lower halves of my breasts. Once again, his hand was around my throat, holding me in place, reminding me who was in control. I no longer felt tired. Instead I felt hot and hungry. I wanted him to just take me again like he had the night before, but the alarm sounding reminded me that it was time to get up. “You naughty boy. I’ve got to get ready for work.” “But you smell so delicious.” “You’ll just have to wait until later.” “I don’t have to wait for anything.” His grip tightened just a little around my throat. It unnerved me just a bit, but he sighed and let go. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh, yes. You certainly will.” “Let me get dressed, and we’ll go. Okay?” “Alright. Care if I watch the TV?” “Not at all. Remote is on the coffee table.” I began getting ready while he made his way to the living room sofa, still talking to me through the open bedroom door. “This place is a lot nicer inside than it is outside. Must have dropped a lot more money on the décor than the rent.” “Not really. Just good at finding bargains. Thrift shops, sales, stuff like that.” “You didn’t get this flat screen at a thrift shop.” “Actually, I got it from an ad. Some rich guy that bought a bigger one and needed this one out of his way. He sold it for cheap to me.” “I’ll just bet he did after he got a load of those great tits of yours.” “Flattery will get you everywhere.”

I walked into the living room and picked up my purse as he looked up at me and let out a low whistle. I had dressed provocatively just to get the right kind of attention from him and anyone else who I might feel the need to talk up. I had my long hair down and tousled about loosely. My tits were packed into a leather corset with strings that allowed just a peek at them through the center. My short skirt was met just beneath the hem by a pair of thigh-high patent leather boots. I had to admit, I looked pretty hot. “Damn. You make me wait and then come out here looking like that? Now I just want to rip it all off, and throw you across the back of the sofa to pile drive that sweet little pussy of yours.” “Just hold that thought. We’ll have plenty of time for all that later.” “I guess I don’t have a choice. Hope you have on panties. Going to be a little brisk on the back of the bike.” “Might not be everyone would appreciate being flashed on the road either.” “I wouldn’t mind it at all, but that is a good point.

Let’s get out of here and get you to work. Can’t have D getting pissy with you on your second day.” “Sure can’t.” There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but to do so too soon would only ensure that I was suspect to him. I would have to just wait until he opened up. I had spent a year getting ready for this, no need getting in a hurry now and blowing it. If nothing else, perhaps being with Jack Knife would ensure that I didn’t have to sleep with anyone else for information.

Chapter Seven The casino was already bustling when we arrived and Jack Knife was quickly pulled into the back room to talk to D, who looked me up and down with what seemed like a bit of interest mixed with suspicion. I didn’t miss how his eyes lingered on my cleavage, but he quickly walked away once he had Jack Knife’s attention. “I’ll be back in a while. Just do your thing.” “That’s what I’m here for.” “Just keep that sweet ass of yours out here on the floor. I’ve got plans for it later tonight.” “I can hardly wait.” Once he was gone, I checked in with the bartender and made a round through the casino with my tray. Across the room, I spotted another Black Ace who I recognized as Arthur, one of the older members of the group. He had done a stretch in Attica for killing a gang member who had scratched his bike but had been released after some evidence mysteriously disappeared before his appeal.

“Can I get you a drink?” “Well, hello, pretty lady. How about you just bring me a bottle of Jack and a shot glass?” “I will be right back with that.” “Maybe make it two shot glasses.” “Even better.” I flashed him my wickedest grin and walked away provocatively, letting my ass sway from side to side a little more than usual as I moved. I knew he was watching and I wanted his undivided attention. Retrieving the bottle and glasses from the bar, I noted that he watched me as I made my way across the room again. Almost two thirds of a bottle later, I had him talking effortlessly. “D doesn’t know half the shit that goes down in this place. He thinks he had these guys all scared of him and that is true for some, but not all. There are a few rogues in the bunch.” “Are you a rogue?” “I’m just an observer. I don’t pick sides. I watch, and I keep it to myself. Only way to survive with

people like this.” “People like this?” “Ruthless people. Cut you for looking at their old lady or saying the wrong thing if they think you are a threat.” “D is okay with that kind of behavior?” “D only knows the half of it. He forbids killing unless it is an absolute necessity, but some folks in this club seem to have a varying opinion of what that means.” “I thought he knew everything that went down here, that it was only allowed if he gave the go ahead.” “You thought wrong.” “Sounds like it.” “Enough talk. Let’s go upstairs and fuck.” “You really know how to charm a lady.” “Don’t I?”

“I am going to have to say no today. I’ve got to hang around down here until Jack Knife comes back.” “Jack Knife, huh? Good luck with that one.” “What do you mean?” He got up and walked away wordlessly. I knew that what I had gotten from him was most likely as much as I would get without doing him, and I just wasn’t willing to go there with the likes of him. I had told the truth though. I was sort of on reserve to Jack Knife for the night. “Where is Jack Knife?” The question caught me off guard as I turned to see D standing behind me, looking a bit perturbed. I couldn’t help but notice the way his eyes narrowed at me, as if I had something to do with the fact that he couldn’t locate him. “I don’t know. Last I saw him, he left with you for some sort of discussion.” “We were done with that hours ago.” “Then I don’t know. He told me he would be back

when he was done, but I haven’t seen him yet.” “Done with what?” “I don’t know. I assumed the discussion he was having with you.” “Shit.” I watched as he turned and left without saying anything else. I had thought that Jack Knife’s extended absence was due to having been sent on some errand by D, an errand I hoped he would tell me about when he got back. It seemed the shepherd had lost one of his sheep. As the night passed and it became time for me to go home, there was still no sign of him. Instead, I saw D walking toward me, looking angry. “Come on. I’m taking you home.” “Why? Where is Jack Knife?” “Don’t worry about him. Get your things.” I gathered my purse from behind the bar and followed him out to his bike, anxiously climbing on behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist. I hoped he couldn’t feel my heart beating

against his back. That was just how hard it was thudding against my chest. I wasn’t surprised that he needed no directions to know where I lived. It was just confirmation that he had checked me out carefully before hiring me. Of course, it was obviously not careful enough. “I’m coming in.” I looked at him as he killed the motor and I stepped off the bike. Why was he coming in? Maybe he just wanted to confirm that I wasn’t hiding Jack Knife or wanted to get a better look at the place. Whatever the case, it made me nervous. I wasn’t expecting Jack Knife to be there, though I supposed he could have let himself in. I didn’t know why he would have without telling me though. “Okay. Is there something wrong? Should I be afraid for some reason?” “Afraid of what?” “I don’t know. I just feel like there is something you aren’t telling me.” “There is a lot I’m not telling you, but it doesn’t mean you are unsafe.”

I didn’t reply to the sarcasm, instead focusing on opening the front door. He pushed past me the moment it was open, looking around as I followed in behind him. As I shut the door and dropped my purse on the table just inside it, I found him quickly circling back to push me up against the wall, my wrists pinned to either side of my head. “Who are you?” “What do you mean?” This was it. He knew. He knew and I was going to be badly hurt or worse. “You aren’t Janessa Cabri. Tell me why I hit a dead end when I tried to get a little further into your background.” “I had to run. I paid a man for fake documents to give me a chance at a new life away from my abusive boyfriend.” His eyes narrowed again, taking in the fear in my eyes. It could easily be mistaken for being a result of the way he was manhandling me when I had previously been abused, at least that is what I hoped he would see. I was relieved when he let go of my wrists and took a step back.

“What happened?” “He tried to kill me. Look!” I pulled up my shirt and showed him the long jagged gash along my side. I had actually gotten it during a really bad car accident when a bottle broken during the crash had cut me as it passed by, but it was hopefully enough evidence to stop him from asking questions. I had practiced answers for just this situation, but I didn’t want to get tripped up due to nervousness now that the time had come. He reached forward and ran his finger along the scar, admiring it as if it was some sort of battle wound between soldiers. “Broken bottle? I have one similar.” “Yes. He was drunk and pissed…thought it would be a good idea to come after me with the bottle he smashed against the bricks on our patio. He was aiming for my neck but stumbled and caught my side as I tried to run.” He nodded knowingly and seemed to relax a bit. He looked around again at the place and back at me. “Pretty nice place. I was expecting something a

little shabbier in this neighborhood.” “I’m a great bargain shopper. Big taste, little wallet.” “You’ve done a good job.” “I’ve done what I could. Listen, since you are here, would you like something to drink?” “Just some water. I try to keep my senses about me when I have problems on my hands.” “Problems?” “Jack Knife is missing. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t here, which he doesn’t seem to be, but now I have to find him.” “Why do you think he is missing? Couldn’t he have just gone off to do something?” “Not without me knowing. I always know where my guys are or they answer their phones when I call to find out. I’ve been calling him for hours with no response.” “May be a reasonable explanation.”

I walked to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of water, watching as he turned it up and guzzled it all down before handing the empty bottle back to me. “Thanks. I was parched. I’m going to get going. If he happens to come by here, don’t tell him I am looking for him. Just slip me a text message. Okay?” “I will.” I hurriedly dead bolted the door behind him as he left, leaning against the door to breathe. I felt like I had been holding my breath the entire time he was in my living room. My heart still raced, but was now beginning to settle down. At least it seemed he had bought the whole violent ex story. Hopefully it was enough to keep him from trying to dig further again. It probably hadn’t hurt to have the discussion while he had other things on his mind. I pulled out my journal from its hiding spot and made some notes, then opened the burner phone I had bought just for phone calls to my DEA contact. “Jeremiah, it’s me. I just wanted to touch base.” “Good that you did, Janessa. I was getting a little

antsy.” “I got into the club okay. Found out a few things, but nothing of major consequence. It seems that there are some rogue members in the club that D doesn’t know about and now his lynchpin man, Jack Knife, is missing.” “Missing?” “Yeah, D is looking for him. That is all I know right now.” “What about these rogue members? Who are they?” “I don’t know yet. One of the elders got a little drunk and mouthy and told me, but no details. I’ll have to keep digging.” “Okay. I’ll see if any of my contacts can turn up anything from this end on either subject. Just be careful, Janessa.” “I will be. Bye.” “Bye.” Tucking everything safely back into its hiding spot,

I went to shower. I contemplated what might have happened to Jack Knife. He had been worried about something when he had come by before, but I had no idea what. Should I have told D about that? And if I told him now, would it seem odd that I had held it back? I decided it was best to stay as clear of the situation as possible.

Chapter Eight “Janessa, come here.” I had barely made it back into the casino when D was calling out to me from the door that led to the club’s private area. I tried not to look nervous as I walked toward him. Was it about Jack Knife, or had he decided to dig into my past again, after all? “Yes, D?” “Come inside.” I smiled at him, trying to appear casual, as I stepped into the doors and he closed them behind me, waving me over to a chair that sat at a long wooden table among many others. I assumed this was where club meetings took place. A round table, of sorts. “Is something wrong?” “Yes. Quite a bit is wrong. I still can’t find Jack Knife. Have you heard from him?” “No. Not a word.” “You were upstairs with him the other night. Did he

tell you anything that might be useful?” “Tell me anything? No. I honestly don’t really know him very well. You know I just started here and I was only with him the one night and for a bit the next day.” “He took you home after breakfast. Did he stay?” “No. He said he had business to take care of and he left.” “What time did he pick you back up for work?” I looked at him, a bit puzzled. How did he know that Jack Knife had brought me to work? I didn’t have to wonder long. It was if he was reading my mind. “There are cameras everywhere here, Janessa. I see anything that happens in the parking decks and the casino. Eyes cover other places.” “He came back a few hours after he dropped me off. Said something about needing to lay low for a bit. We slept until it was time for me to get ready for work and then he brought me back here. I was supposed to go home with him after my shift ended, but he never turned up.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that last night?” “I didn’t think about it. I figured whatever he was doing or had done was club business and you already knew about it.” “No. I didn’t send him out to do anything yesterday. You sure he didn’t mention what it was?” I could see the wheels turning in D’s head. I had done the right thing by telling him. It would win points in my favor that I had told him rather than Jack Knife turning up and mentioning it when I had not. “No reason for him to tell me anything like that.” “I suppose that’s right. Okay. You can get back out to the floor.” I nodded and left the room, feeling a bit shaky now that I was away from him. D had a presence about him that I couldn’t quite describe. He was powerful, yet there seemed to be something a bit vulnerable under the surface. He frightened me and made me want to hold him all at the same time. I found it hard to believe he was the kind of man

who would have killed my father, but I couldn’t lose sight that I might be wrong. The rest of my shift went without incident. I spent most of it with a VIP the club had brought in for a bit of fun. He was all hands, touching my legs and brushing against my tits. I found it all distasteful, but I smiled and dealt with it. I knew he was going to want to go upstairs, so I made sure he had plenty to drink. With any luck, he would pass out before I had to do anything more than be fondled. He wasn’t someone who could tell me anything, but it would look bad if I didn’t do as expected of me. “Doll, you think you can get me some candy and meet me upstairs in my room? Number 408.” “Sure. Give me just a few minutes.” “Candy” was code for blow. I had been well versed in the fact that I was expected to smuggle in and provide drugs to certain guests and club members. I had a secret compartment in my purse, one that my DEA friend had given me from their confiscation room. Jack Knife had already provided me with the goods. I retrieved my bag, along with another bottle of scotch and made my way to the elevator. “Where are you going?”

“Upstairs. Special invitation from the guest in 408.” “No. That slime ball can get coked up with someone else. Hold on.” I found myself being pulled by the elbow from the elevator doors back into the lobby. D looked around and spotted a girl who was similar to me in appearance. “What are you doing?” “Just be quiet.” He turned back toward the girl and called out to her. “Hey, Amy. Come here.” I watched as she walked toward him, a huge smile on her face. No doubt she thought she was about to get lucky with D. I couldn’t blame her, but tonight wouldn’t be her best night. “Room 408. Take the bottle and a bag of candy up there and do whatever makes him happy.” I saw the smile fade quickly and the light dim in her eyes. She gave me a nasty look as she took the bottle from me and walked quietly over to the elevator.

“She doesn’t seem very happy with that.” “She will be fine after she has a few lines up her nose. Nothing excites her more than free coke. Come on.” I followed him across the floor toward the exit. Rather than getting onto his bike, I was surprised when we passed it and he opened the door to a silver Lexus instead, motioning for me to get in. I did so and leaned back in the seat, not sure what was happening or if I should be worried about being taken out of the casino by him, but I didn’t dare ask where we were going. The city lights seemed to fly by as D roared up the highway and headed out of town. The further away from the lights they got, the more nervous I became. It was like being on an emotional roller coaster. One minute I felt safe and the next I was terrified by what he might have discovered. What he would do to me if he found out who I really was or why I was there. My anxiety skyrocketed as we pulled off the main highway and onto a deserted side road. There seemed to be nothing here as we drove further and further, passing through groves of trees on either side until we reached a small cabin. What was this

place? No one seemed to live here. “Where are we?” “You’ll see soon enough.” His response did nothing to reduce my distress, but I tried to appear unaffected. After all, I was just a girl working at his club and had no reason for concern. If I appeared nervous, it went against everything I was supposed to be and that would definitely send up red flags. Still, I tensed as he opened the door and flipped on the light switch. Everything was covered in plastic, and I mean everything. “Why are we here?” I tried my best to keep my voice even and sound curious, rather than terrified. “This is where Jack Knife does some of his best work. I thought maybe he had holed up here with someone.” “Why did you bring me here?” “I don’t know. I just felt like the company.” I doubted that was the truth, but I was in no position to argue. There was no other reason I

could think of that he would have brought me here. He had not known me long enough to trust me with club secrets and yet, here I was standing in some cabin that sounded like it might be where they brought people for some decidedly unpleasant business. My entire body seized tightly as I realized that this might be the place where my father had died. The reports said he had been killed in one place and dumped in another. Could his dying thoughts have occurred on this shitty plastic-covered furniture in this old cabin? The thought made me ill and before I could get a grip on myself, I suddenly ran out the door and leaned over the railing, dry heaving. I was shaking all over as I tried to gather myself. “Are you okay?” D was suddenly behind me, looking confused by my reaction. I had to think quick or I might have to over explain things. “I’m sorry. Too much to drink. Too little to eat, I guess.” “Get back in the car and lean back. I need to look around for just a minute and we will go get you something to eat.”

“Okay. I’m sorry.” “Not a problem. I could stand some grub myself. Don’t throw up in my car!” “I won’t.” I sat in the car, calming down. It was a real effort to put the thoughts that I might have just stood in the cabin where my father was killed out of my head. I made a note to pay more attention when we left to how we got there so that I could follow up. There wasn’t much I could do now, but when this was over, it might do for a good forensics tech to sweep through it. “You look so pale. Are you sure you are okay?” I looked up toward him as he got in the car. There seemed to be genuine concern on his face, but all I could see was the monster that was D. I had spent the last couple of days at the casino deluding myself into thinking that maybe people like him and Jack Knife were not the cold-blooded killers I perceived them to be, that perhaps there was another reason for my father’s death than the Black Aces MC. Being in that cabin, I was faced with the reality of what and who they were.

“That cabin. All the plastic coverings. I’m not used to things like that.” “You aren’t used to furniture coverings?” “Not when they are placed there to capture bodily fluids that aren’t easily removed.” “Is that what you think this place is? Some sort of slaughter house for those who cross the big, bad Black Aces?” “You said it yourself. Jack Knife does some of his best work there. I know his reputation as your muscle, your enforcer.” “Jack Knife has other interests. He likes to bring some of the bored housewives from the upper crust around here and show them a good time. Come back inside a minute.” “Do I have to?” “Yes, you do. I want you to see this for yourself.” Reluctantly, I got out of the car and followed him back into the cabin. We walked through the large outer den and down a hallway to a door at one end.

I looked at the wooden steps appearing through the door opening and tensed a bit, but followed him down them in near darkness. Suddenly the room was flooded with light as he flipped a switch on the lower wall. My eyes grew wide as I took it all in. “Fully equipped dungeon. He’s a serious dom. When he told you he was bringing you home with him, this is where he meant.” “Oh my god!” I walked over to examine some of the items more closely. There was a cage in one corner with a drain and all manners of hoses and sprayers hanging from the bars. One wall was perfectly lined with whips, floggers and chains. Beside them were tools designed to inflict pain of varying degrees. There was even what appeared to be an autopsy table. It looked more like the den of a demented ripper than a BDSM chamber. “Are you sure this place is for pleasure and not torture?” “I think it is a bit of both, but these women come back for more constantly. He has videos of some very surprising society types you wouldn’t believe.”

“You’ve watched them?” “Well, yeah. I’m a dude.” I was surprised to see him blush a little as he laughed. Only moments ago I had labeled him a monster, and now I couldn’t help but see that there was something else about him. He was not to be crossed, toyed with, but he was also just a guy like anyone else when his guard was down. It was odd to both fear him and find him likeable. “Can we go now?” “Absolutely. Let’s get some food. What do you like?” “Pretty much anything.” “I’ll take you to Grandma’s House. Come on.” I headed back up the stairs ahead of him as he followed behind. I wondered if he was looking at my ass as I went. I found it a little appealing that he might be and then wondered what was going on in my head that I’d consider attraction to someone like him. I tried to focus on lunch instead.

“Your grandmother doesn’t mind you just parading people in to eat?” “Haha. No, that is the name of the place. All made from scratch and a lot of choices.” “I’m sorry. I still haven’t been to a lot of places here.” “Well, we will have to resolve that in my spare time. I’ll take you to some of the finest dives in town.” His smile was disarming and I found myself smiling back at him over the top of the car before getting in. A part of me really hoped he wasn’t so bad after all. Then again, he could be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He certainly had the reputation for one. “Dives?” “Yeah, everyone thinks the food around here is best in these fancy restaurants where they give you a sliver of meat, a handful of steamed vegetables and a dot of sauce. That’s not food. The best food is in the little-known places where they know how to really cook a meal. You’ll see.” “Sounds good already.”

Though he seemed fairly lighthearted for a bit, I could tell that his thoughts quickly grew dark again once we were on the road. He got really quiet, staring out the windshield, but looking as if his thoughts were miles away. No doubt he still had the whereabouts of Jack Knife on his mind. I wondered what it must be like for him to have such huge responsibilities with people’s lives. It seemed like we were at the diner in no time and enjoying our meals. “This food is fantastic. You were right.” “Of course I was. I love food. I come here anytime I am out this way. Usually it is on the bike, but I had to stick it in the shop after I dropped it yesterday.” “You had an accident?” “Yeah. No big deal. Some asshole ran me off the road.” “On purpose?” “Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.” “Did you report it to the police?”

He sat looking at me with a smile. I realized what a stupid question it had been almost immediately. Of course, someone like D didn’t report it. He and his kind didn’t report anything. They dealt with it their own way. There was no doubt that the person who caused his wreck was already being hunted down by members of the club to determine their fate. Perhaps it was an innocent mistake that would just get them scared shitless. Or it could be something more significant. “Yes. I called them and they came right out. I’m best friends with the chief.” “Yeah. I know. It was a stupid question.” “Nah. It wasn’t stupid. It is what normal people do in situations like that, right? They call the police, get a report filed, then call the insurance company to fix it. In my business, the less the police know about anything that happens with me, the better it is for everyone. In fact, the less anyone knows, the better off they are.” “Same for me. The last thing I need to do is be found.” “Then we have that in common. No police for

anything. If you ever have a problem, you come to me and me only.” “I will. Thanks.” “You are a part of this club now. You don’t have to wear a patch to be taken care of. As long as you do your job and are loyal to the club, we will watch your back. Stay away from the drugs and take it easy on the alcohol. Seen a lot of the girls come in here as good little girls from Nebraska or some unknown shithole and leave looking like crack whores. Stay off the junk.” “I’m not a drug user. You won’t see that with me.” “I’ve heard that before. It’s a hard life what we do here. So many secrets. Talking to the wrong people can get you in hot water. Why do you think I’m keeping you close to me today? Jack Knife is missing and you were the last one he was with. You either know something you aren’t telling me or you could be at risk. I haven’t decided which yet, but will give you the benefit of the doubt for now.” “Wait? You think I know something about Jack Knife disappearing? You are just keeping an eye on me?”

“I don’t know if you do or not, but I will find out. If you lie to me, if you betray me, you won’t like the consequences.” “I hardly know Jack Knife. Why would I have anything to do with him being missing?” “Maybe that is why you came here, got close to him right off the bat.” “Are you kidding me right now? I was working when he went missing. The last time I saw him, he was walking away with you.” “Calm down. I’m just yanking your chain a bit. Yes, I did consider it, but after spending some time with you today, I don’t believe it to be true. You seem like you are just trying to do the best you can after a bad time. I can respect that. Don’t make me regret giving you a pass though. I am not someone you want to fuck with.” And just like that, I remembered that D was not a nice guy at all. My heart thudded in my chest, and I no longer felt comfortable with him. It seemed like an eternity passed during the time it took him to finish his meal and for me to cut mine up and push it around on my plate so it appeared to have been eaten. I had lost my appetite.

“Let’s go.” His whole demeanor had changed. The D that I had gotten a brief glimpse of, the one who was just like everyone else, was gone. Now, there was the leader of the Black Aces. Arrogant, intimidating, cold. He stood, dropping some cash on the table and walking toward the door without waiting for me. I followed him out and got into the car beside him. We drove back to my house in silence. I expected him to just drop me off and head back to the casino. It was late and I had obviously rubbed him the wrong way somehow. I was surprised when he killed the engine and walked around the car, trailing me to the door. “You don’t mind if I come in for a while, do you?” “Of course not.” I did mind. I had a lot of mental notes in my head I was trying to hang on to and wanted to get them down in my journal, but I wouldn’t be able to do that with him there. I would just have to hope I could retain it all until I could make my notes. Hopefully he just wanted to take a look around and would leave after that.

“You got anything to drink?” “More water?” “I was thinking more along the lines of whiskey.” “Sure. I’ve got some Jack and Coke. “Just the Jack. Coke is bad for you.” I looked at him. Was that an attempt at humor? How could he be so moody and then do a one eighty like that again? “Ice, or is that toxic too?” “Just a couple of cubes would be good.” “Be right back.” In the kitchen, I poured him a drink, myself a Jack and Coke and then brought the bottle with me to the living room. Perhaps if he was lightening up a bit again, a few drinks might work on him like they did some of his associates. I doubted it was that easy with D, but it couldn’t hurt to try. A halfdozen drinks later and he seemed just as lucid as when he started.

“So, why did you want to work at the casino?” “I don’t know. Honestly, I just needed a job, and I heard it pays well.” “I can understand that. We have to pay a bit better due to some of the things that go on there. It is important that all the girls respect the privacy of the members, our guests and anyone else in to gamble.” “Yes, I was well versed on that during my interview.” “You aren’t the sort of girl that usually comes in to the casino to work.” “What do you mean?” “Classier, smarter. I don’t see you sneaking drinks or slipping into any of the drugs that run rampant among many of the girls. Of course, it is still early, but you just don’t seem like them.” “Just not my thing. I’ve been in a bad place with what happened to me and the last thing I need is to fuck up my life a little more.” “See? Smarter.”

“I don’t know. Bad choices are what landed me here.” “We all make them. It’s just a matter of fixing what got broken and moving past it.” “I suppose so.” “Listen, do you care if I crash on your couch? I know it might sound ridiculous for someone like me to worry about it, but I don’t want to drive after having drunk so much.” “Sure. No problem. I’ll get you a blanket and some pillows when you’re ready to sleep.” “Does that mean you aren’t ready for me to sleep yet?” “Oh, no. I mean…I wasn’t saying that at all. It’s just still early is all.” “I am still wide awake. You’re pretty good company. Plus, I need to make some phone calls to get some things going for in the morning. I still have to find Jack Knife.” “Okay. I’ll just go about my business a bit while

you do that.” He was already hitting someone up on speed dial as I went to my bedroom and grabbed a loose piece of paper, scribbling as fast as I could in case he barged in for some reason. I made notes on everything I could think of and looked around for a moment before deciding to cram it in the toe of a boot in my closet. I’d pull it out and transfer it to my notebook tomorrow when I was alone. Then I did my best to listen to his conversation. “I’m at the new chick’s place…Janessa. I need you to run up to the sawmill and hit up Shorty’s crew at first light. Someone has to have seen Jack Knife.” There was a long pause during which I thought he had just hung up, but then I heard him speaking again. I could only assume the person on the other end had been talking for a bit. “It’s a lot of money. I have checked it several times and it doesn’t make sense. It’s club money, my money, and someone knows what happened to it. Maybe that person is Jack Knife or maybe it is someone else, but I can guarantee you that the two things are related. I need him found and found soon.”

There was another pause, and then he said goodbye. The first call was followed by several others, either asking if they had heard from Jack Knife or giving them instructions on where to help look for him. No mention of any money was made to any of the others, so whoever he called first was someone he trusted above the others. I was guessing it was his second in command, a big Brit from Liverpool they called Dodger. Jack Knife was the muscle, but Dodger was the money man and, when need be, Jack Knife’s backup. In actuality, Dodger was known to be far more lethal than Jack Knife. A former Irish Ranger, his intellect was exceeded only by his brutality. Jack Knife knew how to hurt a guy by beating him until he gave in. Dodger knew how to completely break him with little effort. He practiced some very particular skills honed in his former life with an elite military force. No one tangled with him twice, either out of fear or from never being seen again. Yet, not one disappearance could be pinned on him by the authorities. I stepped out of the bedroom while he was still in conversation with one of them so that it didn’t appear that I had been listening and only came out when he was done. Laying a pillow and a blanket on the arm of the sofa, I returned to my room while

he continued the call. I began laying out my clothes for work tomorrow night while I waited for him to finish. “Hey, Janessa?” “Yeah?” I stepped back out of the bedroom to find him standing shirtless in my living room. I tried not to gawk but it was hard to miss his rippled abs and perfectly chiseled chest. Unlike the many tattooed members of his club, D had only one tattoo. It was a single dollar sign right above his left bicep. I knew it was his only one from his arrest records I had reviewed. It seemed like a shallow choice to me, but who was I to say anything when my lone tattoo was a stereotypical butterfly on my ankle. “You care if I take a quick shower?” “No. Of course not. I’m having a bit of trouble with the one in the hallway, but you can use the one in my room.” “What kind of trouble are you having with the one in the hall?” “Drain is clogged. It fills with water and takes

hours to drain. Pipes need to be cleaned, but the landlord doesn’t seem to be concerned enough to get it fixed up for me.” “I see. Okay. I won’t take long.” “Take your time. There are towels and a fresh bar of soap in the linen closet inside.” “Thanks.” I sat on the arm of the sofa for a few moments after he left, considering why he was really here. There was no reason for him to have come in or have stayed. I understood the bit about not driving after he had drunk so much whiskey, but it just all seemed more purposeful than happenstance. I seriously doubt that D did anything without a reason. If he had decided to stay over, he did so with a purpose. I had finally shaken myself from my perch on the sofa to retrieve a bottle of water from the kitchen when I heard the shower kick off and then, a few moments later, the sound of D’s footsteps into the living room. I walked in to find him standing there in nothing more than a towel. I felt a flush sweep through my body and quickly diverted my gaze.

“I’ll be right back.” I watched as he walked out my front door, still only in a towel, and walked to his car, opening the trunk. He sifted around in it for a moment and then brought a black duffle bag inside. I wondered how many of my neighbors saw him and how many knew who he was. It wasn’t the best neighborhood, and I wasn’t sure if having the leader of the Black Aces outside in a towel was good or bad for my tenancy here. “You always just roam around outside in a towel?” “No. Sometimes I don’t have any clean ones.” There was a smirk on his face as he looked me over. I was pretty sure a small gasp escaped my lips as he dropped the one he was wearing and pulled some clean clothes from the bag to get dressed. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t want to look offended and leave, but I couldn’t just stand there staring at his nakedness. Instead, I picked up the remote and turned on the television, diverting my attention to the only thing I could think of. “Did I embarrass you?”

“What? No. I just wasn’t expecting you to drop trow in the living room is all.” “Did you like what you saw?” “I…I, um, I don’t know what to say to that.” “Yes? No?” “Yes.” “There. That wasn’t difficult, was it?” I started to say no, but before I could even get that one simple word out of my mouth, he was pulling me to him. His mouth covered mine, his tongue parting my lips as he drew me into a heated kiss. I found myself responding instantly, not wanting him to stop. I knew that I shouldn’t be so attracted to him. He was dangerous and he was, for all purposes, my enemy. Still, I couldn’t resist. His kiss was intense. His hands drifted to the sides of my face, holding me in place for a moment before reaching around to tangle his fingers in my hair. He tugged at it firmly, pulling my head back as his tongue continued to probe my hot, hungry mouth. My mouth opened further, my eyes closed, and I was transported to some place just outside my

body, watching the way he aroused my every sense, my every passion. My breathing grew faster until I felt dizzy and thought I might faint from the overwhelming sensations coursing through my body just from his kiss. It was like being possessed, inhabited by another body. I found myself melting into him, becoming one with him. I lost all track of anything but what I felt in those moments while he was kissing me and I wanted more, so much more. D’s cell phone rang, but he didn’t pull away. Floating somewhere slightly above the floor, or so it felt, I thought we might take flight if he continued to kiss me like that. His phone stopped ringing, but quickly began to ring again, finally causing him to pull away and reach for it, even though he never took his eyes off me. They were dark, full of passion. I could tell he wanted me. “D.” His lustful look quickly changed to something darker as whoever was on the line spoke. I could hear their voice and it sounded like Dodger, but I couldn’t quite make out what was being said. D turned away, anger now taking over his expression.

“Tell me where he is and I’ll be right there.” I could only assume they had found Jack Knife. From the look on his face, he wasn’t pleased about wherever he was. I heard him tell the caller he was on his way and then he was pulling a t-shirt over his head. Jamming the cell phone in his pocket, he threw the rest of his things in his duffle and headed toward the door without so much as a goodbye. I watched as he left, my heartrate beginning to slow and disappointment setting in. I tried to shake it off as I locked the doors and then went to my room to go ahead and make my notes. It was hard to focus with his kiss still tingling on my lips. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I considered what it might mean to get involved with D. I was very attracted to him and being closer to him could definitely help with what I needed to find out, but was he someone I really wanted to know too much about? I was in very deep waters as it was.

Chapter Nine I hadn’t heard one word from D since he had left my house the night before. Looking around the casino the next night as I reported for work, I didn’t see him. Instead, I was approached by Knuckles, the manager of the bar area. He called me over to have a chat. I was instantly on alert. “You’ll be behind the bar until further notice.” “What? Why?” “Because you’ve been reassigned.” “By who? I don’t want to be behind the bar. No one even asked me about it.” “D doesn’t ask his girls what they’d like to do. He said you’re to be put behind the bar, so you are behind the bar. If you have a problem with that, you can talk to him or go home. I don’t really recommend either choice.” “Fine.” “Good answer.”

I wasn’t happy about the change at all. It was going to severely limit me from mingling with members, which was the reason I had come there. Not many people sat at the bar, and even if they did, it didn’t allow me the opportunity to pick who I wanted to get close to for conversation. I was relegated to whoever sat down in front of me, which may or may not be of any use. I wondered why D had gotten me put back here too. First there was him making an excuse to stay at my house and now I was off the floor. “Can I take a break, Knuckles?” “You’ve got ten minutes, Janessa. No more.” “Thanks. I will be right back.” I made a beeline for D, who I had spotted walking across the casino floor toward the private club area. He was almost at the door when he heard me calling out to him and turned around. I could see from the expression on his face that he didn’t want to talk to me, but I still didn’t know what I had done to be punished. “Why did you put me behind the bar?” “Because it is where I need you to be.”

“Why?” “Really, Janessa? It’s been a shit day. Do people have to question everything I say?” “I think you owe me an explanation.” “I don’t owe you anything, Janessa. You are my employee. I needed someone behind the bar. I put you there. End of discussion.” “No, it isn’t.” D suddenly reached out for my arm, yanking me into the doorway to the club area and hauling me over to a chair. Pushing me down into it, he leaned down toward me, his face only inches from mine. I suddenly felt frightened. Once again, I had forgotten who I was dealing with and was being reminded. Both his tone and his proximity unnerved me. “I put you behind the bar, Janessa, because I didn’t want you out on the floor being manhandled by other men. Happy? Does that satisfy your curiosity?” “I thought that is what I am here for, to serve

drinks and entertain the men that frequent this casino.” “Not anymore it isn’t.” “Why?” “Jesus Christ, Janessa! Just let it go and do the job you’ve been assigned to do!” “D, I depend on the tips I make on the floor. I can’t stay behind the bar. They make half as much in tips. I’ll go broke and won’t be able to pay my rent. I mean, you pay the floor girls well, but the bar is different.” It was an excuse I had been drumming up in my head all evening. Money was the only thing I could think of that wouldn’t raise suspicion about why I wanted off the floor. Most girls would love to be behind the bar instead of servicing the members in ways that made them feel a bit less than proud. “I’ll make up the difference in pay, okay?” “I’m not a charity case, D.” “You don’t belong on the floor, Janessa. You aren’t like those girls, and I can see that. You are behind

the bar. I will make sure you are paid well to be there. Nothing else to discuss.” “You’re infuriating. I’ve got to get back before Knuckles comes looking for me. Thanks heaps.” I walked out the door, mentally kicking myself for not finding a way to get away from the bar. I was going to have to put some serious thought into how I was going to manage things stuck behind the bar. It was going to mean spending hours outside of my work schedule at the bar in order to mingle, and that would have to be done very carefully. I wasn’t exactly the party girl type, so it wouldn’t play well with D and that could cause even more issues. By the end of my shift, I had come up with no better ideas about how to pursue things without looking suspect. Perhaps sleeping on it would bring fresh ideas. The main thing was that I had to be smarter than D, and that wasn’t an easy task. Not only was he intelligent, but he was also street savvy and very intuitive about people’s behavior. If I weren’t already anxious enough, I found myself being sent back to his office at his request once my shift was over. “Knuckles said you wanted to see me.”

“Yes. Sit down, Janessa.” The phone rang and he picked it up. Suddenly his face was flushed red again and he was yelling into the phone. I got up to leave, thinking that I shouldn’t be there for whatever was going on, but he instructed me to sit back down with a wave of his hand and a stern look. I silently sank back into the chair and waited. “You tell him that I want answers in the morning or his family is going to be collecting on his life insurance policy. If you have to give him a bit of incentive to understand that I’m deadly serious, then do so. No one takes out one of my guys without explanation and doesn’t pay the price.” D slammed the phone down and glared at me for a moment. My heart was racing as I waited to see why I was there again. “Jack Knife is dead.” “What?” “I got a call a little while ago. They found his body up in the canyon at one of our hideaways we use from time to time. It wasn’t pretty, a message from the bangers down in central regarding something I

haven’t quite sorted out yet.” “Dear God.” “God can’t help him now.” He stared at the door behind me for a moment, not saying anything. I felt more antsy than ever. After a few moments, he stood and walked around the desk, grabbing me by the arm and hauling me out to the elevators. “Where are we going?” He said nothing as we road up a few floors, despite my asking him a couple of times. I was more frightened than ever. Did he think I had something to do with Jack Knife? I arrived out of nowhere and was with him and now he was dead. I’m sure he had to think something of that. Opening the door to a room, he pushed me inside and closed it behind us. I looked around, noting that we were in his private room of the casino. He turned, rapidly closing the distance between us. I found myself pressed firmly against him as he kissed me fiercely. I felt myself melting into him again as his hands tangled in my hair and pulled at it once again, drinking me in ravenously as if I were

the only woman who could satisfy his urgent need. I welcomed it, kissing him back feverishly. His blue-grey eyes were intense as he looked down at me and pulled me even more tightly against him. I barely registered anything around us, consumed by him as his perfectly chiseled face loomed next to mine and kissed me with his soft lips, probing the inside of my mouth with his tongue as if it were his personal belonging, as if I was only his. Though I knew I should push him away and tell him no after how cold he had been to me, knowing what trouble he might bring. I just couldn’t will myself to actually do it. Instead, I leaned into his kiss and returned his passion with my own. His kisses stirred a longing in me that I felt all the way to my toes. Even though I knew enough about the leader of the Black Aces to know he wasn’t a one-woman kind of guy and the girls had plenty of gossip about his sexual prowess—I could not resist his touch. Throwing all caution to the wind, I gave in to what I was feeling. We stumbled toward the king-size bed behind him, still locked together in a scorching kiss. D began unbuttoning my blouse as he continued to kiss me with renewed frenzy, pulling it away and dropping it on the floor behind me. His mouth drifted away from my lips as they found

their way down my neck and along the edge of my considerable cleavage. Even in the darkness of the room, the moonlight streaming in through the windows created a beautiful contrast of his lightly tanned skin against my pale ivory flesh. I tangled my hands in his dark locks as he reached around me and unfastened my bra with deft hands, pulling it away lightly to free it from my arms and dropping it on the floor. He stood there admiring my full breasts for a moment before kissing his way across them and sucking a single nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his teeth and his tongue. I felt shocks of electricity shoot out along my every nerve ending as he made contact in them most sensual and intimate way I could have ever imagine a man being. None of this had been expected. I was under the impression that he was done with me and that I had been hauled off for a reprimand or something far worse. Still, I couldn’t say I wasn’t glad it was happening. It felt amazing. Tonight, I wasn’t going to worry about what it all meant. It was just to be enjoyed. “God, you’re beautiful. You don’t know how many times I’ve imagined you out of those skimpy outfits you wear around the club. I can’t stay away from you,” he panted, reaching for the hook on my skirt.

I could feel his excitement pressing into my leg as he reached around me. His touch sent a little chill up my spine and a shudder went through my body. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I tried to tell myself that it was all about getting closer to him to find out what I could, but if I were being honest with myself, it was more about the fact that I just really wanted him. I could barely focus on his words as he spoke. “You’d be embarrassed to know about all the fantasies I’ve had about spreading you across the bar right in the middle of all those people downstairs.” “Those sound like some naughty daydreams.” “You have no idea how naughty.” “Show me.” I watched as he slowly undressed, quickly stripping down to nothing, his sizeable erection protruding as he pushed me across the bed. His mouth found its way onto my skin, exploring me in the most tender way imaginable. He took his time kissing me all over, grazing my delicate skin with his lips as he traveled from one destination to the next, finding

my center and parting my heated folds to expose the moist pink flesh within. Pushing my legs apart, he ate greedily at my center, teasing my clit with his teeth as a gasp escaped my lips, followed by low moans as he found my pleasure center with his tongue. He was devouring me, lapping of all of my essence and diving in for more. I knew somewhere deep down that I shouldn’t enjoy it, but I did. I was enjoying it more than I knew how to express. “Yes, my God. That feels amazing.” I was breathing heavily, completely absorbed in what an incredible lover he was already turning out to be. It was if he already knew every nook and cranny of my body, knew exactly where to touch me and just how to do it. I was putty in his hands, being molded as he saw fit. The bad part was that I wasn’t really minding it at all. “I want you to come for me, Janessa. I want to taste you.” His voice wasn’t much more than a whisper as he raised his head for a moment toward me and then returned to the sweet torture he was imparting upon my skin and pussy. I moaned beneath him, letting

myself enjoy the sensations of how he felt. I wanted to chalk it up to just the sensations he was stirring, but I knew it was much more than that. I was somehow drawn to him in a way that went well beyond sex. I arched my hips upward as he lapped at my slippery pussy folds, causing me to groan loudly. I pulled at his shoulders with my hands, trying to pull him upward, but he resisted. He was determined to bring me to orgasm as he toyed with my clit using his thumb, all the while continuing his sensual assault with his tongue buried deep inside of me. Unable to hold back any longer, I gave in to his skilled mouth and hands and shook with the force of my first orgasm. I cried out his name repeatedly as my body seemed to shatter into a thousand tiny shards of pleasure, each orgasm more powerful than the one before it. He enthusiastically lapped up the juices he had created between my legs, kissing my thighs as he moved upward along my skin once again. “D, Oh God.” “I love the way you say my name. Come here.” His lips found mine, sharing the taste of my own

juices with me as he kissed me deeply. Pulling away, he looked down at my face and watched me closely as he sank deep inside of me, pushing himself until he filled me completely with his throbbing cock and began rocking back and forth inside of me with excruciating slowness. I felt like I had died and gone to heaven as the friction increased between our heated bodies and I found myself once more on the brink of an explosion. My fingernails dug into his back as I let loose from my very center, almost pushing him free of me with the violence of my orgasm. It felt more like an eruption than a climax, leaving me breathless with the sheer force of it. “That was beautiful to watch and to feel.” I looked up into his eyes, realizing that D wasn’t just fucking me like one of the girls in the club. This was him, this was him giving himself to me entirely. He was taking his time, giving me as much pleasure as he would take. Perhaps it wasn’t love, but it was something meaningful, much more so than I would have ever thought. I realized again that it might very well be mutual. “I love how you feel inside of me.”

“I think we fit together just perfectly. I love the way you tighten around me with each stroke. It’s incredible.” “Feels incredible from this side too.” There were no more words, just the animalistic sounds of our coupling as D slid in and out of me with long, piercing strokes. He was touching me in a way that went far beyond the physical as he continued to hold my eyes with his. He was taking possession, letting me know that he would own me before all was said and done. I should resist, but I found that I couldn’t. I just wanted more of him. Grabbing my hands with both of his, he pulled them above my head, leaning down to suckle at one of my hard nipples as he continually increased the depth and force of his strokes inside me. He was holding me down, taking what he wanted, and I didn’t mind. If he wanted to own me, then he could, at least for tonight. Perhaps for longer, even though I felt frightened by my desire for him. His passion took hold as he ceased his deep strokes and began pumping into me harder and faster, his grunts filling the room around us as he made me cum over and over. They seemed to only taper before launching into a new one. I was nothing

more than a quivering mess as he took all I had to offer. I felt like I was on fire as he continued to pound into me feverishly. I realized that I was too far gone. I had lost all perspective with D. I was his and he was going to make sure I knew that without a doubt before I left this room tonight. I would be his possession, his prize, and I would never harm him in any way, or so he thought. My loud screams of pleasure bounced off the walls of his room as I gave him everything I had to give, but he showed no signs up slowing down, plunging into me again and again as he emitted a low groan from somewhere at the back of his throat. I didn’t know if it was him relieving stress from recent events or if he was always like this, but he had more staying power than I had ever encountered in a man. By the time he finally gave in to his own desires and came inside of me, we were both covered with fine droplets of perspiration and lay exhausted across the bed. Climbing beneath the covers, we drifted off to sleep for a while. Somewhere during the night, I was awakened by the feel of his fingers drifting lightly across my skin,

his kisses raining down upon my neck. I nuzzled toward him, enjoying his caresses. I wasn’t sure how it could be happening, but I felt myself falling for D. The man who I had come here to destroy was somehow moving me to a change of heart. In fact, it seemed that my heart was playing a huge role in my thoughts concerning him. I found myself second guessing everything I had thought about him. I wondered if I was doing the right thing in trying to bring him down. Was it possible that he was innocent in all of this? If he had nothing to do with my father’s murder, was there a way to spare him in taking down the people who actually did the deed? Then again, was he truly innocent of anything? Wasn’t he the one who called all the shots here? I was still sorting out my head and heart when he pulled me closer, kissing me and exploring my folds with his fingers as I lay quietly against him. I was still tender from the roughness of before and it made it feel all the more intoxicating to have him touching my swollen folds. I felt like I was in heaven. We made love again, this time so slowly it felt like I might dissolve into tears of joy. I hadn’t felt this way in a long time. I felt a need for him that

transcended the physical. I ached for everything he was giving to me, and I despised myself for wanting it. This wasn’t what I had come here for, but I couldn’t deny that it was something I desperately wanted. I couldn’t say that I didn’t want him in ways that I shouldn’t. Finally, we drifted back off to sleep in one another’s arms. I felt safe there, like nothing could ever harm me again. If D had set out to take complete control over me, he had done just that. It wasn’t just about the sex, but also the glimpses of the real man who existed beneath his tough exterior. I understood that he had a huge burden on his shoulders, a burden that denied him the ability to always be who he really was inside. I awoke the next morning to the sound of his voice calling my name. I rolled over and smiled at him, feeling oddly blissful for someone who had just given in completely to the enemy. “Good morning. Did you sleep well?” “I did.” “So did I. Last night was amazing.” “Yeah. You can go home once you are dressed.”

I watched as he left me lying naked in his bed. Only the night before, I had felt the earth move, and now, I felt like the dirt that covered it. Had I really thought that I could be something more to someone like D than just a conquest? I got dressed and did a complete walk of shame to the elevators. I went from feeling warm and wanted to feeling cold and vengeful in just those few moments of time between his words and my departure.

Chapter Ten The following day, I didn’t hear from D. When I went to the club to work, he was not there. I overheard Knuckles telling someone that he had business to attend to over in central. I could only assume he had not gotten the response he had requested on the phone yesterday and went to tend to things there. I wouldn’t be surprised to read about some mysterious carnage in the paper tomorrow. That was how these things worked. Rival gangs and clubs went head to head, and even though the authorities knew there had been some fallout between the two, they glossed it over to not seem like gang violence. It made the city look bad and didn’t foster the welcoming atmosphere they wanted to draw in new residents and visitors. Sometimes it was just a matter of keeping it quiet so that they could investigate the situation without it escalating before they could find out what had happened. It was just like the situation with Jack Knife. Until D had known that he was dead, he took no action, but once he was aware of it and who had supposedly done it, then it was a given that there would be payback.

Because of this, the police sometimes hid discoveries and attributed them to reasons other than one gang or club doing damage to another. It was simply a matter of keeping the peace on a much broader scale. Reducing the damage to minor incidents or none at all instead of all-out war on opposing turfs. It was something I had learned when my father died. It had taken days to receive notification of his death while they sorted out whether they had more to worry about than just one death. My father had never harmed anyone in his life. He was a good man, but irresponsible. Gambling was his weakness and when he had gone to the Black Aces for money, they had gladly given it to him, at a very high price. Oddly enough, he had gotten lucky with that money, paying it off with the ridiculous interest he had owed within days of having borrowed it. That should have been the end of things, but for some reason, it wasn’t. I suddenly realized that I felt very tired. All of this business with D and the club, Jack Knife and everything else was really getting to me. I wanted to walk out and never come back, but if I did, I knew that I would never know what happened to my father, and that was something for which I

needed answers. Shaking myself free of my thoughts, I got ready to leave. “I’m headed home, Knuckles.” “Alright. Goodnight, Janessa.” I made my way through the lobby, still not seeing D anywhere, and caught the transit home. I didn’t think much about not seeing D due to the circumstances with Jack Knife, but when two more days passed and I didn’t see or talk to him, I began to wonder what was going on. I mentioned his absence to one of the other girls who seemed to like me and was told he had been in and out, but mostly during times I wasn’t there. After a few days, I finally saw him making his way in through the front doors. I smiled at him as he approached the bar, but the expression on his face was blank, emotionless. Though it shouldn’t matter to me, I found that I felt hurt. I chastised myself for losing sight of what I was supposed to be doing here and decided to get back on my game plan rather than worrying about the likes of D. When one of the other girls asked for a few nights off to visit her sick sister in another state, I quickly told her I could fill in for her. I knew D wouldn’t

like finding me out on the floor, but I had to be more mobile and get the answers I had come here for. With me having been there for at least a short while and being behind the bar for a bit, most of the guys and the girls who worked there were at least familiar with me. It would give me a chance to find out everything I could. Of course, I found myself hoping that it might make D just a hint jealous to see me once again flirting my way around the casino with members of the club. I knew there were rumors that he had told them I was off limits, so he must have some interest. I made my way to one of the other main players in the club, a burly guy by the name of Ringo. “Ringo, can I get you something to drink?” Ringo was a regular at the bar. He was one of the few who liked to sit up there, and I had seen him looking at me while I worked on several occasions. Though he was only a year younger than D, he looked at least ten years older. His use of steroids was well known and quite obvious from his overly muscular frame. He could be a hothead at times, but mostly just liked to drink and have fun with the girls from what I had seen.

“You sure can. How about you get us both a bottle of Crown and we’ll share it?” “Sure thing. I’ll be right back.” The rest of my evening was spent talking to him about his short-lived but combat-heavy military career, which seemed to be his favorite subject. He was so engrossed in telling me graphic tales of his heroic acts that he didn’t take note of the fact that for each glass I poured myself, I poured him two that were considerably fuller than the one I nursed. Pretty soon he was pretty liquored up and talking a lot more than I’m sure D would approve of. “Man, they messed my boy Jack Knife up. Tortured him for hours before slitting his throat. I can’t believe that it went down with him like that.” “The bangers? Why would they do that?” “Word is that it had something to do with stealing money from the club. I don’t know how true that is, but D has been pretty pissed about the whole situation. Doesn’t trust anyone anymore. We are all getting raked over the coals by him.” “I guess that is why he is in such a mood lately.”

“In a mood is putting it mildly. He’s fucking pissed off.” “So Jack Knife was stealing from the club? I thought a gang took him down?” “Yeah, the Vipers down in central. I don’t know the details, but I know it was tied into missing money from here.” “That seems weird that another group would be the ones to punish him for something he was doing here.” “Honey, you hang around here enough and you won’t think anything is strange anymore. I’ve seen more stuff than you could ever imagine. Things ain’t always like they seem.” “I guess not.” I poured him another drink as I continued to nurse mine, now up to about a half glass to every three of his. We had already been through one bottle, and I’d had to go get a second. How someone could drink like that and still be talking, I didn’t know, but he was hanging in there. Of course, it didn’t seem he had to be too very drunk to run his mouth anyway.

“What is going on over here?” I turned to see D looming over me, just as dark and foreboding as he could be when he wanted. I was surprised that he had decided to grace me with his presence after so many days. Perhaps he was just as jealous as I thought he might be with me flirting with Ringo. It certainly seemed that way anyway. “Nothing. Just having a conversation with Ringo.” “What are you doing out on the floor? I thought we had you only working the bar?” “I’m just filling in for Cynthia. She had to go out of town.” “I’m pretty sure we could do without one coked out whore for just a few nights without you filling her shoes.” “Well, I said I would do it and so here I am.” “You watch yourself, Janessa.” “Watch myself? I’m just working, D. Isn’t that what you pay me to do?”

“Yeah, behind the bar.” “I’ll be back behind there soon enough.” “See to it that you are and stay out of trouble while you are out here. If you can’t just do the job I ask you to do without going off on your own little whims of what you prefer to be doing, then there won’t be a place for you here. I’ve already told you once that I’m not someone you want to fuck with.” I tried not to visibly flinch at how cold he was being to me, but it was a little hard to take. I forced myself to focus on the bigger picture instead. Faced with the risk of getting kicked out of the casino, I decided to tone down my defiance a bit and appease him. He was being an asshole, but then again, it was my fault for expecting him to be anything but that, given his reputation. “I understand. I’ll watch my step.” “I’ll be watching it too.” He turned as someone across the casino called out to him. I watched as he began walking in their direction, leaving me alone with Ringo, who had sat quietly listening in a drunken stupor.

“You shouldn’t piss off the boss, little lady. He’s got a mean streak a mile wide.” “He’ll be fine, I’m sure.” “You’ve got some real spunk. I like that.” “Well, thanks. I think.” “Got some real nice tits too. I’d like to get a much better view of them.” “I don’t know about all that now.” “I do. Come on up to my room with me, and let’s see just how perky those puppies are.” “I can’t do that, Ringo. You know D won’t be happy about it.” “So, you’re just a fucking cock tease, then? Sitting here all night letting me look down your shirt and batting your eyelashes at me, but when it comes time to seal the deal, you are suddenly fucking Pollyanna? What bullshit!” “Ringo. There’s no need to get ugly about it. I thought we were just having a decent conversation.”

“Fuck conversation. I want to get my dick wet in that sweet little pussy of yours.” “That isn’t going to happen, Ringo. Look, I’m going to go and let you finish your whiskey.” “Fuck you.” I walked away from the table, feeling a little shaky. His anger was apparent, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. I wasn’t going to his room, and D would come down on him if he pushed the issue too hard. Perhaps he had been a bit cool to me lately, but his showing up at the table told me that I was right about him being jealous of me out on the floor. In fact, I wasn’t done pushing his buttons just yet. I just had to be subtle about it. I still had several hours to go in my shift, so I targeted every person on my list who I thought might be able to help me, making quite the production of flirting with them and spending as much time as possible with those who seemed to be well inebriated and a little more forthcoming with anything of use. At the end of the night, I really hadn’t gathered much, but at least I knew who might be good to talk to again. I had sorted out the tight lips from the loose.

“You need to pack up and get out of here. Your shift is over, and I’m not sure that I’m going to let you come back unless it is behind the bar.” I turned to face D as he pulled away from growling his little order in my ear. I looked him in the eyes defiantly, as if I was not afraid of him. It was a struggle to maintain my cool when I was on the verge of shaking all over, as much out of anger at him for making me feel something for that one night and then just acting like I didn’t exist as any fear he might instill as anything else. “I am almost done with my shift. I need to cash out at the bar, and then I will be going home. Would you like to come with me?” “No, I wouldn’t.” “Of course not. Can’t have anyone believing they are good to you as anything more than a one-night stand.” “I’ve already warned you, Janessa. Watch yourself. Be careful what you say to me.” “Or what?”

“That is something you won’t really care to learn.” I watched as he turned and walked away. Cocky, arrogant bastard! I was nothing more than a plaything to him. I couldn’t remember the last time a man had made me as angry as he did. Beneath that, there was more than just a bit of hurt, though I didn’t want to admit that I was falling for someone like D. I didn’t want to admit that I might be losing sight of what I had come here to do. Still seething, I did what I needed to at the bar and then grabbed my purse to head to the elevator. I was almost there when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, expecting to see D, and instead found myself face to face with Ringo, drunk and obviously pissed off about something. “You think you are too good for someone like me? You only go for fucking the boss?” “What? No. I didn’t say anything like that, Ringo. Come on, I thought we were friends.” “I’ve got enough friends. I don’t need anymore. What I do need is to get laid tonight.” “Well, if that is what you need to do, I am sure there are plenty of girls who would be happy to go

back to your room with you.” “I don’t want any of them. I’ve decided to fuck you.” “You need to step off, Ringo.” My heart thudded heavily. He was very drunk now and he had an iron grip on my shoulder. I looked around to see that we were alone in the corridor that led to the garage elevators, despite the crowded casino around us. I glanced up at the camera above. Hopefully security was watching. He was beginning to hurt me, and I told him so. “You need to let go of my shoulder, Ringo. That hurts.” “I’ll let go when I’m good and damned ready to let go.” “Ringo, please…” “Don’t fucking please me. All of you women are nothing more than whores. You all think you are too good for me. Well, tonight ain’t your night, honey. I’m about to show you what happens to cock teases when they mess with the wrong guy.”

“You’ve got me all wrong, Ringo. I just…” The elevator opened, but was empty. I turned to make a run for the door next to it, hoping his drunken state would slow him enough that I could get into the stairwell there and away from him. Instead, he lunged forward and shoved me into the opening, clamping his big sweaty hand over my mouth before I could scream. Pushing the button for his floor, he held me in place, his foul breath making me gag as he growled at me from only inches away. “I don’t have anything wrong, bitch. You’re going to do exactly what I want you to do.” I was filled with panic. As the elevator went up a few floors, I prayed that someone would be standing there when it opened and saw that I needed help. My heart almost stopped as it came to a stop and the doors opened, revealing no one. This couldn’t be happening. I had known I was setting myself up for danger when I decided to do this, but I never considered anything like this. Ringo was dragging me down the hall as I continued to try to fight to free myself. With one arm around my waist and the other still clamped over my mouth, he made his way to a room only a

few doors down from the elevator and pushed me against the door, holding me there with his body as he struggled to work the door key with one hand and keep his other pressed firmly over my lips. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of one of the other girls down the hall. It was the same one D had sent to entertain the guest who was looking for coke one night. I think Amy was her name. Seeing her as my only chance, I took it, clamping my teeth down hard onto Ringo’s hand. He yanked it back and cursed loudly. It gave me just enough time to get her attention. “Help! Help me! Amy! Get D!” Amy looked at me, seeming puzzled at first, and then she smiled knowingly. Rather than helping me, she opened the door to the room she had been heading into and blew me a kiss, disappearing inside. I was stunned. How could a woman let another woman be assaulted and do nothing to stop it? I began screaming as loudly as I could. Before I realized what was happening, Ringo drew back his hand and struck me solidly with his fist, making my head spin. I felt myself falling into the opening doorway. Everything was gray as he shoved me inside and

locked the door behind him, fishing around in his pocket for something. I was aware of the smell of gas fumes as he pulled a dirty bandana from his pocket and stuffed it into my mouth before pushing me down onto the bed. I could only assume he had wiped his hands on it after fueling his bike. I felt myself convulse and became frightened I would throw up and choke. My arms were aching from the way he had them pulled behind my back as he ripped my shirt open. “Oh yeah. Those are nice. I’m going to need both hands for this.” I tried to get free again, but he was too strong and he had me pinned down with his knees now. He pulled off his belt and wrapped it around my wrists, cinching them tightly together as I continued to flail around on the bed. He laughed at my efforts and pulled me upward using the belt. It felt like my wrists were on fire as the leather chafed with the movement. “You’re a little fire ball. I like that. It’s going to make this all the more fun for me. I’m going to fuck that defiance right out of you.” I felt numb as he looped the belt around the bed post and wound it back around to latch it tightly. It

felt like the circulation in my hands was being cut off as they tingled and ached. I tried to remove myself from what was happening to me as he slipped down and slid off my shoes before moving back up to unfasten my pants. It was like this was all happening to someone else as I looked on in horror. “Your body is so damn tight. It’s going to be a real pleasure fucking D’s girl. He thinks he has his thumb down on everyone around here, but he doesn’t. Pretty soon there will be a new boss in this place, and I’ll be his second in command. D don’t know shit about what goes on behind his back. He can’t even keep his pussy safe from me.” Something inside me broke as I realized that Ringo was one of the guys that Arthur has been talking about the night I talked to him. It was if some sort of inhuman strength came over me, and I began kicking at him wildly. He stumbled backwards, giving me just enough time to heave my body upwards and bring the belt he had looped around the post up and over it. Everything happened too fast after that. He was coming for me, attempting to throw his body on top of mine to pin me down when the belt suddenly loosened around my hands a bit and I was able to

grab the metal lamp that sat on the bedside table. It didn’t even feel like me who was doing it as I swung it heavily, clipping him alongside the head and sending him reeling backwards onto the floor. I jumped from the bed and removed the belt. He was lying on the floor, unconscious and bleeding heavily from where I had hit him. I hurriedly got my pants pulled back up and slipped into my shoes, wrapping my shirt around me tightly as I fled toward the door and toward the stairs, spotting my purse still laying on the floor near the elevator and grabbing it as I ran. I was outside on the sidewalk before I even knew how I got there. Cowering in a corner of the transit bus, I rode to the stop near my house and walked the few blocks home, letting myself in and dead bolting the door. My heart was still racing and I felt sick from the gas fumes on the gag he had used as much as from what had almost happened to me. Why had I done this to myself? Was it not bad enough that my father was dead? I had to get involved with the likes of the Black Aces and get assaulted too? Stripping off my clothes, I looked in the mirror. I didn’t recognize the girl looking back at me. After a hot shower, I climbed into bed and slept, feeling like the failure that I was. I had to walk

away from this. No way could I go back there now. For all I knew, Ringo might even be dead. I might not have to answer to the authorities for that due to the Black Aces’ code of not involving them in club matters, but I would certainly have to answer to D. Given the options, I would have rather dealt with the cops.

Chapter Eleven The day after the assault, I awoke in a panic. It was almost after noon already. I couldn’t believe I had slept so long. I felt a complete sense of panic as I climbed out of bed, very aware of the aches and pains that I felt from the tussle with Ringo. Looking into the mirror, I was shocked at how I looked. My lip was swollen. I had a black eye and a larger bruise on my cheek. My breasts were bruised. My wrists were raw where the belt had rubbed. Even my shoulder was marked from his grip on it. Tears fell down my face as I thought about how close I had become to getting into something that I might not have ever recovered from. For that matter, I had hit him pretty hard. I might have to pay for even defending myself. It wasn’t like it would be up to the cops. I was going to be tried and sentenced by the club, not impartial jurors. More importantly, I didn’t know what to do next. A part of me now was more resolute than ever to bring the Black Aces to their knees and make them pay for my father’s death. Another part was terrified of what might happen to me in the process. It was true that I had developed feelings for D, that

I didn’t believe he was involved, but it was still his club and he had done plenty for which he should pay. It wasn’t as if any feelings were mutual anyway. He had none for me. He just intended to possess me and no one else was to touch his belongings. After a bit of brooding and feeling sorry for myself, I was no surer of what to do than I had been. I decided to try to feel out what I was looking at with the club by calling Knuckles. “Hey, Knuckles. How are things?” “Same as always. Bunch of drunks blowing their money on slots and sluts.” “That’s a lovely sentiment, Knuckles.” “Ah, you know I didn’t mean you. What’s up?” “I’m supposed to be covering for Cynthia the next few days, but I think I’ve come down with something. D said that it wasn’t that big a deal that I fill in for her anyway, so I think I’m going to just stay home until my next shift at the bar if that is okay.” “Ain’t no sweat off my balls. Just get yourself

better. I ain’t got no time for anyone spreading germs around this place.” “Thanks. Nothing else going on over there?” “Nope. Ringo come through here this morning looking like someone decided they’d finally had enough of his mouth. He was looking for you, but didn’t say why. Something I need to know?” “No. Not that I can think of. I’ll see you in a few days.” I hung up the phone and sat down on the sofa, considering my options. Ringo was alive, so I didn’t need worry about being responsible for killing a club member. I doubt that D was going to do anything to me if Ringo told him the truth about what happened, and I didn’t see any reason he would admit what he had done, so the only person I needed to worry about was Ringo and that was enough. The real question was if I could go through with this. I was in way over my head with everything here and didn’t know how I was supposed to pull this off. I thought it would be so easy to just go in and find the answers I needed, but it was anything but that. The Black Aces stuck together. I had

learned a little here and there, but nothing substantial enough to do anything with. I had deluded myself temporarily into believing that I might be able to get close to D, to gain his confidence and find out the things I needed to know. I could see now that there was no way that would ever work. He was too smart and was obviously only interested in me on a physical level. And now I had one member who would definitely be gunning for me to pay for what I did to him. If he had assaulted me just for rejecting him, there was no telling what he might do to me for having clocked him with a lamp. I did the only thing I knew to do. I retrieved the burner phone and called my contact at the DEA and told him everything. “Get out of there. You are in way over your head. I was afraid this would be too much for you. I know you want your father’s killer brought to justice, but you are putting too much at stake by setting yourself up for the same fate.” “I knew this wouldn’t be easy. I just want to know what happened to Dad.” “I know you do, but you can’t even get the detectives working his case to help you. The only

reason I am willing to help you is to try to keep you as safe as I can and hopefully bring them down for something. Lord knows I haven’t been able to nail them for the drugs they import and distribute. As much as I’d like to bust them for that, I’m not in for giving up a civilian to do it. Get out of there.” “There are some strange things going on in there. Ringo was talking about how D doesn’t know everything, and Arthur told me that there are some rogue members. I don’t have details, but it sounds like D isn’t as much in charge of things as he believes he is. I know he had some sort of problem with missing money, and now they’ve found Jack Knife dead.” “Wait. What? Jack Knife is dead? How?” “I’m not sure really. They are laying if on some gangbangers in central, but I think it has something to do with the missing money at the club. I haven’t been able to put the two together yet. Then again, D took me to a cabin looking for him. He has, like, a whole BDSM dungeon set up in the basement of the place. D said he takes a lot of the rich society types up there for fun and games. There is always a chance that a husband with enough money to pay a banger had him ended.”

“Could be. Too many balls up in the air to really know at this point. Look, you do what you feel you need to do. I’ll keep helping you all I can, but if you think it is getting too hot, you need to get out. If you don’t think you can bring them down, get out. Okay?” “Okay. I am at the house for a few days. I am pretty banged up from the incident with Ringo, and I don’t want D to know about that just yet. It seems that Ringo hasn’t told, I’m guessing because he doesn’t want D coming down on him for assaulting one of his girls. So, I just have to figure out a way to make sure I don’t tangle with him again if I stay.” I left out the fact that I seemed to be a bit more than just one of the girls. I might not be the girl I’d like to be to D, but there was definitely something there that I had to consider was more than he had with them. “I’ll trust your judgement, but my advice is to just let it be. Get as far away from there as possible, and try to get your life in order so you can move past this. Your father wouldn’t want you putting yourself in danger.” “I’ll let you know.”

“Alright, just keep in touch.” “I will.” I hung up the phone, still no more certain than I had been, but I was already in and it was hard to get regular agents into the club. I decided that the best thing was just to lay low for a few days, and then make a decision. I put the burner phone back in its place and pulled out the files I had on members of the club. Then I went to the kitchen to find something I thought I could keep down to eat. I settled for some cream of chicken soup and a glass of water. That was all I did for the next couple of days. I used the files and info to remind myself why I had come here and what I was doing. Most of these people had a very long history of violent crimes. Many of them had committed multiple felonies, and some, even murder. Drugs were a way of life with most of them, either doing them or distributing them. In addition to the small-time business they did around the club, they worked as part of a larger supply chain. While I had no intention of getting too heavily involved with trying to bring down the drug trade, it

had been a part of my deal with the DEA agent that I would find out what I could in the course of things to feed him as much intel as I could about it. My father’s murder wasn’t a part of his crime folder, but if my attempt to resolve that open case landed him a drug bust in the process, he was willing to give it a shot by helping me. After a couple of days of reviewing the information on the club I had been given to help me with finding his killer, I felt a renewed sense of determination. I was going to find out who killed him and they were going to pay for what they did, even if it was D himself. My sexual attraction to him was just a natural reaction, and I would keep that in check from now on. My focus was right back to getting justice for my father. The Black Aces MC would be coming down and I was going to be the one who brought them to their knees, no matter what I had to do. I wasn’t about to let them get the better of me. Putting everything back into place in its hideaway, I went to make myself some breakfast and plot my next move.

Chapter Twelve By the following day, I had a clear sense of purpose. I knew exactly what I needed to do to solve my father’s murder. No more of this toying with the underlings of D. I was going to set my sights high. Despite his treatment of me recently, I still felt there was something there, something I could exploit. Whether it was just an appreciation for our sexual chemistry or actual feelings he had for me, I could get to D. I just knew I could. I had gone into the casino fully prepared to sleep with whomever I had to sleep with to get answers, but the truth was that the only person I needed to sleep with was D. Not only would it gain me his confidence, but it would also gain me the confidence of those under him. If he trusted me, they would. Better yet, they would not be inclined to sleep with me if I was deemed D’s girl exclusively. He wasn’t an easy sell, but I had seen dents in his armor and those were exactly what I’d be exploiting to my benefit. I was more determined than ever. D and his MC were going to regret the day any of them ever laid eyes on me or my father. My thoughts were disrupted by the ringing of my

cell phone. I looked at the display and saw that it was the casino calling. “Hello?” “Hey, Janessa. It’s Knuckles.” “What’s up, Knuckles?” “I just wanted to give you a heads up that D has been looking for you.” “D? Why is he looking for me?” “He said he thought you were filling in for Cynthia, and it wasn’t like you to bail after making such a fuss about doing it.” “I wasn’t expecting to get sick when I agreed to fill in, and he is the one who said it didn’t matter. Did you tell him that I’ve been sick and called in because of that?” “I told him. Like I said, I’m just calling to give you a heads up. I’m not sure what is going on with him, but he seems to be really on edge. I’d watch it if I were you. Are you coming in tomorrow for your bar shift?”

“Yeah. I’ll be there. Thanks for calling me, Knuckles.” “No problem. See you tomorrow.” I hung up the phone and stood looking at it for a moment. The warm, fuzzy feeling for D was all gone now, and I felt only the same sense of determination I had felt from the moment I had finally learned the truth about what happened to my father. I wouldn’t make the mistake of letting him get to me again. He could bed me all he liked, as long as it got me closer to my goal. That wasn’t to say that if I had to sleep with him again, I would hesitate. I was very much aware that sex was a weapon to women in that club. It was how they made their living. No one paid them the big tips they were given just for serving drinks. That money was made on their backs. In essence, they were no more than legitimized hookers. It served their purposes and it would serve mine. They needed food on their tables, and I needed a head on the chopping block for my father. I felt a sense of calm. My purpose restored, I began formulating my plan for bringing down the Black Aces MC. It was the same plan I had started with, but this time I wouldn’t lose my way. I wouldn’t let

myself believe that the members of the club were somehow nice guys or misunderstood. They were thugs, killers, dealers. They were going to find that they had tangled with the wrong woman before all was said and done. D would know that more than any of them. Walking into the bedroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I didn’t like the face that I saw there. It seemed I had somehow hardened overnight. It wasn’t the face of innocent little Janessa, instead, it was the knowing look of a woman who would not stop until she got her due. I knew that I would never be the same again once this was done.

Chapter Thirteen “Janessa, open the door.” “I’m sick, D. You don’t want to catch what I have.” “You aren’t fucking sick. I know what happened. Let me in.” I took a deep breath and opened the door. I didn’t look as bad as I had a few days ago, but I was still sporting some yellowish brown bruises and chafed wrists. I looked at D standing on my doorstep with a blank expression. “Goddamn it. This is why I told you to stay behind the fucking bar, Janessa.” “What do you want, D?” “I want you to tell me exactly what happened.” “I thought you said you knew.” “I know that you tussled with Ringo outside the elevator but by the time security caught it and got down there, you were gone. They went to his room, but you weren’t there, and he was laying on the

floor with a nasty head wound. Other than that, there is video of you running from the building. Now, I want the rest of the story.” “It’s none of your concern.” “Everything that happens in my casino is my concern.” “That what this is about? Tarnishing your precious casino?” “Tell me what happened, Janessa. Now.” “Or what? You going to do worse to me than Ringo did?” “Janessa, I’m not playing games with you. Tell me what happened.” I studied his face. He was angry. If I was going to stay at the club and keep snooping, I needed Ringo dealt with, and D would certainly read the riot act to him about touching me. Even if it wasn’t personal to him, he couldn’t afford to have one of his own club members assaulting the help. “Fine. I’ll tell you.”

I proceeded to tell him what had happened. I thought I could do it matter-of-fact, but when I got to the worst parts, I broke down in tears. Despite the anger that grew more and more apparent on his face, he continued to listen to the end, wiping away my tears and grabbing me some Kleenex so I could finish. I told him that Knuckles had mentioned Ringo was looking for me the next morning. I had been hiding here in my house until I could figure out what to do about him. “That son of a bitch. Security took him to our guy to get him patched up and sleep it off. I knew he had grabbed you, but not the extent of what had happened. All the guards told me was that he tried to get you up to his room but you had gotten away. How dare he think he can do that to one of my girls. I have to go.” “Wait, D. What are you going to do?” “What needs to be done. Lock your door, and don’t answer it for anyone but me. Got it?” “Yes.” To my surprise, he kissed me softly on the forehead before turning to leave. When I didn’t follow him, he turned toward me at the door. Despite the

relative gentleness of his kiss, I could see that he was seething with anger and trying to keep it under control. “The door, Janessa. Lock it now.” “Okay, D.” I felt a bit like a small child being instructed what to do, but I knew he was right. Who knew where Ringo was right now or what he might do. I should have told D what he had said about being second in command, but something told me to keep that to myself for now. Until I knew more about what I needed to in order to sort this whole mess out, it was best to keep some things quiet. If I told him everything, he would send me packing so fast it would make my head spin…or he might do even worse. After he left, I paced and fretted, worrying about what he might be doing to Ringo. It wasn’t that I cared if he hurt him, he had it coming, but I was worried about D going too far. It couldn’t be good for his group to see someone in charge lose it like that on one of their own. I certainly didn’t want to be the cause of him having trouble among the ranks. Hours passed without word, and it seemed like I might go mad before he returned.

Several hours later, D returned to my house, looking visibly upset. I let him in, and he walked in as if he lived there, sitting on my sofa and putting his head in his hands wordlessly. He sat like that for a while before I finally spoke, and then it was only because I couldn’t wait anymore and broke the silence between them. “What’s wrong, D?” “He’s dead.” “What? Who’s dead? Ringo?” My heart thudded loudly in my chest. I hadn’t considered that D might just go kill him. I felt incredibly guilty and panicked. This wasn’t a game and I had forgotten what sort of man I was dealing with once again when I had told D what Ringo had done. Did this make me an accessory? More importantly, why were all the men that talked to me turning up dead? It occurred to me that D had to be wondering that same thing. I felt stricken with a fear that hung over me like a huge gray cloud. “Of course, Ringo.” “You killed him?”

“What? No. I found him dead. Someone cut his throat and left him to bleed out on his sofa.” “Jesus…” “I’ve asked everyone I could find to ask and they all looked shocked or shifty as hell. One of them even suggested he committed suicide because he knew he was going to be in deep shit with me. Who the hell commits suicide by slitting their own throat when they have a small arsenal of guns at their disposal? Ringo’s house would make an NRA member look like a pacifist. Something bad is going on and I’m going to find out what it is. Suicide, my ass.” “I would say I can’t believe someone killed him, but it isn’t really a surprise if he treats everyone the way he treated me.” “He does. You’ll be at least relieved to know that I’ve got a cleaner in there dealing with it so you don’t have to.” “Cleaner?” “Yes, you know, one of those guys who disposes of bodies so they can’t be found and cleans up the

mess so people think he just skipped town.” “Those people really exist?” “Yes. You thought they were just something you see in movies?” “Simonly, yes. You have to use one of those often?” “I’d say that is a question you neither need nor want the answer to.” “Oh. Of course. I’m sorry. Why would I have to deal with any of this without a cleaner? I didn’t kill him.” “No. You didn’t, but that might be highly questionable when you clocked him with a lamp the night before he was murdered. That head wound didn’t just go away with his death. Besides that, having you even brought in and questioned is just bad for business.” “But I didn’t kill him.” “And you might be able to prove that, but the local district attorney is always happy to get his hands on anyone who works for me, and someone with a murder charge hanging over their head might just

do anything to make it go away. Innocent or not. They can drag things out a really long time, and on the off chance they don’t frame you for it, you’re either ruined or turned. A cleaner is the best solution to avoid any of those potential complications.” “I see. Well, thank you for taking care of it, then.” “I did it for the club, not for you, Janessa. As much as I would like to trust you, there is still the fact that you were one of the last ones to see two men who are now dead. Both had their throats cut. I honestly have a hard time believing you capable of that, especially some of the things that were done to Jack Knife before he died. I can’t rule it out though. So, you might as well get used to me keeping a very close eye on you.” “What? Are you serious? I’ve done nothing wrong.” “Then you have nothing to hide from me. We’re going to be very close, Janessa. I’m your shadow until I figure you out. You act innocent, but there is something about you that tells me you aren’t. Whatever it is you are hiding, I’ll find out. I’d watch my step if I were you.”

“Are you threatening me?” “I’m merely stating a fact. No threat. Just a fact.” “I think you should go.” “You don’t seem to understand that I don’t care what you think, and I certainly don’t take orders from you. I am going to go, but only because I have things to deal with. You are the least of my worries at the moment.” “Fine.” “I’ll be back later to check on you, and I expect you back at work tomorrow. I suggest you do what you women do and put some makeup on those marks of yours before you come in.” “Okay.” “Don’t be sullen with me. It’s doesn’t look good on you, Janessa.” “Goodbye, D.” “See you soon.” I watched as he sauntered back to the door and

opened it, hesitating for a moment and looking downward. I had to wonder if he felt bad about the way he was treating me, for the accusations he was making, but I supposed a man like D didn’t really feel guilt. No doubt he did much worse things than just hurt a woman’s feelings sometimes. I had no doubt at all that he could be more than a little ruthless when the situation dictated it. “Forget something? Left out an insult, perhaps?” “Lock the door, Janessa.” “Why? Am I locking the bad people out or locking a bad person in?” “That has yet to be decided.” He disappeared out the door as my blood boiled. Part of me wanted to be indignant that he was accusing me of being deceitful, but the fact was that I was exactly that. He was only wrong about what I was lying to him about. With him out of the way, I did as he asked. I locked the door and snapped the deadbolt in place. Once I heard his bike crank and head down the road, I went to my bedroom and retrieved my burner phone to call Arthur, making some notes while I waited for him to answer. I got voicemail.

“Arthur, it’s Janessa. Another member is dead. Ringo Gluscov, the one who assaulted me. I don’t think D did it, because he seems to think I might have, but he isn’t convinced so I think I’m not in any danger. They brought in a cleaner to dispose of the body from Ringo’s house.” The call was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. I hurriedly ended the call and stuffed everything back in its place beneath the floorboards before making my way to the door. Looking out the peephole, I saw my landlord standing there, looking a bit nervous. I opened it and smiled at him, forgetting for a moment what a wreck I was with the bruises. “I came to fix the shower.” “Come in.” “What happened to you?” “I fell.” “Yeah, into someone’s fist from the looks of it. Anyway, none of my business. I just need to fix your shower drain and get going.”

“Okay. Well, you know where it is.” “Yep.” I watched him as he made his way down the hall and went into the guest bath. How odd that he finally turned up to fix the shower. Why did he look so shaky? I was pretty sure he was an alcoholic, so maybe he was just recovering from a binge or reacting to not being on one. I heard him clanging around in the hallway bath and went back to the bedroom to do something with my appearance. By the time I had gotten my makeup on and brushed my hair, he was calling to me from the living room. “Yes?” I called back as I stepped out to look at him. “You’re good to go now. It just needed to be snaked out. I’m really sorry that it took me so long to get to it.” “It’s okay. It’s not like I have a lot of guests using that shower anyway.” “I don’t think it matters how many guests you have that want to use it. It’s the matter of who those guests are.”

“What?” “Nothing. Listen, since it took me so long to get to it, I’m going to comp this month’s rent.” “Seriously?” “Yeah. Seriously. I have to go. Make sure you let your friend D know I took care of it.” “Wait. You are here because D asked you to fix it?” “Asked? If by ‘asked’ you mean shoved me against a wall and told me that it better be fixed by the end of the week, then yeah. He asked real nice like.” “I’m sorry, Mr. Jonas. I did need it fixed, but I didn’t tell him to do that. He was visiting and asked to borrow the shower. I mentioned that it was broken. I guess he took it upon himself to butt in.” “Apparently so. Anyway, I did what he told me to do. I have to go.” I watched him as he made a hasty exit from the house. I almost felt bad for what D had done, but then again, Mr. Jonas had been ignoring me instead of fixing something he should have taken care of

right away. I smiled a little to myself. Perhaps D had at least some good qualities. If pushing my landlord around until he did what he should got results, who was I to argue? I had a feeling that if I had any further problems with the rental, they would be addressed with much more urgency.

Chapter Fourteen The following day I returned to work. I felt incredibly on edge. Even though I knew that Ringo wasn’t an issue I had to be concerned with, there was just this overall feeling of discontent. People were dying around me, possibly because of me, though I didn’t see what I might have to do with either death. Something was very wrong in this place, and it went well beyond the usual crooked dealings of the motorcycle club. I believed what Ringo had said about D not knowing everything and a part of me wanted to tell him that, but I didn’t dare tip my hand so easily. If he knew that I was aware of private club business, he might grow more curious about why I was nosing around in things that didn’t really concern me. I really couldn’t afford any undue curiosity. At the same time, I had to get back to talking with people who might be able to help me make sense of everything. There was no doubt that I had to tread lightly here. “Hey, Janessa. Glad you are back. You feeling a hundred percent now, right?” “Of course, Knuckles. You know I wouldn’t dare

step foot behind your precious bar with any germs still floating around.” “Smart girl. Alright, we’re gonna be slammed tonight, and it might not be pretty, so watch yourself at all times. There might be a few rough knobs running loose.” “What do you mean?” “D has some boys coming from other branches of the MC and a few associated gangs. Not all these guys are all sugar and spice like me, ya know. Just don’t let your guard down, and if you get into any kind of trouble, let me know.” “Okay, Knuckles. I am fairly certain I can hold my own, but thanks.” I looked at him a little suspiciously, wondering if he knew about my episode with Ringo. Would D have told him so that he could keep his eye on me while he was busy and not able to do so himself? I wasn’t sure, but he seemed unusually protective. It only made sense that his behavior was predicated by D revealing the situation with Ringo and asking him to watch me. Of course, that could mean more than just making sure I was safe. No doubt D still had his reservations about me after the deaths of two of his

men, with whom I had been associated in some manner. At any rate, I was glad to hear about all of the extra people coming in. It might open up a whole new world of avenues to me as far as getting information regarding my father’s death. I did my best to chat up as many of the outside guests as I could while I had access to them without it being noticeable. When my shift was over, I hung around a bit and talked some more of them up, careful to avoid the watchful eyes of either Knuckles or D. Though I knew they weren’t the only ones who watched, I just had to make sure I didn’t look like I was doing anything out of the ordinary. Looking across the room, I spotted Dodger talking with the leader of one of the gang factions. Nearby was Taz, a fairly new member of the MC. I had tried to talk to him before and found him very closemouthed. It was my guess that he would remain that way, but I made my way over to him casually to start a friendly conversation. I knew I wouldn’t learn anything, but I was hoping to overhear the conversation taking place around him. “Hey, Taz. How are things? I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Well, you know how it is. D keeps me busy.” “I’m sure he does. How have you been?” “I’m good, and you?” “Pretty good. Just got done with my shift at the bar.” “Just unwinding a bit, then?” “Yes. Thought I’d have a drink or two before I head home.” “Can’t blame you for that. Doing the same myself.” “Mind if I sit with you for a bit?” “No. Not at all, but can you excuse me for just a minute. I really gotta hit the head.” “Sure. Sure. No problem.” Not only did I not mind, but I was glad. It gave me an excuse to sit there and eavesdrop without looking suspect. I toyed with the tiny straw in my drink while I listened to the conversation taking place behind me between Dodger and the gang leader who I wasn’t familiar with. I made a mental

note to try to find out later. Dodger sounded a bit irritated as he spoke. “You know bloody well I can’t allow that. You’d just as well put it right out of your head.” “Look, I need this. If I can’t get those boys on board with what we are doing, then there is a good chance they will go with those pissants down on Southside and then we’re fucked for all business in that area.” “The answer was no. Cross me and you’ll be drinking your lunch through a straw.” “You’ve no idea what you are doing to me, man. I want to talk to D about it.” “D will tell you the same, lad.” “Maybe so, but I’d rather hear it from him if it is all the same to you.” “Suit yourself, you whingey little twat. When he tells you the same, you can maybe have some sense about you and not try to go over my head again. I’ll let you do it once just because I’m such a nice guy.”

“Nice guy. Right.” “Fuck off with you before I decide to pull your tongue through your arsehole for a wee bit of fun.” “You’re some piece of work, you British bastard.” “You’ve no idea. Best for you that you never find out.” “Sheesh.” The gang leader went strolling past me, leaving Dodger alone at the next table. I nursed my drink, wondering if I should get up and move away or wait for Taz to return. I was still considering my options when I was startled by a voice behind me. “Janessa, right?” I turned and looked upward to find myself looking at Dodger. He was an impressive man. I’d say about six foot four with broad shoulders and handsome, rugged features. It was easy to see why he was feared as he towered over me. There was something about him, a presence that instantly put you on your guard. “Yes, I’m Janessa.”

“Simon Flagg.” “Nice to meet you, Simon.” “Grand to meet you as well.” “I don’t usually see you out and about with the little people.” “Yes, I do try to keep my distance from the general population. Not really my sort of crowd for socializing.” “Why is that?” “Hopelessly American,” he said with a smile. I couldn’t decide if it was because he was joking or being condescending. Perhaps it was a bit of both. “I see.” I found that I was at a loss as to what more to say and felt like an idiot. Taz approaching was a relief. “Dodger, what’s up?” “My blood pressure in this bloody hole. I’m going home,” Simon replied.

“Goodnight, then.” “Right,” Simon replied to him in a dry tone before turning to me. “Janessa, it was lovely to meet you. I hope you enjoy the rest of your evening in this cesspool of mediocrity.” “Um, sure.” I laughed, not entirely sure how I was to respond to that. “You enjoy the rest of your evening as well.” He nodded and walked away, making his way through the crowd and toward the exit. I was once again struck by his physical presence as he towered over most of the other men he passed. He paused just inside the nearby doors with his back to me. It took a moment to realize he was speaking to someone due to the fact that his large frame completely obscured them. When he finally continued on, I realized it was D. Despite his own six foot one frame, Dodger still dwarfed him.

Chapter Fifteen D was looking directly at me with a scowl on his face. My heart beat a little faster as he made a beeline toward me. He didn’t look happy, and I wasn’t sure why. Probably just because I was still sitting in the club talking to a member instead of going straight home as he expected me to do. I prepared myself for his anger, but his scowl seemed to fade as he got closer. Perhaps I had misread it and it was about something Dodger had said rather than about me. “There you are, Janessa. I thought you had already gone home.” “No, not yet, D. I was just having a couple of drinks to wind down and talking to Taz here.” “What’s up, Taz?” D asked. “Not much, D. Just taking it easy. You know how I do.” “Yeah, I do. Listen, I hate to pry away your company, but I’m going to steal Janessa from you.” “No problem, boss.”

“Janessa, can you come to my office with me?” “Okay. Sure.” He held out a hand toward me and I took it, allowing him to walk me through the crowd and into his office. Once inside, he locked the door and turned to me, pulling me close to him and kissing me deeply. It was completely unexpected, but very welcomed. I found myself reciprocating the kiss fully as his tongue laced lazily with my own. His hand slipped beneath my skirt, rubbing my clit softly through the silk material of my panties. I was instantly wet, ready for him. I exhaled loudly as his lips moved down to my neck, kissing his way softly down one side and across my collarbone to the tops of my breasts. His hands fumbled with my buttons, pulling my blouse open to expose more of them to his mouth. Pushing the cups of my demi bra downward, he circled one nipple with his tongue, teasing it softly as I moaned against his touch. He pulled at it with his teeth, his hand still creating the most delicious friction against my clit. He took his time, exploring every inch of me as I relaxed against him, letting him do as he pleased. I

loved the way he took his time teasing my nipples and kissing my breasts, his hot mouth glancing lightly across my stomach before focusing on my already heated thighs. He moved all the way down my body and then back upward again, his breath now against my ear. “You are so incredibly beautiful, Janessa. Your body, your face, everything is just perfection. You could have any man you want and yet you are working in a casino with a lot like us. Why would such a strong, capable, beautiful woman want to be with someone like me?” There was no way for me to answer that honestly. Instead, I kept silent and moaned as he continued his slow tour of my body. I couldn’t deny how much I enjoyed D’s touch, his kisses, his somehow relaxed yet urgent need. I decided to keep my head out of it and just let my body indulge itself in the way he was making me feel. There was no doubt that I was putty in his hands. “That feels so amazing,” I cooed against him. A low growl escaped his throat as he pulled away, slipping off his pants and boxer briefs to enter me. I wanted him so much that I could barely wait for him to be inside of me. His gaze met my own as he

began making love to me with long, deep strokes. They were simultaneously earth shattering and gentle, if that was even a possibility. I could feel him on a level that I couldn’t recall ever having felt anyone. It was on much more than just a physical level. It wasn’t love, but it was…something. The way he knew instinctively how to touch me was something I couldn’t quite explain without acknowledging a connection on another level. D pushed me back onto his desk, his strokes changing from slow and deliberate to hard and fast. He was thrusting into me deeply. I bit my lip to keep from making too much noise as he fucked me, moaning my name. “Oh, Janessa. God…” His sexual prowess was no exaggeration. He had the stamina of a stallion. Not only that, but he seemed to know just exactly when to slow, when to speed up, how to hit all the right spots inside me. His fingers teased my clit as he fucked me in a way I’d never experienced before. It was missing nothing, utterly complete in its perfection. There was no denying the natural chemistry between us that only enhanced the actual act. “Yes, fuck me. Don’t stop, D. Harder,” I pleaded,

wanting more of him, all of him. He was all too happy to accommodate, driving into me fiercely as I cooed and cried out beneath him. There was no doubt who was in charge. D was an alpha male not to be denied. He made that clear in the way he took control and reduced me to a quivering mass of wantonness. I couldn’t say that I’d ever been with anyone like him before. He was everything any woman would want in a lover and then some. I couldn’t hold back any longer, letting out a loud moan of pleasure as I came. My entire body shuddered with the force of it, clenching and then letting it go. His continued thrusts only brought smaller climaxes to follow until I wasn’t sure I had anything left to give. My legs shook as he finally gave into his own desire and came inside of me, collapsing lightly on top of me for a moment before finally gathering himself. I was barely up from the desk to get my clothes when there was a knock on the door. “Yeah?” D called out. “D, It’s Simon. We need to talk.” “Give me a minute. I’ll find you.”

“Alright.” I heard footsteps moving away from the door and began getting dressed. I had no doubt that I was a complete mess to look at. “Janessa, there is a private bath right down that hallway there. Get yourself together and I’ll be back when I’m done with Simon.” “Okay. Thanks.” With D out the door, I walked down to the bathroom and cleaned myself up, getting dressed and freshening my makeup. I looked at myself in the mirror as I brushed my hair and I didn’t like what I saw. I didn’t know the person who looked back at me. I didn’t know this woman who had just fucked the leader of the MC responsible for her father’s death, not because I had to in order to obtain information, but because I had wanted to. I had fucked him for no other reason than I wanted him, and I had enjoyed it immensely. How could I excuse that in myself?

Chapter Sixteen Taking a deep breath, I returned to D's office. I went to peep out the door and saw him all the way across the casino floor in deep conversation with Dodger and some men I didn’t recognize. Hurriedly, I shut the door, flipped the lock and went to his desk, pulling open drawers and sifting through the contents while trying not to move them around too much. The last thing I needed was for him to figure out I had gone through it. Finding nothing, I moved on to a large filing cabinet in the corner. Flipping through the files, I found nothing but personnel files, including my own. I opened it to find not only the application and papers I had signed for employment, but notes regarding my background and a police report that showed no criminal activity. I found it odd that he would request a police report when he didn’t care much for the police. After puzzling with it for a moment, I realized that he probably had someone within the department he went to with such things. Putting the file back, I noticed something odd. Several files behind mine was another name I recognized. There was an employee file on my father, but my father had never worked here. I

reached in to pull it out and heard the door knob jiggle. I hastily shoved the folder back down and shut the cabinet door, taking a seat on the nearby sofa and looking at my phone as if checking messages as D let himself back in the office. “Why did you lock the door?” “I don’t know. I just didn’t want anyone walking in while I was in here alone and getting dressed.” “You seemed to be dressed now though,” he replied suspiciously. “Yeah. I just forgot to flip the lock back when I was done. Sorry about that.” “Okay. Let’s get going. I want you to go back to my place with me tonight.” “What? Why?” “I have my reasons, Janessa. Let’s just leave it at that.” “Should I be afraid of something, D?” “Not as long as you are with me, you shouldn’t.”

I nodded and picked up my purse, tossing my cell phone inside and smiling at him as we walked through the club and out to his car. Slipping inside, we made our way across town and toward a gated community just on the outskirts. Despite the fact that I knew he was incredibly wealthy, this just didn’t seem like his sort of neighborhood. I had expecting something in a more private, understated area. Pulling up to a large metal gate, he pressed a button and I heard a voice come on the box. “Opening the gate, sir,” came a deep voice. Of course D had armed guards that manned his gate. No way would he trust his home to just a coded box that anyone could hack. The large gates opened and we entered, passing a small interior guard house. Two oversized men stepped out and nodded at us as we passed. I assumed they wanted visual confirmation that it was D in addition to seeing him on camera. Once we were past, I saw them make their way back into the guard house. “Wow. This is your house?” “Yeah. It’s a bit much, I know. It wasn’t really what I wanted. I would have been just as happy in a little cabin somewhere out of the way with a yard full of bull mastiffs as protection detail.”

“Then why did you go this route?” “It came with the casino.” “So, the owner sold you both as a deal?” “He didn’t have a lot of choice. He was in debt with the IRS up to his eyeballs. It was either sell it to the MC at a loss that would net him enough to cover what he owed them and his lawyers to keep him out of federal debt prison or hand it all over to them to sell at auction, and he still went to prison.” “I’m confused. Does the MC own the casino or do you?” “I own the casino. The MC just conducts business there.” “You must have had a lot of money to invest.” “I did.” I pondered where he would have gotten that sort of capital. I knew from my notes from the DEA that not even the authorities realized D was the sole owner of the casino. It was buried behind so much paperwork that they had surmised the MC bought it

with drug money. It had always been their intention that proving this would be their way of bringing down the club. I didn’t think they had considered that D had purchased it individually, and now I had to wonder how he had done so. “Come on in and I’ll take you for the grand tour.” “A bit nicer than my place,” I said, looking at the size of the house just from the outside and the large white columns that spanned either side of the front entrance. “Depends on your perspective. This place is big, empty, cold. Your place has character. It’s comfortable, soothing.” “If you say so. I’ll be happy to trade if you’d like.” “You joke, but you’ve no idea how tempting that sounds.” “Oh, speaking of my home. My landlord paid me a visit. He said to make sure I told you my shower is fixed.” “Smart man.” “You didn’t have to do that, D.”

“I don’t like people who don’t tend to their business. Someone comes into the casino and has a bad time, I try to make them whole. Their food was bad. Their drinks were too cold, too hot, too weak, whatever. I make sure they are taken care of properly. They come back. They tell people they had a problem, but we were quick to fix it. It’s all a matter of keeping up your reputation.” “Well, I just don’t think you should have manhandled him.” “Manhandled? Trust me. I should have done worse. Let’s just say he wasn’t as agreeable in the beginning of our conversation. He should have practiced a few manners, and he wouldn’t have had a problem with me. I tried to be polite.” “Fair enough, I guess.” “Yes, it is fair enough. At any rate, you won’t have any trouble out of him the next time you ask him to do something for you. I can guarantee that.” “Yes, I am pretty sure you did guarantee that.” I smiled at him as we got out of the car and made our way into the front door. I found myself looking

around at a large foyer done in heavy marble that matched the steps of the rounded staircase that ran around one side of the open area just beyond. D walked me from room to room, each done in opulent style. There was nothing about the house that said biker or had a hint of what I would have perceived as D’s personality. He was right, there was nothing homey about it. “You like this place?” “Hardly what you’d expect to find a single biker living like, is it?” “That is quite an understatement.” “Yeah, I know. It is actually on the market, but I haven’t found a buyer for it. Like I said, I had to buy it as part of the deal. It took me most of the money I had to get through the deal, and so I was sort of forced to live in it for a while. Couldn’t afford to buy another place on top of this one. Way past that now, but just haven’t seen any sense in maintaining two places. I’ll get another when this sells.” “Makes sense.” “So, now I’m looking for something a little more

my style, and I’ve put this one up for sale.” “I’m sure you’ll find something more to your liking.” “I know I will. I can’t wait to get this behemoth off my hands. Anyway, come on and I’ll show you the kitchen. We can make a snack and get a drink.” “Sounds good.” I followed him to the kitchen and looked around. It was the most incredible kitchen I had ever been in, worthy of a top-notch chef. Everything was marble and specialty tile with stainless steel appliances and a large island in the center with its own grill. I watched as D put together stacked ham and cheese sandwiches and dropped them onto the surface he had left heating while he prepared them. “Hey, bartender. How about you mix us a couple of drinks while I cook?” “Sure thing, boss. What’ll it be?” “You know what I like.” “Whiskey, two ice cubes. Coming up.”

“Perfect.” He flipped the sandwiches over and grabbed a couple of plates, pulling some dill spears and chips from the cabinet behind him. “Doritos or Funyons?” “Seriously? You live in a multi-million-dollar house and you’re serving up some Funyons?” “Yeah. I’m classy like that.” “Doritos,” I said with a laugh, handing him his drink. He took a sip and smiled at me before pulling the sandwiches off the grill and slicing them on a nearby cutting board. Sitting them on our plates, he added a handful of Doritos to both and a couple of dill spears. “Come on. We’ll sit at the table.” I followed him to a formal dining room that held the longest table I had ever seen. It appeared to be made in all one piece, out of solid slate. “Which end would you like?” “Are there speakers to broadcast our conversation

to one another?” “Funny you should ask.” “You’re kidding me.” “Nope. There is a little speaker box at every place sitting. They are recessed under a little flip up panel so they don’t interfere with anything unless you need them.” “Wow. That’s just crazy.” “I agree. Tell you what. Let’s skip the table and go veg out in the game room. I spend most of my time there.” “I didn’t realize you were much of a gamer.” “I’m not. It’s just the only room in this house that feels like a normal place to me.” “Lead the way.”

Chapter Seventeen Following him, I was surprised when he hit a small button on a wall that appeared to be solid. A section of it slid back to reveal the opening to a room on the other side. I could immediately see why he liked it. Despite its high-tech James-Bondstyle entrance, the interior could have passed for the rec room in any normal household that had the extra space. There was a large-screen television, a stereo and, several pieces of expensive but comfortable-looking furniture. “Yes, this is much better.” “I agree. Come on.” The two of us sat on the overstuffed sofa in front of the flat screen, but didn’t turn it on. Instead, D hit a button on a nearby remote and a stereo started playing in the background. Janessa smiled as The Eagles played low in the background. “I’d have never pegged you for an Eagles fan.” “What? Why not? The Eagles are classic.” “I don’t know. I guess the whole biker thing. I

figured you were into something a bit heavier.” “Sometimes. I have very diverse tastes in music, but you can’t go wrong with The Eagles.” “I’d have to agree.” “Tell me about your family, Janessa. I didn’t see to find anything on them in your background.” “My mother died when I was young, and I lived with my father, but he died too. I don’t have any siblings. Not a lot to tell. We were pretty poor growing up. They did what they could to take care of me.” “That’s all very vague.” “I guess it’s not really a childhood that I have happy, fond memories about. The less said, the better.” “I can relate. I grew up without a father. My mother kept trying to replace the one that walked out on her when she told him she was pregnant. There were quite a few of them, but they all were the same. A bunch of brutes who thought the way to teach me to be a man was to beat it into me.”

“And your mother let them?” “She didn’t really know the difference by that point. She was too hopped up on coke to care. I just learned to defend myself against them, and when I got old enough, I took off to do my own thing.” “And your mother?” “Died several years later. Combination of coke, pills and booze.” “I’m sorry, D.” “It’s life. We all have our crosses to bear, right?” “I suppose we do.” He stood up and took my empty plate, smiling down at me softly. I couldn’t help but note again just how gorgeous he was, and when he wasn’t playing the part of biker crime lord, he was actually quite pleasant to be around. “I need to run upstairs and check on something. Why don’t you make us a couple more drinks and I’ll be right back?” “Okay. You want me to take the plates to the

kitchen?” “It’s on the way. I’ll walk with you and take them. I wouldn’t want you to get lost in this place.” “I probably would.” We walked back to the kitchen, me busying myself at the bar while D put the plates in the dishwasher and disappeared up the stairs in the next room. I made myself a Jack and Coke and poured his straight, retrieving a couple of ice cubes from the nearby freezer and dropping them in. Taking the drinks with me, I returned to the game room and got comfortable to wait for him. It wasn’t long before I heard the sound of his footsteps coming back down the stairs. “Here’s your drink,” I said, smiling up at him, but it became obvious very quickly that he wasn’t happy about something.

Chapter Eighteen “Tell me what you were looking for in my office, Janessa.” “What?” “Don’t act as if you don’t know what I mean.” “I don’t understand. You went upstairs and everything was fine. Now, you are back down here asking me something about your office. I don’t know what you mean.” “At the casino. I left you there to get dressed, and you went through my drawers and the filing cabinet. What were you looking for?” “I…I don’t know.” “You don’t know? That’s the best you’ve got? You don’t know?” “I was just being nosey I guess.” “Nosey? Right. You know, I knew something was up when I came back and found the door locked, but I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. I

tried to buy your bullshit story about having locked it because you were indisposed. Thing is, my office has a motion sensor that kicks on the security camera if anyone is in there. I check it every night to make sure no one goes in while I’m away from the casino due to some problems I’ve been having. Imagine my lack of surprise when I instead found you rifling through things.” “I’m sorry, D. I just wanted to see what you had turned up about me in my background check.” “Why, Janessa? Is there something I need to know about that? I mean, we talked about your background and you told me why I hit a dead end. Is there something more I need to know about that too?” “I…no. I think I should go.” My heart raced wildly. I was busted, and I had no plan for this. I knew I was babbling, and all I could think about was getting out of here, but I had a feeling that wasn’t going to be easy. D wasn’t the sort of man to just let something like that go without explanation. I had to come up with something reasonable, and I had to come up with it fast.

“You aren’t going anywhere until you tell me the truth, Janessa! No more bullshit. Tell me what you were looking for in my office or this is going to get very ugly between us, very quickly. You are the last person I want to hurt, but you crossed a line. I was beginning to really trust you.” “I’m sorry, D. I was just being nosey. I told you.” “Janessa! Stop lying to me! Tell me right now what you were doing in there!” I flinched at the sound of his raised voice. Before I could react past that, he covered the ground between us and pushed me against the wall by the television. His eyes were cold as they bore down on mine, demanding answers. “Okay. I’ll tell you. Just let go of me. Let’s sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.” For a moment, he continued to hold me there, but he finally let go and stepped away, taking a seat on the sofa and looking at me suspiciously. “Don’t waste my time, Janessa, and don’t try to fuck with me. No more bullshit. You get one chance to tell me the truth.”

“Okay. My father was Romeo Magre. Do you know who he was?” “No. Should I?” “Yes, you should. Your motorcycle club killed him.” “What?” It was obviously D’s turn to feign ignorance of any wrong doing, though the look on his face was pretty convincing. I studied his face closely for any signs that he knew what I was talking about, but if he did, he was not tipping his hand one bit. It was nothing that he couldn’t feign from years of practice in his business. “My father liked to gamble. He was in deep and borrowed money from your motorcycle club. He paid it back before the note was even due, but you killed him anyway.” “Wait. No. We don’t do business like that. No one in my club would have ever killed someone over a loan. Beat him up maybe, make his life hell, but not kill him, and certainly not if he had already paid it back to us.”

“I’m telling you that someone did.” “Okay, let’s back up a step or two here. What makes you think it was us?” “Because whoever shot him left a calling card. There was a pack of matches from the casino laying on his chest, and it matched a previous murder that was traced back to your motorcycle club.” “No. No way. Not only would we not have done such a thing, but we sure aren’t stupid enough to call attention to the fact that we did. What other murder? What are you talking about?” “My father was shot twice, right in the heart. Apparently, there had been a murder a week or so before that was done the same way. The other man owed money to the club too. His wife said he had also paid off his loan. She was with him when he did. They had been in a tight spot and needed to pay their mortgage before it went into foreclosure. They were waiting on a pension from his work, from an injury he had suffered there. In desperation, they had come to your club for help. When the pension came through, they paid off their loan.” “This is crazy. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve already

told you we don’t kill over pissant beefs like unpaid loans, much less paid ones.” “Well, someone in your club does.” “I would know.” “Are you sure about that, D?” “What do you mean? Of course I’m sure. No one in the club would dare make a move like that without my say so, and they would never get it.” “My father is dead. Someone in your club did it, with or without your permission.” “Okay. Let’s just slow this down a few notches, and let me catch up. Are you a cop?” “No. I’m not.” “But you are working with them.” “More like they are working with me.” I was trembling all over. A part of me felt angry, but mostly I was frightened of what he might do to me now that he knew the truth. I was alone in his house with him and at his mercy, and he now knew

at least part of the truth. There was plenty more I hadn’t told him, but I didn’t intend to, at least not right now. “Okay. Let me say this one more time. I would not have and did not have your father killed. I need to understand what is happening here, so tell me, from the beginning, everything you know. Don’t leave anything out. It could be important.” I took a deep breath and started from the beginning. I told him everything I knew, leaving out only the fact that the officer helping me was actually a DEA agent looking into the drugs they dealt from the motor club. It was better that we kept this to a case of me just trying to find out what happened to my father rather than bringing anything that would really upset him into the equation. “I’m telling you that this was not the club, Janessa.” “I don’t think you can honestly say that, D.” “I believe I can. I’ve already told you that nothing gets done without my say so.” “You aren’t going to like this, but there are things that you don’t know, D.”

“What things?” I sighed deeply. He wasn’t going to like this and here I was, the betrayer and the bearer of bad news. It could very easily go bad for me if he decided that he didn’t like what I was saying. “One night when I was talking to Arthur, he made some comments about you not knowing everything that goes on around there. Something about rogue members of the club.” “Arthur? He’s rogue? He told you that?” “No, no. I don’t think so. I asked him that. He was pretty drunk, so I figured he would tell me. He said he didn’t like to choose sides. I think he either knew who they were or maybe just knew they existed. I’m not sure. He didn’t tell me anymore than that, so I can’t say for certain.” “Still, if he were drunk, he could have just been talking out of his ass.” “Possibly, but then there was Ringo. When he attacked me, he was mouthy. I don’t think he intended for me to walk out of there alive.”

I could feel all the color drain from my face as I said the words. I didn’t want to relive those moments with Ringo, but the mention of him took me right back there and a shudder went through my system. I had to mentally remind myself to remain calm and focused. I needed to get through this little interrogation with D without getting sucked into that unseemly vortex. “You think he meant to kill you?” “Yes. He was talking about how you were not on top of things and that someone else would be taking over. He said he would be their second in command. He laughed about it. I don’t think he would have told me that if he had intended for me to walk out of there.” “Jesus Christ! Why didn’t you already tell me all of this, Janessa?” “You’re kidding, right?” “Yeah. I know. I’m the enemy. Okay, I get it. I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming. I haven’t seen any of this. How could I be so blind? Okay. Okay. So, you have no idea who these rogue members are other than Arthur maybe knows, and Ringo was definitely one of them. What about Jack Knife?”

“I have no idea about Jack Knife. He never said anything about any of that stuff. Either he wasn’t involved or was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Whatever he was off doing the day he came to lay low at my house, and whatever he was doing the day he disappeared could have been tied to it. Maybe he was involved and got greedy, or maybe he found out something he shouldn’t have. You said he was pretty loyal. If he ran across people who were out to do you harm, then he would have come straight back to you with the information, wouldn’t he?” “I’d like to believe he would, but I’m not sure of anything at this point. This is a lot to take in. I can’t believe all of this has been going on around me, and I’ve been oblivious.” “There have been no signs?” “There have been some strange things, but nothing I couldn’t somehow come up with answers to explain other than an accounting problem I’m dealing with. Maybe I was too quick to do that. I mean, my guys. I can’t believe anyone in my club would do this to me. I’m smarter than this.” “I don’t know, D. I think they’ve covered their

tracks pretty well.” “Well, there are at least some tracks they haven’t covered. I’m missing money from the club. Quite a lot of it.” “How can you just be missing money? Doesn’t it have to trace back to somewhere?” “Casino money, yes. Some club money, yes. Then there is what we’ll call ‘discretionary funds.’ Money that quite a few members have access to for greasing wheels, making off-market purchases, things like that. You get the idea.” “Short term loans?” D looked at me with a sudden realization. His face fell. He knew exactly where I was going with my comment, and it didn’t make him happy at all. “Yes, short term loans. I just don’t see why they would have killed someone who they loaned money to if that person paid it back. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s bad for business, not just mine, but whatever racket they were into as well. Are you sure your father paid them?” “Yes, positive.”

“How can you be so certain?” “Because I was with him.” “Janessa! You were with him? Who did he pay?” “I don’t know. Look, my Dad was a real fuck up. He bragged about how much money he had won at the poker game, and I asked where he got the money. Since he had made a profit off of it, I guess he decided to tell me the truth for a change. He was going to go back that night and try to double it but I said no. I told him we were going to go pay back what he owed, and then he could take whatever extra that he had won and go gamble with it if he wanted. We argued about it.” “Because he didn’t want to pay it back?” “Yes. He thought he could make even more with another few hands of poker. I told him that not only did he need to pay that back, but he needed to take what was left and pay some of our bills. He kept trying to convince me that he could do so much more if I would just let him hang on to all of it to gamble. In the end, I drove him down to meet someone he called on his cell phone. We parked in an alley and he told me to wait in the car. It was

dark and I couldn’t make out who he met. I could see him handing him the money and then he turned around and came back to the car.” “So, they didn’t kill him there. How do you know it was them who did it at all? Perhaps it was someone from the poker game.” “I didn’t. I told you. The cops told me that their investigation indicated it was the work of your motorcycle club.” “Right. Based on another similar incident. Do you know who that was?” “Yes. It was a man named Diaz Lohman. His wife said that he had borrowed money from the club to help them make ends meet after his injury on the job. They were short on cash and just needed a temporary fix until the disability pension came through. She said he had paid it back the week before he was killed.” “None of this makes sense.” “There is something else, too. When I was in your office looking around. I pulled my file from the cabinet and saw that there was a file in there on my father as well. Are all of those employee files?”

“Yes, they are, but employment spans a lot of territory with the MC. It’s not necessarily working for the casino. Could be a groundskeeper at a property we maintain, an informant that we pay off, even just someone who walks a member’s dogs when he’s away on business. Your father is in there?” “Yes. I need to know what is in that file.” “I know every employee there. I don’t know how I would have missed your father considering his death. I don’t know how I would have missed that he was your father.” “It’s not a hard fact to miss. My mother was pregnant with me when he left. She didn’t put him on my birth certificate and gave me her maiden name rather than his last name. So, no reason for you to associate our very different last names with one another.” “Okay. I suppose that makes sense. God, this is a lot to sort out. I need to talk to some of the members about it, but now I’m not sure who I can trust. Talking to the wrong ones could just raise more trouble. I don’t want to tip them off that I know anything about anything until the time is right

to take action. I can’t risk giving whoever these people are the upper hand. “I don’t know either. I’m not exactly skilled in your sort of lifestyle.” “Not something we can sort out tonight. Let’s sleep on it. In the morning, we’ll go pull your father’s file. We will look to see if there is one on the other guy too. Then I’ll start looking into things a little closer. It’ll help knowing what I’m looking for instead of just scratching my head over odd things that are happening around me. Perhaps with some more detail, things will begin to fall into place and make a lot more sense. “I just really want whoever killed my father to pay for it, D.” “And they will, Janessa. There is just one thing. I can’t let you harm this MC. If there are people in my club who are killing innocent people for whatever reasons, I won’t stand for it and I will deal with it, but no police. This stays internal. Tell me about this contact on the outside and what he knows.” “D, I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?” “He has helped me when no one else would and I can’t put him in danger. I can’t tell you anything about him other than he doesn’t have enough to do anything to you, and if that changes, it won’t be because of me. I’ve not seen the drug related side of your operation other than the petty dealing the girls do, and he is already well aware of that. It’s of no interest to him. He is looking to bring down much bigger transactions.” “As long as he minds his own business from here on out, he won’t be in any danger from me. As far as bigger transactions, he’ll be hard pressed to trace any of those back to me or this club. You know, if there were any to begin with.” “Maybe his safety isn’t in question, but you can’t say right now who might be involved. If the wrong people know his name, you can’t protect him.” D scowled at me. He was smart. He might not like not knowing who was on his tail, but he knew I was right. After a few moments he looked up at me again “I can’t let anyone harm this club, Janessa. You don’t have to give me his name but tell me what he

is after. Tell me what I need to cover to protect the club while we find out who did this to your father. It’s a tradeoff, tit for tat. You help me and I’ll help you.” “Okay. That seems fair enough. He’s a DEA agent. He doesn’t care about anything but the larger drug trafficking.” “What does he know about it already?” “I don’t really know. He just told me he would help me if I helped him. He didn’t tell me what he knew, only that I was to give him any information I could come by regarding your drug trade. The deal was never that I would probe into that heavily. I’m not a paid informant or anything like that. He just told me that he would help me as long as I fed him any information that I might happen to become privy to while I was here.” “And what have you given him?” “Nothing so far. He knows about the deaths of Jack Knife and Ringo. He already knew about the party favors here at the club before I even came here, but he didn’t care about that. He said you were into trafficking big time. That is what he wanted me to gather any intel I could find about.”

“But you found nothing.” “No. I’ve been focusing on my father’s death. I haven’t really come across anyone who talked about the drugs. Other than just the few guests that have requested that I source drugs to them, no one has even mentioned them to me. Certainly the members of the club haven’t.” “Good. At least they are doing something right by not running off at the mouth about club business. Alright. There isn’t a lot we can do about this tonight. Let’s get some sleep and we will sit down in the morning and talk about what we need to do.” “Sounds good enough.”

Chapter Nineteen I followed D up the stairs to his bedroom. Like the rest of the house, it was massive and cold. The oversize four-poster bed was beautiful, but somehow didn’t look comfortable. Much to my surprise, it was very much so as I got undressed and snuggled in beside him. He didn’t try to make love to me, instead just kissed me on the cheek and rolled over to go to sleep. I was surprised to find I felt disappointed. Was he just stressed about all that was going on, or was it an indication that he now knew what I was about and that part of us would now be over? I tossed and turned a bit before finally settling beneath the covers and drifting off to sleep. When the morning came, I awoke to find D already out of bed and dressed. He was pacing the hallway near the bedroom door and talking to someone on the phone. I could only make out bits and pieces of the conversation. “I know. I can’t waste time on this, and you can’t bring anyone else in on it. You are the only one I feel one hundred percent confident that I can trust. Dig and dig deep. Get back to me as soon as you can.”

I pretended to still be asleep when he came back in, unsure of what I should say after last night’s conversation. He surprised me by sitting on the edge of the bed and smoothing my hair lightly. “Wake up, Janessa. We need to get to the casino.” I rolled over and looked at him, noting again how gorgeous he was. I wanted him, but I knew it wasn’t going to happen, not now. Maybe not ever again. There was a certain sadness that came with that thought, a sadness I tried to ignore. Nodding at him, I climbed out of bed and got dressed. “I laid a clean toothbrush out on the bathroom counter for you. There are plenty of toiletries in the cabinets and on the counter for various uses. Take whatever you need.” “Thanks. I’ll hurry as best I can. I just need to freshen up a bit before we go.” “Okay. I’ll wait for you downstairs. I can knock out a few more phone calls while I wait.” I hated that I wouldn’t be within earshot for those, as I might learn even more than I had already. I let out a huge sigh as he left me alone to finish getting

ready for the casino. Fifteen minutes later and we were on the way. D looked incredibly agitated so I refrained from talking to him. No doubt whatever phone conversations he had shared weren’t ones that had set well with him. When we arrived at the casino, he made a beeline toward his office with me in tow. We went directly to the filing cabinet and pulled my father’s file. D spread it out across his desk to look at. “It’s not an employee file.” “It looks like one.” “Yes, it does. It looks like he was hired to do day labor for the casino.” “Yes. You don’t consider that employment?” “No. He never worked here. Hold on. I’ll show you.” D reached into the filing cabinet and pulled another file, spreading it out alongside my father’s. He looked over at me and waved his hand across it for me to look. “See anything odd?”

I looked at the two files closely. It took a moment, but it quickly became clear what he was talking about. Other than the name and address, the information for both men was identical. I looked at him with a puzzled expression, understanding what I was seeing but not sure why it existed. “They are fake employment files?” “Yes. That is exactly what they are.” “I don’t understand. Why would you have fake employment files on the two men?” “Because someone in this organization is trying to cover their tracks. They set up fake employment folders and I’m guessing fake withdrawal entries for cash day labor. It explains some of the missing money.” “How did you know that my father’s was fake so quickly, before looking at the other one?” “Because I recognize the address used on the form. It’s for an empty building down by the waterfront where day laborers used to congregate in hopes of picking up odd jobs.” “Why not just use the men’s real addresses?”

“The guy I bought the casino from, this was his system. He hid funds by ‘hiring’ fake day labor and paying them cash at the end of the day. Not uncommon in this business, and it hides a long list of activities that are best not traceable. There was a stack of partially filled out ones left behind. Besides, using their real addresses is too traceable. There might be a hundred people by the same name in this town, but narrow it down to an actual address and someone could visit them and ask questions.” “Of course. The forms. Let me guess, these are those same ones?” “Yep. Someone employed the old method for handing out employee loans.” “Who all can do that?” “A number of people are set to withdraw funds for day labor, but this is a nail in the coffin. I just need to find out who made these particular two withdrawals.” “I don’t mean to be thick, but I still don’t think I completely understand. Why would they do it this way?”

“Simple. They loaned the money to the two men, but logged it as day labor pay instead of a loan. So, when the money was paid back, there was no need to return it. You aren’t going to get day labor pay back. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. The old casino owner did it to divert the money to things he didn’t want on the books. Someone now is using the system to divert money to themselves, I would assume.” “Does that explain all of your missing money?” “No. If you hadn’t brought this up, I would have most likely never caught it. I trust these guys and it’s not unusual for them to hire actual day laborers to take care of things like property care, plumbing, things like that. There is no reason for me to miss money that is showing up on the books as paid out to laborers. I’m guessing that there are more of these in that file cabinet and I’m going to find them all. Then the question is going to be whether anyone else died and why. If no one else did, then why those two?” “The other missing money, it isn’t accounted for in this manner?” “No. It has just been taken. I’m not really even sure

how. It is just missing.” “Why account for only part of what was taken?” “I don’t know. Maybe more than one person and one isn’t as smart as the other? Perhaps someone trying to tip me off that something is amiss. It could even be that someone took it for some legitimate club business and just never got the opportunity to account for it to me or Simon.” “Someone like Jack Knife.” “Yes. It stands to reason that he was pulling money for something. It might have been legit, and he just hadn’t had a chance to clear it up with me or he could have been rogue, though I find that hard to believe, especially since someone wanted him out of the way very badly. Whoever that person was not only wanted him out of the picture, they wanted him to suffer. They did a very good job of making sure that he did.” “So, where does all this leave us?” “Follow the trail. I’m going to go through these files and see who else has ‘worked’ for cash and check it against the cash withdrawals to see who pulled the money. It should give us the answer to at least one

portion of my missing money.” “What do you want me to do?” “I want you to get out there behind the bar and work.” “D, let me help you.” “No, Janessa. Go do your job.” I sensed that there was no use arguing with him about it. It was killing me to know who those withdrawals traced back to, but I would have to wait until he was ready to tell me. I tried to put it out of my mind as I went to work behind the bar and made small talk with the members and guests. The day seemed like it crawled by, and I grew antsier by the moment.

Chapter Twenty “Janessa, my office. Now.” I looked up toward the sound of D’s voice and then over toward Knuckles. He grimaced and nodded toward me to go. Walking out the swing gate on one side of the bar, I made my way hurriedly to D’s office and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I could tell he was frustrated just from the look on his face. “Did you find out?” “Yep, not that it does us any good.” He didn’t offer any more than that, even though I waited. I didn’t understand at first, but then it hit me. “Ringo?” “That’s right. I found ten incidents of faked employment documents. All were paid out by Ringo.” “Which leaves us nowhere. Ringo said he would be second in command, so we know he wasn’t running

the show. So who was, or should I say is?” “I don’t know, but until I find out, everyone is suspect.” “I guess they would have to be.” “One more thing.” “What’s that?” “I don’t want you at home alone.” “It’s the only home I have, D.” “Then you will stay with me until we sort this out.” “D, I can’t be a prisoner in your house.” “A prisoner? Is that how you see staying with me?” “You know what I mean, D.” “It’s not optional, Janessa. I’m taking you home to pack some things, and we are going to my house.” “I suppose it would just be a waste of my breath to continue protesting, huh? Fine.”

“You are absolutely correct about that. Let’s go.” “My shift isn’t done. I can’t leave Knuckles hanging.” “Yes, it is. Knuckles will manage just fine without you. The way you run circles around him, he’ll probably be glad to have you not making him look bad for a while.” I sighed and followed him out of his office, shrugging toward Knuckles as I left. He shook his head in my direction with a scowl and went back to working the busy bar, now short one bartender. D and I made our way wordlessly to my house and went inside. He waited until I had my suitcase packed and then took it out to the car. Though there was a part of me that wasn’t very happy about being carted off to his house to be watched over, another part was very interested in how living with him, even temporarily, was going to pan out. “Come on, and we’ll get your things settled into one of the guest rooms,” he said as we arrived an hour or so later. My heart sank as I realized he had no intention of sharing his bed with me again. Though D might very well want and need to know what was going

on at his club and be willing to help me in my efforts to find who murdered my father in the process, he was now well aware that I had come here to take him down. A man like him would not take that lightly, nor would he just forget about it. I had to resign myself to the fact that if there had ever been anything developing between us, it now stood zero chance. “Okay,” I replied quietly, following him as he helped carry my bags to a large spare bedroom down the hallway from his own. It was going to be hard enough sleeping in a separate room in the same house, but knowing that he was just right down the hall and wanted nothing to do with me was going to be even harder to deal with. “I have to go back out and take care of a couple of things, but you will be safe here. The alarm will be set, and the guards will be in place.” “You’re just going to leave me here alone?” “No. I’m going to leave you here with a fully functional alarm system and two armed guards.” “You know what I mean, D.” “What is it that you expect from me, Janessa? You

turn up at my club with some wounded woman act and I buy into it. I didn’t want to trust you, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt and found myself doing just that. Come to find out, that is all it is, an act. I’m guessing there was never an abusive boyfriend at all.” “No. I made that up to explain the cold trail in my background.” “Well, congratulations. It worked. I trusted what you were saying completely. Get some sleep, Janessa.” I watched as he turned and walked out, the sound of his footsteps trailing down the stairs and out the door. The smell of his cologne, a dark, woodsy scent I couldn’t quite place, but one that completely intoxicated my senses anytime he was near, lingered behind him. It only compounded my feelings of gloom and despair. I took a hot shower and slipped into the pajamas I had brought, nice flannel ones to keep me warm in the chilly house. I had already known prior to coming here that D wouldn’t be keeping my body temperature up. Slipping beneath the overstuffed duvet, I realized just how exhausted I felt and was asleep within minutes, despite any turmoil I felt regarding D. I

never even heard him come in, but I awoke the next morning to the sounds of voices in the kitchen and pots and pans clanging. I got up and got dressed, brushing my hair and dabbing on just enough makeup to be presentable, but not so much to be noticeable before heading downstairs to see what was going on. “Good morning,” D said as he handed a large skillet to a petite blonde standing by the island chopping up fresh vegetables. “Good morning,” I replied in a cool tone. “Are you hungry?” “I don’t think so. I don’t have much of an appetite. I’ll leave the two of you alone.” “Well, that defeats the purpose of me calling in the cook if she is just going to cook for me.” “Excuse me?” “This is Nadine, my cook. She doesn’t come in all the time, but it’s been a rough few days, and I thought it might be a nice treat for both of us. Plus, she lets me help in the kitchen. I’m learning to cook too.”

I looked from him to Nadine. I had just assumed he had moved on to a new girl and was flaunting her in front of my face. I could feel the heat of my embarrassment rush up my cheeks. The look on his face told me he saw it too. He smirked a little at me and offered me breakfast again. “You sure you don’t want to eat? Nadine is teaching me to make western omelets this morning. They are going to be outstanding!” “You seem to be in a very good mood about it.” “I had to do something to improve my mood is more like it.” “And cooking does that for you?” “Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold, but yeah, it kind of does.” “Your secret is safe with me.” “Good. Omelet, then?” “Sure. I can’t wait.” “That’s more like it. Orange juice?”

“Yes, but can I also have coffee?” “Of course. You’re our best customer.” “I’m your only customer.” “Well, there is that.” D and I sat down at the smaller table in the breakfast nook and drank coffee and orange juice while Nadine finished preparing the ingredients for omelets. When she was done, she called him in to finish up, guiding him in the preparation. She might just be the cook, but it was obvious that he had an effect on her just like he did other women. She laughed and batted her eyelashes playfully, though he seemed oblivious to it. He was completely focused on the preparation of the omelets, which turned out nearly perfect and quite delicious. “Learn anything last night?” I asked as we ate. “Went looking for Arthur. He’s not been to the casino in a few days. I thought I would try to see if I could stir him up a bit about these rogues he was mouthing off about.” “Oh no. You don’t think he has ended up like Jack

Knife and Ringo, do you?” “I don’t know. I’ve got some guys looking for him. Seems to be getting to be a common thing that the people I need to talk to most are all ending up missing and then found dead. I hope that won’t be the case with Arthur. He’s been known to go off on a bender here and there, so hopefully I will find him passed out in a bar or brothel somewhere.” “Charming man he is. Anything else of consequence?” “Not so far.” Our conversation was interrupted by footsteps from the kitchen. Both of us looked up toward the petite cook as she arrived by the table and looked at us blankly. D seemed clueless, but I didn’t miss the look on her face. It was obvious that she didn’t like my being there. I was a threat to her, though I suspected she was barking up the wrong tree. The lack of chemistry I had witnessed between her and D had told me she was no threat to me. Of course, at the moment, I was my biggest threat to me when it came to D. “I’m finished cleaning up the kitchen, D. I’ll be going.”

“Okay, Nadine. Thank you so much for coming over this morning.” “It’s what you pay me for. I put together some sandwiches for lunch. All you have to do is heat up the grill and throw them on there to toast. There are some avocadoes in the fridge if you want to slice one up for them. “Sounds good. Thanks again, Nadine.” “Goodbye,” she replied to both of us, making a hasty exit. “She’s cute.” “Not my type.” “I wasn’t implying…” “Yes, you were. I saw the expression on your face when you found her in the kitchen this morning. You made an assumption.” “I…I…” “You’re very cute when you stutter.”

“I don’t get you at all, D.” “Nothing to get, Janessa.” “You’re hot and cold. One minute you’re bedding me and the next you’re putting me in a room alone.” “Do you have any concept of what you did, Janessa?” “What I did?” “Yes, Janessa. What you did. I wanted to trust you. I was beginning to trust you and then I find out you came to my casino to bring me down. You came there to bring me down for something I didn’t even do. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done plenty, so I’m sure getting punished for something that I had nothing to do with would actually just be some sort of cosmic justice, but how do you expect me to feel now that I know the truth?” “I know, D. I didn’t know you when I came here. I only knew your reputation. Your club’s reputation.” “And now? Do you really know any more about me now?”

“I know you didn’t kill my father.” “Someone in my club did. Someone that I have trusted my life to, my secrets with, been brothers with, has betrayed me and things that shouldn’t have happened are now done. They can’t be changed.” “No, but that person or those persons can be brought to justice.” “What justice is that, Janessa? You know I won’t involve the police, and you know that what is done with them is up to me, up to the club. What if they give me a reasonable explanation for your father’s death?” “What? He was shot for no reason. What could possibly be the explanation for that?” “I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Neither were you. Neither of us knows what happened. You said yourself that your father was irresponsible. What if he brought this on himself?” “No one deserves to be gunned down in a dirty alley and left to die.” “No? Isn’t that what you want me to do to whoever

killed him?” “What? I don’t know what I want you to do to them.” “Sure you do, Janessa. Be honest with yourself. You don’t want justice. You want vengeance. You want me to serve up a nice slice of cold, hard payback on your behalf.” “No, I don’t.” “Then why are you here? You didn’t just come here to find your father’s killer. You came here to tear this club apart, to make us pay for your father’s death. Does it really matter who did it?” “What? No. Wait, that’s not what I’ve said. Where is this coming from?” “I don’t know. I’m just a guy who got too close to a woman without knowing her at all. I just realized last night when I was talking to some of my guys that I now find myself in a situation I’ve never been in. I can’t trust anyone. Not my boys, not you, not anyone.” “And you are blaming me for that? I did you a favor.”

“A favor?” “Yes. You were completely clueless to the fact that members of your own club are gunning for you. You might not have ever known until it was too late.” “No, Janessa. I already knew I was in danger, not exactly how or from who, but when money came up missing, I knew someone was betraying me and that is always a recipe that involves a healthy dose of watching your back.” “Knowing you’ve been betrayed by a thief and knowing you are in danger of being taken out so that someone can take your place are two different things.” “Not in my book, Janessa. The moment I found out someone was stealing from me, I knew I had bigger problems. Someone with the balls to do that is capable of anything, and I always watch my back. I always watch my peoples’ backs. Problem is, I don’t know which backs to watch and which backs to break at this point.” “No need for me to answer. You’ve made up your mind what you want to believe.”

“I believe what I see, what I hear. I don’t like to be betrayed, by anyone.” “So you have said. I get it.” “Come on. We need to get to work.”

Chapter Twenty-One I helped him clear away our plates, and we left for the casino, making the ride there entirely in silence. Stepping out of his car in the parking garage, I heard a strange sound. It seemed like popping noises and then metal hitting metal as bullets glanced off the car. That was quickly followed by a loud groan from D as he grabbed his open car door and slammed it shut again. “Janessa, get down. Get back in the car, now!” I did exactly as he asked, barely getting the door shut before the car was in gear and backing out rapidly from the parking space. “What’s happening? Why is someone shooting at us?” I felt panicked as I looked around, trying to see who was out there. I had realized the noises I heard were gunshots when they began hitting the car, but I wasn’t hit. As I looked at D, I realized that he was. Blood poured from his right arm as he tried to steer with one hand. “Fucker shot me. Hold on, Janessa.”

The car weaved and bobbed through traffic at a high rate of speed. I felt like I might be sick with the car practically being hurled along the highway toward our destination, wherever that was. We weren’t headed back toward the house, and he was bleeding heavily. I was afraid he would pass out from the blood loss, and we’d crash. Relief flooded over me as we pulled into a parking lot and parked on one side of a large brick building that said it was a veterinarian’s office. “Go in, ask for a nurse named Rebecca. Tell her quietly that I’ve been shot and to let me in the back door. Don’t tell anyone but her.” I was out of the car in a flash, running toward the front of the building and approaching the front desk. There was no one there. I hit the bell on the desk several times until an irritated young woman came out and scowled at me from behind the desk. “Can I help you, ma’am?” “I need to see Rebecca right away.” “She’s with a patient right now.” “I need you to get her.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t disturb her right now.” “You can and you will. Go get Rebecca.” My words were stern, spoken through clenched teeth. No doubt the woman saw something in them, that I wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She sighed loudly and disappeared, returning a few moments later with a young redhead in tow. “Rebecca?” I asked. “Yes?” “I have Damian Diaz in the car. He needs your help with a wounded animal. He said you would let him in the back way.” “Oh, yes…D. Go back out to the car, and I’ll be right around to let both of you in.” True to her word, by the time I got back around to the car and was helping D out of it, she was opening a back entrance designed for large animal care and motioning us in. I could see that D had lost a lot of blood already. He was pale and unfocused as I helped him from the car and staggered under

his weight to get him inside. “In here,” she said, motioning me toward another inner door that said Large Surgical. “Get him on the table and get his shirt off. I’ll get the doctor.” “The vet, you mean?” “Yes, only kind we have here.” “Great.” The nurse, who was actually a vet tech, I was guessing, disappeared and left us alone. I began helping D out of his shirt, reaching for a nearby towel to hold against the open wound so that it would stop bleeding so much. He groaned and closed his eyes. I couldn’t believe I was standing there waiting for a vet to take care of a gunshot wound rather than a doctor, but I understood why. A hospital would automatically call the police if a gunshot wound came in. No doubt there was a long history with this vet. I just hoped he knew what he was doing. “What do we have here, D? Time for your rabies shot? Flea dip? Maybe got the mange?”

D chuckled a little and then winced as a pain hit him. The doctor noted the towel I had pressed against his arm and took over, pulling it away to get a look at what he was dealing with. He grimaced as he saw the hole in D’s arm near his shoulder. “Gunshot wound?” the vet said more seriously now, studying the wound closely between holding the towel down on it to stop the bleeding. “Yes. Someone took a shot at him while we were getting out of the car. We came straight here.” “Doesn’t look too bad. Bullet went through clean, doesn’t appear to have hit anything devastating. Just need to get this blood stopped and get you stitched up. We’ll start with a coagulant, a local to numb it while I sew it up and then I’ll give you some meds to help with the pain afterwards. Just have to make the prescription out to Fido.” “You’re a funny guy, Doc,” D said in a pained, hoarse voice as the vet set about getting him cleaned and stitched up. It seemed to take forever, but he was finally done and bandaged. “Now, you’ll need to keep this clean and dry. It’s going to weep a good bit. Change the dressing at

least every four hours. I’ll give you a pack of gauze to take with you and you can pick up some more at the pharmacy when you get the canine script filled. Might want to pick up a sling too. Best to keep it a still as possible. “You don’t have any slings here?” “Not much need for them with my usual patients. I can put a cone around your neck if you’d like.” “I think I’ll pass on the cone, especially if it includes the neutering that usually comes with it,” D said. “Thanks for patching me up. I’ll have Simon come by and settle up with you later on.” “Good enough. Try not to get shot again before this one heals up.” “I’ll do what I can. You just never know who isn’t going to appreciate my good looks and charm.” “I know. I have the same problem with people coveting my gorgeous head of hair,” the vet replied, shaking his balding head for effect. “Yeah, right. Okay. We’ll let you get back to the real animals. Thanks for the help.”

“Anytime, D.” “Janessa, I think I’ll let you drive back to the house. We’ll stop by the pharmacy on the way back.” “Sounds like a plan.” “Hey, Janessa. Hold on. Let me get you another shirt if you are going in the pharmacy,” the doc added. I looked down, realizing for the first time that I had blood all over the white top I had been wearing. The doctor returned with a dark green top and handed it to me. “Sorry. All we have around here are scrubs, but much likely to not answer as many questions about wearing scrubs as you are about wearing a bloody shirt.” “Thanks. I appreciate it.” The vet nodded and left the room. I pulled my own top over my head and put on the scrub top instead. “That’s damned sexy.”

“Did the doctor give you pain meds already?” “Just a couple to take the edge off.” “I thought as much. Let’s get you out of here.” Less than an hour later, we had made it back to his house and inside. He was a little less loopy now that the pain meds were wearing off just a bit. “I want to make some calls and then I’m going to take a couple more pain pills and lay down for a while.” “Okay. I’ll give you some privacy. How about I go grill those sandwiches Nadine prepared and maybe heat up some soup to go with them?” “That sounds good. I probably need to eat something before I take any more pain meds anyway.” “I would have to agree.” “Thanks, Janessa.” “No problem.” “No, I mean thanks. Thanks for everything.”

“Just return the favor, D.” “I will, Janessa. I will.” I walked away as he picked up his phone and hit speed dial. I could hear him talking to Simon in the other room as I left to start our lunch, but his voice faded to a mumble as I began working around the kitchen. Everything was almost ready when he came into the kitchen. His face was pale and I could tell he was in pain. I plated our sandwiches with dill pickle spears and Doritos, setting a hot bowl of tomato bisque by each. D brought over a couple bottles of water from the fridge and sat down. I couldn’t help but notice that in addition to how pale he was, he also looked very tired. I had a feeling that it was about a lot more than just getting shot today. It was bound to encompass all that came with that. He was under a lot of stress with all going on at the club and now things had escalated drastically. I was surprised at how calm I was about the whole situation, but I supposed that I had been so busy making sure he was taken care of that I had been forced to ignore my own anxiety over the situation.

“Here, D. Why don’t you take these while you eat? They’ll kick in by the time you’re done.” “I like that idea,” he said with a grimace. “I’m sure you do at the moment.” “Yeah. I’m going to have a rough day tomorrow, but today I think I’ll just take some me time.” He laughed. “What are you going to do about this, D? How will you be safe from this happening again?” “Hell, Janessa. I’m never safe from this. It could happen at any time, anywhere. Rival clubs, gang bangers, some pissed off guy who lost too much money at the casino. You never know what people like the ones I come into constant contact with will do from one minute to the next.” “And which kind do you suppose was the one who took a few shots at you this morning?” “That was very personal. Someone who knew my schedule, knew I’d be there. It was well timed to hit me before I even got in the doors. I’ve already got some folks working on it.”

“That’s good, then.” “In the morning, you and I walk into that casino as if nothing happened. I can’t have anyone thinking that either of us is bothered in the least by a couple of shots fired.” “Shots that could have killed you, killed us both.” “No. Those shots weren’t intended to kill us, Janessa. Someone was just sending a message. You don’t send a bad shot to kill someone. If they had wanted either of us dead, we’d be dead. They just wanted us to know they are around.” “Who are they?” “That part I’m not sure of. Hopefully I will be closer to that answer by the time we roll into the casino in the morning.” “Why don’t I clear away these dishes while you go lie down.” “Thanks, Janessa. I think I will.” I watched as he got up from the table and moved very slowly up the stairs. It was odd to see him so vulnerable, weakened. It made me want to hold him

and I couldn’t. I was persona non grata. He wasn’t keeping me close to protect me. He was keeping me close to protect himself and his interests. I could pack up my things and go home. In his current condition, he couldn’t stop me. He wouldn’t even know I was gone for a while. So, the question was, why did I stay?

Chapter Twenty-Two Up in my room, I sat reading a book I had brought with me. Time flew by and before I knew it, dinnertime had rolled around. I went downstairs to see what I could find for dinner and was surprised to find D already down there, using his one good arm to make a homemade pizza. “That you, Chef Boyardee?” “It is. What would you like on your pizza?” “Everything you have spread out there looks pretty good to me.” “My kind of girl. One ‘everything on the chopping block’ pizza coming up.” I caught just a glimpse of an expression on his face as he said the words. He hadn’t meant to say anything like that. Was it regret? Was it disappointment? I couldn’t quite read it and told myself just to let it go, but I found that I couldn’t. I began helping him put the ingredients on the pizza. Being so close to him stirred my longing for him as it usually did.

“It’s time for more pain meds.” “Nah, I just needed to take the edge off earlier. It’s down to a dull roar now.” “You sure?” “Yeah. I’m going to have a few beers with my pizza. That’ll do me for now. If it gets too bad, I’ll take a couple more of the tabs at bedtime.” I slipped the pizza into the oven and we opened a couple of beers, leaning against the kitchen counter to sip them while the pizza cooked. “I’ll need you to stay behind the bar tomorrow, Janessa.” “That’s my job.” “No, I mean completely. I can’t have you out on the floor talking to the wrong people.” “Is that because you are worried about me or because you don’t want me asking anymore questions?” “Both.”

“Well, at least you are honest.” “Let’s not do this. I don’t want to dwell on things. We’re just going to sort through it and get past it all. I can get my club back in order, and you can get on with your life.” “Fine.” “Janessa, what did you expect me to do? What did you expect me to say?” “I don’t know.” “You walked into that casino, and it was like nothing that has ever happened to me.” “What?” “I saw your picture in your application and I was drawn to it, but it was nothing compared to what happened when you walked in for your interview. You didn’t see me, but I saw you. I was drawn to you instantly.” “I was drawn to you the moment I saw you too. I didn’t want to be, not with what I knew. There was this part of me that believed you had something to do with my father’s death, perhaps had even killed

him yourself. Then, there was this part of me that just wanted to be with you.” “I knew there was something off about you. Your background didn’t quite mesh when I hit a dead end. I ignored my instincts and let you play it off like a bad ex. Was any of that even true?” “No. Not at all. It was an explanation the DEA gave me to use. They said it explained the dead end and gave me an out from talking about it too much. No one wants to question an abused woman too much. They are either too sympathetic or just don’t want to hear the gory details.” “Where did you get the scar?” “I had an accident several years ago. A kid ran out in front of me. His ball had rolled out into the street. He never even looked, but I saw him. I slammed on the brakes and when I saw I couldn’t stop in time, I swerved to try to miss him. Instead, I ended up in oncoming traffic and chose an embankment on the other side over the oncoming dump truck I was facing. I rolled a few times and a bottle that had broken during the accident cut me pretty badly up that side.” “And the kid?”

“Unscathed. Was back in his yard with his ball by the time it was all over according to the police.” “At least there is that. How badly were you hurt?” “Not as badly as you would think. There was a concrete wall at the bottom of the embankment, I was headed right for it and everything just sort of flashed before my eyes. I remember saying goodbye to my father aloud because I knew that when I hit that concrete, I was done. I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt.” “Jesus.” “Right before my car would have slammed into it, something odd happened. There was a large rock and it caught my front tire, spun me sideways. Instead of hitting the concrete head on, I hit it sideways on the driver’s side. It totaled the car and sent me flying into the passenger’s floorboard. Everything was a bit fuzzy, but when it all stopped, I was curled up in a little ball there. I tried to open the door not sandwiched against the concrete and it wouldn’t open. So, I climbed over the seat and climbed out a back door.” “Sounds like you got very lucky.”

“Yes. I walked away with a large bruise on my hip, the cut on my side and a healthy dose of whiplash.” “That’s it?” “That’s it. There isn’t even a record of the accident anywhere but at the hospital where they sewed up the cut and the towing company that picked up the car for the scrap yard.” “How is that?” “I was only a short distance from my house when I crashed. My first call was to my father and he was there before the police arrived. Since it was a one car accident and there was no property damage, he asked them not to file a report.” “What about insurance for the car? You didn’t need a report for that?” “No. The car was paid off and I only had liability insurance on it. Since there was nothing for them to cover, no report was needed. Worst wreck I’ve ever had and not a single record of it.” “So you used the scar to your advantage to throw me off.”

The tone of the conversation shifted again to my deceit, I lowered my head and acknowledged that I had. “It just seemed like the easiest way to convince you. I could have told you a bunch of lies about the abuse, but showing the scar and telling you that one lie seemed the simplest way.” “I can’t believe I was so gullible. I’m so good at telling when people are lying to me. I can see through all the bullshit in the world, yet I never doubted you. I never saw this thing with the club coming either. I trusted all those guys and some of them have been lying to my face just as you did. I don’t know who I can trust and who I can’t. I can’t even trust myself to determine who is playing me anymore.” Rather than respond to his rising anger, I reached for the oven mitts and pulled the pizza from the oven, sitting it on the large pizza stone he had placed on the counter earlier. It looked delicious, but I felt like I was rapidly losing my appetite. I reached for the cutter and began quietly cutting the pizza. “I didn’t know that there was anyone out there

even capable of hurting me anymore. I barely remember my mother being sweet to me when I was little, before she got lost in a drug fueled haze and let my multiple stepfathers take turns kicking the shit out of me at every opportunity. They were all the same, telling me not to be weak. They were successful. I’ve never been weak. I’ve always been so strong, so independent. But now, I feel like a lost kid. Members of my club betraying me. The first woman that I thought I might actually be able to care about in a very long time…” His voice trailed off as I finished cutting the pizza. I turned to him, holding back tears. He had no idea that the one who I had hurt more than anyone was just myself. I wanted to say so much to him and yet there was nothing I could say to make a difference. He knew the truth. I had come here to destroy him. Instead, I had already destroyed several pieces of the girl I used to be before all of this began happening to me. “The pizza is ready.” “Yeah. Let’s take it to the game room and eat. I think it might be best just to lose myself in the tube for a while.” “I’ll bring it in. Just go have a seat.”

“I’ll at least get the beers. I’m not completely helpless, just one-armed.” “Okay.” The conversation just fell away, both of us enveloped quietly in our own sadness. I put some slices of pizza on a couple of plates and walked to the game room, where he had already dropped down into the sofa and was flipping channels. He finally settled into an older movie, a comedy called The Jerk with Steve Martin. I remembered watching it with my father, but wouldn’t be pointing that out to him. Instead, I sat the pizza down on the table near his side of the overstuffed sofa and sat down on the other end with my own. He handed me a beer. We sat quietly watching the movie and finishing our meal, neither of us laughing. Whether we had lost our humor, just weren’t really paying attention or both wasn’t clear. What was clear was that we both were pretty miserable in our own skins at the moment. I barely ate any of my pizza before finally getting up to take my plate back to the kitchen. I noticed that D hadn’t eaten much of his either.

“No appetite?” “Seems we have that in common.” “I’m sorry. It was good though.” “At least pizza is good cold. Maybe I will eat some later.” “Okay. I’ll take your plate with me as I go, then.” “Thanks. Can you bring us back a couple more beers?” “Sounds good.” At present, I’d much rather climb into a bottle of something much stronger and not climb out. It was a thought that sometimes plagued me when I had problems. Just the thought of doing it instilled the fear that somewhere deep down I was just like my father. It was why I always drank in moderation rather than getting into it any heavier. The last thing I needed was to spiral down into what he had become. I tidied up the kitchen and returned to the game room with more beers. “Thanks,” D replied as he took the one that I offered. I sat back down where I had been and

began watching the movie again. I had no clue what was going on. I was just watching shapes pass by on the screen as I became completely absorbed in my own thoughts. Before I knew it, the movie was off and it was getting close to bedtime. “I think I’m going to head up, D. Do you need anything?” “No. I’m good. Thanks.” “Alright. I’ll see you in the morning for work.” “Yep.” I could tell that the time he had sat there thinking had only made him more agitated. Whether it was at me, himself or the situation was unclear, but it was definitely certain that he was annoyed. I made my way up to the guest room and into the massive bathroom there. Unsure of where anything was, I began opening cabinets. It was well stocked with anything for a house guest of either sex and I suspected that not many stayed from the way everything appeared so pristine and unused. Pulling a bottle of bubble bath from the cabinet, I began running myself a bath. “You should have some wine with that.”

I jumped a little at the sound of his voice. I hadn’t even heard him coming up the steps, much less walking into my room. It was further proof that D could be incredibly stealthy if he wanted to be. “Probably.” “There is plenty of it down in the kitchen pantry. Help yourself to a bottle. It’s been a rough day. I suspect you could use one.” “I’m okay. The beers took the edge off.” “Suit yourself, but it is there if you change your mind. I’m going to head to bed myself.” “Thanks.” He nodded and left. I looked back at the bubble bath and saw that it was only a third of the way filled. What the hell, I thought. How often did I get to really pamper myself? And he was right, it had been a rough day. I quietly made my way back downstairs and retrieved a bottle of wine from the pantry. It was a very nice pinot noir that I had tried before at the casino and liked. Grabbing a glass from the kitchen cabinet, I headed back upstairs, arriving just in time to stop the bath water.

“I see you had a change of heart. Can you help me for a moment before you climb in there?” D was standing shirtless in my room. The stitched arm looking angry and swollen around the wounded area. “That looks really bad, D. Let’s get it cleaned up and rewrapped.” “Thanks, Janessa.” I couldn’t help but note, once again, how much the sadness in his voice came through when he spoke to me. If that weren’t heartbreaking enough, there was a pained look behind his eyes, like a small boy who couldn’t quite find his way after getting lost on an incredible journey. “Janessa?” “Oh, sorry.” I realized I had been just sort of staring at his arm for a moment. I broke free of my thoughts and went over to the cabinet where I had seen peroxide and cotton pads. He had the gauze and tape in his hand already, but the wound needed to be wiped down a

bit and coated with antibiotic cream, which I now noted was sticking out of his front pocket. I put peroxide on the cotton pad in my hand and began dabbing at the wound. D winced each time I made contact. “I’m sorry. I’m being as gentle as I know how to be.” “It’s okay. I know you are. I appreciate the help. It’s just hard for me to do it with one hand.” “I imagine so.” I smiled up at him and went back to work on getting the wound cleaned. When I was done, I pulled the tube of cream from his front pocket and applied it liberally before recovering and taping it. “There you go. That ought to do you.” “Thank you, Janessa.” “You’re welcome.” His eyes were soft for a moment as he looked down at me. I could smell his cologne, just as intoxicating as usual. I felt sadness wash over me as a flash of us together came and went like still shots infesting

my brain. I shook them off and moved away from him. Standing too close to him, feeling his presence, did me no good at all. “I didn’t mean to disrupt your bath. I hope it’s not gotten cold.” “I’m sure it will be fine.” “I’ll leave you alone to soak in peace, then.” “See you in the morning.” “Yep.”

Chapter Twenty-Three After he was gone, I closed the bathroom door, got undressed and slipped beneath bubbles. The water was still hot and felt great. Pouring myself a glass of wine, I sat back and relaxed. It was as calm as I’d felt all day. I had been running on pure adrenaline since the shots had first started and was just numb to all that had happened. The bath felt amazing and the wine didn’t hurt a bit. I had finished almost the whole bottle before I climbed out. I slipped into my robe and poured the rest into my glass. Slipping into my pajamas and brushing my hair, I sat down in front of the mirror and looked at myself. I could see how tired I looked. A part of me just wanted to go home, and not just my makeshift home here. I wanted to leave all of this and go back to my old life. I didn’t want to know about motorcycle clubs, drugs or get shot at while getting out of cars. I just wanted to forget any of this ever happened. Mostly, I just wanted to get as far away as possible from D. I wanted to forget that I had met him and the effect he had on me. I wanted to forget the way he smelled, tasted, the sound of his laugh. I could

no longer reconcile my need to find my father’s killer with my affection for D. I couldn’t have it both ways and perhaps it was just time to let it all go and walk away while I still could. In time, I’d let the pain of both go. My mind raced with so many thoughts that I couldn’t quite make sense of all of them. I climbed into bed, my head feeling a bit woozy from the beers and wine aided by the hot water I had been soaking in. If nothing else, at least maybe I could stop thinking so much for a while. I snuggled into the heavy cotton sheets and closed my eyes, looking forward to a bit of oblivion. Sleep came quickly, thankfully. The following morning, D and I stopped off for breakfast at a little place known simply as Earth Food. It was a bit of a dive, but that was typical. D was making good on his earlier promise to take me to all of the places that only the locals knew about, places where the décor was questionable, but the food was top notch. Unfortunately, the company wasn’t quite as desirable. D was moody, obviously lost in his own thoughts. I was glad when it was time to go, though I had my own concerns about that as well. The drive from breakfast to the casino seemed

endless. I stared out the window, my mind already back on the multi-track thought system with so many thoughts that I wasn’t sure which to focus on for more than thirty seconds at a time. D didn’t speak, instead turning the radio up a bit on an alternative rock station so that there was no need or room for conversation between us. I was glad when we pulled into the parking lot, even if I was still also a bit apprehensive about stepping out of the car since D refused to change his parking habits just because someone shot at us. We made our way into the casino and went our separate ways. I headed over to the center bar where Knuckles was already working and D retreated to his office within the casino. Neither of us even bothered to say goodbye as we parted company. Standing behind the bar, it was business as usual for everyone else in the club, but for me, it was nerve jangling. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to ask so many questions of everyone there. I needed answers now more than ever and there were none to be had. The moment I started to ask any, I’d have D to deal with, and I really couldn’t say for certain what that meant. The urge to just run away from it all was getting stronger by the moment. I just didn’t know how much more I could take.

I had to consider the facts of everything. The most important thing being the fact of who D really was. It was easy to overlook the kind of man everyone knew him to be when he was so charming on a personal level, but D had long been known as a monster to many. It was frightening to know I could have feelings for someone who was capable of the things I considered he might do if I crossed him further. I was lucky that I had escaped much of his wrath as it was, and a part of me wondered why that was. Why had he taken it easy on me when he would have taken swift action against anyone else? “Janessa, shift’s over. Let’s go.” I looked up to see D passing by, waving toward me like he was calling a family pet, and I found that it both annoyed and hurt me to be treated that way by him. I gathered my things and followed at his heels like a good puppy. Just like on our way in, we didn’t speak on the ride home. I realized that I hadn’t seen him all day and wondered what he had been up to. Looking over at him in the car, I could see that he looked incredibly pale again. He must be in considerable pain. “Did you take any pain meds today, D?”

“No.” “Why not?” “Oh, I don’t know, Janessa. Maybe because I thought it best to be on top of my game with people infiltrating my club, betraying me from the inside and shooting at me when I try to get out of my fucking car.” “Why are you so angry? It was just a question.” “It was a stupid question.” “I’ll try to refrain from asking any more of them then.” “Do that.” I could feel tears welling up. I hated that I often cried when I was angry, but this was twofold. Not only did I feel angry, but I was hurt on top of it and it all was just surfacing rapidly amid the stress of all that was going on. I was stuck, D’s prisoner. It might look like I was living like a queen in a mansion, but I was really nothing more than an animal in a cage. “Nadine made dinner, so we will eat and then we

need to talk.” “Talk about what?” “After dinner, Janessa.” “Not like I have a choice but to say okay, is there, D?” “No, that would pretty much be your only option.” “Lucky me.” Ignoring my sarcasm, he parked the car at the house and we made our way inside. Whatever Nadine had prepared smelled wonderful. At least there was that to look forward to. “I’m going to change for dinner.” “Okay. I’ll pick out a bottle of wine.” “Special occasion?” “Just a long day.” “Have you changed your bandage today?” “No. I haven’t had time.”

“Let me get changed, and I’ll bring down the stuff to get it cleaned and re-bandaged.” “Thanks. I appreciate it.” “I’ll be in the game room.” When I returned, he was sitting on the sofa, staring into space. There was no television on, no music, just him staring blankly ahead. “D? Are you okay?” “Yeah. I’m fine.” “Okay. Let’s get you cleaned up.” I watched as he stood and pulled his shirt over his head. He hadn’t worn the sling to the casino and I could tell by the way he moved his arm so slowly that he had paid for it dearly already. I also had a hard time not being enthralled with his bare skin. It was hard not to look at his muscular chest and perfectly defined abs and not want him. Despite everything that had gone on between us, I found it hard to forget the feelings that I had been developing for him. Now, all I could think of was how to get out of this whole mess I was in.

“I’m sorry that I have gotten you into this whole business, Janessa.” “I’m sorry. What?” I paused with the pad I was using the clean his wound and looked up at him. He was looking down at me thoughtfully. “You are here because of me, my club. Your father is dead because of me.” “What are you saying? You know what happened to my father?” “No, not yet, but I know that my lack of control over my organization allowed for it to happen. Perhaps I didn’t pull the trigger, but I hold myself responsible just the same.” “D, you can’t take care of everything. You can only know so much, do so much.” I went back to cleaning his arm, finishing it up and dabbing on the antibiotic cream before putting the large square of gauze over it and taping it down. I looked up at him as I finished and smiled, pulling the bottle of pain killers from my pocket and fishing

two of them out. “Here, go ahead and take these. They’ll kick in by the time we finish eating.” “No. I’ve picked us out some wine to have with dinner. Let’s go eat. Nadine already left.” “Okay.” I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on with him. He was so distant on the ride home and now he was just being odd in a way that I couldn’t quite understand. I put the bandaging aside and went to wash my hands before we ate. D was getting the wine from the kitchen when I walked into the formal dining room where dinner had been set out on the large, formal table. I sat down in one of the chairs on the left side where the food had been set out. To my surprise, D sat down beside me rather than across the table as I would have expected. There was definitely something going on with him tonight. After the silent treatment all day, he seemed to be having some sort of guilt trip about things, perhaps my father, perhaps just how he had been treating me. I never had been the best at reading men. I doubted that I was spot on with it now.

“Wine?” “Yes, please.” D poured me a glass of wine and then one for himself, settling down into his chair and waiting for me to start helping myself before he began putting his own plate together. “This looks fantastic!” “Oh, it is. I asked her to make it because it is one of my favorites and I knew you would enjoy it too. It’s like chicken cordon bleu, but she uses a few alternate ingredients that really kick it up a notch.” Cutting into my piece, I took a bite, savoring it slowly. It was delicious. The perfectly cooked chicken breast was topped with a thick slice of smoked ham and five pepper cheese, giving it a bold, spicy flavor you didn’t get when you made it with baby Swiss. The sauce she had prepared was simple but elegant, and complimented the flavor well. Accompanied by steamed vegetables and a Mediterranean style couscous, it was one of the best meals I’d eaten in a long time. “You were right, this is fantastic and the wine goes

with it perfectly.” “I’m glad you like it. I wanted to have her make something you’d really enjoy.” A dark thought occurred to me and I tried to shut it out, but it loomed large in my brain. Why was he worried about my meal, unless…maybe it was my last one? I chastised myself for thinking like that, but I had once again forgotten just who I was dealing with. It would make sense that I was a liability, in the way. Perhaps he had already found the truth about my father, and now I was just in the way. A part of me had a hard time imagining D doing the things I knew he was capable of, especially when it came to doing them to me. I just couldn’t imagine him doing me any harm, not really. Yet the thoughts persisted. “What’s wrong? Your face, it looks like you saw a ghost.” “Why did you have Nadine make this for me? I feel like you are saying goodbye.” “Goodbye? What? Oh, Janessa. No. This is an apology. I have been thinking about everything and I’ve realized just how much my club has wronged you. I may not have done it directly. I may not have

even known about it, but my lack of attention to things around me resulted in it.” “It’s not your fault, D. I thought we talked about this before. You have a lot on your shoulders. You can’t know everything.” “I only need to know one thing. One thing only, Janessa. I need to know that I am surrounded by people who have my back. I need to know that when I’m not there to tell them what to do, they are still doing what is in the best interests of the club and its members. Going rogue and taking down innocent people isn’t acceptable, but it’s my fault for getting too comfortable with the wrong people. I’ve got some hard decisions ahead of me. I have to weed out the herd, so to speak, and I am not sure that I can know if I’m doing it right under current circumstances.” “I know you are burdened with way too much for one man, but I believe you are a good judge of character. I think that when the time comes, you will be able to sort out those who should stay from those who need to go, and I don’t believe there is anyone who could possibly be better at instinctively having the answer they need than you.” “Maybe. Maybe not. I have just lost faith in those

innate abilities for the moment. Anyway, let’s finish talking about this after dinner, Janessa. I don’t want to ruin our meal with all of this nonsense.” “Okay. We can do that, but I do think it warrants further discussion.” “You are most likely right about that. Good enough for now. Let’s eat our food.” We ate mostly in silence that felt awkward. It put a huge damper on an otherwise wonderful meal, but I was getting a bit used to that with D. I never knew what one day would bring from the next. He was as moody as they came, but I had to understand that it was something anyone would be in his position. There was no doubt that he was under a lot of pressure, and I certainly hadn’t helped matters with my little revelations. We cleared away the plates, rinsing them and putting them in the dishwasher. When we were done, I wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next. I turned to him and waited to see what he would say about what we should do next. I expected whatever he had to say to be something I didn’t want to hear after his comment that we should wait until after dinner, instead I found myself completely caught off guard by his next

words. “I have feelings for you, Janessa.” “I don’t know what to say to that.” “Let me finish.” “Okay.” I braced myself for what was to come next. I fully expected there to be a “but,” as in, “I have feelings for you but we just can’t be together after what you’ve done.” Instead, I got a quite unexpected surprise. “I understand what you did. He was your father and you needed answers. You didn’t know me and to someone who is looking at my world from the outside, I must seem like a pretty terrible guy. I won’t lie, I’ve done things that I’m not proud of. I’ve done things that you don’t really want to know about. What I haven’t done is ever harm someone who didn’t bring it upon themselves.” “I don’t know what to say to that.” He put his finger up to my lips to hush me and shook his head from side to side as if to say I

wasn’t supposed to say anything about it. “I can’t blame you for what you did. I didn’t expect for it to bother me like it did. Normally, I would have kicked you out of my casino and warned you against any further snooping. I wouldn’t have lost one night’s sleep over it. Instead, I have agonized about it. All I could think about was how you betrayed me after I had begun to trust you. What I’ve realized in these last few days is that you were only doing exactly what I do every day, looking out for your family.” “Yes.” “I understand that someone took your family from you. I understand that someone is in my club somewhere. What has been hard is reconciling what I feel for you with what I feel for my own family, and I think you know that the club is all the family I have. The problem is, my family has betrayed me, maybe not all of them, but some of them. I still don’t know how deeply it runs, but I’m getting closer. I need someone on my side. I need someone I can trust, and I believe that I can trust you.” “As long as what you are telling me is the truth, that you didn’t kill my father and you don’t know

who did, then you can trust me completely.” “That is true. I promise you that.” “Then I promise you that you can trust me.” “I really hope so, Janessa. I want to. I need to.” “You can.” He stood there looking down at me, the weight of the world present behind his haunted eyes. How hard it must be to be Damian Diaz, leader of the toughest motorcycle club in the area. It was a big burden to carry for someone our age. I couldn’t imagine having to make the kinds of decisions he must make on a daily basis. Having people working for you who are putting their lives on the line to be a part of your organization was something I couldn’t fathom, yet he did it every single day. Brushing a strand of hair away from my face, he leaned forward and kissed me. It was soft but passionate, demonstrating a need that went far beyond the physical. At least it seemed that way as he urgently probed my mouth with his tongue, tasting me as if I were the best dessert he had ever had and lingering on each bite.

“I’ve wanted to do that again for days,” he breathed as he pulled away for a moment. “I never said you couldn’t.” “I know. I just had to sort out my head without confusing things any more than they already felt.” “I understand.” “I hope that you do.” “I do.” “Let’s go to bed.” “Okay. I’ll see you in the morning.” “Let’s go to bed together.” “Are you sure? I don’t want to make your life more complicated.” Of course I didn’t mean a word of it, but I felt I had to say it. I had to give him an out in case the kiss had just been a moment of weakness. “Do you know how hard it has been to sleep across the hall from you and want you so much? It’s been

all I could do not to just get up in the middle of the night and climb into bed with you, even if it was just to hold you while you slept.” “It has been hard for me too.” “Then let’s stop talking about it and go to bed… together.” “I think I understand now.” “Good. We will move your things into my room tomorrow. I want you there every night.” “I don’t know about moving in together. I have my own place across the hall and all that.” “I’m evicting you. You have nowhere to go but my room now.” “You forget that I have my own house.” “Hmm. In that case, you are under house arrest.” “Now you’re a cop? I’d say that certainly doesn’t suit you.” “Stop teasing me, woman. Let’s go to bed. I want to do deliciously naughty things to that wicked

body of yours.” “Well, since you put it that way. Let’s go.” My heart was racing as we made our way up the stairs to his bedroom. D fumbled slowly with the buttons on my shirt, careful not to move his injured shoulder too much as he undressed me. My skin felt like it was on fire even before he touched me, the familiar ache he seemed to instill in me growing more needful by the second. I exhaled deeply as his lips fell on my right nipple and kissed me there before slowly licking his way around my nipple and blowing on it until it was rock hard. His teeth sank into it, pulling and sucking as I moaned aloud. He took his time just enjoying teasing my breasts, alternately sucking and biting them as I cooed at his touch. I felt his hand slipping down between us, into the band of my skirt and down the front of my panties until his fingers were slowly circling my clit. The combined sensation of his mouth on my nipples and his fingers on my clit were driving me insane with desire for him. All I could think about was having him inside of me again. “D, that feels so amazing.” “I love the way you respond to my touch. It’s like

you were made for me. I love that about you.” Perhaps I was reading too much into it, but I couldn’t help note multiple uses of the word love in what he said. It may have just been my mind playing tricks or possibly even hearing what it wanted to hear, but it was awfully close to him saying something considerably more substantial. I found myself wondering if it were even possible for someone like him to love someone like me. Our worlds were nothing alike. He lived off adrenaline and my life was pretty vanilla. Outside our current situation, could we even exist together? The thoughts drifted from my mind as his fingers deftly moved across my clit, their place taken by his thumb as he slipped two of them inside of me and began fucking me slowly with them. I was like jelly with my legs quivering as if fresh out of a form mold. Shards of electricity raced down my legs and heat rose through my center as he skillfully brought me to a series of orgasms that resounded throughout every fiber of my being. “Oh, God. Yes. Mmmmmm.” “The way you sound when you cum is such a turn on. I love making you sound that way. I’ve missed it.

“I want you.” We stood looking into each other’s eyes as I unbuttoned his shirt and slowly slipped it off of him, never looking away from one another as I moved down to his jeans to unbutton them and push them downward. He leaned in and kissed me as he slipped off his shoes and shuffled the rest of the way out of his pants. I could feel his erection pressing heavily into my hip as his kiss lingered, the vibration of his moaning into my mouth only making me hungrier for him. Pushing me down across the bed, he pushed my legs open, his thumb once again rubbing my clit as his mouth covered my already soaked pussy. My hands tangled in his hair as he lapped at my center. My body responded to his teasing the way it always did, by wanting more and more of him. I writhed and moaned beneath him as he dragged his tongue back and forth lazily through my pink folds, his thumb pressed firmly on my sensitive pink nub above them. “God, I’m going to cum again” “Yes. I want to taste you. Cum for me, Janessa.”

His mouth was still very close to my clit as he spoke, the vibrations singing along my swollen button and sending me over the edge as I exploded against his mouth. I was still panting in the after rush of my explosion when he stood and entered me with one fluid stroke, slowly rocking back and forth as he made love to me so slowly, so sweetly that I felt close to tears a few times. I wasn’t sure what was happening between us, but it felt like something was very different, very good. He moaned as he sank into me deeply, picking up his pace little by little until he was slamming into me roughly. I only wanted more as my hips thrust forward to meet his with each stroke. I couldn’t believe how amazing he felt. It was like it was our first time again, except this time it felt like more than just lust. There were underlying feelings that weren’t there before. It made all the difference. My legs shook violently as I shattered into another series of orgasms that left me breathless. D smiled down at me, enjoying the way my body trembled beneath him. I knew that he enjoyed the way I responded to him. I could tell it even more by the way he became more heated with his thrusts. The room was filled with our mingled grunts, groans and moans as D reached his own orgasm, his body seized with the force of it before falling onto the

bed beside me. We lay there looking at the ceiling as he reached for my hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb and forefinger. “I’m really glad you are here, Janessa.” “I am certainly glad I am here too.” D rolled over and propped himself up on his elbow to look at me. He traced his fingers along the tops of my breasts, careful not to move his arm too much. There was a smile on his face as he looked down at me. “We are going to figure all of this out, Janessa. I’m going to help you figure out who killed your father, and they will pay for what they did.” “It’s a lot bigger than that, D.” “You mean the DEA agent.” “Yes. I came here as part of an agreement with him that I’d find out what I could about your drug business if he helped me with finding my father’s killer.” “And what did he do for you in that regard?”

“He provided me with files on every member of the club, including the girls and known associates from other clubs and gangs. I was reporting in periodically but haven’t in a while now.” “How long since you talked to him?” “Not long, just since you brought me here. I wasn’t using my personal phone. I have a burner at my house that I use to make the calls. So, it’s been a bit difficult here.” “Well, I’d say that cat is out of the bag and you can just use your own phone at this point, wouldn’t you say?” “Yeah. Just one problem with that.” “What’s that?” “I don’t know his number. It’s in the other phone.” D laughed and rolled toward me, kissing me before getting out of the bed and walking toward the bathroom. I watched his naked figure retreat across the floor, admiring how muscular and beautiful he was. He returned in a moment with a glass of water and offered me a drink, which I accepted eagerly. I had worked up more than a bit of thirst during our

session. “Let’s get some sleep, beautiful. We have a very busy day tomorrow.” “Sounds good.” He kissed me again and I felt a stir even though it had only been minutes ago that he was inside me. I knew he felt it too from the way he lingered and the way he looked at me. Smiling at me, he climbed into bed and I curled up to him, my head beside his on the pillow, my hand resting on his chest. This was nothing I had expected, but I realized that I no longer had any reservations about giving myself to D, heart, mind, body and soul.

Chapter Twenty-Four The following morning, we arose early and showered together, making love once more beneath the steam that flowed from the large rain showerhead above. Afterwards we both dressed and made our way to a little known dive called Mollie's where we shared a huge stack of pancakes topped with fresh fruit. Accompanied by a generous side of bacon, they might have been the most delicious pancakes I had ever tasted, or perhaps it was just that today something was different. I no longer felt like D was my enemy. He was my lover and my friend and together we had a mission. Today we would begin a methodical cleansing of the motorcycle club to weed out and rid it of anyone who did not have its best interests at heart. It wouldn’t be easy and there would be hard feelings from some guys who could play very not nice if they wanted to do so, but D would handle that. For my part, I would be pouring back over the personal books with D and Simon to find what they were missing. There had to be a track back to the missing money. There had to be a tie back to

whoever set my father up to take a fall for who knew what agenda. Together we would find it. Walking into the casino that morning, I felt more alive than I had for a very long time. I felt powerful and happy. With D by my side, I had no doubt that there was nothing impossible for me to achieve. I could rule the world if I wanted. Okay, perhaps that was a bit over the top, but I definitely felt an unfamiliar surge of energy that was unmistakable. I couldn’t wait to get started. “Knuckles, I’m afraid you are out a bar maid,” D told the bar keep as we approached him. Knuckles looked at me quizzically and back to D. “Why is that?” “I’m pulling Janessa to help me with some things back in the office.” “Some things, huh? I suspect she’ll be good at them, then. Just keep your eye on her, D. She’s a bit uppity, that one.” “Don’t I know it. As high strung as they come!” The two men shared a laugh as I stood looking from

one to the other. “I’m right here, you know?” That only sent them into another short fit of laughter before Knuckles returned to the bar and D continued on to his office with me in tow. He was still chuckling as we entered his office space. “I’m glad you boys think I’m such a great source of amusement.” “Ah, come on, Janessa. You know we adore you. Are you ready to start pouring through the books?” “I am looking forward to it. The quicker we get it done, the quicker we solve two mysteries that are of the utmost importance.” “That’s my girl. Okay, here are the general ledgers and these are the petty cash logs. Simon will be here in about an hour to pitch in. If you want to just get a feel for things and decide how you want to go about it rather than sinking your heels in just yet, then that is okay too.” “I’m all in. I’m not climbing out of these books until I figure out something. The answers have to be in there.”

“We’ve looked, but if it is, we can’t find it. I’m hoping that a fresh pair of eyes like yours looking through it might push something to the surface that we haven’t been able to latch onto. Just be careful. I’ve told no one but Simon what we are up to and I’d like to keep it that way. I don’t need anyone knowing that you are privy to this sort of information, and neither do you.” “I’ll keep it under my hat.” “I bet you look completely adorable in a hat too.” “Now, D, we’re not going to get much done if you are going to compliment me like that while I should be getting to work.” “Compliments are only the beginning. I am looking forward to doing incredibly wicked things to you in this office now that you are a part of my team.” “Is that what I am, D? A part of your team?” “A part of my team, a part of my family, a part of me.” I stood looking at him for a moment, a little taken aback by what he was saying. It was so unlike him,

yet I found it sounded like the most wonderful thing I had ever heard. I knew now that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, I was falling head over heels in love with D. I wasn’t sure how it had happened, certainly could have never imagined it when I had spent all those months studying him and his club, preparing to bring them down. Now, it just seemed like the easiest, most natural thing in the world. “You are a part of me now too, D,” I replied finally. Leaning forward, he pulled me into another kiss. It was heated but sweet, and I found myself melting into him just like I did every time he touched me. Whatever was happening between us was magical, beautiful. It was perfection. “Making out with the boss. I hope that isn’t the new protocol for getting a bit of a bump in pay around here, because I just don’t really fancy him that much.” We jumped apart like two school children caught kissing on the playground as Dodger let out a little laugh. He waltzed into the room and took a seat at the table where some of the books were already spread out. “Oh, don’t let me stop the two of you. Feel free to

strip down and just go at it atop the books if ya like. I’ll be happy to film it and post it up on some of them social media sites you Yanks are so stuck into all the time. I bet I could be the next internet porn sensation with the likes of you two on film.” “You’re such an ass, Simon.” “Ain’t I just that though? If you children are done with your neckin’, I suppose we could get started on these books.” “Let’s do it,” D replied as the three of us sat down and began the process of catching ourselves a thief.

Chapter Twenty-Five “Okay, I think we know who to start with now,” D said as he closed the last of the books we had just finished combing through. It was the same name on every entry that tied to a fake job application like my father’s. “Seems so,” Simon said with a dark scowl. “The question is whether he is the top or just a bottom feeder.” “That’s what we are going to have to figure out. If we take him out and there is someone above him, we tip their hand and shoot ourselves in the foot.” “More like in the back,” Simon added. “So, what do we do now?” I asked. “Good question, Janessa. We have to come up with a way to flush out the guilty parties. We’ll have to do a little bit of recon. At least we now know where to start,” D told me. “I think you should just let me have a few hours with the bastard. I’ll get you all the information you want from the little shyte.”

“Believe me, Simon, I’d love to get my hands on the little bastard too, but I just can’t afford to risk him not talking. I have a hard time believing he’s the top of the food chain. He’s always been a follower.” “Aye. He followed the wrong mate this time though.” “That he did.” “Do you think he’s the one who took out Ringo and Jack Knife?” “That’s my guess. Ringo, Jack Knife, your father and all of the others they loaned money to, but the question is why he would have been told to do that. Perhaps Jack Knife was getting too close and Ringo was just too much of a loose cannon, but the ones who were loaned money would have posed no threat that I can see. From their perspective, they asked the club for a loan, got one, and then paid it back. Business concluded.” “Unless one of them somehow figured out that the money wasn’t going back into the club.” D and Simon looked at me as if it had never

occurred to them that someone from the outside might have been able to breach their brotherhood and find out information that revealed something even they hadn’t been aware of. It was obviously an unsettling idea for them, but it didn’t mean it didn’t happen. “I guess anything is possible at this point. Let’s go home and we’ll finish sorting all of this out in the morning.” “Sounds good to me. I’m completely knackered and bloody cross-eyed from looking at those books,” Simon added. The three of us parted ways, D taking me back to his house where I had been staying since it had become obvious that something wasn’t right, and I might be in danger in my own house. Tucked into bed, I cradled my head in his arm and stroked my fingers idly across his chest. I could tell he was still very tense. “Put me back out on the floor, D.” “No.” “It’s the smart thing to do. Tell me who to talk to and let me be your eyes and ears.”

“It might put you in danger. You know what happened with Ringo.” “That was different. Ringo couldn’t take no for an answer. It wasn’t about me knowing anything or asking questions, it was about being refused.” “Do you think he is the only one here like that?” “D, you need my help. I can find out things that you can’t. The moment you ask, people are up in arms, but I’m new, don’t know any better, they’ll think.” “I won’t risk you, Janessa.” “You’ll be right there. So will Simon. As long as I’m in the casino and stay within sight, I will be fine.” “No.” I sighed and lay my head back down on his shoulder, eventually drifting off to sleep in his arms. I awoke early the next morning to find him up, standing at the window and looking out. “What are you doing up?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I’m just eaten up with all of this happening right under my nose and not even having realized it.” I watched as his hand drifted to the tattoo of the dollar sign on his chest and rubbed it with two fingers. It wasn’t the first time I had seen him do it, and I suddenly realized that perhaps that tattoo wasn’t as trite as I had once thought. Perhaps there was a much more significant meaning behind it than I had considered, but I wouldn’t ask. It was something he would tell me if he felt I needed to know. “How could you have known?” “Usually, when something like this goes down in an organization, there are signs or slip ups. You see things going oddly, or they ask someone they shouldn’t to join up and that person rats on them.” “That makes sense. It sounds like perhaps it is something that was developed by a small group that hasn’t reached out to others yet.” “That’s what I’m thinking. So, I need to watch and see who clusters with our little friend who we’ll be keeping an eye on.”

“Makes sense.” “I’m going to put you back out on the floor, but you’ll not be serving tables. You’ll just be out there as my girl. No one will touch you.” “Are you sure that is such a good idea to affiliate me with you so closely?” “I don’t care if it is a good idea or not. It’s the only way I’m willing to let you mingle among people. If they know you are off limits but trusted by me, you’ll be safer asking questions.” “I guess it will have to do.” “It will.”

Chapter Twenty-Six Back in the casino later in the day, I sat up on the bar stool listening to Knuckles talk to a new girl who had been hired to take my place. She was a leggy redhead who seemed to have the IQ of a granite rock from what I could surmise. Her highpitched squeals of delight at Knuckles’s jokes were more than a bit annoying and I finally stepped away, walking over to where I saw some men who D said I should watch were standing. I was nearly there when I felt a hand on my arm pulling me toward a less populated area. “What are you doing here?” “You left me no choice, Janessa! You tell me people are dying and then you don’t check in for days. I had your house watched for several days and there were no signs of you, so I had to come in here.” “What can I get you to drink?” I asked Jeremiah as I saw a biker approach. Though I wasn’t supposed to be serving drinks, he would have no way of knowing that and I didn’t need someone questioning who he was.

“Myers and Coke, please.” “I’ll be right back.” I walked over to the bar and stepped behind it to get a short glass of coke over ice. I knew Jeremiah couldn’t drink if he was on the job but I had put him on the spot. Returning to his table, I handed it to him. He held it in his hand, not drinking it. “It’s okay. Unleaded,” I told him quietly. “Thanks. Why haven’t you checked in?” “It’s a long story and not one I can tell you here. Also, I don’t have access to the burner phone right now. I need your number. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?” “Fine. See that you do. I have some things to tell you, as well.” He pulled out a five and scribbled his number on it quickly, handing it to me as if it were a tip. I shoved it my pocket and walked away as if I didn’t know him and had only been retrieving his drink. Instead, I focused on getting myself situated near a group of men who I had overheard mention Ringo, but not the rest of the conversation. Sitting

at a table beside them, I began to make small talk with a couple of the other girls who I knew didn’t like me, but pretended to because I was now officially with D. “So, you are back on the floor?” one of them asked. “Yes.” “I’m surprised. D’s girls usually don’t work once they’ve begun hooking up with him,” the other said a bit snidely. “Well, I need the money, and it’s not as good behind the bar.” “D usually takes care of his girls so they don’t have to work.” The implications were clear. They were doing their best to make me feel like I was even less special than the usual variety that entertained D until he tired of them. I was not buying into their catty banter. I was only sitting with them because I needed to look like I was doing something so that I could listen to the men behind us. “I’m not his usual girl. I take care of myself. I don’t

need Damian Diaz to support me.” “If you say so,” one of them replied, redirecting the conversation back to the other girl. They began discussing something that was obviously an inside joke between them, leaving me out of their talk. That was fine by me. Now, I could sit there with them and appear as if I was chatting when I was really eavesdropping. My focus remained on the women in front of me, but I had tuned them out, listening to the conversation behind me instead. “I don’t know, man. It’s risky. I don’t want to end up with a bullet to the head.” “You won’t. By the time all of this is over, we are all going to be smiling like the cat that ate the canary. It’s just business. His time has come and gone. Time to take what we want instead of what is given to us.” “I’m just not sure. D can be quite brutal when you cross him. I’m not sure I want to risk it. If we fail, we’re all toast.” “We won’t fail. This has been well planned and is a long time coming.” “When?”

“Soon. You just need to wrap your head around whether you have the balls to stand with us or if you are going to stick around and lick D’s shoes for the rest of your life.” “I’m in, man. Just say the word.” “Good to know, brother. Now, let’s drink. We’ll talk about this some more when there aren’t so many people around.” Their conversation turned to other things and nothing else was said about their plans. I pretended to be listening to the two jealous hens at my table prattle on for a bit for appearances sake and then excused myself, making sure I left in the opposite direction of the table on the other side of the tree that had been shielding me from their sight. After a few rounds on the opposite side of the room to socialize with other members and guests, I ventured off to seek out D. I finally found him upstairs talking to Simon and one of the girls in the hallway. He motioned for me to come over when he saw me. The girl hesitated and he nodded at her to continue with what she had been saying. “So, like I told you, I don’t want nothin’ to do wit’

it. You been good to me, and I ain’t about to forget that.” “I appreciate that, Jade. I’m glad you told us about it. Just keep your head down and don’t let him know that you’ve shared it with me. Okay? I doubt that he’s going to tell you anything else since you didn’t cotton to it right away, but he might think he said too much. I don’t want you getting hurt.” “Okay, D. I will watch it.” He nodded his head toward her and she took the silent instruction, heading down the hallway and disappearing into the elevator. Simon and D exchanged a look, and then Simon shook his head. “Well, so far, we have Roberto making off-book loans to folks and possibly killing them. We have Carlos telling his girl that he is joining up with some guys to take control of the club. Jack Knife and Ringo are already dead. This is going to get a lot uglier before it ends, D,” Simon said. “Yeah, for them. I built this club and this casino from nothing. I lost my best friend in the process. If they think they can just take what they haven’t earned, then they have another think coming. The question is not who thinks they can take what is

mine, but who is loyal enough to stand with me.” “That might not be such an easy task to pick out who is with you and who is against you.” “Don’t I know it.” “Well, if it helps. I can pitch a few more names into the hat. I overheard Joaquin, Beau, Carlos and Tiger talking downstairs earlier. Tiger was spearheading the conversation, but no details other than it seemed he already had the three of them in his corner against you.” “Fuck. What is wrong with these guys? I pay them well. I take care of them. I would have given any of them my last dime, and they have turned against me. Why?” “No idea, but I think it’s time I found out,” Simon replied. “No. You are to keep quiet, for now. If we spook them, we may lose whoever is at the top of the food chain and have to deal with this again a little farther down the road. Just hold off. We’ll get to the interrogations when it’s time.” “I don’t like it. If we wait, they could make a

move. I’d rather strike first.” “They aren’t ready yet. I don’t know how long, but I heard Tiger tell the other guys ‘soon,’ like they weren’t quite where they needed to be. Plus, he was just then asking Beau if he was in, so I gathered they are still trying to get people in their corner.” “Hopefully you are right. Bloody good if they hold off a little longer while we sort this out a bit,” Simon replied. The sound of the elevator opening and someone coming down the hallway ended our conversation. Simon turned and walked silently away while D pinned me to a nearby wall, kissing me eagerly. It affected me in the usual manner, sending carnal vibrations all the way down to my toes. “You two, get a room!” Tiger said cheerfully as he passed. D pulled away and smiled at him, letting out a little chuckle, but the look in his eyes was murderous even from where I was standing. I found myself a bit afraid of him again. “Let’s go home. I’m tired of this place today.”

His voice was angry, but I could also hear a touch of sadness to it. D might come off to those who did business with him as cold and calculating, violent at times, but this club was his family, and he was obviously hurt that they would turn on him like this. I followed along beside him as he headed toward the elevator and walked rapidly through the casino and out to the garage. “Get on.” I watched as he hopped onto his bike and began strapping on his helmet, waiting for me to do the same before heading out of the parking structure and toward home. The cool wind felt good on my face as we raced along in the darkness. My heart pounded steadily against my chest. I felt more frightened by what was happening with D than I had when I had first stepped into this whole affair. I knew we were close to answers but there could be a very high cost for him and for me. I noted the haunted look in his eyes as we stepped into his place. There was no doubt that this weighed on him heavily, it seemed more from an emotional standpoint than out of fear. These guys were his family, his brothers, and some of them had betrayed him, were continuing to betray him. Though he had

some names, there were more out there he wasn’t yet aware of. It was bound to hurt him on a personal level. “Let’s get a shower and go to bed,” he said wearily. “Okay.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to offer some comfort, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that would make it any better. Instead, I decided to console him the only way I knew how at the moment. Walking into the bathroom, I started the shower and stripped, climbing beneath the steamy water and beginning to wash. He joined me moments later, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my neck as the water ran over us. I turned, retrieving the soap and beginning to wash him as he looked at me thoughtfully. I could see something in his eyes, a need, more than just a physical one, and it occurred to me that D was much like a child in some ways. Something had happened to him along the way, something that forced him into becoming the person he appeared to be to those who didn’t know him well. I saw him as a man desperately in need of affection, the real kind, not just a physical conquest.

Leaning into him, I kissed him, letting the soap create a slippery veil between our bodies. There was no doubt that I was in love with D. I felt something for him that I had never felt with another man. It made no sense that I would have fallen so hard for someone who stood for the things he did. He was the man I had believed killed my father. I had seen him capable of such things not so long ago. A part of me knew he was capable of them, but I chose to believe there was more to his choices. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured against my skin. “I love you, D,” I heard myself say. It was almost as if it was coming from outside my body, an unwilling admission. He stopped what he was doing and looked down at me, a smile on his face. “I love you too, Janessa.” My heart felt as if it might stop then and there. D had sought to possess me, to own me, and he did. He owned all of me. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I would do anything to protect him, to keep him. I knew he would do the same for me. What he was, who he was, no longer mattered. We were a part of one another, and I couldn’t imagine

life without him. Turning me away from him, he rained kisses down my neck and across my shoulders, cupping my breasts in his hands as he took me from behind. A loud moan escaped my lips as he penetrated my wet folds, piercing me deeply, eagerly. Our bodies collided and parted against one another, wet skin suckling to one another and snapping away. It was intense, beautiful, as our noises echoed into the space around us. “God, I can’t hold back anymore,” he moaned as he filled me, his semen dripping down my thighs, carried away by my own orgasmic explosions that had preceded it. We leaned against one another for a moment, just enjoying the afterglow, then pulled apart and finished cleaning one another up with soft, delicate strokes of the shower sponge. Stepping out, we dried off and went to bed, reaching for one another again not far into the night and making love slowly in the comfort of D’s kingsize bed.

Chapter Twenty-Seven I awoke early the next morning and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. I had thought I would surprise him in bed. As I worked on chopping up vegetables for a fresh omelet, I remembered that I hadn’t touched base with Jeremiah and reached for my phone, quietly retrieving the five-dollar bill from the pants I had left in the bathroom floor and dialing the number written on the currency. “Jeremiah speaking.” “It’s me, Janessa.” “About time.” “I know. It’s been crazy. D insisted that I stay with him after Ringo was murdered, and I wasn’t able to get to you for a while.” “For fuck’s sake, Janessa. You are staying at his house?” “It’s okay, Jeremiah. He knows what I’m doing. D didn’t kill my father.” “What do you mean he knows? Get the hell out of

there, Janessa!” “I’ve got it under control.” There was a long hesitation on the line before Jeremiah spoke again. “Please tell me you haven’t compromised your position by letting D get to you. I hope you aren’t sleeping with him. He’s a vicious thug, Janessa.” “You let me worry about that. Just listen to what I have to tell you.” I told him about what had unfolded so far while he mostly listened, asking a pertinent question here and there. Finally, he told me what I didn’t know. “Things are too hot there, Janessa. I need for you to pull out.” “I can’t. I won’t. I am still going to find out who killed my father.” “I know who killed your father. Roberto Suarez. We have it on videotape.” “What? When did this happen?”

“Anonymous tip. Someone sent it in.” “So, after all this time, someone just decided to send you a video of my father’s murder?” “Apparently so.” “For what reason?” “I don’t know. Now that you’ve told me about the situation with D, I’m guessing something happened that made him a liability.” “Not just him, but there are others. We’ve found instances in the books where Roberto Suarez was making loans to a number of folks and writing it off as day labor payments.” “Money that went out but didn’t come back in, at least not to the club. Smart.” “Exactly.” “Then you already knew it was Roberto who killed your father.” “No. I knew he had something to do with it, but hadn’t been able to confirm it yet. I didn’t know if it was him or one of the others we are linking to

him one by one.” “You need to get out of there, Janessa. You have what you came for. We’ll arrest this guy and try him for his crime.” “No, not yet.” “What do you mean, not yet? This is the whole reason you went in there, and we have it now. What is going on in there, Janessa? What are you not telling me?” “Just wait, Jeremiah. I’ll give you more. I’ll hand you enough to put Roberto Suarez and a good number of others away for so long they’ll not see a day on the outside before they’re old and gray.” “I don’t want a few bad seeds, Janessa. I want Damian Diaz and the whole corrupt lot of them.” “I can’t give you D.” “I’m becoming well aware of that, Janessa. I’m hearing things I don’t like. You’re too close to him, and he’s not what he seems.” “No. He is not what he seems to you. I know what he is and what he is capable of, but I also know he

is something more than that. He’s not a bad person.” “Not a bad person? For the love of Christ, Janessa! What kind of brainwashing has he done to you? The man is a drug dealer, a killer, a thug. Don’t delude yourself.” “Look, if you don’t want to help me anymore, that is fine, but don’t arrest Roberto just yet. Give me a bit of time and I’ll give you more, enough to make sure you have enough to stick in case the video isn’t enough. You know how easily things get tossed out, and you’ve got nothing but a tape received from a dubious source. The prosecutor will be all over it to get it discredited.” “Fine. You have two weeks, no more. After that, I’ve got enough to come in there and clear house of a good many members. I’ll take down every one of them I can get.” “I have to go. We’ll talk again soon.” I hung up the phone without waiting for an answer. Looking up, I saw D standing quietly in the doorway, squinting at me as if trying to determine what I was up to. He didn’t speak at first as I met his gaze.

“Want some breakfast?” I asked, finishing up the omelet I had been working on as I talked to Jeremiah. “I’m more interested in the conversation you were having. That was your DEA contact?” “Yes.” “And?” “I don’t think it is something we should discuss.” “Oh, you don’t, huh? I happen to think very differently.” “You’re going to have to trust me, D.” “Trust you? You’ve no idea how hard I try, but when I overhear bits and pieces of a conversation about taking down members of my club and perhaps even myself, it is a little hard just to put blind trust in you.” “He has evidence that Roberto Suarez killed my father. He wants to take him down and pull me out. I needed to give him something to hold him off until we can finish flushing out those members of the

club who are trying to take over. We’ll hand them to him on a silver platter, and he’ll be happy with it. You’ll be safe from them and from him.” “Do you really believe that, Janessa? Surely you aren’t so naïve as to think that handing over a few members who have crossed me is going to satisfy the DEA. I have my own ways of dealing with them. I won’t be giving anyone up to the authorities.” “If you don’t, they are going to keep coming after you.” “Don’t be ridiculous. They are going to keep coming after me regardless of who you or I hand over to them. I’m the one they want, not a bunch of low level wannabes.” “Jeremiah will listen to me. If we give him these guys, he will back off you.” “Janessa, you just don’t want to believe the truth. I’ve never told you that I’m a good guy. I’m not. I’m not a good guy at all. You don’t know the half of what kind of things I’m into or what I’ve done. You see this? You see this tattoo?” I nodded as he pointed to the dollar sign on his

chest. I remembered the first time I had seen it. It had seemed trite, tacky. Something told me that I was about to learn a lot more about its origin and that knowledge would somehow change my perception of the symbol and D forever. “It’s a reminder to myself that I once chose money over my brother, my best friend. I didn’t have his back when I should have, and he died. I put this near my heart. It may seem stupid to you, but when I look into the mirror, it reminds me that I was once in a place that wasn’t good for me or anyone around me. I got to where I am by being cold and ruthless, and I can’t change that.” “I think you spend a lot of time trying to convince yourself that you are that way, but you really aren’t.” “If that is what you think, then you don’t know me at all, Janessa.” “Perhaps I know you much better than you are willing to give me credit for.” “Don’t flatter yourself. Bottom line is that I’m not giving up anyone in my organization to the DEA, no matter what you think.”

“D, you have to.” “Have to? I have to? I don’t have to do anything, Janessa. Even if I was willing to give up my people to your friends in the DEA, don’t you understand what would happen?” “They would be prosecuted for their crimes and you’d be safe from any harm they might have caused you.” “Wow. I thought you understood what you had signed up for here, Janessa. No. That is not how it works.” “How does it work, D?” “It works like this. If I rat out anyone, then I become a rat for life. No one trusts me anymore, not my people, not business associates, not anyone. They will either begin to sell me out to whoever they deem it beneficial to do so with or worse, they’ll decide that I must be dealt with once and for all. You know what that means, right?” “Yes. I think I do.” “Well, since you don’t seem to be clear about other things, I’m going to make sure you are clear about

that. They will murder me, but first, they will take their pound of flesh. What they did to Jack Knife will be nothing compared to what they’ll do to me, a leader who turned on them.” “You can be protected. The DEA will provide you with protection.” “Are you serious right now? The DEA is going to protect me? No. They are going to use the people I handed over to them to get to me. They will tell them that I’m the one who sold them out. These are guys who are already planning to take over the club. Do you think for a moment that they will hesitate to turn evidence on me in order to get their own asses out of hot water?” “It won’t matter if you make a deal. If you have immunity, it won’t matter what those guys tell them.” “It will matter, because I can only make a deal for myself. I can’t protect my brothers in the MC. Those guys start talking and it snowballs. I’m only the tip of a very large iceberg.” “So, what, then? We just sit around and wait for these guys to make a move? Then what? You kill them and have more blood on your hands to cover

up? Where does the violence end? It’s not the answer.” “Violence is the only thing a lot of people understand, Janessa. The sooner you accept that, the better off you will be. There are people in this world who don’t respond to anything but the pain you inflict upon them, and if physical pain doesn’t do the trick, then you find what is important to them, and you take it from them. You take everything until they give up the will to fight you.” “That’s monstrous.” “Welcome to me. I’m a monster. Didn’t your DEA contact tell you that before you came here? Monsters aren’t under your bed. You’ve got one standing right in front of you.” “I refuse to believe that about you. I’ve seen so much more of you.” “You’ve seen what I want you to see. I think it is time for you to go home, Janessa. You’re becoming a liability to me and my club.” “You don’t mean that.” “I always mean what I say.”

“Really? Because you also said you love me.” “I’ve come to realize that love isn’t an option I can really afford.” “You bastard!” “Now you are getting the picture. Welcome to reality.” I glared at him for a moment before storming out of the room and to the bedroom to get my things, throwing them rapidly into my bags. There was no reason for me to be here any longer. I was on the verge of tears and refused to let him see me cry. “Where are you going?” “Where I should have stayed. Home.” “Your real home or the one you set up to con me into trusting you?” “Don’t worry about it.” “Don’t fucking tell me what I should or shouldn’t worry about!”

“Worry about yourself, D. That seems to be your primary focus. Watch out for number one and the hell with anyone who tries to get close to you.” “Fine, Janessa. Go. I’m better off without your meddling. A word of warning though, don’t bring the DEA to my doorstep any further than you already have.” “Are you threatening me, D?” “Take it however you like it. Just remember what I said.” “Hard to forget,” I spat back, jerking the zipper on my bag closed and storming out of the house. Out on the sidewalk, I realized that I had no transportation here, and I wasn’t about to ask him to take me back to my house. I pulled out my cell phone and called a taxi. I’d no more than hung up the phone when I heard his footsteps coming down the walkway behind me. “Come on. I’ll take you home.” “Fuck you. I’ll wait for the cab.” “It wasn’t optional, Janessa. I’m taking you home.”

“No.” “Don’t be stubborn.” “Of course not. That’s your specialty.” “I’m done arguing with you. Am I going to have to toss you over my shoulder and carry you to the car?” I was relieved to see the cab pull up outside the large iron gates that created a barrier between D’s estate and the outside world. I headed wordlessly toward it, pushing a button on the interior to open the gates and exit. I heard him call my name, but refused to look back. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, let him see the tears streaming down my face.

Chapter Twenty-Eight “Do what you need to do, Jeremiah. I’m out.” The words felt foreign, almost as if they were coming from outside my body as I said them. “I’m glad to hear it, Janessa. I don’t think there is a lot left there that you can do.” “I thought I could give you a lot more. I guess I underestimated the kind of people I was dealing with.” “I told you it wouldn’t be easy. You just have to understand that the Black Aces aren’t as much a bunch of yahoos as they may seem. People on the outside look at them and see leather clad outlaws, a bunch of guys who never grew up and just want to ride bikes and play in the dirt. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They are filled with greed and will stop at nothing to keep their pockets lined.” “You’re right. I suppose it is hard for someone like me to truly understand what people like that are like until they’ve spent some time getting to know them.”

“Well, welcome home. Are you out of the rental house and back in your old place?” “Not yet, but I’m headed there. I’m packing up things here and the movers will arrive tomorrow to take what I need transported to a storage unit outside of town. I don’t want to move it into my house until I know I’m not being followed, until I know I am clear.” “You sound afraid. Are you okay? Do I need to send a protection detail until you can get out of there?” “No. I’ll be fine. I’d just rather be safe than sorry. When I walk away from this place, I don’t want anyone or anything to follow me.” “Good enough. You and I need to talk, but it can wait. When you get settled back in, we’ll get you into the office for an official debriefing and get you completely out of all this.” “Okay. Just let me know.” “Will do. Be careful, Janessa. I know you say you’re safe, but I’m still concerned.”

“Don’t be. I’m fine.” “I’ll call you later to double check.” “Good enough. Talk to you soon.” I hung up the phone and looked at it solemnly. I hadn’t expected this to hurt so much, but it did. The fact was that no matter what D had done in his life, no matter what he was or wasn’t, I had real feelings for him and I didn’t want things to end. The flip side of that was that I had to consider the things he had said to me. Perhaps I truly didn’t know him at all, and he was very much the monster he claimed to be. Sleep came slowly and fleetingly. It seemed like every hour I was awake again, glancing at the clock and trying to will myself back to sleep. By the time the sun came up the next morning, I was more exhausted than I had been after a day of packing up the belongings I had brought here. I was completely lost in thought as a knock came at the door. Glancing at my phone, I saw that two hours had disappeared in no time and that was no doubt the movers. A quick glance through the peephole in the door confirmed it. “Good morning, Miss Cabri. Are you ready to get

this stuff off your hands?” “Yes, please. Thank you so much for being prompt.” “Of course. It’s what we do. We’ll have you packed up and on your way in no time. I understand we are taking this all to storage?” “Yes.” “Is there any certain order to how it needs to be put into the bay? We try to load it on the truck the same way it needs to go into storage if we can.” “If you could load the bedroom first so that it is at the front when you finish unloading, that would be great. The order of the rest of it won’t matter.” “Any appliances? Washer, dryer, stove?” “No. Small appliances are packed into boxes and the large ones stay with the property.” “Good enough. We’ll get you taken care of and on your way in no time.” “Thank you. I’ll try to stay out of the way so I don’t interfere with your progress. I’m anxious to

get out of here as quickly as I can.” “We’ve got you, Miss Cabri,” he said with a wink, turning to bark orders at a couple of guys standing just outside on the front stoop. Sitting in the kitchen with a book, I tried to focus on reading while they packed up my things. I was shocked at how quickly they were finished and ready to go, but also relieved. I really did want out of here. I found myself wanting to put this whole episode of my life far behind me. It wouldn’t be entirely possible with having to sit down with Jeremiah, and then there would be the trial for my father’s death, but at least I wouldn’t be in this place where everything reminded me of D, of his touch, his smell. “We’re ready, Miss Marquis,” Solomon said from the kitchen doorway. “Very good. You have the address of the storage building?” “Yes, we’re about to head there now.” “I’ll be right behind you. Unit twenty-three. It is unlocked if you get there before me and need to get started unloading. I’ll lock it when you are done.”

“Perfect. See you in a bit.” “Thank you.” “Hey, it’s what we do.” He flashed a broad smile at me, displaying a large set of dimples that seemed to take over his entire face. I guessed that he was once a good-looking guy, but he had a worn look about him that gave him a haunted appearance. It made me wonder what had happened in his life that had made him who he was. I suspected this was something I would now wonder about every stranger I might meet. I knew what had changed me, and now, what was changing me again. Everyone had a story. Taking one final look around to be sure I didn’t miss anything in the house, I gathered my purse and book, stepping outside and locking the door behind me. I would mail the keys back to the landlord later on as I didn’t want to give anyone a heads up that I was leaving until I was long gone. He would be happy. My rent was paid well in advance, and I had no doubt I wouldn’t be getting it back so he’d have ample time to find a new tenant. Turning to make my way to the rental car that had

been delivered to me earlier, I stopped in my tracks. Sitting in the street on the other side was D. He was perched on his bike, watching the moving truck head down the street. When he turned and saw me, he put his helmet back on his head and headed off wordlessly in the opposite direction. It felt like I had been shot and just hadn’t realized it yet. After a moment or two, I found my footing and walked to the car, slipping behind the wheel and heading off toward the storage unit. I couldn’t decide if I was relieved that he had no intention of following me or if I was hurt that he was just going to let me go without a fight. I wiped at the tears falling down my face and reached for my phone, now ringing in the seat beside me. It was Jeremiah checking in on me again. “Where are you?” “I’m on my way to the storage unit. The movers have everything packed and are headed there with it.” “Good. I’m glad to hear it. I’ve got some big news for you, but I can’t tell you on the phone. When are you able to come in?”

“I need to get this stuff sorted and then get settled back into my place. It’s been closed up for months except for being checked on here and there, so it’ll need some airing out and such I’m sure.” “How about first thing in the morning? You think that is doable?” “Sure. No problem. I’ll be there at eight.” “Sounds good. Feel free to bring a low paid public servant some decent coffee from one of those places where the women all wear yoga pants and drink with their pinky out.” “Yeah, I’ll get you a nice skinny pumpkin spice mocha latte that will make you grin like a school girl.” “Let’s not get carried away now.” “Okay. I’ll bring you a cup of coffee as black as your soul, then.” “Now you’re making sense.” “See you at eight.” “See you then.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine Walking into my old place felt almost foreign to me. It had been so long since I’d been home. I stood at the edge of the mantle and pulled down a photo, looking down at it and smiling. It was my father and I standing in front of a fountain here in town. It was one of the last photos we had ever taken together. We were both smiling at a neighbor who I had handed my phone to take a snapshot of us. After my father’s death, I had printed and framed it for the mantle, a reminder of better days. “We’ve got him, Dad. Jeremiah is going to put the guy who did this to you away for the rest of his miserable life.” Letting out a loud sigh, I sat the picture back down and busied myself with getting the place aired out, dusted and vacuumed before removing the slip covers and opening the windows to freshen up the place. The warm afternoon quickly turned to a chilled evening as I lost myself in getting everything back in order. Closing the windows, I poured myself a glass of wine and kicked back on my sofa. Melancholy flowed through me, but somehow I was glad to be home.

Chapter Thirty A sense of dread filled me as I got dressed for my meeting with Jeremiah the following morning. It was good to be home, though I had to realize that I was still not that far out of Damian’s reach. It wasn’t as if I lived in another city, just a part of it that I doubted he ever had reason to be in. My house was situated in a quiet cul-de-sac in a neighborhood that was about as upper middle-class suburbia as one could get. It wasn’t exactly the kind of place you’d find the leader of a notorious motorcycle gang hanging out for a fun weekend. Looking at myself in the mirror, I saw someone I hardly recognized. I reached up and pulled the cosmetic lenses I had purchased for my time at the casino from my eyes. The dark brown veil that had covered my pale blue eyes went into the waste basket nearby as I frowned at my dark locks. Those would need to go too. In the meantime, I pinned them up and retrieved a hat to cover them. Sitting down at my computer, I took a quick inventory of my bank account. I was happy to see that it was still fairly well in the black since I had been living off my income from the casino while working there and had only had to utilize my

account to pay my mortgage and utilities while away from the house. Of course, I would have to buy my neighbor, Mrs. Peaches, something nice to thank her for checking on the house and plants for me in my absence. I dreaded getting acclimated again with my neighbors. There would be questions. I had told Mrs. Peaches that I’d be traveling abroad. They would want to see pictures of my travels, hear tales of my adventures. Then, there would be those who had not seen me to give their condolences regarding my father. During his last days, he had stayed here with me, having been tossed out of yet another shitty little apartment in the city slums. Despite his usual company and habits, my father had been a charming man, capable of fitting in with any crowd, and my neighbors had been quite taken with him. I suspected that he may have even been romantically involved with one of them, a widow who mostly kept to herself, but seemed to always make a point of coming out of her yard to speak to him when he went out for walks. Whether it was a mild flirtation or something more, I was uncertain and I had never seen fit to delve into it further. Remembering that I had promised Jeremiah coffee, I gathered myself up and headed out to the rental

car to take to his office. I would need to drop it off and grab a cab back. I had forgotten to even check on my own car in the garage. Mrs. Peaches had agreed to start it for me and drive it around the block every once in a while to keep it in good order, so hopefully it was fine. I was grateful not to encounter any neighbors as I climbed into the driver’s seat and headed into the city. “Good morning, Janessa. It’s good to see you again. You’ve done something different with your hair. I like it.” “Thanks. Don’t get used to it.” “Is that for me?” he asked with a big smile, noting the Grounds for Life cup in my hand. “Yes. Yoga pant coffee from the local dispensary, per your request.” “You’re a peach. Thanks for that. Come on, let’s go into my office and we’ll talk.” I followed him down the long corridor that led to his cramped little corner of the large organization in which he worked. He sat across from me, pulling out a file and laying it on the desk in front of him.

“Do you want to see the tape?” he asked solemnly. “No.” “I didn’t think you would, but I thought I would give you the opportunity. It will be played in court and if you choose to attend the trial, you will see it there. I didn’t want it to be the first time you were watching it in the front of a lot of people.” “I don’t want to see it until I have to,” I replied. “I understand.” “So, what do we need to talk about? I’m anxious just to get life back on track and would like to get this as much behind me as I can.” “Well, nothing formal, since you went in as an agreement between the two of us rather than as a witness for the department, but I do need to go over with you anything that you’ve found out that might benefit our investigation. That was our agreement. You give me what you can, and I would support you in your efforts and help you as much as I could to find out who killed your father.” “Yes.”

“You should know that I’m aware that you developed a relationship with Damian Diaz while you were working in the casino.” “I have no relationship with D. It was all only ever a part of my attempt to unearth my father’s killer. Now that you’ve done that, there is no need for me to be there or associate with him any longer.” “I’m relieved to hear that. I was concerned that you might have been compromised. Damian Diaz isn’t the sort you’d ever want to be so closely associated with. I can assure you of that. It is well known that he killed his own brother to step into the role he holds now.” “Brother? I don’t recall reading anything in the files you gave me about a brother.” “It isn’t something you would find there, as they weren’t blood related. Damian’s mother had a string of boyfriends. One had a son named Zach Sharpe. He and Damian were about the same age. They ran together as teens, got into trouble with petty theft, drugs, vandalism. It was Zach who first joined the Black Aces when they were seventeen. Damian followed right behind him.” “He never mentioned him.”

“I would guess not. Probably a hard pill to swallow when you kill your brother.” “What can you tell me about him?” “Zach, they called him Cash Sharpe, was the original leader of the club’s right hand after a bit of time. He acted as an enforcer, a collector. The club had agreements all over town, money paid to them in order for protection from other clubs and gangs. Cash got greedy. He upped their pay outs without club sanction and kept the difference in what the club expected and what he was actually skimming from the business owners.” “He stole from the club, then,” Janessa replied, the dollar sign on Damian’s chest and what he had said surfacing in the back of her mind. “Yes. The leader found out and decided to make an example of him. He offered Damian a position of authority in the club, but only if Damian was willing to do what was asked of him.” “And D did.” “That’s how the story goes. It’s never been proven, of course. Things rarely can be with a lot like that,

but we do manage to get people in here and there or to get people to talk. They say that Damian and Zach were taken out to a field, along with some of the higher ranking club members. Neither knew what was coming. The leader had only told Damian that something would be expected of him, and he would know what that was when the time came.” “They made him kill someone he considered a best friend, a brother even.” “A witness says that once they reached the field, Zach was put on his knees and questioned about the money he had taken with a gun to his head. There was another put to Damian’s head. He confessed that he had taken the money, but claimed that Damian had nothing to do with it. Whether he did or didn’t is unknown, but the gun at Damian’s head was pulled away and handed to him. He was ordered to shoot Zach, and he did.” “He had no choice, then. If he hadn’t, they would have shot him.” “Perhaps. Kill or be killed, but the witness said that he never hesitated. Never even looked like it bothered him as he pointed the gun and shot a man he saw as family in the head at point blank range.”

“I think you’d be surprised to know that it did bother him.” “How so?” “He has a dollar sign, a symbol of money, tattooed on his chest.” “Perhaps it is just a souvenir, a reminder of what was most likely his first kill.” “No. It is regret.” “And you know this how? Did he tell you he killed Zach?” “No. He merely told me that he hadn’t had his back and because of that, he had died, but he didn’t refer to him as his brother or call him by name. He called him his best friend. It was obvious that he was important to him.” “So important to him that he killed him in order to impress the leader enough for a promotion.” “You said yourself that you can’t prove it. How reliable is your witness? How do you know that he isn’t the one who shot Cash and just laid it off on Damian?”

“Because my witness was undercover DEA with no reason to lie about it. His name is Samuel Robinson. You might know him as Jack Knife.” “What? Jack Knife was DEA?” “Yes. He went in fresh out of the academy and was in there for years undetected.” “That’s why he was off to places that D knew nothing about. He was making contact with the DEA.” “Most likely. I already knew about the cabin you told me about. He used it as a meeting place from time to time. It never drew suspicion for one of our female agents to meet him at a bar and then go home with him, or so it would seem to the casual observer.” “And the BDSM chamber?” “Well, Samuel did have the place at his disposal for whatever he chose to do with it. I don’t know if that was just there for show to keep people from nosing about too much. You know, setting it up to look like he was a real freak show, and it was best no one bother him too much when he was there.”

“He made videos of some of the things he did there with women and showed them to people.” “Did he? Don’t believe all that you hear or that what people see is really what is going on. You’d be surprised how clever we DEA agents can be when we want to paint a picture of someone.” “A picture vivid enough to get him tortured and killed.” “Are you sure about that?” I watched as he pushed a button on his phone and spoke into the speaker, asking someone to come down to his office. I looked at him blankly and he smiled, holding up a single finger as if to tell me to just wait. A knock at the door behind me sounded. “Come in,” Jeremiah said and I turned to find myself looking up at the tall, hulking figure of a man in a suit. He looked familiar, but it took a moment to realize that he had only changed cosmetic things about his appearance. I was looking at Samuel Robinson. “Nice to see you again, Janessa,” he said with a smile.

“How? You’re dead.” “I don’t feel dead.” “I don’t understand. They found you. They said you had been brutalized.” “All set up with the right people. I’m very much alive, though I do feel a bit like a ghost with the limitations on how much I can go out in public.” “Samuel is being relocated soon. He has some loose ends to tie up before he goes. A lot of the information he has provided us over the years has had to be kept quiet and can only now be brought out. Once they find out he is alive, he will have a huge target on his head.” “Why now? Why did you pull him out after so long?” I asked Jeremiah, but Samuel answered. “My position was compromised by the group of members that is trying to overthrow D. They wanted me to choose sides. I had to choose Damian in order to maintain my trust with him and keep doing the work I had been sent in to do. When I did, they threatened me. Some of them were tailing me everywhere. They had me in a corner that I

couldn’t get out of. The DEA decided to kill me off before they did a more permanent job of it.” I turned back toward Jeremiah again, my eyebrows raised in his direction. Something didn’t make sense about all of this. I was beginning to feel uneasy, used, not to mention the embarrassment of having fucked Samuel thinking he was a member who could help me. “Why did you send me in there if you already had someone so close to him?” “I didn’t send you in there, you insisted upon going. I couldn’t very well tell you about him. I figured you were going with or without me, so I might as well try to keep you safe. For all I knew, you might get incredibly lucky and learn something useful.” “But I didn’t learn anything you didn’t already know.” “Not true. There were some things that went on outside of Samuel’s knowledge that you were able to clear up for us and you seemed to have gained a level of trust with Damian very quickly that even Jack Knife hadn’t achieved in years of being undercover.”

I felt everything go red for a moment as a realization struck me. I shot up out of my chair and turned to face Samuel “Jack Knife” Robinson. “You knew. You knew who I was before I even turned up there.” “Yes.” “You son of a bitch.” “I’ve been called worse.” “We’re done here.” I was fuming as I picked up my purse and headed for the door. Jeremiah called my name as Samuel reached back and held it firmly closed with one of his large hands. I glared at him, only causing him to smirk a little, which infuriated me even more. “We are not done, Janessa. You and I need to have some very long talks and very soon. I’m going to let you walk out of here right now and calm down, but you’re going to come back on Thursday at this same time and we are going to have a proper interview.” “You can’t force me to tell you anything.”

“No. I can’t, but I trust that you will honor the agreement we made. You said if I helped you find your father’s killer, you would tell me whatever you could that would help me bring down Damian Diaz. Do you remember that, Janessa? Do you still believe he is a good person beneath it all after all you’ve learned?” “I’m leaving now.” “Let her go, Samuel,” he said, and Samuel moved out of the way for me to open the door. I yanked it open and stomped out of the building to the parking garage, making my way to my rental car in a blind rage. “Janessa, wait!” Samuel called out to me, but I ignored him. I could hear his footsteps catching up to me and increased my pace, hoping to get into the car and leave before he reached me, but I failed. Instead, I found his hand on my arm, whirling me around to face him. “Take your hands off of me!” I screeched at him. “Listen, I’m sorry. I know why you are upset. I knew who you were and still did what I did with you.”

“You fucked me like I was some sort of play thing knowing good and well who I was and why I was there.” “Yes. I admit that I did. It was what was expected of me. I could have said no, could have put you off. The truth is that I didn’t want to. It felt good, in a way, to be with someone like myself, even if you didn’t realize it at the time.” “I’m nothing like you. I never will be,” I huffed, stomping away and getting into my car nearby. I didn’t look back in his direction, instead making a hasty exit. I wanted, more than ever, to put all of this nonsense behind me as quickly as possible. I didn’t care what Jeremiah said, I was never coming back to this place and never telling him anything more than I had already divulged. These people, in their own way, were just as deceitful and shitty as the men in the Black Aces MC. “I need to calm down,” I told myself. Glancing at my watch, I discovered that much more time had passed than I had realized. It was almost eleven. Driving over to a small section of town, I pulled up in front of the salon I used to frequent and walked inside.

“Oh, my god! Janessa! I hardly recognized you!” the owner exclaimed as she looked up from where she was sorting through some papers at the front desk. “Good to see you too, Sherry. Do you think you can work me in for a cut and color?” “You’re in luck. I’ve had some cancellations this morning and can take you back right now.” “Perfect. I am so ready to do something with this mop.” “I can see how you would be. You want your usual cut and color or something different?” “No. I’d like to get back to being me again. The usual will be great.” I sat in her chair watching as long strands of dark hair fell onto the heavy vinyl cover she had placed over me and slid to the floor below. I had spent a long while growing out my hair even before I had gone into the casino to apply. I had purchased fake contacts online and darkened my color to a deep, dark brown. During the time I had been with D, I had slept in my contacts and feared one would fall

out in my sleep. It had been nice to finally take them out and toss them away. It would be even nicer to look completely like my old self again. “There. How’s that?” Sherry turned the chair to face the large mirror in front of me and I smiled. There I was, shoulder length layered honey blonde hair and blue eyes, the vision of the girl next door rather than the hooker in the seedy casino. This was me. This was who I once was. Looking in the mirror, I realized that I looked like myself again, but I still didn’t feel like myself. I wasn’t sure that I ever would again. “It’s perfect, as always, Sherry. Thank you.” “You’re welcome, honey. It’s good to see you again. Hopefully you won’t be such a stranger in the future.” “Oh, you can count on it. I’ll see you for a trim in a month or so.” “Sounds good. Have Jill at the counter go ahead and set that up for you if you want or you can call later.” “I’ll do that. Thanks again.”

“Hey, it’s what we do here.” I smiled at her and paid Jill at the counter, making an appointment for six weeks from today. Stepping out on the front sidewalk, I already felt better. I slid behind the wheel of the car and headed down to the rental place to return it. Thirty minutes later, I had all that sorted and was on foot. I enjoyed the warm day, a nice breeze blowing through my hair as I made my way down the sidewalk toward a small café where my father and I used to eat. Walking inside was like a ripple in time. Nothing had changed since the last time I was there. “Janessa! It’s been so long,” Mr. Carroway, the aging manager said with a big smile when he saw me. “Let me get you a table. Will your father be joining you?” “No, Mr. Carroway. I’m afraid my father passed.” “Oh, I am so sorry to hear that, my precious girl. He was always a joy to have here. I am glad that you’ve finally returned on your own, at least.” “Thank you.” “You are welcome. Right this way.”

I followed him in the awkward silence that I knew would be repeated with various people for some time to come and sat at the small single table near a window. The city looked different to me, somehow foreign, like it had when I had first come here from the farm to live with my father. Everything seemed new, waiting to be discovered again. “Will you be having your usual?” “You remember what that is?” “Of course. I’ve a mind like a steel trap. There’s a bit of rust, mind you, but I just dust it off from time to time and the details are still there.” “The usual will be fine.” He excused himself and returned moments later with a small dinner salad and a glass of lemon water, waiting on me personally despite the wait staff who seemed fairly unfettered with the small crowd being served. Ten minutes later, he returned with a plate of spaghetti and warm toasted garlic bread that would make the finest Italian restaurants envious of its presentation and taste. “Oh, this looks wonderful. I’ve missed it.”

“It has missed you. I’ll be right back with a nice pitcher of sangria for you,” he replied as he removed my salad plate. “I never ordered sangria with my usual.” “No, but you should have. It’s on the house.” “Thank you, Mr. Carroway. It is good to be home again.” “Home is always one of life’s greatest pleasures, isn’t it? I’ll leave you to your meal.” He returned a few moments later with a fresh wine glass and a small glass pitcher filled with cold sangria and chunks of fresh fruit, silently pouring me a glass and then disappearing with a wink. I picked up the glass and took a sip. It was like nectar compared to the shots and beer I had been consuming in the casino in the past weeks. The restaurant began filling quickly as I enjoyed my meal, listening to the happy conversations of people around me. No one realized what a great gift innocence in life could be until it was lost. I found myself envying them theirs. “Excuse me,” I said politely, waving a server over

once my meal was finished and no bill had arrived, “but I’d like to get my check, please.” “No check for you today. Mr. Carroway said so.” I smiled at her and nodded. I normally didn’t like charity or sympathy, but it felt good to have someone care for me even in such a small way as comping my lunch tab. I would be sure to make it up to him the next time I came in and thank him personally. Stepping back out into the sunshine, I walked a little further down the street and into a clothing shop to buy a few things. An hour later, I left with three bags and two boxes of shoes, juggling them in one hand and a crook of an arm while I hailed a cab home.

Chapter Thirty-One A week passed, and I still had not gone back to the DEA. I had several missed calls from Jeremiah and messages I couldn’t be bothered to listen to. D still weighed heavily on my mind. My feelings for him were real, but he was a self-proclaimed monster and what Jeremiah had told me about him seemed to confirm it. Still, I knew that it had not been something D had done lightly. I tried to put myself in his shoes. If I were in the middle of a field with men who had no qualms about killing me unless I killed my best friend, would I do it? Leaving the possibility of promotion as a result of my actions out of the equation, I tried to decide if I could kill someone I cared about in order to save myself. There was a part of me that would like to believe I wouldn’t, but how could I know unless I was in that situation? In the end, I told myself that I would have made the same choice. The reasoning was simple when you boiled it down to its essential elements. Kill and you survive. Don’t kill and no one survives. Who would it have served for D to have refused to kill his friend? No one. It would have eased his guilty conscience, and I believed he had one. You don’t

tattoo a symbol of the man you killed on your chest unless you see it as a penance for what you have been forced to do, a reminder not to ever be put in a position like that again. I realized that, on some level, it was what drove D to stay on top. If you were the top of the food chain, no one told you what to do. You dictated to everyone around you, and they listened. D grew up defending himself against abuse. He joined up with men like himself, the only kind of men he knew, ruthless and violent. Then, he was forced to do something he didn’t want to do and he used that pain to climb on top, to achieve power over everyone around him. Did that justify his behavior? His actions? No, but it at least helped to understand them from his point of view. Whether or not that made it any better wasn’t really clear, but being able to make some sense of how a young, innocent boy grows up to be a monster somehow helped me to accept that perhaps the man I had fallen for was the remnants of the man he might have been in a different environment. It changed nothing except my ability to live with myself. My thoughts were disrupted by a knock at the door. I wasn’t expecting anyone, but perhaps it was a

neighbor who had noticed I was home. So far, it had been a lot quieter since my return than I anticipated. My only interruption of peace had been Mrs. Peaches when I had rung her to let her know I was back and she need not bother checking on the house anymore. She had bent my ear for nearly a half hour before I could get her off the phone. I looked through the peephole and saw the face of Jeremiah. I began walking away. “I hear you in there, Janessa. Don’t force me to make a scene in your pretty little neighborhood,” he barked through the door. I groaned and turned around, opening the door and motioning for him to come in. I was surprised to find that Samuel had been standing to one side and waltzed in behind him. I shut the door behind them and frowned at the two of them. “What do you want?” “You know what we want, Janessa. We have unfinished business. You haven’t been returning my calls, so you’ve forced my hand. Now, you get a personal visit.” “I feel like I’ve signed on with the mob.”

“No. The mob is nicer than we are.” “I’m beginning to realize that. Might as well have a seat since you are obviously not going to leave me alone until I cooperate.” “Correct.” The two of them sat down on my sofa, and I sat in a chair opposite them, looking at them blankly. “What is it that you want to know?” “Everything. Start at the beginning and don’t leave anything out.” “That could take a while.” “I’m sorry. We would have made an appointment, but oh, wait. We did make an appointment. You didn’t show up or return my calls. Now, you get to do this here and now, whether convenient or not.” “When did you become such an asshole?” “When you became uncooperative.” “Fine. First, this goon sitting next to you hit on me, and then I fucked him, thinking I was going to get

information out of him. He’s an asshole too.” “I already know that.” “You asked me to tell you everything. That is where I choose to start.” Samuel was looking off with a vacant smile. I wanted to slap his smug, arrogant face so hard his teeth rattled. I could feel my anger rising and tried to get it under control. It wouldn’t do me any good. I just needed to get through this and get them out of here once and for all. I continued with everything I had learned while at the casino, leaving out anything that they didn’t already know and that I felt might incriminate D. Why I still chose to protect him, I wasn’t sure, but I did. “I don’t think you are telling us everything.” “I don’t care what you think.” “None of what you have given us is useful in our investigation.” “Guess this little intrusion of yours was a waste of time, then, wasn’t it?” “Don’t be coy with me, Janessa. You are way out

of your league here.” “You’ve said that before. Are we done now?” “For now. We’ll be in touch. I suggest you respond to my calls or messages next time unless you want us traipsing back across your perfectly manicured lawn.” “Try to keep your feet on the walkway on your way out, and don’t feel the need to dawdle.” Samuel chortled a little as he stood and I shot him an angry look. He smiled at me and winked. I felt like throwing something at him, but instead, I turned and walked to the door, opening it to discover Mrs. Peaches standing there looking confused. “I didn’t even knock yet. I’m sorry. I didn’t notice you had company,” she said uncertainly. “It’s okay, Mrs. P. They were just leaving.” The two men nodded in her direction and made their way to the car as I motioned for her to come in and shut the door behind her. “Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, no, honey. Thank you. I can’t stay. I just saw those two men and well, after what happened to your father, I wanted to make sure you were okay.” “I’m fine. They are just working on his case and needed to discuss some things with me.” “Oh, they are with the authorities, then. Good. I was so concerned.” “I appreciate that, Mrs. P. Thank you for coming over.” “No problem, honey. You just let me know if you need anything. Anything at all.” “I will do that.” I watched as she walked back to her house and then closed the door, leaning against it. Talking about D had only brought back memories that I had rather forget. A part of me wondered how he was, if he was okay, but I knew that he was capable of taking care of himself. He had done it before me and would do it with me gone. I tried to ignore the part of my brain that insisted upon adding that I was irrelevant to him.

Chapter Thirty-Two Monday morning seemed almost normal. I had awoken early and gotten dressed for work like normal people. It hadn’t been easy to get my job back after being on leave for so long, but I let the manager’s sympathy play in my favor. He understood grief, having lost a wife the year before, and was willing to give me an equal position to the one I had vacated months before. Of course, the morning of my arrival was filled with well wishes from my prior coworkers who all wanted to personally extend their condolences. There were the few thrill seekers bold enough to try to wiggle the lurid details of my father’s murder out of me, but they were given a quick brush off and sent on their way. I had no time for their ilk. Settled into my office, I buried myself in work, putting my life back on track the only way I knew how. It seemed like the day crawled by with the tedious accounting of various local businesses laid out in front of me, but finally it was lunchtime and eventually, time to go home. I eagerly closed up my office and made my way downstairs to head home to my quiet little suburb where I could drown my discontent in a few glasses of merlot and go to bed.

“I need to talk to you.” My head whirled around at the sound of his voice and my anger immediately flared. How dare he accost me in the parking garage of my employer. Something was going to have to be done. He was quick to note my anger, immediately trying to calm me. “Hold on, spitfire. Don’t get all red in the face at me again. I am not here as your enemy.” “What are you here as, then, Samuel? Or do you prefer to still go by Jack Knife?” “I kind of liked being Jack Knife for a while, in all honestly. He was a real badass. Not quite the same lurking about town in an expensive suit and looking over my shoulder.” “What do you want?” “Look, I know about you and D. So does Jeremiah. Why do you think he was so keen to get what he could out of you before you completely clammed up on him? I came here as a friend. No matter what you think of me, I enjoyed the brief amount of time we had together.”

“Fucking. You mean you enjoyed fucking me.” “I won’t deny that I did, but that’s not all there was to it. You were different than the others. I told you, I felt like I was with my own kind. Those girls there, you know how they are, who they are. Their only goal in life is to get by, make some money on their back or their knees and ease their pain with a string of sexual encounters, drugs and alcohol. Even though I knew you were fucking me for information, I also knew why and I admired you for it.” “Cut the bullshit, Samuel. Why did you come here?” “I don’t know if you are still involved with D, but you need to get a message to him. I’m a dead man. I can’t. They are going to make a move soon. Take this envelope home with you and read through it, then destroy it. It has everything you need to know in it. Make sure you warn D before it is too late.” “You want to save him? Why?” “Let’s just say you aren’t the only one who understands D and what he is really about. He’s not a monster, Janessa. No matter what anyone, even

he, might tell you. He has a good heart. He’s hurt people, but I can’t name one person he ever hurt who didn’t deserve it, and he’s helped a lot more than he’s harmed.” “Yeah? You think his best friend deserved it? Zach deserved to die?” “Yes.” “How can you say that?” “Janessa, you weren’t there. Who do you think the witness to it was? Perhaps Zach didn’t deserve to die. Maybe no one really does, but I believe that we reap what we sow. Zach certainly did himself no favors and it was him or D. You can’t judge that kind of decision unless you are the one making it.” “I have to go.” “Here. Take this.” He handed me the envelope and disappeared into a darker part of the garage as I climbed into my car and drove home. It was all I could do not to stop and read what was in the envelope before I got home, but I didn’t dare. I felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding like I’d never felt before and

just needed to get somewhere to feel safe. Home was my only sanctuary at the moment. Inside the house, I locked the doors and sat on the sofa, carefully opening the envelope and reading its contents. It took a few minutes for the information it contained to really sink in, but it finally did. I read it again and digested it as best I could. When I was done, I took a deep breath and stared into space. D was in trouble and I didn’t know how I could stop it, but I knew I had to try.

Chapter Thirty-Three “What are you doing here? You aren’t welcome.” “Is that any way to treat an old friend?” I stood looking at D as if his words didn’t hurt me, as if I had every right to walk into his casino as anyone else did. Of course, I had made sure I reassumed my previous appearance prior to taking a cab over. The wig I wore was a bit itchy and I found that the contacts annoyed me after not having worn them for so long, but it was a small price to pay. I liked the idea of being able to change my appearance quickly if anything went far off the rails for me. “I’m not fucking playing with you, Janessa. You don’t belong here.” “It’s a casino. Anyone with a handful of bills belongs here.” “I own this casino. It is at my discretion who gets removed. I don’t need a reason to have you ejected.” “That what you are going to do then, D? You going

to call your goons and have them manhandle me out the front door?” “I don’t need any goons to accomplish that. I’m perfectly capable of removing you myself.” “Then do it.” He glared at me for a moment. I could see his anger dance in his eyes, but there was something else there too. Perhaps it was just what I wanted to believe, but I thought he missed me. I wondered how deep that longing went. Was it just a physical ache or was it something more? “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he growled, reaching out to grab me by the arm and hauling me away, but not in the direction of the exit. He was taking me to his office instead. I pretended to resist a bit, but his hand was firm and he just kept carting me past the curious eyes of other members and guests. I doubted seeing D being rough with someone was something they hadn’t seen before. He shoved me into the office and stepped in behind me, locking the door behind us. “It’s really nice to see you again too, D,” I said sarcastically.

“What the fuck do you want, Janessa? You shouldn’t be here. I’ve got my hands full without any more of your bullshit.” “I just wanted to get out for a while, and I missed this place. What’s wrong with that?” “Other than the fact that it is complete and utter horse shit?” “It is not. Why do you always think the worst of people?” “I don’t think the worst of people. I see the worst in them. They rarely prove me wrong.” “You are way too tense and paranoid.” I was caught completely off guard as he came charging back around his desk toward me and pushed me against the wall, hitting the drywall behind my head with a fist. He was furious. Way too furious at just seeing me and my toying with him a bit. More importantly, he was scaring me. It was a side of D that I had heard about, but had never really seen firsthand. “I am going to ask you once again, Janessa. What are you doing here?”

“I…I missed you.” “Once again, horse shit.” “It is not horse shit! Why do you assume that I could just cut off my feelings for you, and not want to be with you anymore? No matter what horrible things you say to me, I believe that you do care about me. Maybe you don’t really love me. I don’t even know if you understand the meaning of the word. What I know is that I have missed you every day that I was away from you and wanted to see you, to see that you are okay.” “Well, here you go, then, Janessa. I’m okay. You’ve seen me. Now, go.” “That is all you have to say to me after all this time?” “Yes.” “Have you noticed anything, D?” “Like what?” “Like the fact that you haven’t been arrested for anything I might have told the DEA about you?

Like none of your boys have been arrested for anything? I’ve protected you.” “Protected me? More likely that you had nothing to tell them they could prove.” “You think so little of me. Why?” “Why? Do you really have to ask that? You came here to take me down. I let my thinking get clouded by you, let it slide. I’m still letting it slide. I should have never trusted you.” “You are wrong about that. It seems to me that I’m really the only person you can trust these days.” “Think what you will. I don’t have time for games with you, Janessa. I’ll call you a cab.” “I know about Zach.” His face turned a shade of gray as all the color drained from it. I saw the anger fade, replaced with something I couldn’t quite discern. Pain? Confusion? Whatever it was, it shut him down just long enough to give me the upper hand. “You don’t know anything.”

“That is where you are wrong. I know everything.” “Not possible. No one knows that story, no one who is around to tell it.” “I know that you chose to live. I know you killed someone you deemed a brother in order to save yourself. I understand that you had no choice. It was one of you or both of you. Is that why you are so afraid to get close to me? Is that what you fear most? Having to choose between yourself and someone you care about again?” “Shut up! Shut up!” The gray was quickly replaced by flaming red skin. I had hit a nerve, one he didn’t like to admit he even possessed. “Why, D? You don’t want to hear the truth? You’d rather stuff that part of yourself down into some deep, dark recess where it can’t cause you conflict or doubt? If you love no one, then you can’t be hurt emotionally. Is that it? Is that why I had to go?” “Goddamnit, Janessa! Why can’t you just leave well enough alone?” “Why did you come to my house the day I was

moving, D? What did you come there to say?” “I didn’t come there to say any fucking thing. I just came to make sure you got out of there okay.” “You sure about that?” D pulled away from me, looking me up and down. I could see his indecision clearly now, but just for a few moments. Then it was gone and his lips were on mine, searching my mouth hungrily with his tongue. I didn’t resist. I wanted him. No matter what he was or wasn’t, I needed to feel him again. Besides, it fell right into my plans. I just hadn’t been sure I could pull it off. His hands fumbled with my clothes, pulling my sheer Lycra dress over my head to reveal that I wore nothing underneath but the thigh high boots that previously rose just short of the hem. Pulling me away from the wall, he pushed me forward across his desk, holding me down with one hand. I could hear him unbuckling his belt behind me. My heart raced with anticipation of how he would feel inside of me. “God,” he moaned as he sank deep inside of me, his cock throbbing against my pussy walls. I felt like a long lost lover being reunited with the man

she loved. The interlude was briefly clouded by the thought, but it dissipated as he drove into me hard and fast, erasing everything from my mind but how incredible he felt pounding into me so roughly. I felt his hands on my waist as he pulled me back onto him again and again, taking what he wanted from me as if I wasn’t giving it freely. Beads of perspiration covered our bodies as our centers met with increasing vigor. I never wanted it to end, my body aching for every inch of him to be inside of me forever. My legs trembled as I clawed at the desk beneath me, shattering into a million pieces with an orgasm so intense it left me weak, but it was only the tip of a quickly melting iceberg that broke off piece by piece and exploded throughout my being as I squealed and writhed beneath him, not caring who might hear me beyond his office doors. “That’s it, keep cumming. I’ve missed the way you seize and shake when I make you cum,” he growled, leaning forward to sink his teeth into my back. I felt battered, bruised, and somewhat used, but I loved it. I loved every single fucking moment of it. I let out another high-pitched utterance, mostly

unintelligible as I came again, this time so forcefully that I thought I might push his massive cock free of me, but he only ground further into me, rotating his hips to create a tsunami of orgasm that flooded his cock and ran down his balls. “My turn,” he growled, burying himself to the hilt and unleashing a flood inside of me. We lay there, collapsed against one another in the aftermath of our coupling for a few moments before he stood, releasing me from my pinned down position across his desk. I quietly walked over to where my dress lay on the floor and slipped it over my head, pulling it down and smoothing it against my damp skin. Looking him in the eye, I bid my emotions to stay buried as deep as I could manage them. “Thanks. I’ve gotten what I really came here for. I’ll go now.” The look on his face was one of confusion and perhaps a bit of hurt, but it was how I needed for him to feel. I needed for him to feel like I just wanted him physically and held no misguided notions that he and I might be anything more than that. Turning toward the door, I opened it and walked out.

“Hello, Janessa. How are you doing?” Simon asked as I passed by where he was sitting with several other members of the club. Two were on the list of members who were out to roll D from his position, so I was well aware that Simon was only there to monitor them, learn what he could. I looked at him as if looking right through him and responded. “Suitably fucked.” His eyebrows raised as his eyes drifted toward the doorway, where I was quite certain D was standing and watching me walk out, though I refused to look back and see for sure. “See you next time, then.” “We’ll see.” I walked on, my head and shoulders held high, and made my way out to the sidewalk to hail a cab. As I slid into the back of a black sedan meant for the high rollers of the club, I was afforded a view of the front entrance of the casino and could just barely make out the figures of Simon and D standing inside the large glass panels that enclosed the front lobby. I looked away as I gave the driver my address and never looked back, though tears

streamed down my face.

Chapter Thirty-Four I let a few days pass without contacting D. I knew he would not contact me. It was a matter of pride. I had not gone there to seduce him in order to get him back. I had done it to show him that I could be as cold and unfeeling as he. He needed to see me as being just as ruthless as he, and being able to have sex with him on his terms and then walking away as if it meant nothing was the only way I could think of to get that in quick results. Of course, I didn’t have the luxury of letting things lie for too long. I was running out of time. Thanks to Samuel, I now knew exactly who was after D and when they intended to take him down. It had been carefully laid out for me in the documents I had been provided. The DEA was choosing to ignore it, let the lesser members do their dirty work by taking D down permanently. Then, they would move in on those who intended to take his place before they could gain strength and bring the club to its knees. Initially, I had still questioned Samuel’s motives for giving me the information. It was a huge risk for him. Why would he care about what happened to D? I knew what he had told me, but I had my

doubts. The paranoid part of me had to wonder if it wasn’t a set up, but for what purpose? In the end, I had accepted that he truly just didn’t believe D deserved what was to come. I doubted he had expected I would take matters into my own hands. I was sure he had just thought I would warn D and stay out of it. He was wrong. I looked at my watch. Almost time to go home. I was grateful. My job had become a thorn in my side since my return. Whereas before I had enjoyed crunching numbers, found solace in burying myself in dollar signs and decimals, I now found it tedious. I longed to be free of my keyboard and the four walls that held me prisoner for eight hours each day. I would stay there for now, but soon I’d have to find something that suited my changing spirit. Making my way out to the garage, I was once again surprised to find myself cornered by Samuel Robinson near my car. He looked distraught, perhaps even angry. “Why are you stalking me again, Samuel?” “You know how it is, Janessa. I just can’t get my mind off you.” “I doubt that seriously.”

“You shouldn’t, but I know a lost cause when I see one, burned bridges and all that.” “Okay. Right. Now, why are you here?” “I need to get a message to D. Plans have changed. Moved up.” “What do you mean, moved up?” “The DEA has decided to arrest Suarez for your father’s murder tomorrow, well, actually, for several murders that we’ve been able to pin on him since receiving the original video. We now have iron clad evidence linking him to all the crimes, not just the video. Conviction is a given unless something goes heinously awry.” “Okay. What does that have to do with D and the other problem?” “Suarez is a sleaze ball of the highest regard. When he sees he is going down for the murders, he is going to sing like a canary. He’ll rat out everyone he knows to save his own skin.” “I still don’t follow.”

“The moment he gets arrested, those guys will put their plans into motion and take D down. With him dead, Roberto can pin everything on him and walk away without damaging anyone else in the crew. He’ll be able to cut a deal without really bringing any pain to the club, and the club will take care of him while he is behind bars.” “But no one else had anything to do with my father’s murders.” “Wrong. They were all in on it together. Suarez might have done the clean-up, but the same crew intent upon taking down D was behind it all. They made loans to people and doctored the facts to make it look like complete payouts, as you already know. It was their way of stealing from him in a manner that would take a while for him to figure out. They would have probably gotten away with it if they had just stuck to that, but they got greedy and began skimming from other places that were more visible. That was when D began seeing red flags and checking into things.” “I don’t understand why they killed my father. He paid the money back and they pocketed it. Seems like killing him would have been another red flag.” “Maybe to the authorities that have been

monitoring them, but not to D. He would have never even had a reason to question the payouts if not for you. Until you told him what happened with your father, there was no reason for him to look. Those would have looked like normal transactions on the books.” “Then why?” “Nothing more than paranoia, Janessa. Someone got afraid that your father would come back for more money, that he might come directly to D, and that would have raised a red flag. Not only would he have realized that something was afoot, but he would have had a witness to tell him which member made a previous loan to him. They killed your father and any others they made loans to after the money was paid back. Just cleaning up loose ends in preparation for making their final move.” “So, my father was a liability to them.” “Unfortunately, that is all it boils down to.” “You want to keep D alive because you need to eliminate Suarez’s easy get-out-of-a-life-sentence card.” “That is part of it. The other part is that I genuinely

do feel I owe him something. When you bury yourself as deeply as I did in the Black Aces, the lines get a little blurred, Janessa. I don’t think I have to explain that to you, do I?” “No, you don’t.” “So, let’s just say that I owe him for a few things and that somewhere along the line I developed a certain kinship with him.” “I understand.” “Then help him, Janessa. No matter how you feel about him at this point, he needs to know everything, and I think you might just be the only one he can truly hear it from. They are going to take down Roberto tomorrow at four p.m. The ball is in your court.” “Okay. Thanks.” Samuel nodded and then walked away, disappearing into the shadows once again. I wondered what all of this would mean for him if it was found out that he had leaked information to me in order to save D. Breaking my momentary trance as I watched his large frame recede into the nothingness of the parking garage, I climbed into

my car and headed home.

Chapter Thirty-Five I sat at my table and contemplated the events of the past weeks. How had I gotten so heavily involved in all of this? All I had ever wanted was for the man who killed my father to be brought to justice. Now, I was on the verge of that happening but it seemed that politics would overwhelm fairness. All of this had seemed so simple. Get in, get what I needed to prove D killed my father and get out. Except it wasn’t that easy at all. I should let it go, let Roberto be arrested and the chips fall where they may. What happened to Damian was not my fault. It was not my place to come to his rescue. I don’t even know how I could. This was so much more than I had anticipated. I realized, once again, just how far out of my league I was. I also couldn’t deny the fact that I was in love with D, more in love with him than I had ever been with anyone in my life. I debated what to do all the way up until bedtime, then lay restlessly in the dark to consider it some more. Nothing came to me. I simply didn’t know what to do. A part of me wished that Samuel hadn’t told me anything about all of this. Why had he burdened me with something he knew I was

incapable of stopping? I agonized until I was exhausted and fell asleep somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. When I awoke, I knew what I had to do. “Maggie, I just can’t come in today. I think I’ve picked up some sort of bug.” “I’m sorry to hear that, Janessa. Just get some rest and take care of yourself. Is there anything I need to take care of on your desk while you’re out?” “No. I don’t think so. Everything is pretty much caught up, and there’s nothing there that will hurt from missing a day on it. I’ll catch up when I come back in.” “Sounds good. Take care of yourself, and we’ll see you on Monday.” It was a widely accepted truth in most offices that people who called in sick on a Friday or a Monday, perhaps even both, weren’t really ill. They were usually plotting a long weekend or recovering from one. In my case, I anticipated a very long weekend. It might very well be the longest of my adult life. I showered and got dressed, trying to hash out the rest of my plans in my head. I couldn’t wait too

long or I might be too late, but if I put things into action too early, then I risked him thinking too much instead of just reacting. I had to deal with D on a level he would understand, put him on the offensive so that he wasn’t caught unaware. Even though he knew about those who wanted to do him harm, he had no idea that the hour of reckoning, so to speak, was so close at hand. I paced and packed, getting my things in order so that I could leave quickly once I was done. There was only one way to make sure that Suarez got the justice he deserved and make sure D was safe, and I intended to see this thing through to the end. I had been strong enough, stubborn enough, to risk my life going undercover to take down D. I had to be the same now to take down the man who was actually responsible. My hands were trembling as I picked up the phone. “This is Janessa. I need to talk to you, alone.” “Why?” “I can’t tell you that on the phone. I need to see you in person. Can you meet me?” “I suppose. When?”

“Thirty minutes in the abandoned gazebo by Constance Park.” “I’ll be there.” I hung up the phone and let out a deep breath. I was shaking all over, but I wasn’t about to falter. This was too important. I hurried out to my car and drove to the old park on the opposite side of town. Very few people came here anymore because it had gotten so run down, so there was little chance of being seen. He was waiting for me as I got out of the car, watching me as I walked toward him. “You look very different these days.” “I’m feeling a bit more like myself.” “It’s a good look. I approve. Now, what are we here for, Janessa?” “I know who killed my father,” I told him. “How did you manage that?” “It doesn’t matter. I know who it was and I know the others who were involved. I can give you all their names but you have to take out Roberto Suarez, and it has to be done before four this

afternoon.” “And why would I just take your word for it?” “Because you know you can. You know me well enough to know that I am not lying to you and that I want my father’s killer dead.” “Why before four?” “It doesn’t matter. I need for you to do this and I need for you not to tell D until after it is done.” “You know I can’t take out one of D’s guys just because some bird he used to shag told me to do it.” “If I tell you the whole story, will you do it then?” “It depends on what the whole story entails.” I told him everything. He stood there, nodding and grimacing as I listed off names that both he and D had trusted. “I don’t care what you do with the others. I will leave them up to you and D once Roberto is out of the way, but I want him punished for what he did to my father. Perhaps he was only doing as he was

told, but he was the one who did it. I can’t let him use D as leverage to get himself and the others off the hook. He needs to be out of the picture.” “And you can live with knowing you had a man killed?” “Yes.” He studied my face, deciding if he believed my conviction. My voice hadn’t waivered and I didn’t think I would lose a moment of sleep over my actions. If the DEA was willing to let D die at the hands of the rebels who opposed him and let them get by with it, punish them for minor crimes just to get D out of their way, then why should I worry about a piece of human garbage like Roberto Suarez? “Okay, Janessa. I’ll take it from here. You need to go home and put all this nonsense behind you. You don’t belong in this world that D and I live in. Find a way to move past all this.” “I’ll take it under advisement.” “I doubt that very seriously,” he scoffed, turning to leave.

Walking back to my car, I made another phone call, just in case Simon decided he wasn’t going to do as I asked. I held my breath as I waited for it to stop ringing on the other end. “What do you want, Janessa?” “I’m in trouble. I need your help.” “What do you mean you are in trouble?” “I’m scared. I’ve come up to Stratford and there is a man following me. Everywhere I go, he is behind me. I’m frightened to get back in my car or go back out into an open area.” “Where are you, Janessa?” “Right now, I’m in a coffee shop with a little library. It was the only place I could think of nearby that I could just sit for a while with a lot of people around and wouldn’t look out of place.” “Just stay where you are, Janessa. I’m on my way. Do not leave that shop.” “Thank you, D,” I replied, trying to sound frightened but relieved. It wasn’t that difficult, as I was actually a bit of both.

“Just don’t go anywhere. I’m on my way.” I ended the call and got in my car, heading back to my house to wait. I could only hope that all went as planned. Roberto Suarez would get what he deserved, D would be safe for the moment, at least long enough for Simon to give him the rest of the names to deal with. I tried to focus on other things, but I couldn’t think of anything else. As the remaining few hours passed, I felt like my skin was on fire, pricked with hot pins and needles. It was almost four and I had heard nothing. It would have taken D a good three hours to get to Stratford and then he’d spend a bit of time trying to find me in the library. By the time he realized I wasn’t there, everything should be over with Roberto Antonio and the DEA would have no one to arrest. I turned on the television and switched it to the local news, anxious to hear anything that might pop up. Even though I was sure it would be covered up by the DEA, there was bound to at least be an initial report of a homicide. Four o’clock came and went with no news and I began to get even more concerned. I hadn’t heard from Simon or D. I expected that Simon would at least let me know it

was done and that D would be calling when he wasn’t able to locate me, but there was nothing. “What did you hope to accomplish by sending me on that wild goose chase, Janessa?” I whirled around at the sound of his voice, bewildered. Questions flooding my brain faster than I could process them. “How did you get in? How did you even know where I live?” “Please, Janessa. Give me a bit of credit.” “You can’t be here, D. You can’t be here until I know everything is done.” “You mean until the hit you had put out on Roberto Suarez is complete?” “Simon told you.” “No. Simon is on his way out of the country. The DEA was waiting for him at Roberto Suarez’s apartment. He barely got away. He wanted to pay you a visit before he left, but I told him I would take care of things here.”

My blood froze in my veins. It hadn’t occurred to me that Samuel might have been setting D up in telling me what he did. I wondered how much of it, if any, were even true. And now, could D really believe that I had been in on their little plot? Could he really believe I would have tried to help the DEA set him up? The answer came to me in a cold icy blast. Of course he could. Wasn’t that precisely what I had come to the Rockefeller Casino to do? “D, I didn’t know. The DEA lied to me. They told me I had to get word to you that you were in danger.” “And you fucking believed them, Janessa? You expect me to believe that?” I was shaking. I knew that the monster D claimed to be was standing right in front of me. Perhaps I could not see if before, but it was surfacing rapidly. He was going to kill me. The DEA had played me very well, counting on my affection for him to bring him down. They had assumed I would deliver the message to him and he would take Roberto down himself, giving them a confirmed murder rap to pin on him and hopefully, putting him under their thumb. “It’s the truth, D. Samuel filled my head full of

lies.” “Samuel?” “Yes, Samuel. Jack Knife. He’s alive. He’s DEA.” “And you fucking knew this?” “No. No. Not until recently, after I was already back here, away from you and the casino. I had to go to the DEA for a final interview and I found out then.” “So, you still talked to the DEA after I let you leave. Simon told me you were a liability, but I wouldn’t listen.” “I am not a liability. I gave them nothing. I gave them nothing but information on the guys who were trying to hurt you.” “You gave them everything, then, Janessa. You gave them leverage. You let them see that you were protecting me, that you had a weak spot and that they could exploit it. Sit down.” I did as he said, sitting in the kitchen chair that he was pointing to and looking at him tearfully. I tried to hold back my fear, my pain, but it leaked down

my cheeks without any real shame of its own. “What are you going to do to me?” “You don’t get to ask any questions right now, Janessa. All the questions will come from me and you will answer them fully and honestly. Leave nothing out. Understand?” “Yes,” I said, my voice barely audibly. “What?” “Yes.” “Better. Start from the beginning and tell me everything. Let’s start with Samuel.” I told him everything I knew, from start to finish, trying not to babble or leave anything out. Lying to him now or leaving anything out could well mean the difference in life and death for me. So far, he hadn’t hurt me, at least not in any physical way, but if he saw that I was being dishonest, that could change. I could only tell him what I could and hope for the best. When I was done, he sat down in the chair opposite me and put his head in his hands for a moment before looking back up at me. He looked haunted.

“Come on. We’re packing a bag for you.” “A bag? For what?” “Just do what I tell you to, Janessa,” he growled, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward my bedroom where he stood watching while I threw a few changes of clothes and some necessities into an overnight bag. He picked up my phone and handed it to me. “Call your neighbor, the one who tended your house while you were gone, and tell her you are going out of town for a few days.” “Why?” “Do it, Janessa. Make it sound normal. Got it?” “Ye-yes,” I stammered, shaking as he handed me my cell phone. “Mrs. Peaches? I’ve decided to take a weekend trip. Would you mind terribly watching my house for me?” “No problem, honey. I miss the days when I used to just go on impromptu road trips. Enjoy yourself and

be safe.” “I will. Thanks.” I had barely finished when he took the phone from me, ending the call and stuffing it in his pocket. He picked up my bag and grabbed my arm, leading me into the garage. “Give me your car keys.” I fished them from my pocket and handed them to him. He unlocked it and put me into the passenger seat, warning me not to move as he walked around and got behind the wheel. It had begun to get dark outside as the garage door opened and we backed out of my driveway. Looking around, I saw that no one was out to even give my departure a second thought. I felt a sadness sweep over me. So, this was how it would all end. No one would pay for my father’s death and probably no one would pay for mine, which was most likely very near. “Where are you taking me?” “Damn it, Janessa. Just stop with the fucking questions,” he barked at me, his eyes never looking away from the road that unfolded ahead of us.

We were headed out of town, away from his side of it and into only he seemed to know where. I watched the miles unfold as town after town passed by my windows. It was late when we finally stopped, hundreds of miles away and in a small fishing village on the coast. My heart pounded as the car left the road, the tires crunching noisily down a deserted gravel road that ran parallel to the cliffs on one side and thick forest on the other. It wound back into the woods for a short stretch before ending in front of a small cabin that appeared deserted. So, this was it. This was where it would all end for me. My mind raced with options. I could try to run, but out here, where would I go? I could run for the cliffs, jump. Wasn’t it better to end myself than give him the satisfaction? How could I have believed this man had ever had any feelings for me? He had no feelings at all, for me or anything else. Damian Diaz was every bit the monster he proclaimed himself to be.

Chapter Thirty-Six “Sit. I’ll build us a fire.” “A fire to die by. How quaint,” I uttered sarcastically. “What? What are you talking about, Janessa?” “If you are going to kill me, then just stop tormenting me. Just do it and let me have some peace.” “Kill you? Is that what you think I plan to do?” “Of course. I tried to feed you to the DEA. That’s what you believe, isn’t it?” “No, Janessa. I don’t believe that. You lack the cunning to play ball with the DEA. They took advantage of the fact that you believe in the system, believed that they were the good guys.” “What are we doing here, then, D?” “We are hiding, Janessa. They did tell you the truth. Roberto Suarez did kill your father. Simon confirmed it before he went after him.”

“Confirmed it how?” “You don’t want to know that. Let’s just say he has skills that you are best never knowing about. People talk when he wants them to.” “Why are we hiding, then?” “Because the DEA always has a backup plan. They had hoped you would spark me into action by telling me about Suarez. They assumed my need to prove something about rats would spark me into killing him and they would have me where they wanted me. When you sent Simon, instead, that plan back fired, but they still had options. They could have taken Simon and used him exactly as they intended to use Roberto, to bring me down in order to knock some time off his sentence.” “I can’t see Simon doing that.” “He wouldn’t, but the DEA thinks they can get anyone to turn with the right incentive. Simon is an expert when it comes to getting in, getting the job down and getting out. He shot Roberto point blank and walked away before they even knew what was happening. They’ll only piece it together through surveillance footage and by that time, he’ll be long

gone.” “Then Roberto is dead.” “Yes, but not because you ordered it. Roberto is dead because I told Simon to go ahead with it. It was only when he saw all the DEA scattered in what they seem to feel were covert locations that he cottoned on that it was a set up. He did it anyway, because we couldn’t afford for Roberto to do exactly what the DEA told you he would do.” “Then you are safe. Roberto is out of the picture and you know who the other members are. You just have to finish clearing the club of them.” “No. I’m done.” “What do you mean, you’re done?” “I’m tired of this game. I’ve been in it too long and I just want it to end.” “Then what? What will you do?” “Something that I never thought I’d ever do, but now believe is my only option if I want to live in peace.”

“And that is?” “Give the DEA what they want.” “I don’t understand.” “The DEA wants the Black Aces gone. They want as many heads on a platter as they can get and for us to disappear so that they don’t have to acknowledge that while we might not be strictly lawful, we play an important part in the community. We are part of the commerce here, the seedy part, but a part of it. When we are gone, someone will take our place and they know that, but what they need is a notch on their belt that shows they did their job and put some bad men away.” “And you’d give them that satisfaction somehow?” “No, not in a million years. But I will give it to the ATF. The rebels who are trying to take me down, they are running a side operation selling some pretty heavy artillery. That is why they have done all this. It was a business I knew nothing about until I started digging to see where missing money was going and to help you find your father’s killer. It’s the reason they need me out of the way. I never allowed that to go on and never would. Dealing a few drugs is one thing, but gun running opens us up

to a lot of heat. Better to remain a bit lower key and left alone.” “I still don’t follow.” “Roberto Suarez killed your father, but he wasn’t the one who ordered it. He was sent to do it by the other men in that group. That is something that would have never been proven, something they would never pay for, but they can pay heavily for other crimes. I have evidence linking them to the guns, other murders, payoffs, you name it. I’ll give you all of that to take to the ATF.” “So, all the men involved would pay some price for my father’s death.” “Yes.” “And you? What happens to you?” “I’ll have to disappear.” “The evidence, does it somehow implicate you, as well?” “If it doesn’t, they would find a way. I was never directly involved in it, but there were instances where I was lied to and unknowingly did things that

lent a hand in the process. It’s enough to get a conviction and I can promise you that I wouldn’t make it out of whatever stay in prison I was given. I have no choice but to leave if I do this.” “I can make a deal with them. A deal that I will only give them the evidence if they give you immunity from prosecution.” “That changes nothing, Janessa. There will still be plenty of people out there who want to take me down for ratting out the club. I’m a marked man either way.” “Then don’t do it. I don’t need justice for my father anymore. This has all just gotten too crazy. I don’t want it anymore.” “I want it. I’d rather disappear and not have to look over my shoulder all the time than spend my nights sleeping with one eye open, wondering when someone was going to get the one up on me and end me or someone I care about. I’ve lost way too many people as it is.” “I don’t want to lose you, D.” “You can’t lose what you never had, Janessa.”

His words cut me to the bone. How could he just dismiss what we had shared so easily, as if it meant nothing to him. It hurt more than words could say, but I steeled myself and nodded. “Okay, D. I’ll do it.” “Good girl. I’ll need for you to stay here. There is plenty of food and wood for the fireplace. No one knows about this place and no one will bother you. Just get some sleep, and I’ll be back tomorrow.” “Okay.” My tears had stopped. I felt like I was dead inside, but somehow still breathing. I was just a tool for him to get some final revenge on those who had crossed him and to get far away where he could start over, perhaps with a fresh crew in a new place. Still, I would do as he asked because I loved him. Despite everything, I still knew that much to be true.

Chapter Thirty-Seven I was surprised that sleep came so easily to me. I had paced for a while after D left and only lay down out of boredom. There were no amenities in the house. No books, no television, not even an FM radio. D still had my phone and I wasn’t sure it would have gotten a signal way out here even if he had left it. I guessed exhaustion had taken over as I lay down and fell into a deep sleep. I dreamed of my father, of better days, eating lunch together at Mr. Carroway’s place and walking along the docks in the afternoon. I awoke to sunshine streaming in through the windows. There was still no D. Around noon, I decided to try and eat, making myself a bowl of tomato bisque I had found in the large selection of canned goods in the pantry. The cabin was stocked like a survivalist camp, with dry goods and bottled water. I guessed, in some aspect, that was exactly what this place was. D’s survivalist camp. It was near nightfall when he finally returned, and I had begun to worry that something had happened to him and I would be trying to walk out of this place come sunrise again. At least there was a road to guide me I had surmised. It was a relief on many

levels when I saw the headlights of my car pulling back up to the front of the cabin. Still, I didn’t dare unlock the door. His key in the lock caused me to catch my breath, releasing it when I saw him walk through the door. “I brought you some food. I know the selection here is limited. I thought we might have a decent meal together before we part ways.” So that was it, then? He was going to bring me what I needed to finish what I had set out to do and anything that had happened along the way was just irrelevant. It was as if I didn’t know him at all, and I guessed I really didn’t when it came right down to it. I never had. I had somehow managed to fall in love with a stranger who only had concerns for himself. Even now, he was giving me what I wanted in order to get a fresh start for himself. “Sounds good. What did you bring?” I asked, trying to sound as unconcerned as he seemed to be. “Roast chicken, winter squash, garlic mashed potatoes and a nice bottle of pinot grigio.” “I’ll get some plates.” I busied myself pulling plates from a nearby cabinet

and washing them to remove the dust that had collected on them. It had apparently been a while since the cabin had been used. “Who does this cabin belong to, by the way?” “I bought it with cash a few years ago when I first began thinking about getting out of the club. It’s in the name of a trust so that it can’t be traced back to me. I haven’t been out here since I first bought it until a few weeks ago. I came out to stock it with supplies but didn’t get a chance to do much cleaning, but I guess you noticed.” “It’s a bit rustic.” “Yeah. Anyway, let’s eat.” We sat down with our food and began to eat, trying to make light conversation and only achieving a sort of awkwardness that indicated silence might be more comfortable. Instead, I turned the conversation back to the plans at hand. “So, what is this evidence you have?” “I don’t want to talk about that. It will speak for itself. Everything you need is in the trunk of your car in two boxes. Tomorrow morning, get up and

drive out of here with it. Take it directly to the ATF building downtown. Do not stop anywhere, not at your house, the bank, anywhere. I’ve topped off the gas and fluids in your car and checked the tires, so there is no need for you stop anywhere along the way.” “Where should I take you?” “You won’t be taking me anywhere. You’ll leave me here.” “So, this is where you will be hiding? I can come here if I need to see you?” D laid down his fork and took a deep breath before looking up at me. I could see that haunted look in his eyes again as he seemed to struggle for the right words and finally answered me. “No. I will not be here. I will be leaving shortly after you do. I’ve already made arrangements to be far away from here even by the time you arrive in Portsmouth. You and I will not see one another again, and you will get on with your life, the life you should have already been living instead of trying to take on the case of your father’s murder.” “You don’t have to do this, D. I don’t understand

why you can’t stay and just take down the men yourself as you and Simon intended to.” “I simply don’t want to anymore, Janessa. I want to give this to you. It will help you to find your own peace at having brought your father’s killer to justice, not just the one who actually did the deed, but all of the ones who were responsible. It will bring you closure. It will bring the families of the others closure as well, I suppose. You can let it go and have a good life.” I wanted to tell him that I couldn’t have a good life without him, that I loved him, but I couldn’t make myself do it. He had made it clear that he didn’t love me, and I refused to let our final discussion be one in which I just looked like a bigger schmuck. I did have at least a modicum of pride left. “You could just walk away, not implicate yourself in having brought down any of the club members.” “No. This is what I’ve chosen to do. It’s almost as good as done, Janessa. You just need to put the final pieces of it into place and let the ATF do the rest.” “Where will you go?”

“You know I am not going to tell you that. The less you know about it, the better. People will be looking for me, and it’s best they think you and I parted ways ages ago. It’s hardly as if they will recognize you on the street. You look nothing like you did the first time we met.” I wanted to ask him if that was a bad or good thing, but realized it was just my insecurity asking for compliments. What was the purpose really? Either he would admit that he wasn’t attracted to the real girl next door I had reverted to or he would say that he still was. One would hurt, the other would hurt just as much. He was lost to me and nothing would change that. “I guess you are doing what you feel is best for yourself,” I said finally. “I’m doing what needs to be done. Simple as that. Finish your food and let’s try to get some sleep. I’ll take the sofa.” The thought of sleeping beneath the same roof with him and not being able to touch him pretty much insured that no sleep would come, but I finished what I could of my food and helped him clear away the dishes, retiring early to the bedroom as he made himself at home on the sofa near the fire he had

built for the cool night ahead of us.

Chapter Thirty-Eight By sunrise, I had hardly slept a wink. Dozing off and waking periodically, usually driven by a strange series of dreams that spanned my childhood, teenage years and adulthood. They had culminated in my father’s funeral, my standing over his casket and crying as I said my last goodbyes. I was sure it was just my subconscious brain finding a way to close this chapter of my life. I felt bone weary and bleak spirited as I tossed my legs over the side of the bed and stood. I could smell bacon wafting in from the small kitchen and got dressed, pulling my hair up in to a high ponytail and putting a bit of lotion of my face. I didn’t feel like doing much more than that this morning. I had no one to impress and might as well appear as bland as I felt. “Eat some breakfast before you go.” “Yes, Mom,” I said a bit sarcastically. “Just making sure you don’t decide you need to stop and eat along the way. It is important that you get this done as quickly as possible.”

“Of course.” We ate breakfast in silence. I wasn’t really hungry, but forced myself to eat the most of it before returning to the bedroom to toss my things in my bag while he tidied up in the kitchen. When I came out, he was standing there waiting for me. “Well, this is it then, Janessa. Take care of yourself. I’m sure that you’ll do great as soon as you put all of this behind you.” “You take care of yourself as well, D. I hope you find the peace you are looking for wherever you are going.” “That is what I am hoping for. It will be a long time coming, I’m afraid, but it is bound to happen sooner or later.” He walked me out to the car and opened the door, watching as I tossed my bag in the passenger seat and climbed behind the wheel, pulling the seat forward to accommodate my much shorter legs. He handed me my phone from his pocket, and I looked down at it, not wanting to look back into his eyes. I thought for a moment and looked back up at him. “I still don’t understand why you are doing all of

this, not this way, D.” “I’m not the only one who needs to be made safe and to find peace, Janessa.” “I don’t see why it would matter to you what happens to me after the chaos I brought into your world.” “You didn’t know me. I guess, in many ways, you still don’t. You were just doing what you felt needed to be done in order to honor your father’s memory. You were only trying to give him the justice he deserved.” “I’m sorry for everything. I wish you would reconsider what you are doing.” “I won’t. Now, go. Take care of this once and for all.” “They will ask me why you gave me all of this information. They will be suspicious.” “Then tell them the only thing they might be able to understand or believe about me, Janessa. Tell them the truth. Tell them it was because I loved you.” He closed the door before I could respond and

began walking back to the cabin. I wanted to get out of the car, to run to him, but what would it solve. He would not change his mind. Tears fell down my face as I pulled out of the driveway and put the old cabin far into the rearview mirror, making the long drive back to the city and into the offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Epilogue In the months that passed, my life was pure turmoil. Every fiber of me wanted to look for D, but I didn’t dare. I feared that any efforts on my part might be traced back by the DEA, ATF or members of the Black Aces. They were watching me, always. Once things were resolved with their endless questions and affidavits, I was advised by my contacts at the ATF that it might be in my best interests to relocate, and I couldn’t have agreed more. I listed my house with a realtor and put most of my things into storage with the items I already had there before hitting the road to wherever it led me. Days turned into weeks and finally months as I roamed the countryside. I told myself that I was just out for fresh air, but I knew better. In every small town, I stopped at every motorcycle club, every hotel, and I looked for him. Serendipity would be a good thing, but it seemed to fail me. D was long gone, and I just needed to accept it. Pulling into a small beach town, I made my way to a small shanty advertising fresh steamed crab and cold beer. A sign glowed out front that said lue

Crab since the first letter was burned out. It sounded like just what I needed after a long day of driving. It wasn’t very heavily populated, but it was still the off season, not quite spring yet. An older woman with a wide smile came over and took my order, handing it to a nice-looking gentleman behind the bar and kissing him on the cheek. I assumed they were the owners and probably married. It must be nice to find that kind of happiness. “So, what brings you into these parts?” I looked up, surprised that she had returned in the seconds during which I had looked back down at my phone, which had beeped with an email from my former boss. I had been forced to resign due to the conflict between some of my accounting customers and my involvement with criminal elements, as they had put it. Still, they had afforded me a nice severance package and she was letting me know that my final week of payment had been made. I deleted it and looked at the woman speaking to me. “Just looking for a new place to call home. I don’t suppose you know of any places for rent around here, do you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do, but it comes with a job.” “How so?” “Old man Smolders up the road a spell. He’s wheelchair bound. His daughter stays with him during the day, but she works as a nurse down at the hospital most nights and needs someone to stay with him while she is away. He doesn’t require much in the way of care. She just doesn’t like for him to be alone. They have a little guest house and a small stipend they exchange for the care sitting.” “Sounds like it might be exactly what I need.” “I’ll rustle up her number for you before you leave.” An hour later, I walked out with a belly full of one of the best meals I had tasted for a while and an order slip with a number on the back of it for Carlotta Smolders. I sat in my car and gave her a call, the desperation in her voice apparent as she asked if I could come right over for an interview. “Everyone who has inquired has just seemed so young and immature. I can’t afford to have to worry with some party animal ignoring responsibilities or creating more chaos in our lives.

I need someone dependable.” “Trust me, the last thing I need in my life is chaos,” I had told her. After nearly an hour of chatting, I was hired and allowed to move into the guest house right away. It was small but cozy, and I was given a schedule of what nights I would be required to stay at the main house while she worked. Her father had come in to greet me while I was there and came across as a quite charming man, despite his condition. If anything, he was resistant to his daughter’s need to have him babysat. “I’ve learned it is in my best interest not to argue with her. She’s more like her mother every day.” Settling into the comfortable bed my new home provided, I found that I was finding a bit of the peace I had been searching for in the wake of my departure from my small suburban neighborhood. It still felt as if a part of me was missing, but the void left behind by D had begun to hurt less. Perhaps, one day, I might even find my way to love someone again, though I couldn’t see it for a long while to come. The weeks that followed were uneventful. I did my

job on the nights it was required of me, often sitting with Mr. Smolders to read or play chess until he was ready for bed. I involved myself in the small community around me, volunteering at various events that took place in the quickly warming months that led to an influx of tourists from all over. My house sold, putting behind me any ties to my former city that had brought me so much pain. Life was moving on, and I began to feel at least a bit of tranquility. “Did you see that new mechanic down at the bike shop?” It was Starla, one of the servers at the Blue Crab. She was well known to have her eye on every available man in town. Whether she had designs on him herself or something else was never really clear, but she could tell you within minutes of meeting any new male member of the local population as much about him as he was willing to impart to her on short notice, especially whether he was single or not. “No. I don’t have a bike.” “Well, of course you don’t, but he is hard to miss. So tall and gorgeous. I hear he is a whiz with motorcycles though he isn’t in the local MC. They

all take their bikes to him now.” “Well, if I ever decide to buy a motorcycle, I will know where to take it.” “Yes, you will,” she replied, unfettered by my sarcasm. “Anyway, he’s down on Coast Road if you want to get a gander at him sometimes.” “I’ll pass on the stalking of local mechanics, but thanks.” “Suit yourself.” She shrugged. “The usual?” “Yep.” As I sat eating my meal, I was left with a nagging feeling that the conversation meant something, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Still, I felt the oddest compulsion to visit the shop, perhaps take a look to see what had Starla so stirred up about this guy. Though she was always flapping her gums about some guy, she seemed particularly gung ho about this one, and I wondered why. I found myself driving down the coast road after my meal. I almost turned around, feeling like I really was acting like a stalker, but something told me to drive on. Pulling into the front of the shop, I

noticed that it seemed to be closed down. Just my luck, I couldn’t even stalk someone successfully. Laughing at myself, I got back into my car and drove down a bit further, pulling into a small gravel lot situated to one side. It was a place where the locals often parked and walked down to the beach. Since it was hidden a little bit by a row of shrubs along the highway, tourists usually didn’t venture here, so it was more of a local spot and less crowded. At first, it appeared to be deserted except for me, but as I rounded the bend that angled down to the beach entrance, my heart stopped in my chest. Sitting there, I saw a familiar sight. “Stay calm, Janessa. You haven’t seen it in a while. It just looks like it,” I told myself aloud, my eyes still riveted toward the motorcycle sitting in the parking spot only a few feet away from where I parked my car. I got out and walked over to it, taking it in and then looking out toward the beach. There was no one out there. Shaking it off, I walked down the small section of steps leading to the water and strolled a bit down the beach, my heart rate finally settling down as I realized I had gotten myself worked up over nothing. It was probably just someone who had

broken down and left their bike there until they could get it repaired since the bike shop was apparently closed. The sun was beginning to set as I stopped to look out over the water. I could see movement in the distance. There was someone out there and now he was coming out of the water, walking directly toward me. My heart began thudding heavily against my chest again as he grew closer, his own eyes widening in recognition as he broke into a run toward me and pulled me into his arms. “Janessa! How?” “I don’t know. I just came here, something brought me here. How are you here?” “I don’t know. I was driving through and I stopped at this little place to get my bike fixed. The owner asked me if I needed a job and I decided I did. I was tired of roaming.” We stared at each other for a moment, realizing what an uncommon act of fate had brought us together again and then he kissed me, his mouth burning against mine in the same way it had the first time he had touched me. We stood there in the edge of the tide, oblivious to the cool breeze

blowing across our bodies, wet with the spray. “It’s so good to see you, Janessa. I’ve missed you so much. You have no idea how much I wanted to come back for you, to take my chances with whatever might happen to me. I was just afraid it would only bring you more grief if I did.” “The only thing that has ever brought me grief is being without you.” “How long are you here? How long can you stay?” “I live here now, D. I took a care taking job with some people up on the coast and am staying in the guest cabin they provide as part of the compensation.” “What about your accounting job? Your house?” “It doesn’t matter. None of it matters. It hasn’t mattered since you left. You were the only thing I really needed, and once you were gone, I just didn’t want to be there anymore.” “I love you, Janessa. I have loved you from the moment I met you.” “I love you too. More than you will ever know.”

“Trust me. I know.” We made love on the beach, slowly, exquisitely, and, for the first time in probably my entire life, I felt like I was exactly where I should be in life. It was the beginning of the most amazing chapter yet as we began to build a life together, no longer a suburban accountant and a big city drug lord, but just a simple caretaker and a motorcycle mechanic. The following year, the owner of the motorcycle shop died of cancer, and his sons sold it to D, along with the small beach cottage that was situated not far from it down the coast from where I had found D out for a dip on what proved to be a very lucky day for both of us. We settled into life as just an ordinary couple with an extraordinary tale of how we met, though it was one we would never be able to tell anyone. “Here’s a toast to the bride and groom!” Starla said enthusiastically as the band kicked into a slow, sappy love ballad for the first dance. D and I looked at each other and smiled, watching as the two lovebirds who had just been married on the beach below danced across the floor of the Blue Crab where they held their tiny reception.

“They look happy, don’t they?” he asked. “Yes. They do look very happy,” I replied. “I bet that you would look amazing in a wedding dress,” he told me. “Well, you know, I could probably buy one second hand down at the consignment shop and wear it to bed if that is what turns you on.” I laughed. “I have a better idea. How about you buy a brand new one and I just rip it off of you on our wedding night?” I looked at him, not sure how I was supposed to respond to that. I thought he was just teasing me, but as I watched, as the music played around us and the bride and groom continued to dance, Damian Diaz, got down on one knee and held a beautiful diamond ring up toward me. “Marry me, Janessa. I want to be as happy as the couple dancing in your shadows.” “Yes! Yes!” I squealed, catching myself and quieting down as eyes began to turn toward us. “Get up, D. Get up. Don’t take attention away from them. It’s their day.”

“It’s your day, Janessa. It’s always your day. As long as I continued to breathe air into these lungs, I will make sure that you have the world around you by the horns.” Couples began slipping onto the dance floor as the music shifted to another ballad and they joined the newlyweds to dance. D slipped the ring onto my finger and then pulled me into his arms, where we danced among them. There was once a time when I had felt that Damian Diaz wanted to own me, to break me, and I hadn’t been so far from wrong, but my understanding of why had been completely off the mark. D wanted to own me because he needed me, because he had fallen just as much in love with me as I had him, and neither of us truly knew how to be without one another once we had realized it was one another we had been seeking.

THE END Thanks for reading! Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/sqou66sq56 Also, follow me on Facebook for hot content and free giveaways!

https://www.facebook.com/Sophia-Gray1096596530486125/

HIS BOUND BRIDE: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance By Sophia Gray

My billionaire boss wants to make me his bride.

I was in danger from the minute I stepped into his office. But there’s no escaping a man like Enzo Lennox. He’ll either force me to bend across his desk… Or put a ring on my finger so I belong to him for life. I should’ve have run away as soon as I had the chance. But there was something about Enzo that had me frozen in place. His eyes… His hands… The words that came out of his mouth – so shocking and filthy and downright powerful. I did everything I could to resist him. But he saw right through that. He knew what was boiling below my surface: Need. Desire. Craving. I was his slave from the second his eyes landed on me. Everyone warned me away from him. He’s a player, a scoundrel, they said. Here one day and gone the next. A broken heart was inevitable.

I know all that. And yet, when Enzo puts his hands on my hips, I can’t help but submit. But no matter how much I give, he wants more. The billionaire is not just satisfied with my body. He wants to own my heart, my mind, my soul. He wants me as his bound bride.

Chapter One Audrey When the alarm when off on Monday morning, I was almost sure that I’d made a mistake. It was still dark outside, and I was warm and safe, burrowed in my bed under all of the covers. The air of my room was frigid, and I shuddered as I peeked the tip of my nose out from my comfortable, warm nest. Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! Bleep! One of my neighbors slammed his hand into the wall between our apartments, and I winced and groaned. “Turn that blasted thing off!” “Sorry!” I yelled back as I launched myself out of bed and slammed my fist onto the alarm clock. Pepper, my Lab mix, was dancing around in the kitchen, barking and skittering around the floor. I eyed her with a mix of love and contempt. “So you don’t mind this early schedule, do you?” I crooned to Pepper as I rubbed the soft area

between her ears. Pepped looked up at me with affection in her eyes, and I closed my eyes and hugged her tight. I’d only had Pepper for two years, but we were closer than ever. I still hadn’t made any friends in Chicago, and I didn’t mind as much as I would have thought. “You’re all I need, Pep,” I told the dog as I poured a mixture of chicken and rice into her bowl. Pepper eagerly dug in, pushing the bowl across the floor with her nose as her toes wiggled and pranced. I rolled my eyes. Dogs. They didn’t need much, just food, love, and a warm place to sleep. I envied Pepper her delight with the morning as I trudged back to my bedroom and put on my work clothes— a black knee-length skirt with a turtleneck and a blazer. The blazer had been my mom’s back in the eighties. She’d only had one professional job before she met my dad. When I graduated from college, she’d given me her old jacket. “This is for you now, Audrey,” Mom had told me. We’d hugged, and I’d appreciated the gift even though I’d felt awkward about it. Mom and Dad

and I weren’t really all that close, and I didn’t even know how to think about approaching them. They were still in Wisconsin, living in the same trailer park I’d grown up in. It looked exactly the same as it had when I’d been a little kid, except even more depressing. I stared in the mirror, trying to find fault with myself. I looked okay—professional enough. I knew that there was something, well, just a little off about my appearance. But I’d never known what to do about it, and all of my girlfriends had always been as disinterested in fashion as me. Now I just wished that I had a girlfriend at all. It was still dark by the time I left my apartment for LennoxCo. I still couldn’t believe I’d gotten the job there. It was probably the thing that I was proudest of in my adult life. Ever since I’d graduated college a year and a half ago, I’d only been able to find work in restaurants and retail. This was my first adult job—the first job with a salary and benefits. I grinned as I braced myself against the icy, winter chill of the Chicago January morning. You have something to be proud of for once, I thought with a grin as I pushed my way into the “L” station. Just don’t let it go to your head.

The train was more crowded than expected. I was crammed in with a ton of other people, all wearing bulky winter parkas and bouncing off of each other like ping-pong balls. I began sweating almost instantly, but there wasn’t enough room on the train for me to yank off my jacket. Sweat beaded up on my forehead and at the back of my neck, and I could tell that my hair was going to be a sweaty mess by the time I got to work. It didn’t matter—it was only back in a ponytail—but I hated the idea of looking too unkempt on my first day. There was a problem with the train, and the cars ground to a halt. The other people around me were muttering and groaning with frustration. My stomach flipped and folded over itself until I was a nervous wreck. I can’t be late on the first day, I thought as tears welled up in my eyes. Maybe I should call and tell them that I’m going to be late? But when I managed to dig my phone out from the bottom of my cavernous bag, I realized that I didn’t have reception. The subway was underground, and I watched as No Service blinked in the upper-left corner of my phone display. “Great,” I said sharply under my breath. “That’s

just fucking awesome. Way to go, Audrey.” The woman who was standing directly across the aisle from me met my eyes and shook her head dismissively before laughing. I swallowed hard. She was one of the most beautiful women that I’d ever seen. Tall, slim, and blonde—she looked like she was barely affected by the icy day outside. Her cheeks were perfectly blushed, and her sharp green eyes glittered, even in the dull light of the subway. Her feet were shoved into black patent heels that looked precariously high, and somehow, she’d managed to walk to the train without getting even a single crumb of salt on her shoes. I had to look away. I knew what she was thinking when she looked at me: nerd. Dork. Loser. But I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around my body and hugged. I was starting a new job today, and I was going to finally become a successful adult. Inside the lobby of LennoxCo, I wasn’t quite so confident. The company was in one of the huge skyscrapers downtown, and I had to wait at the concierge desk to get a temporary pass that would let me onto the elevators. I couldn’t believe all of the people rushing and swarming around me; if I took one step out of line, I was worried that I’d be

crushed. The lobby itself was hugely impressive, all marble and tasteful lighting, with a giant fountain in the center. The fountain was glowing blue and green, and I shivered again, imagining what it would feel like to fall into the icy water. “Miss?” The concierge looked at me with a bored expression on her face. “Miss, here’s your pass.” She put a white sticker on the front of my blazer before I even had time to realize what she was doing. “You can’t lose this,” she added with grim sincerity. “We take security very seriously here at LennoxCo.” I nodded, swallowing hard. “Got it, thanks,” I muttered as I stepped away and shoved my hands into my pockets. Getting in line for the elevator, my sense of dread came back. More than anything, I wished I was at home, snuggling with Pepper and watching reruns of cooking shows. Smile, Audrey, I told myself. Today’s only going to go well if you’re the one who takes charge. Remember, you got this job. They liked you. They wouldn’t have hired you just to laugh at you.

Standing straight and tall with my chin raised into the air, I walked into LennoxCo for the very first time. The office was so big that it had three floors all to itself. The floors were interconnected with a series of floating stairways in the middle of the office, and I swallowed hard as I watched the burst of activity. The décor matched that of the lobby: high ceilings, lots of natural lighting, lots of glass-paned walls. There was an enormous front desk where a younger girl sat, playing on her phone. “Hi,” I said. She didn’t look up. I cleared my throat. “Hi,” I repeated, my voice quaking with nervousness. The girl finally glanced up at me with a smirk on her pretty face. “Can I help you?” Her tone made it very clear that she didn’t actually give a shit about helping me. “Yes,” I replied. “Today’s my first day. I’m Enzo’s, um, Mr. Lennox’s new secretary.” The girl’s eyes bulged, and she snickered, barely covering her mouth with her thin hand. “Sorry,” she said. “You’re just, well, you don’t really look like the other secretaries. Come with me.”

She stood up from her desk and smoothed out the tight, gray pencil skirt that she was wearing. I noticed her heels were incredibly tall. She sashayed down a side hallway, then led me to an open area. It wasn’t as crowded as the main part of the office, and it was flanked with black leather couches. A glass door with the nameplate Enzo Lennox loomed large in front of us. “Here you go,” the girl said with a smirk. “Why not go in and introduce yourself?” She turned on her heel and walked away before I could question her further. Shit. Did she mean that I should just barge in without knocking? Or should I knock first? Or… I glanced around, seeing for the first time a desk with a computer and phone that sat almost directly in front of the door. Maybe I should call? Or email? But stepping closer, I saw that the computer was locked. There was no note on the desk. You can do this, Audrey, I told myself. Wiping my damp hands on my skirt, I stood up straight and barged through the door. “Oh my God,” I cried out as I opened my eyes.

The most beautiful man I’d ever seen was naked from the waist down. He was thrusting in and out of a gorgeous woman who was splayed across the desk, her long legs wrapped around his muscular torso. Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I covered my face with my hands. “I’m so sorry!” I said, stepping backward to leave the office. But my heel caught on something, and I went falling through the air, flailing my arms and legs before landing in a heap on the richly carpeted floor. The man turned to face me with a glint in his eye. “Hi there,” he said. I stared in shock. I couldn’t even tell how he was feeling. He pulled out of the woman and pulled his trousers up. She was beet-red with embarrassment and trying to fumble with her own clothes, but not before I got a glimpse of her body. “Who are you?” I swallowed hard. “I’m your new secretary,” I said in a soft voice. “I’ll just go now,” I added quickly as I got to my feet and straightened my skirt. The man shook his head briskly. “Don’t,” he said

quickly. “Stay.” The woman—she looked a lot like the blonde from the train—was glancing at me with a look that bordered on hatred. “Enzo,” she said, but he raised a hand in the air to silence her. “You may go,” he told her curtly. She turned the hateful glare on him and then stalked out of the office, the top of her dress still unzipped. “Now,” he said with a lazy grin on his face. Enzo leaned against the desk and stared at me. I was captivated by his beauty. He had amazing light gray eyes and dark hair, all with a dark tan that spoke of weekend trips to the tropics. He was muscular but lean, like he worked out all the time and his clothes clung to his perfect frame. “I’m sorry,” I said in a rush. “The girl who showed me here, she, um, well, she told me to come in and introduce myself.” I glanced down. Enzo was still staring at me, and a shiver crawled down my spine. “You’ll want to learn how to knock,” he said in a soft, silky voice. “As my

secretary, I expect a certain level of discretion.” The blush on my cheeks reddened, if that was possible. I’d never been so embarrassed in my entire life. The way that Enzo was acting was completely new to me. I’d never caught anyone in the throes of passion before, but I would have imagined him to act just like the girl: embarrassed, blushing, mortified. Instead, Enzo was acting as though I’d merely inconvenienced him. “I’m sorry,” I said. My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard, glancing down at the toes of my scuffed shoes. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Lennox. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” Enzo smirked at me. He stepped closer and eyed me from head to toe. No one had ever looked at me like that before, and I felt caught off guard, like he could suddenly see through my layers of clothing. I was still wearing my coat, and I felt flushed and sweaty from being inside the heated building. Should I quit? Should I just run away? I bit my lip as I worked the thought over and over in my head. I didn’t want to give up such an amazing job on the first day, but I couldn’t believe that I’d already seen my boss’s ass.

“Audrey,” Enzo said in his disaffected, smooth voice. “I’ll be needing some coffee now.”

Chapter Two Enzo I stood and watched as Audrey shifted her weight from one foot to the other. She was wearing about a hundred layers of clothing—a frumpy, baggy skirt that looked like something a grandmother would pick for church bingo, a lumpy, loose turtleneck, a dated blazer, and a big puffy marshmallow parka that was bright pink. She had brown hair and blue eyes and a pretty enough face, but not the kind of woman that I liked. I wondered why HR had hired her. I smirked as I pondered the truth: was I being punished? For sleeping all of my previous secretaries? Did they really think that sending me a little mouse in drab clothing would diminish my sexual appetite? I scowled. “Mr. Lennox?” Audrey’s voice was quiet and soft, almost like a mouse. I laughed as I imagined what she’d look like with whiskers and little gray ears on the top of her head. She frowned. “What’s funny?” “Nothing,” I said, shaking my head. “And please, call me Enzo.” I flashed my most charming grin at

the bewildered girl. “My father is Mr. Lennox,” I added smoothly. Audrey blushed again, almost as hard as before. I couldn’t stop staring at her. For all of her little church mouse ways, she was actually adorable. I had a feeling that she’d never felt sexy, or maybe she didn’t even care about being seen that way. That was going to be a big change around here; my usual secretaries were complete glamazons, always staring in the mirror or fixing their bright lipstick. Audrey wasn’t wearing a trace of makeup, only a swipe of Chap Stick. Her eyebrows were bushy and ungroomed, and I could tell that her upper lip needed a wax. “How do you take your coffee?” Audrey asked. “Enzo.” She emphasized my first name, blushing. “Black? Or with cream and sugar? Or just milk?” “Cream and sugar,” I replied, my tone lascivious. “And please hurry, Audrey, we have a long day ahead of us.” Audrey spun on her heel and clomped out of my office. I clearly saw that the heel on one of her orthopedic shoes was crudely glued back on as there was white stuff caked on it. I frowned. Maybe with the salary I was giving her, she’d be able to

afford some better shoes. Audrey darted back in only a few minutes later, carefully carrying a hot mug of coffee with her hand cupped around the lip so it wouldn’t spill. I took a deep breath—it smelled amazing—and watched as she set it down on my desk, her gaze frantically darting around for a coaster. Audrey smiled at me and stood there, her nostrils flared and her face still pink from earlier. The overwhelming desire to pull her close and kiss her came over me. I frowned; it wasn’t like my cock to want a woman like Audrey, especially not so soon after fucking someone much more in line with my preferences. “Enzo?” Audrey’s voice was tentative and soft. “Are you alright? Is there anything else I can get for you?” I shook my head. I was too busy trying to figure out how she’d landed a job here at LennoxCo. I had to admit that I respected how she hadn’t gone into hysterics. I grinned as I thought about the scene Audrey had walked in on earlier—a lot of girls probably would have started crying, or worse. But she’d held it together, even though she was clearly mortified.

“You can sit down at the desk,” I said in a smooth tone. “There’s a slip of paper in the top drawer with your log-in information. You’ll want to change your password immediately,” I added. “And in your email, there should be a very detailed write-up of your daily tasks. I had your predecessor type it up for me.” I didn’t add the detail of how I’d had my last girl type up the document: with my cock slamming in and out of her pussy. But I figured Audrey didn’t need to hear any more details about my ravenous appetites today. After all, she’d already had the shock of a lifetime. Audrey backed out of my office and closed the door. She didn’t say anything else and kept her gaze glued to the floor. Through the small partition in the door, I watched as she sat down in the office chair and removed her pink parka. Even without the big marshmallow jacket, I couldn’t tell what her body looked like. I shook my head and laughed as I realized she could have any body type under all of that clothing. I decided that I was going to keep her around, maybe on a trial basis. I hated to admit it, but maybe it was a good thing that HR hired a different kind of girl. After all, I’d gone through six secretaries in less than six months. Each of them

had been delicious in her own way, but I was starting to feel… well, rather bored with the whole process of that. Sleeping with hot girls at work was definitely a perk of being a hot, young CEO. But I was starting to wonder if perhaps it wasn’t beginning to affect my actual performance. Maybe Audrey was exactly who I needed: a polite little mouse who could keep me on track. Financials for the last two quarters had been dismal, and I was going to have to keep my head in the game if I wanted to turn things around.

Chapter Three Audrey I couldn’t believe that I’d made it through my first week of work. “Only fifty-one more to go before the end of the year,” I said to my reflection at the end of the day on Friday. I winced. I could have gotten through fifty-one more weeks of intense rock climbing, or cave diving more easily than I could have gotten through that same amount of time as Enzo Lennox’s secretary. It wasn’t that the work was hard, exactly. But Enzo was always watching me. He’d taken to leaving his door open and calling out for coffee or a salad throughout the day, and if I didn’t drop immediately what I was doing and go out, he’d come storming through the doorway like a bull. I shivered. It was intimidating, that was all. I wasn’t used to that kind of work environment. Hell, I wasn’t really used to any work environment that put such a high importance on physical appearance. Working at LennoxCo definitely made me realize that I looked like an outsider. I wasn’t a clotheshorse like a lot of the women

there, but I always tried to look professional. I knew that the girls were sneering about me behind my back, but I didn’t care; I was Enzo’s employee, not theirs. Still, it was a relief to have a day to myself. Ever since I moved to Chicago, I’d spent Saturdays volunteering at a food bank and soup kitchen downtown. It was the kind of thing that I enjoyed more than almost anything else, except for snuggling with Pepper on the couch and watching TV. After a week of walking on eggshells around Enzo, I was relieved to have someplace to go where the regulars liked me. Carl was one of my favorites at the kitchen. He showed up every weekend without fail, sometimes with a friend or two in tow. He’d been coming for years, and I was pretty sure that he was homeless. We were close, and I’d often thought about asking him if he wanted to move in with me. But I didn’t know Carl’s story, or where he was from, and I didn’t want to offend the man. “Audrey, it’s so nice to see you,” Carl said with a warm smile as I ladled some beef stew into his bowl. “You look tired.” I yawned, hiding my face in my elbow. “I feel

pretty tired,” I admitted. “I had kind of a rough week. I started a new job.” “Oh, Audrey,” Carl said, his face breaking out into a wide smile. “That’s so good to hear. Tell me about it.” I glanced down the serving line. The crowd of people waiting for food was out the door, and some of the regulars were getting cranky about having to wait. I blushed. “I’ll sit down with you when I’m done here,” I said. “Just give me about an hour, okay?” While I finished up my shift, Carl played chess with another one of the men who showed up on the weekends. I enjoyed watching him play. Even though he was destitute, he was one of the smartest men that I’d ever met. I wondered what he’d think about Enzo, and about my new job. “So, Audrey,” Carl said. He reached over and patted the back of my hand. “Tell me about this new gig of yours.” He smiled widely and patted his belly. “And the stew was excellent today, by the way.” I laughed and shook my head. Carl and I had an old joke about the food at the soup kitchen—he’d

always compliment me, even though I had nothing to do with making it. It was just one of the little ways that he tried to make me feel more comfortable and I really appreciated it. “Well, I’m working for LennoxCo, if you can believe that,” I said. “I’m actually the secretary to the CEO.” “Wow, look at you, working girl!” Carl whistled. “Just like Melanie Griffith in that movie.” I blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I demurred. “But it’s a good job.” I swallowed. Talking about money around Carl always made me feel a little awkward. “It’s definitely the best thing I’ve landed since college.” “You’re going to be very successful.” He frowned. “But I’ve heard some things about that man, Mr. Lennox.” I nodded and bit my lip. “What kinds of things?” Carl shrugged. “He’s just a fast man. You know, flashy cars and girls and that kind of thing. You watch yourself around him, Audrey.” I burst out laughing. “I highly doubt this guy would

pay any kind of attention to me. I mean, come on, Carl, you know I don’t care about that kind of stuff.” It was easy to brush Carl off. I hadn’t even told him about what had happened the first day, and I had a feeling he wouldn’t think that was very funny. “I’m not joking, Audrey,” Carl warned. He leaned closer. “You really have to be careful with men like that. They only think of one thing. It doesn’t matter what you look like, you have to be careful.” I rolled my eyes. “Carl, come on. You know a guy like him wouldn’t be interested in me. That’s like, the basic rules of attraction.” I blushed, thinking of how sexy Enzo was. “I mean, he probably likes blondes with boob jobs—the kind of girl who always wears heels. You know I’m not like that.” Carl shook his head. “Don’t write yourself off, Audrey. You’re still pretty young, and you have a lot to learn about how people behave in the real world.” “I’m twenty-two,” I said irritably. “I think I’ve figured it out by now.” Carl crossed his arms in front of his chest. He sighed. “You know, when I was your age, I thought

I had things figured out too. But in my case, it took a little longer. I was pretty old by the time I figured out how selfish and cruel people can be. I know I sound like a worried old father, but, Audrey, you’re better off playing this one safe. Until you know this guy, really know him, I wouldn’t turn your back.” An eerie, unsettling feeling came over me, and I shook my head. “Carl, I’ll be fine. I promise.” “You’re prettier than you think, Audrey,” Carl said gruffly. “I expect this guy is a seasoned pro at picking out the pretty women.” I stood up and wiped my hands on my baggy jeans. “I’m not. And don’t worry, I don’t wish that he’d pay attention to me.” I shrugged. “I just want to do my job, and earn money, and send it home to my parents.” I swallowed hard. Thinking of my parents was painful. They were the reason why I volunteered at places like the food bank—I’d spent a lot of time in my childhood going to those kinds of places for food. When I was a kid, I’d always felt embarrassed about it. Now I wished that I could go back in time and tell my younger self that it wasn’t worth crying over.

“Just be careful, Audrey,” Carl said. “I’m probably worried about nothing, but you know how those men can be.” I nodded uncomfortably. I didn’t know how men— any men, aside from my father—could be. I’d ever been around men before. Enzo might as well have been an exotic species, like a lion or a giraffe. I snorted. There was no way that he would ever want someone like me.

Chapter Four Enzo Audrey had been my secretary for over a week before I got a glimpse of her legs. January in Chicago was brutal, but we had a brief respite, and the temperatures climbed up to the 40s. Audrey showed up that day in hose that bagged around her ankles and an unfashionable, frumpy skirt. “Hi, Enzo.” Audrey handed me my coffee and turned, almost doing something that looked like a little bow. “Can I get you anything else?” I shook my head. “Stay here for a minute. I’ve got a call coming up, and I want you to take notes.” “Oh! Okay,” Audrey said. She nodded her head and ducked out the door to her desk. When she reappeared thirty seconds later, she was clutching a yellow legal pad and a pen. She stood there, uneasily watching me. “You can sit over there,” I said, gesturing towards the black leather couch in the corner of the room. It was a large sectional that I’d used as a bed many, many times and I knew how comfortable it was.

Audrey lowered herself down onto the couch as though she was sinking into a pot full of boiling water. “This is comfy,” she said, a blush rising to her pale cheeks. “I like your office a lot, Enzo.” I hated the way the hair on the back of my neck stood up whenever she said my name. “Thanks. I didn’t decorate it though. The company has people for that.” I rolled my eyes. “I think they were afraid I was going to put up a pinup girl or something.” I actually had put up a pinup girl. Well, a vintage shot of Marilyn Monroe topless. It was an expensive print, and I’d hung it up on the first day. But then my secretary complained about feeling sexually harassed, so down Marilyn went. I think she was still in the closet, probably waiting for me to hang her up once again. “Enzo?” Audrey’s voice was quiet. “What’s so funny?” I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said, waving my hand dismissively in the air and picking up the mug of coffee. It smelled good. From the very first day, Audrey had always gotten the cream and sugar ratio perfectly.

Sitting down at my desk, I watched Audrey carefully out of the corner of my eye. Despite being clad in those horrible stockings, she had nice legs. I winced as she turned around, exposing a large run up her left calf. “Audrey,” I said sharply. “I’d like a Caesar salad for lunch, with olive oil and vinegar on the side. Make sure the kitchen prepares it with chicken, not fish, and no cheese.” I looked at her over the tops of my reading glasses. “Can you get started on that?” Audrey frowned. “I thought you had a call?” I looked down at my blank schedule. “Nope,” I said cheerily. “Must have been mistaken. But I’d love that salad now, thanks.” Audrey’s cheeks flushed, and she shot up from the couch like she’d been burned. “Okay, I’ll be back soon,” she said in an unsteady voice as she rushed from my office. “I’ll make sure the salad is right, Enzo.” “You’d better,” I muttered under my breath as I watched her dart away in clunky orthopedic loafers. Leaning back in my chair, I steepled my hands together on the mahogany desk and waited

patiently for Audrey to return with my lunch. She was back in less than five minutes, pink and blushing and sweating. “I ran up the stairs,” Audrey said, panting as she handed me the salad. “The elevators were down, or had a long line, or something.” I chuckled. “Audrey, don’t feel that you have to exert yourself like that.” I raised an eyebrow as I looked at the salad. “This looks good. But a little less oil and vinegar on the side for next time, please.” Audrey bit her lip and nodded. She smiled at me before turning on her heel and clomping out of my office. I grinned. ### The day was almost over when I realized that I needed to give Audrey some files to start annotating at home. I called her, but she didn’t come in. Frowning, I stood up and walked over to the door. Audrey almost never left her desk—she’d even asked my permission to use the bathroom during her first week. When I saw the empty seat

spinning around, I narrowed my eyes. “Audrey!” I called out louder. “Audrey, come in here right this instant!” I didn’t even see her as she darted across the office and smacked right into my chest. She was much shorter than I was, and the top of her head barely grazed my chin as we collided. I was surprised to discover the feel of her body under all those layers of ugly clothing; she actually had an incredible body. She wasn’t heavy, but nice and curvy, with a big, firm rack. My cock stiffened in my pants as I wondered whether or not her ass felt the same way. “Oh my God,” Audrey squealed. She leaped backward away from me, tripped over her own feet, and fell crashing to the floor. Her face was bright red the second her ass hit the carpeting. “Enzo, I am so sorry! I just stepped away for a second to check on those copies you wanted by the end of the day. Do you still need those?” Her voice was insistent, eager to please. I shivered with sudden, uncontrollable lust as I imagined how eager to please Audrey would be in the bedroom. She was so submissive; so eager to let me dominate her in the office. I wondered how pliable she would be between the sheets.

“It’s okay,” I said carelessly, extending a hand down to Audrey. She gulped as I waved my fingers in front of her face, blushing even more, and then finally put her warm, sweaty little hand into mine. My fingers tightened around hers and pulled her up to her feet. Despite all of the clothing, I was amazed to discover how lightweight she was. “I’m really sorry, Enzo. I swear I’m not normally this clumsy. I really have no idea what just happened.” I licked my lips. Almost as if by imitation, Audrey stuck her tongue out of her mouth and moistened her own soft, pink lips. I watched, feeling hypnotized at the sight of her plump tongue. She had a good mouth, not too full, but slightly wide and a little crooked in the center. I closed my eyes and steadied myself against my desk as I imagined that fervent little tongue working over the stiff head of my cock. I had a feeling Audrey was the kind of girl who’d lick away my precum without even being asked. “It’s fine,” I said again. “And yes, I still need those copies.” Audrey turned on her heel. “And

Audrey?” “Yes?” She spun around, looking flushed and breathless. As I watched, she stuck her tongue out of her mouth and licked her lips again, swallowing hard. “What is it?” “Come in here again at the end of the day, right before you leave.” I smirked. “I have something I want to go over with you. Sort of like homework. A small assignment that needs to be done, but I wouldn’t prioritize it over your current work.” Audrey’s face creased. She licked her lips one last tantalizing time and then slipped out of my office.

Chapter Five Audrey I was kicking myself as I walked the ten feet back to my desk. I couldn’t believe it. Of all the stupid, clumsy shit that I could do, I’d smacked right into Enzo! Thinking about it filled me with a mixture of shame and something else, something that left my lower belly tight and made my breath come hard. I couldn’t figure it out; I didn’t like him very much. He didn’t seem like a good man, and I hated the way he stared at me. But when I’d bumped into him, I hadn’t been able to resist noticing the way his muscles bunched and tightened under his skin. He was like a prize athlete. I shivered as I remembered the first day I’d laid eyes on Enzo—when I’d caught him sleeping with that blonde. He’d had a muscular ass, too. Hot blood pooled in my cheeks at the memory. And just what had he meant about the end of the day? I tried to focus on my spreadsheets, but all of the numbers flew around on the screen, giving me a headache. What’s the use of even finishing this? I wondered darkly. He’s probably going to fire me

anyway. And then what the fuck am I supposed to do? Just go back to temping or working at a restaurant? An uneasy feeling passed over me, and I shuddered. Maybe it was like Carl had said: maybe Enzo was going to try something. I decided that if that happened, I’d leave as quickly as I could. Even though I thought Enzo was sexy, I wasn’t going to become just another girl who got fired for sleeping with her boss. I winced at the thought. It had taken me months to find this job, and I wasn’t about to give it up for something as simple as resisting the attraction to my boss. “Audrey! Come in here!” I stood up so fast that the blood rushed to my head, making me feel dizzy. After gripping the edge of my desk for support, I darted into Enzo’s office with a nervous smile plastered on my face. “Yes? What is it?” Enzo pulled out a large leather portfolio and handed it to me. When I took it, he didn’t let it go immediately, and I had to tug, hard. “This is some work you’ll be doing in the evenings,

at home,” he said. “I need you to go through these files and mark every number that’s coming from the Fort Lauderdale area, okay? The area codes are marked on the sides. It’s not much, but you need to pay very close attention.” I nodded. I felt like that couldn’t be all. It wouldn’t take me more than a couple of nights. I could already see myself curled up with Pepper and a cooking show on in the background. I smiled. Enzo smirked. “Yes, Audrey? What’s so funny?” I shook my head. “Nothing. Um, I’m sorry. I’m just kind of relieved. I wasn’t really sure why you’d called me in here.” Enzo stood up from his desk and slowly walked around towards me. I shivered as I watched his strong, muscular legs close the gap between our bodies. Whenever he came close to me, I smelt a very musky, expensive cologne wafting off his neck. “Audrey,” Enzo said with a low growl. “There is something else; something I wanted to address with you.” “Yes?” I wasn’t even aware that I was trembling

until my voice came out in a cracked whisper. “What is it?” Enzo grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. I’d never seen him look so intense before. His light gray eyes almost looked blue in the perfect natural lighting of the office, and his jaw was tense. My heartbeat skipped in my chest, and my stomach rolled over itself with nervousness. That same odd, tingly feeling came back to my lower belly—almost like I had to scratch an itch between my legs. I blushed; I wasn’t sure that I liked the feeling of being this close to Enzo. “You know, you’d be gorgeous if you tried a little harder,” Enzo said silkily. He ran a finger down the back of my spine, and I shivered. “Just a little harder,” he said, his full lips in a perfect pout. “You wouldn’t have to try hard.” Enzo winked at me. “I could take you shopping,” he added huskily. “I know what you’d look good in.” I swallowed hard and tried to step away. It was harder than I’d thought—the emotions and adrenaline were rushing through my body and making me feel like I almost didn’t want Enzo to stop touching me. When he pulled his hand away, I rubbed the spot on my arm where he’d touched me.

“No,” I said as sharp as I could muster. My voice still sounded weak, and I winced. “I mean, no, thank you,” I added stiffly. “I’m not interested in being gorgeous. I’m interested in being your secretary.” I knew that I should be insulted at Enzo’s comments, but the adrenaline spike was making it hard for me to focus on anything other than his perfect body, and the gleam in his eye when he looked my way. Enzo laughed. His pose relaxed, and he instantly became less threatening, smugger. “I thought you might say that,” he replied. Suddenly, his eyes flashed with a dark fire. A shiver coursed through my body. “Of course,” Enzo added in a sotto voice, “you might change your mind, if you smarten up…” I stood up straight. “If that’s all, I’m going to head home for the day.” The leather attaché case under my arm felt oddly bulky. “Is there anything else?” Enzo stared right into my eyes. Goosebumps broke out over my body, and I rubbed my arms with my hands. I’d never experienced this odd mix of feelings before. Men like Enzo, well, they’d never paid attention to me. This sensation in my body,

both thrilling and new, was almost intoxicating. “Good night, Audrey,” Enzo said in a low voice. He smiled at me, showing his perfectly white teeth. Breaking my gaze away from his perfect face was hard. Even when I closed my eyes, I still saw Enzo’s intense visage and perfect, sculpted jawline. I shook my head as I stepped backward. “I’m not going to be some… some notch on your bedpost,” I said in a shaky voice. “I’m not like the other girls.” I licked my lips nervously, noting the way Enzo’s eyes were glued to my mouth. “I mean, I got this job for a reason,” I said, softer. “And I’m not going to throw it away just by sleeping with you.” Enzo raised his eyebrows and smirked. “I never said you were going to throw anything away just by sleeping with me.” I blushed. “That’s not what I meant.” “It doesn’t matter.” He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s been a long day, and I know you’re tired. Go home, Audrey. I’ll see you in the morning.”

As I walked out of LennoxCo with the leather case tucked under my arm, I felt strangely unhappy. Even after having to admit that Carl had been right the whole time, telling Enzo off didn’t feel as good as I thought it would. I mean, I’d done the right thing. I knew that deep down I couldn’t sleep with him, not if I wanted to keep the job. My parents were so dependent on the money I sent them. Glancing down at my frumpy attire, I wondered what was wrong with Enzo. He had gorgeous women throwing themselves at him all the time— what the hell did he want with me? It’s because I don’t want him, I realized suddenly. I stopped dead in my tracks, letting others on the cold Chicago sidewalks push past me in irritation. He wants me because he thinks I’m not interested. I swallowed hard, feeling nervous with the realization of the truth. On the one hand, it was almost comforting to know that I wasn’t doing anything to lead him on. On the other, I felt almost insulted. Of course, a man like Enzo would be offended that someone like me wouldn’t want him. Looks must not matter to him, I decided. He must have been one of those guys who just wanted to sleep with every girl who crossed their path. Maybe

he’d somehow, miraculously, gotten sick of all those other girls because they made it too easy for him. “So all I have to do is not take the bait,” I mumbled. That should be easy, right? I groaned as I thought about how hard it had been today to not crumble into his arms, to not fall weak at every single one of his advances. I knew that Enzo had been leering at me since I’d started, but I’d never imagined that it would culminate in something like this. Staying away from him was going to be harder than I thought. ### When I finally got home, Pepper was going nuts. She was dancing around and barking, wiggling her body in a frantic circle. I felt my heart swell with love—nothing like coming home to my favorite being in the world. “Hey, girl,” I crooned, getting down on my knees and burying my face in the thick fur of her ruff. “Did you miss me? Did you miss Mommy?” Pepper barked affirmatively and wagged her tail so

frantically that her whole body was shaking from side to side. “Come on,” I said, rubbing her head as I got to my feet. “Time for a snack.” Ten minutes later, I sat on the couch with some frozen grapes while Pepper gnawed on a bone from last week’s stew. Enzo’s face flashed into my mind, and I groaned in irritation and popped another frozen grape in my mouth. They were surprisingly refreshing. I hated to admit it, but I’d stolen the idea from one of the women at work. Women at LennoxCo didn’t really eat; they nibbled throughout the day on energy and protein bars, or frozen fruit. I’d brought my lunch the first couple of days, but after enduring a few humiliating stares from coworkers, I’d taken to ordering salads like Enzo. I couldn’t feel myself losing weight, but it was better than enduring the stares from bitchy coworkers. “You know what?” I said to Pepper. She cocked her head and looked at me. “Forget this.” I tossed the bag of frozen grapes across the room. It landed in the garbage can with a satisfying thud. “We’re getting pizza tonight.” I raised my eyebrows. “I think we deserve it, don’t you, Pep?”

Pepper barked, and I pulled her on the couch with me for a snuggle. She was still pretty young, but I could tell that sometimes she had a little trouble with her joints. Leaving her alone all day made me feel guiltier than ever. Even with the fancy dogwalking service, I’d started paying for, I had to imagine she probably didn’t like so much time alone in the apartment. “Things will get better, Pepper pup,” I told her as I rubbed her ears. She yawned and relaxed her head on my lap. “I just have to stay at LennoxCo for maybe six months, then I can get a recommendation and go somewhere else.” Pepper whined and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. Color and species aside, her gaze was oddly haunting, almost like Enzo’s. “Why, no, I don’t think it’s going to be hard to resist Enzo,” I said to Pepper as I rubbed her belly. “I mean, he’s a jerk, Pepper. You should see the guy—he probably doesn’t even like dogs.” Pepper growled. “It’s not that bad,” I told her. “I mean, I don’t mind it. It’s just when he stares at me.” I licked my lips and shuddered. “He looks at me like he can see me

without my clothes on.” Pepper barked again, and I nudged her off the couch before walking into the kitchen and peering in the fridge. I wasn’t a big drinker, but I was really in the mood for a glass of wine. “Perfect,” I said as I laid eyes on a bottle of white tucked in the back of the fridge. “You’ll do nicely.” Pepper had followed me into the kitchen, and she was wagging her tail, glancing excitedly down at her food bowl. All the talk of Enzo had turned my stomach uneasy and suddenly, I no longer felt like getting pizza. Guiltily, I reached into the garbage can and pulled out the bag of grapes. For someone who hadn’t ever gotten three square meals growing up, I was sure being wasteful. “We should probably just eat in tonight, yeah?” I asked Pepper as I reached down and scratched the top of her head. “I mean, we don’t need pizza.” Pepper sighed and sprawled out on the kitchen floor, her legs going in every direction. I sighed, too. “I know,” I told her, sinking down and resting my hand on the soft fur of her belly. “I know, girl.”

Chapter Six Enzo The next week was something akin to torture. I spent an hour on Monday staring at Audrey’s ass— she was leaning over her desk, working on a project I’d asked her to take on. I was having her mock-up a poster for an upcoming tech expo that I’d been thinking of participating in. I didn’t normally like those kinds of events, but the exposure was always, always good for LennoxCo. One of the hardest things about running a successful business was knowing where and when to pick investors, and they normally came on in droves at tech expos. On the other hand, I hated those kinds of events because they were as superficial as the names implied. It was a bunch of nothing; a showroom full of pimply-faced kids and hired models for a day touting products they’d never heard of before. I’d always thought that I’d managed to make LennoxCo a respectable company. Ever since I’d started the group at the age of twenty-two, I’d been a devoted parent to the company. Now, nine years

later, we were doing better than ever, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was about to weather a little bit of damage. Flipping through my Rolodex, I began smirking. “Audrey,” I called out. “Come in here!” There was a loud crash as Audrey tripped over her own feet and went sprawling into the doorframe. I watched her with my expression frozen as she carefully picked herself up and dusted off today’s hideous outfit: the same blazer she wore on her first day with a shapeless dress underneath that ended a little below her knees. She was wearing her beige orthopedic shoes with hose that came up to her admittedly slender ankles. I stared at her. “You’re having quite the day, aren’t you?” Audrey pushed her brown hair back over her shoulders. “I’m working on the mock-up, as you asked me to,” she said, coloring slightly. “Is there something else I can help with?” I kept staring at her. I let my eyes work their way down her body and over her chest, where I tried hard to make out any shape under the sack of a dress she wore. Audrey covered her chest with her

hands and squirmed in place, blushing harder than ever. “Enzo, are you sure there’s nothing I can’t get you right now?” Audrey’s voice quavered as she spoke and she nervously put her hands down by her sides —I saw they were balled into fists. She was sweating, her forehead was damp with perspiration. Suddenly, her scent washed over me. It was a sweet blend of talc and something vaguely fruity, like strawberries. I grinned wickedly. She smelled like innocence personified. “I’m thinking,” I finally replied. “Why don’t you step closer?” Audrey swallowed and took a step closer to the desk. Her throat was pale and slender; I could just make out the beat of her pulse under the skin. The thought was unexpectedly arousing—it made me remember a time where I’d tied up a woman and gently bitten her all over until she was screaming with want. Audrey’s nervous glance darted out the door. “Um, Enzo, I should really get back to work on that poster. If you want it by the end of the day, I mean.”

I leaned back in my chair and kicked my shoes up on the desk. “Actually, I feel like lunch right now. Why don’t you run downstairs and bring me my usual?” Reaching into my pocket, I grabbed two crisp twenty dollar bills and passed them to Audrey. “And why don’t you get yourself something, too?” I grinned at her. “That way we can enjoy lunch together.” Audrey blushed. “Right away.” I smirked. Sometimes, the way she spoke indicated that she wanted to add ‘sir’ to the end of her sentences to me. “I’ll be back soon,” Audrey added, darting out of my office with all the grace of a fish out of water. As soon as Audrey had run downstairs, I got up and walked over to her desk. Not surprisingly, it had the same scent as her. I inhaled deeply and sat down in her chair, running my fingers over the keyboard. This woman is driving me crazy, I reflected as I glanced at the screen of her computer. The desk itself was a disappointment. Audrey was as meticulous as her appearance led me to believe otherwise. There wasn’t a single personal article,

save for a photo of a dopey-looking yellow Lab. I picked up the photo and stared into the dog’s eyes. “Your mommy is a little bit of an ice queen,” I whispered to the dog. Setting the photo back on the desk, I opened the drawers and glanced through them. Audrey’s purse was in the bottom drawer. Casually, I grabbed a ruler from the top of the desk and peered inside. There was nothing revealing or personal at all, not even a little hairbrush—just a plain leatherette wallet, a few pens, and a rubber band at the very bottom, with not even so much as a tampon. “Enzo!” Audrey’s voice was shocked. She was standing in front of her desk holding two plastic salad containers. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?” I stood up, closing her bottom drawer with the toe of my shoe. “Everything’s fine,” I said with a smirk. “I just wanted to inspect your desk. You know, some of the people around here are known to steal.” Audrey laughed awkwardly. “I don’t think anyone would want to take something from my desk.” I snorted. “No, I daresay they wouldn’t.” I picked

up the photo of the yellow Lab. “Who’s this? A friend?” Audrey smiled. “That’s Pepper,” she said, her voice taking on an affectionate and warm hue. “She’s my girl. I’ve had her for a couple of years.” “Cute.” I put the photo back on the desk. “So, into my office for lunch, then?” Audrey swallowed audibly. She pointed towards the mock-up on her desk. “Shouldn’t I finish this first?” “Don’t be ridiculous.” I plucked the salads from her hands. “Audrey, you can afford to relax once in a while.” I winked at her. “We’re not all workslaves around here, you know.” Audrey ducked her head as if trying to hide another blush on her pale cheeks. “Right,” she said unsteadily. “Alright, then. I guess that’s fine.” I chuckled. “You guess?” I raised my eyebrows at her, making her blush deepen to an extraordinary red hue. “Audrey, some people would consider themselves lucky to be having lunch with Enzo Lennox.” She swallowed again and lowered herself down

onto the black leather couch. I watched as, at first, she sat in the corner, then glanced at the wide surface and scooted towards the middle. She looked at me with her lips slightly parted before sliding her pink tongue out of her mouth and licking her lips. “I’m lucky,” she said solemnly. “I know that.” I didn’t take my eyes off of Audrey as she opened the plastic container with her salad and stuck her fork inside. “I like having this job, Enzo.” I smiled at her. “I like having my job, too. But sometimes I think there’s more to life than work, don’t you?” I let my eyes wander down her body and linger on her chest. “I think there’s a lot more to life than work.” Audrey stood up, spilling salad all over the floor. “Oh shoot!” She cursed. “I’ll be right back, Enzo, I’m going to call someone to help clean that up.” “No need,” I said as I stood up and grabbed a brush and dustpan from under the desk. “I’ve got this right here.” Audrey glanced at me warily. “You want me to…?” I nodded, handing over the plastic brush and pan. “Yes, please,” I said with a smirk. Sitting back

down, I opened my salad and began to eat as I watched Audrey get down on her knees and sweep dressing-coated lettuce across the floor. She panted as she worked, with the tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth. When she was finished, she stood up and wiped her sweaty palms on her shapeless dress. “Is there anything else right now, Enzo?” I nodded. “No, thank you, Audrey. Please have the mock-up completed by the end of the day.” ### The next day was even worse. I could barely focus on my work, let alone Audrey. I couldn’t stop thinking about how it would feel to just stop her in the middle of the hallway and yank those frumpy stockings down. Her flesh would feel warm and supple under my hands. I knew that she wanted it. “Dammit!” I cursed under my breath as I stared at my computer screen. It was already late morning, and I hadn’t completed anything that I’d set out to do that day. “Enzo?” Audrey poked her head into my office. “Are you alright? I just heard you curse.” She

frowned as if the very idea offended her. “Can I bring you something? Coffee? Lunch?” I stared at her. She was wearing a shapeless olive green sweater and a brown corduroy jumper with a white turtleneck underneath. I’d never seen such ugly clothing, but at that moment, it didn’t matter. I wanted Audrey, even in her schoolmarm get-up. “Come here,” I said softly. Audrey swallowed hard. She took a step forward and inched closer to the desk. As the sweet scent of talc and strawberry washed over me, I closed my eyes and breathed in. “Audrey, do you like working for me?” Audrey blushed. “Of course,” she said slowly. “Didn’t we talk about this yesterday? I told you, I feel really lucky to have this job.” She bit her bottom lip and stepped backward. Her skin was dewy and flushed from some unseen exertion, and her brown hair looked wonderfully soft and shiny. “Why don’t you go get me some new folders?” I asked, gesturing to my desk. “These have all been used.” I picked them up and dumped them in the trash can. “I think a box or two should do it. I need

your help later; I’m reorganizing the master files.” Audrey nodded. “The master files?” “The files that detail all of the most important work we’ve done, like a resume or a portfolio.” I flashed a smile. “If we do wind up going to that tech expo, well, we’re going to need some proof of how much work we’ve done over the past few years.” Audrey bit her bottom lip again, and I was transported to a faraway scene with her perfect pink lips engulfing the erect head of my cock. “R-right, of course,” Audrey stammered. She backed up and ducked her head, then darted out of the office. I heard her clomping down the hallway, and grinned. “Those boxes are going to be awfully heavy,” I said as I stood up and strolled out of my office. Audrey was already out of sight, but I knew exactly where she’d gone—to a supply closet away from the main offices. It was a big, warehouse-like room and I knew that searching for folders would likely take a big chunk of her time. Unless I decided to go help her out of the goodness of my heart. Sure enough, Audrey was on her hands and knees,

digging around in the back of the room when I strolled through the door not ten minutes later. “Enzo!” Audrey jumped up and put her hand on her chest. “Oh my God, you scared me! I didn’t even hear you walk up!” I grinned again. “That’s okay,” I said, stepping closer. Audrey’s lips were parted, and her breath was coming in little bursts. “I figured you might need some help finding the files.” Audrey blushed. The lighting of the supply closet was dim, and I saw her profile more clearly than the rest of her features. “Okay,” she said, swallowing hard. I took another big step towards her until Audrey was backed up against the wall. She was panting audibly now, and as she reached a hand behind her body to steady herself against the concrete wall, I stepped even closer. We were so close that our bodies were almost touching—I felt the heat radiating from her soft skin. “Audrey,” I said, breathing out the words as I inched closer. She was trembling under my gaze like a little mouse being watched by an eagle. “Audrey, do you know what I would do to you if

we were alone?” Audrey shuddered. Her blue eyes were open wide and focused intently on my face. I could tell that she was turned on—there were some slight changes to her face. Her nostrils were flared, and her lips were parted as she breathed heavily. “No,” Audrey whispered. “Well,” I continued in a low tone as I reached forward and gently touched a lock of her soft brown hair, “first, I would strip you of all clothes.” I glanced down at her shapeless cardigan and sweater. “Second, I’d stare at your body until I had it memorized on the insides of my eyelids.” I growled. “Third, I’d lick your nipples until they grew hard and puckered in my mouth, and fourth, I’d trail my fingers between your inner thighs until you were begging for me to touch your clit.” Audrey blinked slowly. Her blue eyes were all pupil, her dark lashes quivering with excitement. A new muskiness emanated from her body and mingled with the talc and strawberry scent, making her seem abominably desirable. As she swallowed hard, I watched the soft skin on her throat tighten and clench.

“When I touched you for the first time, I’d make sure you wanted it,” I continued as I watched Audrey’s face. “I’d stroke my hands all over your soft body and drag my nails down your back until you began to bleed. I’d stroke your breasts and bury my face between your legs, licking and sucking on your hard little clit until you came in my mouth.” Sweat beaded on Audrey’s forehead and she closed her eyes. “I’d fuck you so thoroughly that no one else could ever fuck you again. I’d stroke your clit until you were on the verge of madness and then bring you back again, to the height of pleasure. I’d show you how to lick my cock and cradle my balls, how to pleasure me. And then we’d pleasure each other, Audrey. We’d crawl on our sides, thighs over each other’s heads and pleasure each other with our mouths. Does that sound good?” There was a sudden loud sound behind me, and I jumped back from Audrey. Harsh, overhead lights blinked on and filled the big storage closet with glaring yellow. “Oh my God,” Audrey squeaked. She darted past me with surprising grace and ran out of the storage

closet, clutching the front of her ugly cardigan with both hands. Karen, the woman who Audrey had caught me with on her first day, stood there watching. “Hi, Enzo,” she said with a sensual smirk on her face. “Plotting your next victim?” I rolled my eyes. “Enough, Karen,” I said as I stepped past her and into the hallway. There was no sign of Audrey anywhere—she’d managed to scamper off. I raised my eyebrows and chuckled. That girl was full of surprises.

Chapter Seven By the time Friday rolled around, I was so sexually frustrated that I had to jack off in the shower three times before going into work. The whole night before I’d been kept up, tortured by visions of sweet little Audrey between my sheets. I hadn’t been around a woman who I’d wanted to dominate in a hell of a long time—years, even. But Audrey was the perfect candidate. She was gorgeous under all those frumpy clothes, and she was the most submissive woman that I’d ever come across. She could barely bring herself to meet my eyes, much less speak out against me. As I walked into my office, I grinned. I’d arrived early, and Audrey was nowhere in sight. Her poster, a perfect mock-up of the design I wanted to use at the tech expo, was propped behind my desk. I turned on my computer, planning to spend the morning catching up on emails and calls. I’d missed a few calls this week from someone called Hotchkiss, and while his name was unfamiliar to me, I had a bad feeling about the intensity. Audrey had carried in three messages from him over the past two days.

Under normal circumstances, I would have returned the call by now, but I couldn’t shake the frustrating hold that Audrey had on my dick and my mind. Every time I saw her, I couldn’t stop thinking about how I had to have her. I had to satisfy my lust; I had to scratch the infernal itch that she’d created within my body. “She’s not here, you can focus,” I repeated to myself. It was a mantra I’d come up with that morning. I knew that Audrey would take time, but I couldn’t let LennoxCo go to hell while I was waiting for her to come around. After all, she was only a woman. I’d had hundreds of those before. No reason why one, in particular, should hold me up so much. I frowned as my email program popped up. My heart sank when I saw the name at the top of my inbox: Richard Hodges. Great, I thought as I rolled my eyes. You’re back from the brink. Back when I’d first started LennoxCo and made my first million, I’d been contacted by a potential investor named Richard Hodges. He wanted me to set aside a portion of my business for a consulting firm that he knew. He’d promised me that everything would be perfect—that the consulting firm operated with little overhead cost and that I

was getting a great deal. In short, he fucked me. By the time Hodges was done with me, I’d been almost bankrupted. If it hadn’t been for several investments that I’d made on my own before starting LennoxCo, I wouldn’t have survived the fallout. Ever since that had happened, I hated the man. He’d escaped with barely a scratch, and sometimes he popped up out of nowhere to try to con me all over again. It had been four years since the debacle happened with his so-called consulting firm, and I had no desire to let the business go down the toilet once more. But now, I couldn’t just ignore a man like Richard Hodges. He’d recently been named a top CEO by Fortune 500, and he’d been hired to helm another tech company in the industry—a company that focused on security services, just like LennoxCo. Reading about Hodges in the news had given me a sick feeling in my stomach, and I’d prayed that he wouldn’t try contacting me again. Even though I didn’t want anything to do with him, he was powerful. And I had a feeling that if I pissed him off enough, he’d try to destroy LennoxCo. “Hi, Enzo,” Audrey said. She stepped into my office and straightened her posture. “Can I get you

some coffee?” I nodded. “And could you give me the number for that Hotchkiss man?” I frowned as I dug through the pieces of paper littering the top of my desk. “I can’t find your messages anywhere.” Audrey blinked and then nodded. She darted out of my office. Five minutes later, she was back, armed with coffee and a notepad. “He said his name was Richard,” she said, licking her lips and flipping through the sheets of paper. “Here’s his number.” She handed me a piece of paper with the same number written on it as Richard’s emails. “Audrey,” I said, my tone sharp. “Did he tell you that his last name was Hodges or Hotchkiss?” Audrey blushed. She buried her face in her hands and stamped one of her orthopedic shoes on the ground. “Darn!” Her voice was muffled. “I screwed up, Enzo!” “Audrey, look at me,” I ordered, keeping my voice deadly calm. “Look at me right now.” Audrey let out a small squeak and ducked her head

back up to face me. Her cheeks were deliciously pink, and her eyes had begun to water. “Enzo, I am so sorry,” Audrey said in a rush. “He must have said Hodges, and I heard Hotchkiss.” She hung her head again. “I’m sorry. It’s always been really hard for me to hear people on the phone!” “Next time, you get him to spell his name.” I breathed. “This is a very important man, and someone who I need to keep tabs on at all times, do you understand?” Audrey gave a meek nod. “Did I screw something up for you?” The fear in her voice was palpable. “What can I do to fix it, Enzo?” “Just take my messages properly in the future!” I slammed my fist down on the desk. Audrey jumped a foot into the air, making the same squealing sound that she’d made before. “This is the most important part of the job, Audrey!” She skittered out of my office, and I slammed the door behind her. It was the first time I’d really been irritated with her—aside from when she walked in the first day to find me screwing Karen. I understood that she obviously had some kind of social problems, but it frustrated me that she hadn’t exerted a more disciplined performance. I rolled my

eyes. You’re being too hard on her, I thought to myself. But if it were anyone but Hodges, you probably wouldn’t care that much. I sighed, opening Hodges’ latest email. He wrote a few lines about not being able to get through that impenetrable secretary of yours, and I had to smirk. At least she’d managed to get under his skin, too. But when I got to the body of the email, I scowled. Hodges was, once again, offering to buy LennoxCo. He’d first made the overture a few months ago, and I’d written it off as drunken bravado. But now I could tell he was doing it to prove a point. I shifted uneasily in my chair. I didn’t think Hodges was bluffing anymore. I knew that he wanted to buy me out, and suddenly I was more nervous than ever before that he’d actually take a step to threaten me. “Audrey,” I called out. “Come in here.” There was no reply. I heard someone’s voice chattering away, but it wasn’t Audrey’s meek little tone. Frowning, I stood up from my desk and walked out of the room. Audrey was sitting behind

her desk staring up at Karen, who was leaning over her. “You’d better watch yourself,” Karen said before flicking her eyes towards me and turning on her heel. “Little bitch,” she muttered under her breath as she walked away. When she reached the elevator, she turned around and stared at me longingly. I could practically see her nipples getting hard under the nearly transparent blouse she wore. I walked closer. “What was all that about?” Audrey jumped at the sound of my voice. She whirled around in the chair, and she looked more frazzled than ever. “I don’t know,” she said, glancing down at her feet. “That girl, um, Karen, she just walked over to me and started threatening me.” I frowned. “What kind of threats?” Audrey laughed. It was a hollow sound. “She just told me to watch my back,” she said fearfully, glancing over her shoulder. She frowned, narrowing her eyes and creasing her pale forehead. “I mean, she said that you look at me funny.” I watched Audrey lick her lips. “I don’t think you stare at me.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Well, Karen is obviously jealous.” Audrey blushed again, harder than before. “But why would she be jealous of me?” Her voice had an awkward, Midwestern quality to it that I’d never heard before. I smirked. “You’ll figure it out. Trust me.”

Chapter Eight Audrey That Saturday, I was relieved to have the day to myself. I took Pepper on a nice, long walk in the morning. It was still freezing cold—Chicago winters were the worst—but it felt good to spend some time with my favorite girl. All the while, I couldn’t stop thinking about Enzo. I hated myself for obsessing over him. Hell, all the women he worked with had probably done that. “I hope you’re not disappointed in me,” I told Pepper as I reached down and scratched the area between her ears. “I’m a little disappointed in myself, to be honest with you, girl.” Pepper whined. She curled up between my legs and thumped her tail on the cold ground. “I know, I know,” I told her with a sigh. “We’re going home and getting you out of the cold. Don’t worry.” It had been a sunny morning, but now the sun was ducking behind the clouds, and I could tell that it was going to snow later. I shivered. Even under

three layers of clothing, I couldn’t seem to warm up. Thinking about Enzo sure makes you warm, a voice piped up from the back of my head. I rolled my eyes. It was true. I spent so much time blushing around Enzo that my cheeks felt permanently pink. Whenever I was alone, I felt more like myself again: cool, calm, and collected. Pepper whined uneasily as we walked into my apartment building. The lobby was as dingy as ever, but it still felt good to be out of the cold. As we waited for the elevator, I swallowed hard and thought about what I was going to do. As much as I hated myself for not being able to stop thinking of Enzo, whenever his face popped into my mind, I couldn’t deny the feelings of warmth and lust that came over me. I’d only ever slept with one guy. He was someone I’d known in college, and back then he’d seemed as glamorous as Enzo had. His name was Peter. We’d both majored in economics, and I loved the way he stood out from all of the other kids—you could tell he didn’t care about being preppy or popular. He had dark hair that was usually long enough to hang in front of his

eyes and instead of wearing polo shirts and khakis like the other econ majors, Peter always looked like he was on his way home from band rehearsal. He’d been aloof and cold, and desperately sexy. I’d spent three years staring at him. Whenever he glanced at me, it felt like my insides were melting. It was the most amazing feeling that I’d ever felt. Well, until I met Enzo at least. Peter hadn’t paid a lot of attention to me. We got to know each other because of class discussions. Finally, at the end of my last year, some kids in our senior seminar invited me to a party. I almost didn’t go—it was right after I’d adopted Pepper, and I was worried about her being home alone for a few hours. “But, Audrey,” one of the guys had said with a smirk. “Peter’s going to be there. Don’t you like him?” At the time, I remembered being mostly embarrassed that everyone could tell how I’d felt. But I’d gone to the party—that had been enough to hook me. I didn’t know what to wear, so I wore a cocktail dress that I’d gotten from a thrift shop. It was definitely the wrong choice: everyone else had been decked out in jeans and T-shirts. But it was

enough to make Peter finally talk to me. I still remembered how it felt when he’d walked up to me and handed me a beer. It was like we’d never met before. Suddenly, his gaze was all over me. After I’d had a few drinks, I was woozy and could barely stand. But Peter put his arm around me and told me that everything was going to be alright. He’d guided me into a back bedroom. I was afraid that he was going to leave me, and when he turned to go, I asked him to stay. Then he’d crawled into bed with me and put his cold, shaky hands up my thrift-store dress. I hadn’t really liked sex. It had hurt, and then it had felt uncomfortable. Peter had passed out on top of me and wriggling out from under him had hurt a lot. But I’d felt sort of proud in a way. After all, I was no longer a virgin. I finally felt like I’d had a typical college experience, even though it wasn’t nearly as fun as I’d expected. But the experience had done one good thing: it had completely cured me of my attraction to Peter. Whenever I thought of him afterward, I remembered the clumsy way that his fingers had prodded and poked at my body. I had a feeling that sleeping with Enzo would be the complete opposite of sleeping with Peter. Just thinking of his name made me shudder. A second

later, the image of Enzo’s perfect face popped into my mind. I closed my eyes and thought about his perfect gray eyes, his dark hair, the chiseled curve of his jaw. And that body! My skin prickled and tingled with warmth as I recalled the sensual, feline shape of his limbs. I wondered how his skin would feel pressed up against mine. His scent, that rich, spicy cologne, was enough to make me feel wet for hours. I was dying to know what he used. It was tempting to buy a bottle and spray it on my pillowcase. After I fixed lunch for myself and Pepper, I got dressed again and braved the cold. It was my weekly shift at the soup kitchen, and I was looking forward to seeing Carl. I hadn’t seen him all week. Before I’d started working at LennoxCo, Carl and I had visited once or twice in the evenings. Usually, I’d treat him to a cheap meal, and then we’d hang out in my apartment. But I hadn’t had time this week—I’d stayed late at LennoxCo almost every night. I felt embarrassed and ashamed of it. When I’d first gotten the job, I’d made a promise to myself that I wouldn’t turn into one of those careless women who forgets about her friends just because of her job. Now, shamefully, I felt like exactly one of those people.

The soup kitchen was crowded and pleasantly warm and humid when I let myself in through the staff door. I could tell there was a bigger crowd than usual—in the winter, we saw almost triple the amount of people who came in the summer. Shelters and food kitchens in Chicago don’t exactly have a reputation for being safe, but Helping Hands Pantry tried hard. I knew almost every single one of the people who volunteered there, and they were all one hundred percent committed to making it a safer place than ever before. “Hey, Audrey,” one of the other regulars said to me. Her name was Gina, and she was someone I respected. I’d had a few long talks with her when I first graduated from college. Initially, I’d wanted to work for a nonprofit. Gina had a lot of experience, but she definitely made me rethink my decision. I remember her telling me, “If you’re planning on sending money back home, don’t rely on a nonprofit to pay all the bills.” I shuddered. Being at Helping Hands usually made me feel lucky, but today I just felt guilty. There were so many people in line, and so few of them had jackets or coats. A man was standing across the counter from me who actually looked like he’d been frostbitten.

“Hi,” I said to Gina as I slipped an apron over my head. “What’s going on?” “We’re so busy today,” she said frantically as she passed a loaded tray of stew, bread, and vegetables to the man with the chapped face. “We had way more people show up than expected and two volunteers called in sick!” I rolled my eyes and pushed up my sleeves. I always wore plastic gloves at Helping Hands and the sensation of the cool plastic sliding against my skin always took some getting used to. “I’m sorry this morning has been so hectic,” I said as I helped load up a tray and pass it over the counter. “I should have come in earlier,” I added. “I feel guilty.” Gina looked at me and laughed. “Audrey, you’re already like the nicest person here. Everyone knows you have a full-time job, and you still volunteer. I wish I could get my daughter to be more like you. She’s so selfish—she won’t even think of volunteering during the holidays!” I blushed. I didn’t often make it known why I cared so much about charity work. Only Carl knew the real reason: because my family had often eaten at

places like this when I was growing up. “Thanks, Gina,” I said, hoping she’d drop it. She let out a groan and walked back into the kitchen. It felt like my shift lasted forever. By the time I was done, I was exhausted. My feet were killing me— I’d bought new sneakers and hadn’t had time yet to break them in. All I could think about was going home and snuggling with Pepper on the couch. When I let myself out of the volunteer exit, I gasped. Enzo was standing right there. It had begun to snow, and he was wearing an amazing black overcoat with a silk scarf and a nice hat. I rolled my eyes. “Get lost,” I said. “I have to go home and take care of Pepper.” I winced as soon as the words were out of my mouth. “I’m sorry. But I really don’t think you should be here right now. This isn’t a great idea, Enzo.” “I was waiting for you,” Enzo said. He smiled at me with a cruel twist of his perfect mouth, and arousal spiked in my lower belly. “I wanted to ask you something.” My mouth suddenly felt heavy and woolen. Dammit, I thought in irritation. I do fine when

you’re not around! Then you have to show up and make me feel so flustered! “Well, what is it?” I stepped closer, my mouth becoming drier with each passing second. “I wanted to let you know that I’ll leave you alone,” he said casually, spreading his hands through the air. I narrowed my eyes at him. “So, what, you couldn’t have just told me that at work?” I rolled my eyes. “You had no problem telling everything else there.” I shivered as I remembered our encounter in the supply closet the week before. “Well, there’s a catch,” Enzo said. His voice was silky and deep. A strange feeling passed through my body, like my stomach was sliding around and my lower belly was tightening. It almost felt like I’d just sprinted a mile. “What’s that?” Enzo stepped closer. “I get to kiss you.” I scoffed, crossing my arms over my chest. “Oh yeah?”

Enzo nodded. “Of course, you have my word. I’ll leave you alone; you’ll be a free woman. No more comments, no more staring.” I swallowed hard. “I don’t believe you. I think you’re just trying to fuck with me.” Enzo chuckled. “You can’t read my mind,” he said teasingly, raising an eyebrow at me until I felt my whole face covered in a hot flush. “So, you really have no idea, do you?” I gulped. “You’re ridiculous.” I pushed past him and stalked away. “I don’t believe you, not for a second. You don’t care about kissing me, you only wanna do it to prove a point.” Enzo raised an eyebrow at me. “You have no way of knowing until you agree,” he said. “So, what do you think?” I squirmed. Even though the Chicago January was brutal, it wasn’t nearly as bad as being rooted to the spot while my boss stared at my chest. And it’s not like you don’t want him to, a voice in my head chimed in. Admit it. You want to know what it would feel like. You want to know exactly what he’s going to do to you.

Enzo stepped even closer. A wave of his delicious scent came over me, and I had to close my eyes and steady myself against the cold brick of Helping Hands. I braced myself, readying my body for the feel of his perfect lips on mine. I wondered if his hands would roam over my body, I wondered if he’d pull me close. This man was like sex personified, and it was all I could do not to throw myself into his arms and eagerly await the feel of his tongue sliding against my own. I wouldn’t have admitted this to Enzo, not for all the money in the world, but I’d never really been kissed. All through junior high and high school, I’d been too shy and embarrassed to even think about dating. All of my friends had boyfriends. Every afternoon, before getting on the school bus and going home, they’d kiss in the hallway. Sometimes I watched, trying to imagine how it would feel to be kissed. But no boy ever asked me, and as years passed, I became increasingly aware of the fact that I’d never been kissed. Peter didn’t even kiss me. Sure, he pressed his sloppy face against mine when we were already having sex, but he never cupped my face in his hands, never kissed my forehead or the tip of my nose. Hell, I wasn’t even sure that he’d made it to

my lips. Enzo chuckled again. “Surely you don’t think that I’m going to kiss you right now,” he said. He raised his eyebrows, and heat swam through my whole body. “Not right in the street, in front of this place.” He gestured towards Helping Hands. “Don’t you know I’m more private than that?” “Well, I’m not going home with you,” I snapped on the defense. “Like I said, I have to get home and take care of Pepper.” Enzo shrugged. “Then I guess I’ll walk you home,” he said, his trademark smirk plastered across his face. “It’s not like you don’t know where I live.” Huffing and shoving my hands in my pockets, I strode in front of Enzo and walked with my head down. The sidewalk was bleached with salt and bits of ice, and I had to watch my footing to make sure I didn’t stumble. The day had turned into a completely brutal endeavor, with snow swirling above our heads and the lake a threatening roar. I shivered. “It’s so cold,” I grumbled as I stalked through the neighborhood. I’d lived in Pilsen ever since I’d graduated from college. It wasn’t the safest

neighborhood in the world, but I liked that there wasn’t a lot of nightlife. Not that I’d ever feel distracted or compelled to go out, but somehow it made me feel better about the crime rate. Enzo frowned as he trailed behind me to my door “Why do you live in this shithole?” I gritted my teeth, pushing my key into the lock and turning it as best as I could. “It’s not a shithole,” I said proudly. “It’s my home. I’ve been here for years.” The tension was thick as Enzo followed me inside. “Well, as long as you like it,” he said in a dubious tone. I slid my jacket off and put it on the table. Licking my lips, I stared at Enzo. “Well, go on,” I said in frustration. When I realized how the words had sounded, I blushed hard. “Sorry, that’s, um, my Wisconsin accent. I’ve always tried to drop it. I know it makes me sound like a complete hick.” Enzo stepped forward with a smirk on his face. “I didn’t notice,” he purred silkily. Before I could move, his hands were on the side of my face. His skin was warm and dry despite the arctic temperatures outside, and I shuddered with lust.

When his gray eyes stared into mine, I felt like I was going to drown inside of them. “Audrey,” Enzo purred. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips against mine. For a moment, the kiss felt chaste, wooden. Then it began to warm up. I loved the feel of Enzo’s soft, wide lips against my own. He pressed gently and flicked his tongue between my lips. I let out a slow, liquid moan. As Enzo wrapped me in his arms and pulled me close to his body, my heart began to slam against the walls of my chest. I felt my lower belly kick and tighten with lust and sweat broke out all over my body. I didn’t even feel myself putting my arms around Enzo’s neck. He was taller than I, much taller, and to kiss him, I had to raise myself up on my tiptoes. Enzo growled into my mouth, pressing his lips against mine and gently sucking my tongue. I tasted the warm air from his mouth and felt my body shudder with arousal. This was the most passionate moment of my life, and I didn’t want it to end. I felt myself melting against him, hungry, like I was suddenly desperate for his body. My nipples stiffened in my bra, and my crotch began to pulse and ache. I wanted him to put his hand between my

legs, I wanted him to rub my nipples until I was moaning with lust. Enzo slid his hands down my body and gently squeezed my ass. The vibrations that accompanied his touch felt amazing, and I threw my head back and moaned as he touched me. As I felt Enzo’s hot lips move down my neck, I shuddered with pleasure. Enzo stepped away and gazed at me with an odd look on his face. “That’s that, then,” he said in a businesslike tone. “I’ll see you on Monday.” But when he’d let himself out the door and closed it, I found myself still standing there, wondering what the hell had just happened. Everything inside me wanted to scream back to him, to call him back, to urge him to kiss me again. I wanted him to kiss me again. Hell, I wanted him to take me to bed and do a lot worse than just kiss me. I straightened myself up. You won’t call him back, will you? the voice in my head taunted me. I closed my eyes. “No, I won’t call him back,” I said aloud. “I definitely won’t call him back.” ###

I spent Sunday wallowing with Pepper and feeling sorry for myself. I even caught myself glancing at my phone, pathetically checking to see whether or not Enzo would call. Pepper looked at me and whined after the second time I did it. I rolled my eyes and reached down, rubbing her between the ears until she started howling with pleasure. “I know, I’m being stupid,” I told her as she rolled onto her back and put her legs up in the air. I began rubbing Pepper’s belly as vigorously as I could until she closed her eyes and began making a relaxed, happy sound. “But I can’t help it, Pep. It’s like every time he looks at me, I feel like my heart’s going to fall out of my butt.” Pepper growled. She rolled onto her belly and gazed up at me with her baleful brown eyes. “I know, I know,” I said, looking away and feeling oddly indignant. “But you’ve never been in this situation before, you don’t know what it’s like.” I rolled my eyes. “Imagine if that German shepherd from the dog park wanted to sleep with you, Pepper. You know he’s a bad dog, and he’s probably slept with half of those other pooches. But you still think he’s attractive! Why is that?” Pepper barked once, and I massaged her ears. “I

know,” I said, making a face. “I know I’m being ridiculous. But I don’t know what else to do!” After a mostly sleepless night, I hauled myself out of bed on Monday morning and decided that this week was going to be different. Enzo would be ignoring me, just as he promised, and I’d be able to stay out of his hair. I imagined that my workdays would go much more smoothly now. Without Enzo to distract me, I’d probably become a halfway decent assistant. I still felt horrible about the whole Hodges/Hotchkiss mix-up. Deep down, I knew that if Enzo weren’t so gorgeous, I probably would have had an easier time concentrating on taking his messages. It was hard to listen to people on the phone when I knew that someone so sexy was watching my every move. As I took the “L” from Pilsen into the Loop for work, I couldn’t stop thinking about how Enzo’s mouth had felt on my own. I’d spent hours thinking of the moment since Saturday, and now I realized that I’d be seeing him for the first time face-to-face since then. I felt so stupid. How could I not have realized that things weren’t going to magically change between us? Enzo was my boss, and now I’d have to stare at him all day knowing that I’d

gotten my chance and thrown it away. At the same time, it wasn’t exactly like I could just walk away from LennoxCo. I really needed this job —it was more important than anything else in my life. And I needed Enzo to keep me employed. I knew what happened to the girls who fell for him, or just slept with him: they wound up with settlement checks and a pink slip. A long time ago, I’d vowed to never become the kind of girl who let a man ruin her life. That was part of the reason why I’d never been that interested in dating, or boyfriends. It was fine and good for my friends, but I never wanted to worry about falling victim to my heart. The way I saw it, you liked someone, and then they wound up hurting you. Even if they promised they wouldn’t, it usually happened in the end. It was easier to stay alone or stay with Pepper. Pepper would never hurt me, or cheat on me, or break my heart. She was a dog; man’s best friend, after all. Feeling like I actually wanted Enzo in my life was the scariest thing of all. Maybe even scarier than realizing how badly I wanted to sleep with him. “Good morning, Audrey,” Enzo said as I brought in

his morning coffee. “How was your weekend?” He kept his perfect gray eyes glued to his computer screen. “It was fine. I took Pepper—” “That’ll be all for now,” Enzo said smoothly. He took the coffee mug from my trembling hands and placed it on his desk. When I didn’t leave immediately, he looked up at me over the rims of his wireless glasses. “Audrey, is there something you need? Something I can help you with?” “No,” I said miserably as I backed away in the direction of my desk. “I’m fine.” The rest of the day was even worse; Enzo ignored me for the most part. I’d never felt as crazy in my life as I did all during that Monday. I kept wondering if there was something wrong with me. Did I have a stain on the seat of my skirt? Did I smell? Was there something in my teeth? But every time I went to the bathroom, I was greeted with the same expression as before. I looked like a depressed young woman with boring brown hair and blue eyes. “No wonder Enzo doesn’t want you,” I said to my reflection.

I was startled to hear the sound of a toilet flushing behind me. As Karen walked out of the stall, looking perfectly coiffed and blonder than ever, I blushed. “Excuse me?” Karen leaned in my face. “Did you say something?” “N-no,” I stammered. “Well, um, yes, but not to you.” Then I darted out of the bathroom before she could ask me anything else, cursing myself all the way back to my desk. Every time I heard Enzo’s voice or heard his footsteps moving around in his office, I jumped up, thinking that soon he’d have to talk to me. But he stayed on the phone almost all day, and each time I caught a glimpse of his face, I realized how stressed and unhappy he looked. I wondered if something was bothering him; something that I should ask about. But then I realized there was nothing I could do to improve Enzo’s quality of life. It was easy to see why he’d been able to toss me aside so quickly. Compared to him, I was just a boring little mouse.

Chapter Nine Enzo I couldn’t think of anyone but Audrey, and doing anything other than fucking her. It was all I wanted, and since I’d decided she’d be mine, I wanted it now. I could barely concentrate on my work, much less anything else going on. Hodges? Who cared! Other girls in the office? For once, I could actually claim that I hadn’t checked anyone out in over a week. Leaning back in my chair, I pulled up The Wall Street Journal. LennoxCo had a complimentary subscription for all employees, and I often encouraged the people working under me to read it. Of course, right now the only person I wanted working under me was Audrey. And I didn’t exactly want her reading the goddamned paper. “Audrey,” I called out. Damn! Even my voice sounds weird! “Can you come in here?” Audrey got up from her desk and ran breathlessly into my room. As always, she looked like she’d just come from some kind of bag lady marathon, clad in horrific clothing and sweating, with her cheeks pink

and the tip of her tongue sticking out. Remembering our kiss made me growl with lust. The way that Audrey had melted into my arms had been incredible, and now I was dying to make her melt once again. “Yes?” Audrey’s voice was meek. “What is it, Enzo?” “I want coffee,” I said shortly as I shoved a mug across my desk at Audrey. It was still full, and lukewarm coffee splashed over the sides. Audrey stared. “Should I reheat this, or do you need it fresh?” I stared right back. Her blue eyes were wide open, and her gaze was fixed on my face, just as mine was on hers. Dammit, grow a pair and just fuck her already! “Of course I need it fresh,” I snapped. “Go. Now!” Audrey grabbed the mug and skittered out of the room before I could stop her. With a heavy sigh, I picked up the landline and called Sebastian. Sebastian Roberts, or Seb, had been one of my best friends since college. When I

went off to found LennoxCo, he went to work for his father’s hedge fund. I’d always envied Seb—his mind was even sharper than mine, and he somehow managed to get everything done perfectly despite a ton of drinking and sleeping around. After his father’s fund went down, he came to work for me. Before Audrey, he’d linger outside my office and flirt with my secretary. It was like he knew that it got under my skin, which made him all the more determined to do it. Now, I wondered if he’d try the same tricks with her. “What is it?” Seb’s voice was low and humorous. “It’s barely ten in the morning, asshole, why the hell are you calling me?” I chuckled. “I need your… I need your help with something. Can you come over here?” “Lennox you are killing me!” Seb groaned, but I could tell he didn’t actually mind. “I’ll be right over.” I leaned back in my desk chair, grinning wickedly. I hoped Seb would arrive right before Audrey. I really wanted to see how he’d react to this little brunette who had me in such a bind.

“Here you are, Enzo,” Audrey chirped. She’d washed the mug and had it refilled with fresh coffee. “I made sure that it was hot.” “Thanks,” I said, my voice dismissive. I stared at her. Her outfit was as bad as it ever had been: a knitted bright orange sweater over a lumpy pair of slacks and her beige orthopedic shoes. She was wearing those little stockings that end above the ankle, and they were sagging around her tight skin. She could have been auditioning for the part of a homeless person on Broadway. I chucked under my breath. “What is it?” Audrey pressed her hands against her pants. “Is something wrong?” Right at that moment, Seb bounded into my office. He was my foil, my opposite. He had blond hair and green eyes and tan skin. Like me, he was obsessed with working out—we always teased each other at who was better at squash—and obsessed with clothing. I got up, and we did our fraternity handshake. Seb didn’t even look at Audrey; it was like she wasn’t even in the room. “Man,” Seb said. He stepped back and looked me

up and down. “You don’t look so good.” He glanced around. “New girl got you down?” “She’s behind you,” I said with a smirk. Seb looked surprised, and Audrey’s cheeks flushed. “Audrey, this is Sebastian Roberts. We went to school together. He used to work for a hedge fund, but he couldn’t stand the pressure, so he came here instead.” Audrey looked skeptically from my face to Seb’s. “That was a joke,” Seb cut in. He’d finally turned to face Audrey with an incredulous look on his face. “And who are you, the little match girl?” Audrey blinked. “Um, no,” she said softly. “My name is Audrey, Audrey Turner.” I winced. The sound of her hideous Wisconsin accent was coming out again. “I work for Enzo. I’m, uh, his secretary.” Seb chuckled. “Well, technically you’re an administrative assistant now,” he said slyly. “Wouldn’t want you to offend HR without knowing it.” Audrey’s blue eyes went wide. “I’m sorry,” she

said. Her jaw hung open. “Enzo, do you want me to go?” “Stay,” I said, waving my hand in the air. “Chat. This is about the time you take a break in the mornings, right?” Audrey glared at me. It was clear that she’d rather be anywhere but in my office currently. Well, too bad, I thought with a smirk. You’re my secretary, and you’re here. Tough shit. “So, Audrey,” Seb purred. He stepped closer, and something unpleasant jolted in my stomach. “Have you worked here long?” Audrey glanced nervously from Seb to me. “Um, not long.” I noticed she was taking extra pains to correct her accent. “A couple of weeks. I think this is my third or fourth week.” “Ah,” Seb said devilishly. He clapped his hands together then. “So, you’re right on time!” He stared at Audrey’s body through her lumpy outfit. “And you know what happens to Enzo’s rejects, right?” “Enough,” I said as I stood up. I couldn’t explain what happened to me just then—normally, I loved to watch Seb in action. Especially when he went to

great pains to make my secretaries uncomfortable. “Audrey, you can go,” I said, my tone curt, pointing towards the door. Audrey scurried away, closing the door behind her. Seb shot me a look. “What the fuck was that about? You normally don’t give a fuck when I move in on your girls. What’s the matter, not happened yet?” I rolled my eyes. “Not even close,” I muttered. “So drop it.” Seb narrowed his eyes. “You seem out of sorts, my man.” He leaned over my desk. “Need a trip to The Pink Diamond?” I snorted. “I don’t think a trip to the strip joint would cheer me up. Sorry.” I walked Seb back down to the main floor of the office. I didn’t normally leave the executive floor, but this shit with Audrey was bothering me so goddamn much. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was really upsetting me. “Hey, Enzo,” Karen said flirtatiously. She was standing in the lobby with some of her friends.

They all looked magnificent—like show dogs—all in perfectly tailored suits with pencil skirts hugging their heart-shaped asses. Karen looked especially radiant. Her long blonde hair was pale, and she was tan, even though it was approaching February. “Later, Karen,” I told her firmly. It was too late; she’d walked over to me and tried to put her arm around my neck. “Why are you being so cold?” Karen’s voice sounded wounded. “You know that little girl won’t have anything to do with you. I mean, God, why would you even want that?” “Fuck off,” I spat out, pushing Karen’s arm away. Her eyes narrowed. “If you keep this up, I’ll tell HR everything,” she hissed in a loud whisper. “You don’t even know, Enzo!” I leaned in. Little bitch thought she could beat me at my own game? Good fucking luck. “If you try that, I’ll go to HR and tell them that you’ve been sleeping with your boss,” I growled out at Karen. “And I still have a pair of your panties floating around somewhere. Don’t think that I won’t dredge them up and show HR!”

Karen glared at me. “Forget it,” she said tartly, spinning on her heel and walking away. I clapped my hand on my forehead. Just what the fuck had I gotten myself into? ### By the time I got back to my desk, I was in a foul mood, and my new coffee was cold. I didn’t want to face Audrey again, even though it was almost time for my lunch. Instead, I turned on my computer and began scrolling through my emails. When I saw that I had three new messages from Hodges, I groaned again. This day, this week, everything was fucking out to get me. I couldn’t stand the idea of that weasel trying to worm his way back into LennoxCo, but I knew that I had to see what he had to say. Enzo, I’ll be calling later in the afternoon, and it would be great if you could accept. While I know that you’ve been hesitant to accept any of my offers so far, I’d be pleased if you could hear me out this time.

Just as a reminder, if you don’t decide to take the call, think about the paperwork from the consulting firm deal. You may not have found it interesting at the time, but I think there would be certain officials who would love to look over that now. Best, Richard. Fuck. I closed my eyes and let my head rest in my hands. Back when Hodges first approached me about investing with him, I hadn’t realized that he was basically concocting a pyramid scheme. He’d gone around to several companies and tried to sell potential investors on a multi-level scheme. I groaned. I hadn’t seen it at the time, and every day I wished I could go back in time if only to slap myself awake. Richard had been doing nothing but peddling an illegal scheme. While I hadn’t felt lucky at the time, in retrospect, I knew that I had been: Richard hadn’t ever gone to the police with the paperwork. If they found the documents, I’d be in white-collar prison for years. The rest of my life, even. I swallowed, feeling uncomfortable. Chicago had a

routine history of corruption, but the only thing that stood out in this city above corruption was loyalty. Richard was asking me to be loyal to him. I didn’t know if I could—he’d almost ruined me once. I was sure that if he bought LennoxCo, he’d somehow manage to drive it into the ground. The company was like my child, and I wasn’t okay with seeing Richard ruin it. “Enzo!” Audrey called to me from her desk. “Richard’s on the phone! Richard Hodges! Do you want to take the call?” Dammit. He was moving too fast today! “Yeah,” I called back. “I’ll take him on line one.” Audrey beeped the call through. When I answered, I was dismayed to hear that Hodges sounded exactly the same as he always had—falsely jovial, like he was a god bearing good news. “Enzo, it’s been too long,” Hodges said grandly. “What would you say to a game of squash and dinner tonight at the Four Seasons?” “Can’t, sorry,” I replied in a flippant tone. “Maybe sometime next month. Or maybe next year, Richard.”

Richard laughed. It was a dangerous, low sound. “Maybe you’ll agree when I tell you that I know a little more than you think. I’ve been watching you, Enzo.” All traces of friendliness were gone from his voice, and now he just sounded like exactly what he was at his core: a menacing and desperate man. “Oh yeah?” I raised my eyebrows. “And what have you seen?” “Well, I know there’s a certain little frumpy woman that you can’t take your eyes off. How’s that?” I practically jumped out of my chair. Through the glass partition in my door, I saw Audrey. She was leaning over the desk, working hard at something, and the corner of her tongue was sticking out of her mouth. A lick of desire shot through me as I watched her twirl from side to side in her desk chair. “You’re wrong,” I said flatly. “That’s my new secretary, Audrey. She’s the one who’s been taking your calls.” “Oh, I know,” Richard said casually. “She’s adorable to speak with, Enzo. That cute little mistake about my name!” His sarcastic tone made me shudder. “I can see exactly why you’re

obsessed with her.” I frowned. “That’s not true.” “Oh, don’t worry, Enzo. You don’t have to lie to me. Not anymore. I know exactly what you’re up to, and don’t forget it.” “What do you want?” Hodges laughed. “Well, I want to own LennoxCo. And maybe change the name to something a little more fitting. I don’t think 'Enzo Is A Loser' would fit on the tax forms, but HodgesCo sure would.” I bristled, feeling angry and tense beneath my skin. “That’s what you think,” I hissed out. “You know I’d never sell anything to you. You’re not even getting a single share of this company, asshole. When we go public, you’re forbidden from buying any shares.” “Oh, planning an IPO?” I could have smacked myself. I’d never meant to reveal that to Hodges. “Enzo, it’s okay,” Hodges said in a soothing voice. “We’re old friends. You don’t have to keep secrets

from me.” “I’m not keeping anything from you.” I growled. “Good, then you won’t put up much of a fight when I decide to dig out that paperwork from the consulting firm and show it to a few friends,” Hodges said. “I have to run, Enzo. Bye now!” He hung up before I could respond. I stared at the phone for a long time afterward. ### At the end of the day, there was a soft knock on my door. I knew it was Audrey before I could even call out and tell her to come in. Unusually, she didn’t wait for me to say anything before she pushed the door open and strode into my office. It was the most assertive thing I’d ever seen her do. “Enzo?” Standing in front of my desk, Audrey was meek and quiet once more. She shifted, reaching her arm up and crossing over her shoulder to scratch an itch on the back of her neck. As I watched her twist and writhe in front of me, lust exploded in my loins. I need to have her. I’ve got to have her. Right. Now.

“Audrey, come here.” My voice was stern as I rose to my feet. Audrey stepped forward. She ducked her head down, then walked around the side of my desk and stood directly in front of me. Even with the slight heels on her shoes, she was still incredibly diminutive. I could tell she was shaking with fear and arousal. I put my hands on her shoulders and kissed her passionately. Audrey didn’t respond at first. Then, as her mouth began to warm up to mine, she melted into my arms. I felt all resistance leaving her body as my tongue slipped between her parted lips. Amazingly, she tasted like strawberries. Audrey moaned. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me down close until our bodies were pressed against each other. Underneath all of the baggy clothes, she really did have an amazing figure—I felt a taut stomach and a nice, curvy rack. I groaned into Audrey’s mouth as she trailed her hands down my back. Her touch was featherlight and gentle, as though she was afraid that she’d hurt me. As good as her hands felt on my body, I wanted to be in charge. I wanted to be the one in control.

Quickly, I grabbed both of Audrey’s wrists with one of my hands and held her arms over her head. Her arms were thin, and she was light. I could tell that her toes were struggling to stay on the ground as I raised her arms high in the air. Audrey didn’t struggle. Instead, she pressed against me and caressed my tongue with her own. The soft, wet feel of her hot lips against my mouth was too much, and my cock stiffened and twitched in my pants. I was so desperate for her, I felt like I was going to explode if I didn’t fuck her right here and now. Audrey gasped. She broke the kiss and arched her neck, throwing her head back and moaning louder. It was the loudest sound I’d ever heard escape from her lips and hearing it turned me on more than I ever could have imagined. As I held her arms above her head, I used my free arm to grope her chest through her hideous clothing. Her breasts were taut and large, and my cock throbbed with lust as I ran my hands over her skin. Audrey moaned again. She closed her eyes and blindly pressed her face against mine, sucking on my lower lip and biting it gently with her teeth. Pleasure and desire swirled through my body as I led her over to the black leather couch and pushed her down.

Audrey went flying through the air, landing on her back with her legs splayed. Eagerly, I dropped to my knees and crawled between her legs. Her crotch smelled amazing—like musk and strawberries—and my mouth watered as I reached under her sweater for the waistband of her baggy trousers. Audrey looked at me with a delicious, warm pink flush on her cheeks. “Enzo,” she said softly. “Enzo, what are you doing?” “I want to taste you,” I growled out as I tugged the baggy fabric down Audrey’s slender hips and thighs. Underneath, she was incredibly creamy and pale. I watched her white thighs trembling before slapping them gently apart with one of my hands. “I want to pleasure you. I need you, Audrey. I need you now.” Audrey whimpered as I slipped a finger inside the crotch of her white cotton panties. The material was soaked through with her arousal, and the wet fabric slid over her body, causing her to cry out with pleasure as I tugged on her panties. She smelled incredible. I closed my eyes and inhaled, lowering my head to her inner thighs and licking the soft skin there. As good as Audrey’s pussy smelled, her skin tasted even better. I could practically taste

the innocence there. With a growl, I grabbed the cotton fabric of her panties in both hands. Audrey gasped as I ripped them off her body and tossed the ruined fabric to the side. She was still wearing that hideous sweater, but I eagerly pushed the material up to her collarbone, exposing her breasts, firmly secured in a white bra that looked like something a grandmother would wear. “This has to go,” I said with a snarl, reaching around the back for the clasp. I unhooked it on the first try and ripped the material away from Audrey’s pale body. When she was practically naked in front of me, I growled again with desire. Her perfect pale breasts were capped with big pink nipples, and I shuddered as I rubbed my thumb over one of them, making it stand up in my hand. “Enzo,” Audrey whimpered in ecstasy, arching her back and shoving her breasts forward into my face. “Enzo, that feels so good!” I growled. “Good.” I moved from one breast to the other, crawling up on my knees and taking one of her succulent nipples into my mouth. “It better feel good.”

Audrey let out a squeal of delight as I ran my tongue and teeth over her erect nipple. With my free hand, I traced light patterns between her thighs, alternating the pads of my fingers with my sharp nails. Audrey gasped and bucked her hips towards me. Her face was flushed with desire, and she was panting eagerly. As I moved my hand closer to her pussy, she let out a delicious, low moan. “Touch me,” Audrey pleaded. I yanked my hand away. “You don’t get to tell me how to touch you. I do what I want, you understand? You’re mine, Audrey.” Audrey whimpered in response. Her whole body was trembling, and a little trail of moisture was leaking out of her pussy. The sight was almost enough to make my cock explode in my pants, but I knew that I had to wait. I couldn’t fuck her, not just yet. I had to do something that would leave her wanting more. Without warning, I plunged two fingers inside the wetness of Audrey’s secret hole. She gasped as I began to wriggle my hand, moving my fingers across the most sensitive part of her pussy. With my thumb, I found her engorged clit and began to rub

it. Audrey moaned. She opened her eyes and looked at me—the lust in her beautiful blue orbs was evident. Without her clothes, she looked like a completely different person. She looked sexy, confident, like she was enjoying herself more than she ever had before. “Enzo!” Audrey yelped. “Enzo!” She writhed against me, furiously grabbing my hand and rubbing it against her clit in rapid, swift motions. I felt her muscles bunch and tense under me. Finally, her pussy clenched my fingers, and her body began to shake with a sweet release. As she came, Audrey threw her head back and moaned even louder. Sweat beaded on her forehead and dripped down the sides of her face. I leaned back on my haunches, satisfied. For now, an ominous voice growled out from the back of my mind. You’re only satisfied for now.

Chapter Ten Audrey After what happened in Enzo’s office, I was ashamed. I was embarrassed. And I was more exhilarated than I’d ever felt in my entire life. The things that Enzo had done to my body, the expert way that he’d touched and caressed my skin, were things that I hadn’t even been aware had been missing from my life. Thinking about what he’d done to my body alternately filled me with bursts of excitement and shame. I couldn’t believe how I’d acted, how I’d begged for it! I shuddered. Even though the “L” ride back to Pilsen was full of people, I still felt completely alone. I couldn’t believe that I’d finally broken down and let Enzo seduce me. My loins were still warm and excited, but my stomach was a nervous wreck. I felt it knotting on top of itself as if, somehow, I’d never manage to escape from the crazy feelings Enzo had summoned to life within my body. “Hey, watch it,” some lady snapped at me as the train halted to a stop and I went crashing into her.

I felt the blush rising under the skin of my face, but for once, I wasn’t nearly as embarrassed. “Sorry,” I mumbled as I turned around and stared down at my shoes. I couldn’t stop thinking about Enzo! Just what the fuck was I supposed to do about him anyway? I gulped and closed my eyes. Even though I kept telling myself that nothing bad would happen, that thinking that would just doom me, I couldn’t stop imagining a bright pink envelope propped up against my computer monitor. Hell, I could almost read it in my head. Ms. Turner, Thank you very much for your hard work and your time spent into making LennoxCo even better than before. Unfortunately, we regret to inform you that we must terminate your employment, effective immediately. Please find enclosed a severance check. You are instructed to check in with HR after three in the afternoon for an exit interview. I shuddered again. There was no way they could fire me! Besides, I hadn’t technically slept with him. My cheeks blazed with hot fire as I remembered exactly what Enzo had done, and exactly how much I’d enjoyed it.

Tears came to my eyes when I realized the finality of the situation. I was definitely going to be fired. There was no way that Enzo would let me keep working for him, not after we’d slept together. I’d heard rumors and wondered about all of the other women he’d been with. When it dawned on me that maybe HR assigned me to him because there was a lower probability of him wanting me, I felt more ashamed than ever. I swallowed hard. A lump had formed in my throat. At some point tonight, I was going to have to call my parents and tell them that I wouldn’t be able to keep the job. I hated letting them down. If it hadn’t been for my parents, I almost wouldn’t have minded. I mean, sure, I worked hard at LennoxCo. But CEOs like Enzo were a liability for a reason. There was no way the other higher-ups in the company would let him keep sleeping with someone who had access to all kinds of private information. They were probably worried about me trying to sue them, or something equally stupid and ridiculous. When I got off the “L”, it felt even colder than it had downtown. I knew that my apartment was further away from Lake Michigan than the LennoxCo offices, but that didn’t account for the

sudden, harsh chill in the air. Wrapping my arms tightly around myself, I put my head down and marched forward. The wind increased as I began walking home and soon it was like I was fighting my way from one block to the next. At least Pepper was glad to see me. As soon as I let myself in the front door, she ran over to me and started barking and shimmying around in a circle. Her eyes were hectic and happy, and her tail was wagging so fast I was worried she’d knock something over. “Pepper, I had such a crazy day,” I confessed, dropping to my knees and burying my face in her comforting ruff. I wrinkled my nose—she definitely needed a bath—but it was relaxing all the same. “I’m gonna get fired because I screwed up, Pep,” I whined into her soft fur. “Then it’s back to retail for me.” Pepper whined loudly and sat back on her haunches. She looked at me with her big brown eyes, and I felt a little trace of my fear and sadness melting away. “No, I have to try to go back,” I said as I rubbed her ears. Pepper growled. “I know, I know, you don’t like him,” I added quickly. “But it’s such a

good job, Pepper. If they don’t fire me, I’d be happy to stay.” Pepper barked once. “And no, I don’t want to sleep with him again,” I said quickly, getting to my feet and walking over to the fridge. Pepper stepped sideways and followed close behind me, keenly aware that she might be getting a treat. “That would be the worst idea in the world, and I think you know it.” After I fed Pepper, I pulled a sandwich out of the fridge, changed into sweatpants, and flopped down in front of the TV. The news was all depressing— lots of weather reports threatening to give Chicago the “worst winter ever” and updates about the upcoming mayoral election. As much as I wanted to stay informed about the city where I lived, I felt like it was asking too much to get enthused about candidates who obviously only wanted the position so they could make crooked money flow much faster. “Pepper, this world kinda sucks, you know that?” I patted the couch, and she jumped up next to me, resting her big head on my lap. Pepper let out a woof. She burrowed close to me,

and I sighed as I stroked her back, scanning through the television for anything interesting. Hours later, there was a sharp knock at the door. I jolted awake. I hadn’t even been aware of falling asleep, but when I sat up, I realized that it was pitch-black outside. Pepper let out a low growl of warning before the sharp knocking came again. Fear leaped into my mouth, tasting as bitter and obvious as iron. I swallowed hard and ran a hand through my hair. There was no way I could hide that I’d just been asleep, but I wasn’t sure who was even at the door. Was it Carl? Gina? My parents? The last option pierced my heart with fear and worry as I leaped into action, running towards the door and flinging it open. It wasn’t Carl, or Gina, or even my parents. It was Enzo. “Audrey,” Enzo said. He was wearing the same luxe overcoat and silk-wool scarf that he’d been wearing the day he waited for me outside of Helping Hands. “Audrey, I need to come in.” The light on my porch was out, and I could barely see his face, but his voice sounded shakier and

uncertain than I’d ever heard it. Some of the fear disappeared as I stepped inside to let Enzo through the door. Some, but not all. Pepper stood behind me, watching nervously with a gleam in her brown eyes. My mouth was dry, and I licked my lips nervously as Enzo paced back and forth in my kitchen. “I know I shouldn’t have come here,” Enzo went on. “I know this wasn’t a good idea or a good decision.” “Are you going to fire me?” My voice was very small, and my heart was thudding a fast tempo inside my chest. “I mean, I’m sorry, Enzo. Please don’t fire me. I promise nothing will ever happen again, nothing between us—” My words were silenced as Enzo grabbed me and pulled me into his arms, kissing me harder than I’d ever been kissed. While our previous two kisses had been passionate, this one was hungry in a way that spoke to how desperately Enzo and I needed each other. I could only close my eyes and part my lips as his tongue slipped into my mouth, warm and comforting. Arousal exploded in my lower belly as Enzo

urgently slipped his hands under my sweatshirt and pulled it over my head. My heart pounded with desire and anticipation as our kiss deepened and I stepped back towards the couch, pulling Enzo with me. His hands were everywhere at once—on my exposed breasts, pulling and pinching at my nipples, stroking my bare back—until I felt like I could barely handle the intense sensation of his fingers on my body. Suddenly, I wasn’t cold anymore, I was hot. Eagerly, I kissed Enzo and wrapped my arms around his neck, tangling my hands in his hair that was much softer than it looked. “Bedroom,” Enzo hissed in my ear. “Where’s your bedroom?” I stepped away from him, aware of the lusty way he was staring at my breasts. It didn’t even occur to me to feel shy or self-conscious. All I could think about was that someone as incredible as Enzo wanted me. Panting, I stepped backward. Enzo followed close behind me, not leaving more than a foot of space between our bodies. As I fumbled with the faulty knob to my bedroom, Enzo ripped his coat off, sending buttons scattering into all the corners of the living room. “Audrey.” Enzo was panting intensely. His gray

eyes flashed with a lusty fire. “I need you.” I nodded. “I know,” I said softly. Suddenly, I was afraid again. We were about to have sex. Oh, stop thinking about that now! Enzo isn’t anything like Peter! “Don’t be afraid,” Enzo said, his voice gentler. “I want to make sure you enjoy yourself as much as you did in my office.” It was like entering my bedroom had somehow shifted the balance of power between us. Suddenly, I was no longer in control. All I could do was wait and watch as Enzo smoothly walked around me. “You are to say ‘red’ if I do anything that makes you uncomfortable,” Enzo said in a sensual whisper. He stepped closer, trailing his fingers along my neck and my bare shoulder. “Do you understand?” “Yes,” I whispered. Enzo took his hand away, and I cried out for want of more touch. “Yes, sir,” Enzo corrected me. “Always call me sir, especially in bed.” Shame burned my cheeks, but I was startled to

discover an amazing feeling between my legs. Even though I thought his request was stupid and humiliating, my body reacted more strongly than I would have guessed. I felt myself getting wet, almost uncomfortably so. I shifted around in my sweatpants, making the wet crotch of my panties slide against my clit. It felt so good that I had to close my eyes and let out a little heavenly moan. Enzo chuckled. Then he grabbed my wrists and held them high over my head. “You’re not to move again until I tell you to, is that clear?” I whimpered and nodded. “Yes, sir.” I kept my eyes down on the ground. My arousal was building higher and higher, and I wanted Enzo to touch me so badly. I felt like I was going to explode if I somehow didn’t get his attention. “I’m going to strip you now,” Enzo whispered. He slipped two warm hands into my sweatpants and tugged them down my legs. For a moment, I was cold, but my blood was pumping through my veins so fast that I almost immediately warmed up again. I bit my lip and tried to suppress a moan as Enzo slipped his hands between my pale thighs.

“I’m going to touch you now,” Enzo said. He slipped a finger inside the crotch of my panties and gently pushed down on my clit. It felt so good that I bit the inside of my mouth to keep from howling with pleasure. My face grew red, and I struggled to keep my upright stance as Enzo slowly dragged his finger over the most sensitive area of my body. “Audrey, take off your panties and get onto the bed.” He locked eyes with me, and I shivered at the intensity in his gray eyes. Without breaking eye contact, I slid my panties down and gently kicked them to the side. Enzo’s eyes on me made me feel sexy, beautiful, for the first time in my life. I knew that I was blushing all over, but I didn’t care—all I cared about was pleasing Enzo, and having the pleasure returned to me. “Spread your limbs.” His voice was like a silken caress, and I shuddered as it spread all over my body. “Yes, sir,” I murmured as I spread my arms and legs until I was folded apart on the bed. The comforter was soft under my naked ass, and I resisted the

temptation to wriggle around or reach out for Enzo. “I’ll be right back,” Enzo said, breathing out the words. I let out a gasp as he left the room. No! Where is he going? When is he going to come back and touch me? He has to touch me! He has to touch me, or I’ll die! My mind was going a million miles per minute, and I barely heard Enzo rustling around in the kitchen, pulling open drawers and cabinets. When Enzo returned, he was carrying a length of rope folded over. “This is for you,” Enzo said softly. His eyes flashed gray-fire and lust as he stepped closer to the bed and took hold of my wrist. As always, I was surprised by the soft silken touch of his skin. “Sir,” I whimpered. “What are you going to do?” Enzo grinned. “I’m going to tie you to the bed. And then I’m going to fuck you so hard that you won’t be able to walk for a week. What do you think about that?” Before I could respond, he held up a hand. “And do not speak,” he ordered. “Just think about it. Think about me, think about my cock and how much I want you. Think about it until you think you’re going to explode with lust for me and

only me. Do you understand?” I nodded, afraid to speak. Enzo stepped closer and gently took hold of my wrist. I watched as he expertly tied me to the bedpost, then walked around and did my other wrist. He was a good craftsman—by the time the knots were tied, I could barely move. “Good.” He walked to the foot of the bed and picked up one of my bare feet. I could only watch, helpless, as he lifted it to his face and gently blew on the sole. It tickled, and I let out a yelp—I couldn’t help it, even though Enzo glared at me. “Be quiet,” Enzo ordered. “Or next time I won’t be so gentle.” He gently slapped the bottom of my foot, sending a pleasurable sensation up my leg. “And that’s a promise.” I swallowed hard, watching meekly as he bound one of my ankles to the end of the bed, then the other. When he was finished, I could barely move. My arms were already aching from being stretched apart, and I felt the cold air on my pussy, chilling me in the most delicious way possible. Enzo pulled off his shirt. When I saw what he looked like, I almost wanted to cry. He was so beautiful. He was lightly tanned, and his skin was

perfectly carved and muscular, as though it was made from marble. As Enzo flexed his arm, I saw his effortless muscle bunch and clench. He locked eyes with me as he fumbled with his belt, tossing it to the side and stepping out of his expensive pants. When he was clad only in black silk boxers, he stepped back towards the bed. I blushed hard at the sight of him—his cock was clearly erect and pushing to the front of the silky material. He looked big, too, and I felt a tiny flash of panic go through my head. What would happen if he didn’t fit? “Don’t worry, Audrey,” Enzo said as he stroked a finger down my side. “I’m going to teach you everything. You’re in very good hands now.” I let out a soft moan as his fingers made their way to my breasts, massaging and pinching at the delicate skin. My nipples were so stiff that the tender skin was puckering under Enzo’s touch. “Perfect,” Enzo whispered. He crawled on the bed and trailed his nails all the way down my bare belly until his fingers were entangled in my small patch of pubic hair. “This is just perfect.”

Chapter Eleven Enzo Audrey writhed and moaned as my finger gently stroked her erect clit. I was kneeling on the bed between her legs, stroking her very softly at a rapid rate. I saw the blood rising to the surface of her pale skin, making her look more appetizing and sensual than ever. “Audrey,” I crooned as I gently flicked her clit with my thumb. “I like this. I like this response.” Audrey blushed. “I’m sorry, sir,” she murmured. The way she said ‘sir’ sent a bolt of desire straight to my cock. She was born to be a submissive, and she looked absolutely perfect trussed up on her own bed. “I’m going to teach you about something important,” I said slowly as I crawled off the bed and stood. Walking over to where Audrey’s head lay on the pillow, I reached out and stroked her face. “Watch me,” I commanded. “I’m going to teach you how to pleasure me.” “Yes, sir,” Audrey responded. Her blue eyes were

wide with lust, and I could tell that she wanted me just as much as I wanted her. Without breaking eye contact, I dipped my fingers into the waistband of my silk boxers and tossed them on the floor. My cock bobbed free, ecstatic to be one step closer to Audrey’s magnetic pussy. I climbed on the bed and straddled Audrey’s chest, shoving my hips forward until my cock was brushing her lips. “You’re going to open your mouth. And I’m going to put my cock inside it. Then, I’ll train you how to suck me perfectly. Do you understand?” Audrey gave a quick nod. She opened her lips, and I saw that she was shaking. “Good girl,” I said, steadying myself with a hand on the headboard. As Audrey opened her lips, I put the head of my cock inside her warm, wet mouth. The touch of Audrey’s hot tongue against my cock was heaven, and I groaned as she licked me enthusiastically. “Not quite so fast,” I said, my voice sounding strained as I rolled my hips back and pulled my cock out of her mouth. “Put your lips on your teeth and suck me gently. Then swirl your tongue around

the head as you suck.” Audrey nodded. She did as I said, then craned her neck forward and once again took my cock in her mouth. The sensation of her virgin mouth wrapped around my stiff erection was incredible, and for a moment I had to think of something unpleasant, so I wouldn’t blow my load too soon. Audrey closed her eyes and gently swirled her tongue around the underside of the head of my cock. It felt incredible. I could tell she was thinking about every move she made, every gesture, and somehow her attention to detail made me feel like I was about to burst. “Bob your head up and down on my cock,” I instructed her. “Normally, when you’re giving me a blow job, you’d use your hand and wrap it around the base of my cock, like this,” I said, reaching down and wrapping my hand around my shaft. “Then, you’d move your hand up and down in the same rhythm while moving your lips and tongue over my head. Understand?” Audrey nodded. A thin trickle of spit dribbled out of her mouth, and I reached down to wipe it away from her chin. She looked so beautiful and innocent with my cock in her mouth. Lust flared in my body

at the sight of my perfect secretary giving me a perfect blow job. As Audrey began to bob her head up and down over my erection, I arched my back and threw my head back, reveling in the ecstatic sensation that was washing over my limbs. I let her continue until my cock was soaked with her drool. When I pulled away and climbed off the bed, Audrey swallowed hard and watched me, her eyes not leaving my face. “Now, I’m going to pleasure you,” I said, walking back down to her feet and running my hands up her leg. Audrey squirmed and wriggled as I played with the insides of her thighs, dragging my fingernails along the sensitive skin. I loved seeing the faint lines of red that appeared on her pale skin as I worked my hands on her. Audrey arched her back, spreading her legs even wider. I grinned as I reached down and thumbed her clit. As Audrey gasped with pleasure, I slowly worked my thumb in a circle around her pussy. She was so wet that she was dripping on the bed and my fingers were coated with her musky juices. I swallowed hard. I couldn’t wait anymore—now

was the moment, the moment that I’d been waiting on for weeks. I crawled on the bed between Audrey’s legs and let my cock brush up against the lips of her pussy. “I’m going to fuck you now,” I told Audrey. “I’m going to fill you up with my cock and claim you.” She licked her lips, sending a wild thrill of lust through my body. “Yes, sir.” Grabbing onto Audrey’s fragile-looking hips, I thrust my body forward, and my cock slid into her soaked pussy. The feel of Audrey’s body against my own was incredible. She was so tight, so wet, so hungry for more. As soon as I was buried inside of her, she let out a little gasp and pushed her body against mine. Realizing that I was pleasing her as much as she was pleasing me was a thrilling sensation, and I began to buck my hips and thrust in and out of her pussy. Audrey closed her eyes and arched her back, throwing her head back into the pillows and moaning. Her bound arms and legs bounced against the comforter as I fucked her with all of my strength, burying my cock inside of her with each thrust. As I plunged deep inside Audrey’s perfect pussy, a thin layer of sweat broke out over my

body. Yeah, I thought as I closed my eyes and fucked her hard. This is worth it. She’s perfect, she’s everything I knew she would be. As it got more serious for me, I groaned and grabbed onto the headboard. My body was perfectly lined up with Audrey’s on the bed, and the way she was thrusting and gasping made me realize how close she was to an orgasm of her own. Groaning, I thrust into her with everything. I closed my eyes, and for a moment, it was just the two of us, alone in the world. Audrey moaned as I stroked my hand down her chest, squeezing one of her tits as I felt my cock gush inside of her pussy. “Enzo,” Audrey moaned loudly. Her eyes were screwed shut, and her face was tense and bright red. Beneath me, I felt her own muscles clench and release with the frenzy of her orgasm. When it was over, I was still shaking and panting. Climbing off the bed, I untied Audrey and rubbed at her wrists. She smiled at me and then pulled the comforter over her naked body, snuggling down into the pillows. “I’m going to leave,” I said, pulling on my boxers. I stopped when I saw Audrey’s look of dismay.

“What’s wrong?” “Can you stay for a little while, please?” Audrey’s voice was soft and shaky. Ugh. No! I never do this! I don’t snuggle, I don’t cuddle, and I don’t spend the night. But something inside of me couldn’t leave her side, not just yet. When I pulled back the covers and crawled beside her warm, delicious body, Audrey relaxed against me. Her whole room smelled like strawberries and talc, and the mixture was heady, like being buried inside of her. “Why do you live here?” I mused out loud, tracing a circle on her shoulder with the tip of my finger. “You could afford to live someplace nicer with the salary I give you.” Audrey blushed. “Um.” She looked away. “I’m not sure I should tell you.” I snorted, rolling onto my back. Audrey snuggled up to my side and rested her chin on my chest. “What, you have a secret baby or something?” Audrey shook her head. “No, no. Nothing like that.” She closed her eyes and let out a little sigh.

“It’s my parents,” she explained. “They live in Wisconsin, and I send them money. They’re not working right now…” Her voice trailed off. “I mean, they didn’t work most of the time, actually. We were in and out of shelters growing up.” She swallowed audibly, and I saw a little flush wash over her cheeks. “That’s why I volunteer at Helping Hands, because of how frequently I ate at food kitchens when I was growing up.” I was glad that her eyes were closed so she couldn’t see the look on my face. “And you send this money back to your parents? Why?” If my parents hadn’t done a lot for me when I was growing up, I wasn’t sure I’d want to help them. Audrey sighed again. “Because I feel guilty,” she murmured. “I mean, they’re my parents, I love them. I really do, even though we don’t have much of a relationship. Wouldn’t you do the same, Enzo? Wouldn’t you want to help your family?” No, I thought sharply. Not if they were deadbeats who couldn’t even afford to take care of the kid they had. But I didn’t say anything. I never discussed my personal life with women, especially not women from work. And Audrey wouldn’t think too kindly of me even if I did tell her the truth.

I’d grown up poor, just like she had. My father was always out of work from drinking too much, and my mother hadn’t even finished high school. I hadn’t helped them, even though I’d gotten a full scholarship to college and then I’d gotten a headstart founding LennoxCo due to investors I met before I even graduated. It hadn’t even occurred to me to help my parents. Why would I? They certainly hadn’t helped me when I was growing up. “I’m sure your folks appreciate it,” I said instead, but a little too lazy sounding. Audrey bit her lip. “I’m not sure they do,” she replied in a soft voice. “Our relationship, well, if you could call it that… it’s really strained. They think I’m ashamed of them or something. Even though I’m not. I’d just like to see them doing better and enjoy their lives now.” “They’re not too old to work,” I countered. “Audrey, you shouldn’t have to take care of them like that. It’s not the child’s job to take care of their parents.” Audrey didn’t say anything. She snuggled closer, draping an arm over my bare chest. Even though she was clearly content, I couldn’t relax. She was

definitely too good for me. Audrey didn’t know anything about my past, but I had a feeling that if she ever found out, she wouldn’t give me the time of day again. After all, I was a downright villain compared to her. I wasn’t the kind of person who volunteered at soup kitchens, or who knitted for the poor. I was an asshole, a jerk—the kind of guy who flipped you off after he was the one who cut you off in traffic. I was lower than low, dirt—the kind of guy that Audrey would run away from as quickly as she could. “Enzo? Are you okay?” Audrey opened her soft blue eyes and looked at my face. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” I replied with a sigh as I stared at the ceiling. “Nothing at all.”

Chapter Twelve When I finally left Audrey’s shitty apartment, my head was spinning. I was confused—I’d never felt like this before, especially after such a great fuck. Even though Audrey was clearly inexperienced, I had a hard time remembering the last time I’d enjoyed myself so thoroughly in bed. Everything about her had been perfect. Just thinking about the way her body responded to mine would have normally made my cock rock-hard. But something was bothering me, and I felt like I couldn’t even enjoy my usual post-coital routine. Usually, after sleeping with a girl, I’d go out by myself. I made a rule to never spend the night with anyone, and with a few incredibly drunken exceptions, I’d been able to stick to that rule hard and fast. After I fucked a girl, I’d usually go to a bar and sip a glass of scotch. This wasn’t a time where I thought about picking up anyone new, but rather a time to reflect. It wasn’t typical for me to sleep with someone more than once or twice—more than stability, I craved variety. I craved different types of women who were willing to do lots of different types of things.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t take my mind off Audrey as I slipped out of her shitty Pilsen apartment. I couldn’t believe what she’d told me. Was she telling the truth? Did she really send the vast majority of her wages to her parents? I didn’t think Audrey was the type of woman who would lie about that sort of thing, but I couldn’t really imagine her doing it. It was too good; it was like some fairy tale or Biblical fable. Then again, I knew she wouldn’t lie to me. Audrey was one of those people who seemed physically incapable of lying. She was so good, so sweet. She was much, much too good for me. I hated to admit it, but just thinking of her was arousing me again. It was almost enough where I wanted to turn around, go back to her apartment, and dive back into bed. Stay focused, I instructed myself as I pulled the collar of my coat up around my neck to ward off the Chicago chill. February was one of the worst months to live in Chicago—you’ve already gone through a few months of cold weather, but you’ve still got at least one more to go. People started feeling desperate, craving warmth and sun and human touch. It was one of those months where I’d wasted my time in tiki bars, going home with the

bikini waitresses. But none of that stuff ever brought me real warmth, and I was starting to realize that I’d been chasing an empty dream for a long time. I sighed. I was standing on the corner, with not a soul in sight. The “L” tracks loomed over my head like something from a mechanical nightmare. I didn’t like the idea of going home—my chrome and steel condo didn’t exactly seem inviting, even though I loved it. I knew that somehow, I was going to wind up doing what I always did in times like these. The LennoxCo sign loomed large and fluorescent over my head as I let myself in the building, not an hour later. The office was completely deserted, and even though it felt chilly, I was instantly sweating in my bulky jacket and blended scarf. Once I’d wrestled out of my outer layers and tossed them to the side, I let out a deep sigh of relief. Work was my salvation; the place where I went when I could no longer face anything else in the world. I knew that if I went home, I’d just wind up thinking about Audrey. Or worse, drunk on red wine and browsing porn sites. I didn’t want to succumb to loneliness tonight; I wanted to channel the way I felt into my work.

And besides, if I knew anything about Hodges, I knew that he’d start closing in on my ass pretty soon. He’d been playing offensively and playing to win—my demurring had done absolutely nothing to push him off the track. And now that he knew about Audrey, I didn’t want to take a single chance. I knew that I had to stay on top of my game and make sure that asshole didn’t have even a single opportunity to try bankrupting me and ruining LennoxCo. And Audrey, I thought, wincing as I closed my eyes. Audrey. Pure, innocent, lovely Audrey. I couldn’t let Hodges anywhere near her— he’d swallow her whole without even pausing to chew. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I’d rip him limb from limb if he even looked at her the wrong way. I bit my lip, leaning back in my chair. I’d never felt like this before. I didn’t know what it was exactly. Not lust, more of an obsession. It reminded me of when I was still young and green and sleeping with older women—the women who’d taught me about BDSM. I’d always been a Dominant, but it had taken years of finesse and practice to realize how to effectively utilize my “tools” in the bedroom. I snickered, closing my eyes and remembering

Audrey’s perfectly flushed face as she cried out with the power of her own orgasm. Somehow, I was willing to bet that she’d never felt like that before. But I had a feeling she was going to be experiencing a lot more moments like that, at least if I had anything to do about it. The sun was coming up as I was sitting at my desk. Hodges, Audrey, hell, even Karen were swirling through my head. I knew that I had to think of a plan, something really diabolical, to unsettle Hodges before he could attack. “Best defense is a good offense,” I said in a low voice as I pulled up my email. Even though Hodges was smart and powerful, he was careless and egotistical. I knew there had to be something, even just something small, that he’d revealed which I could use against him. The problem was finding it; over the years, he’d sent me thousands of emails. Grinning to myself, I realized that I finally had a plan. I just hoped it would work. ### By the time everyone else was in the office, I was feeling much better about things. I’d gone upstairs to the gym and showered after getting in a quick workout—straining myself early in the morning

always made the rest of the day go more quickly. I hadn’t slept, but I felt invigorated and energized all the same. “Enzo?” Audrey’s voice was low and soft as she stood in the doorway. “You’re here early. Would you like some coffee?” I watched as she licked her lips, taking time and biting down on the delicious pink flesh. “I mean, I’ll go get some for you,” she added. “I know how you always take your coffee in the morning.” Watching her flit around nervously, I couldn’t help but grin. There was always something interesting about watching a woman behave around me after we’d slept together for the first time. More often than not, she’d be bending over backward trying to please me. But Audrey seemed just as neurotic as usual, maybe with a tad more blushing. “Great, Audrey,” I called out as I glanced down at my desk. “I have a big project for you when you come back.” Audrey’s cheeks pinked but she didn’t say anything. I watched as she darted away from my desk, breathless, walking quickly in her horrible orthopedic shoes.

When she returned, Audrey pressed a steaming hot mug of coffee into my waiting hand. After handing it to me, she stood there, shyly crossing her legs at the knee and rocking back and forth. I noticed that aside from how her hair looked more well-brushed than usual, she didn’t look any different. I had to admire that—a lot of girls would show up in practically nothing but lingerie and makeup after sleeping with me. Audrey wouldn’t have thought of that, though, and that made her kind of special. “What’s the project?” Audrey cleared her throat and looked down at the floor. “Something big?” I nodded. “Something very important,” I told her seriously, taking her by the wrist and pulling her over to the small round table in the corner of my office. “I need you go through these emails from Hodges. They’re a few years old but pay really close attention. I want you to see if anything seems off.” Audrey cocked her head to the side, like a dog whose master just suggested a walk. “What do you mean off?” I sighed. “It’s a little hard to explain. Hodges screwed me years ago, with promises of investing in a consulting firm that was cheaper than most. I fell

for it because I was desperate and greedy, and I wound up almost losing everything.” Audrey blinked at me. Her blue eyes seemed wide with fear and mistrust. “But why would he do that?” I ran a hand through my hair. It was still damp from the hurried gym shower. “Because he wants to ruin me,” I said simply. “And he’s out trying to do it again now. But we have to outsmart him. I have to find a way to demonstrate that he knew he was getting me into some bad business decisions. Have you ever heard of a pyramid scheme?” Audrey licked her lips, and a sharp pang of desire shot through my body. “Um, I think so. Like those Tupperware parties?” I laughed, throwing back my head. “Not exactly. More like the kind of thing where investors are promised rewards simply for buying into the program, not because of any actual revenue they were going to bring in.” Audrey nodded. “Oh.” I could tell that she didn’t exactly understand, but it was actually kind of cute. “So go through these,” I said as I put my hand on

her shoulder and guided her towards the stacks of papers. “Keep an eye out for anything that looks unusual. I’m sorry I don’t have any more suggestions, but I think you’re smart enough to pick up on something weird.” Audrey nodded. She looked confused and aroused, and part of me was tempted to pull her towards me and kiss her roughly. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll go through these. Thanks, Enzo.” I watched as she sat down hard on the chair and began swinging her shapely legs back and forth. Today, she was clad in a baggy jumper with a turtleneck underneath and thick loose leggings over her orthopedic shoes. Despite the horrible outfit, I couldn’t look at her without feeling my cock twitch in my pants. I shrugged, feeling helpless. “Just look for anything that seems weird, or strange, or make a note if he repeats himself. Does that make sense?” Audrey nodded again. She still looked confused, but just as willing to help as ever. “I’ve got it. Thanks.”

Chapter Thirteen Audrey After Enzo left my place last night, I could barely focus on what had happened. I kept wanting to pinch myself—it all seemed like a dream, like a really incredible, unbelievable dream. He’d actually been here, inside, with me! We’d had sex! It had been amazing. I couldn’t think about what we’d done without feeling blood rush to my face and my nipples tingle with arousal. I never imagined that I’d be the kind of woman someone like Enzo would want, but if last night had proved anything, our chemistry was undeniable. When he’d gone, I put some water on to boil for tea and wrapped up in cozy sweatpants. Amazingly, Pepper was very well-behaved: she showed absolutely no sign of being upset with me. I’d have thought she would have spent all of her time growling at Enzo, but she’d stayed in the living room the whole time we were in bed. I blushed and bit my lip as I waited for the water to boil. My body felt different, older somehow, and I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Enzo’s words kept playing out in my head. How

he’d made me call him ‘sir’, how he’d looked at me with an intense, lusty fire in his gray eyes. I’d never seen that side of him before. When I’d first met Enzo, everything about him seemed so carefully controlled. Even though I’d caught him sleeping with Karen on the first day, it had seemed… well, different from how Enzo had acted with me. When we’d been together, it had seemed like we were alone in the universe. When he was fucking Karen over his desk, though, it almost seemed like he was showing off. I shuddered as the water began to boil, dropped in a bag of green tea, and took a deep breath. What was going to happen now? Was I going to lose my job? Was Enzo going to get bored with me and find another woman to sleep with? Part of me wished now that I’d spent more time in college trying to make female friends. Growing up, it hadn’t exactly felt fair—all girls in school cared about was whether or not you were wearing the latest trends. Everyone, at least everyone who cared about me, told me that everything would change in college. I’d pinned all my hopes on that mantra. Hell, I’d even scribbled it in dry-erase marker on the mirror in my family’s tiny, grubby bathroom.

But it hadn’t felt true, at least not at first. In retrospect, I’d been expecting too much to happen overnight. In college, I wasn’t instantly popular or beautiful or more well-liked. If anything, at first, I felt more invisible than ever. My crush on Peter had given me something to obsess over, but I kept waiting in vain for the pack of girlfriends that would never come. “Your roommate is probably going to be your new best friend,” Mom had warned me as I was packing the small trunk full of my belongings. “Don’t tell her too much about our family.” Mom had crossed her arms over her chest, almost afraid. I remembered laughing in response. “Yeah, right, Mom, she’s not gonna wanna be friends with me.” Sadly, I’d been more correct than my mother. My roommate was a girl named Melissa and very unhappy with me. She’d been blonde and tan and gorgeous, with a wardrobe full of Lilly Pulitzer and monogrammed everything, and definitely wasn’t on scholarship. I’d tried being nice to her, then leaving her alone. But every new thing I did seemed to disgust her more than the last. Suddenly, Pepper barked and growled, startling me

out of my reverie. She padded over to me and whined, butting at my thigh with her big, blocky head. “I know, girl,” I said, leaning down to rub her ears. As I moved, a gust of warm air came out of my collar, and Enzo’s scent mingled with mine once again. My cheeks flushed, and my skin seemed to tingle, like he was right back in the room with me. Pepper whined, leaning against me and sliding down to the floor on her belly. “I wish I had other girlfriends,” I mused out loud as I rubbed her soft head. “I wish I had someone to talk about Enzo with.” I swallowed hard. “I have no idea what I’m doing here, Pep. What if he hates me? What if he never wants to see me again?” Tears came to my eyes, and I brushed them away with one hand. “If he liked me, don’t you think he would have stayed? Isn’t that what men are supposed to do if they like you a lot? They only leave if they don’t want to sleep with you, right?” Pepper made an uneasy sound in her throat and closed her eyes. I got the feeling she was sick of hearing so much about Enzo, but I couldn’t stop talking about him. He was magical to me—even the mere mention of his name sent my heart fluttering

around in my chest like a bird on steroids. “I’m sorry, girl, I know you’re sick of hearing that name,” I murmured as I took a sip of my green tea. It was spicy and piquant, and comforting. I loved the taste of green tea, even though I’d once hated it. Carl had given me a big box for Christmas last year, and now the taste was something familiar and homey, almost like spending time with him. “I can’t stop thinking about him though,” I muttered as I lowered myself into a rickety kitchen chair with my steaming mug of tea. “He’s incredible.” Pepper whined and burrowed her face underneath her front paws. She rolled around on her back, sticking her legs up in the air and gazing at my face. “I bet someone wants a belly rub,” I said affectionately as I reached over and rubbed my hand through her short, greasy fur. “And maybe a bath this weekend! You stink, Pep.” Pepper barked once more. “I know, I know, you’re not crazy about baths.” I leaned down and nuzzled her. “And I’m not crazy about talking about Enzo all the time, but here we are.”

Pepper growled and got to her feet, sauntering off towards the living room. I stared into my mug of tea, wondering just how lost I was. In the morning, I didn’t exactly feel better about my situation. I tugged on the first thing that my hand hit in the dresser. Some girls may have changed the way they looked after sleeping with someone like Enzo, but I didn’t want him to think that I was becoming obsessed with him. Except you are becoming obsessed with him, a little voice said in the back of my head. You’re totally obsessed with him, and you know there’s no going back from this point on. Rolling my eyes, I tugged on my bright pink parka and snow boots. It had snowed again overnight, and the sidewalks were an icy, slushy mess. I shivered inside my coat, wrapping my arms around myself as I walked to the “L” station. I hated winters in Chicago, and part of me wondered why I hadn’t looked for a job in Florida after graduating from college. But I knew the real reason without having to even question myself: because I couldn’t have left my parents.

I hadn’t exactly expected Enzo to ask about my folks. He’d seemed so shocked when I admitted to sending them money. Wasn’t that actually kind of normal? Well, maybe not for people like Enzo. But growing up, I’d always vowed to repay the people who had raised me. Even though my parents hadn’t exactly kept me out of poverty, I never wanted them to worry about food the way we had when I was growing up. After all, I was their daughter, and children took care of their parents in old age. It was something that I would have felt horrible giving up. ### Now, I was perched in Enzo’s office, going through scads of old emails. He’d handed me a stack of printouts as large as my head, and my head had begun to swim when he’d told me what to do. What do you mean, look for anything weird? This all looks weird! I don’t even know this guy! But after staring at the paperwork for ten minutes, I knew that I couldn’t just keep doing that. Eventually, I’d have to start reading and try to figure some of this shit out on my own. Enzo was sitting behind his giant desk, scrolling through something on his computer. Occasionally,

I’d glance up and find that his attention was completely on his screen. I could study him without him even being aware. As I stared at him, I was only slightly aware of my own reaction: increased heartbeat, dry mouth, nervous pangs in my chest every time he moved. Enzo was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen, but now when I looked at him, I was reminded of the artful ways in which he’d seduced me the previous night. I couldn’t look at his luscious mouth without thinking about how it had felt on my body, or look at his sculpted jaw and think about the strong way that we’d kissed. Before I knew it, I was blushing from head to toe. “Audrey?” Enzo’s voice was strained. “Are you finding anything?” My blush deepened, and I dropped my gaze immediately to the paper in my lap. I was ready to lie when I actually did notice something weird—the same expression that I’d seen in the last three emails. “Actually, yeah,” I replied, biting my lip. “Um, he keeps using a certain phrase. Or rather, he keeps referring to what he’s calling a shoe store. But I

don’t think it’s an actual store, or maybe it’s code for something?” I gave him a puzzled look. “Did you guys ever buy a store together? Or did he talk about shoes a lot?” Enzo frowned. “No.” He shook his head and stood up. “No, I can’t think of a shoe store.” I glanced down at the papers. “See, this email mentions it three times,” I said, shoving the piece of paper under Enzo’s nose. “Isn’t that unusual?” Enzo took the paper from me and circled something with a red pen. “Thanks, Audrey,” he said in the same strained voice that he’d used before. “This means a lot. Thanks for your help.” “Oh, I’m not done with the papers,” I said quickly. There was still a stack over two feet high on the table. Enzo nodded. “Why don’t you look for other mentions of the shoe store?” He rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, and a flash of lust gripped me. “I think that’s definitely unusual.” I nodded. “Got it. Will do, Enzo. Thank you.” Enzo grinned, and my heart slammed against my

ribs. “Thank you,” he purred in a silky voice. “I appreciate your help, Audrey.” With that, he sauntered out of his office, and I was left alone, with my own desire and uncontrollable emotions.

Chapter Fourteen Enzo I could barely look at Audrey without feeling completely mad. She was sitting there, staring down at the papers in her lap, twirling a strand of thick brown hair in her fingers. She looked desirable, she looked sexy, and now I wanted her more badly than I ever had before. This is fucking insane, I thought as I ran a hand through my hair. You’ve never gone batty like this over a chick! What the hell is her deal? But even trying to rationalize it didn’t make me feel any better. Audrey wasn’t like any other girl I’d ever slept with. I knew it, she knew it, and I didn’t think there was anything I could do to change that. On top of that, the shoe store thing was really bothering me. At the end of the day, Audrey delivered a stack of papers to my desk. Everything was neatly outlined and marked in red pen. “These are all the times he used that phrase,” she said, licking her lips and leaning down over me to show with her finger. As she leaned close, her scent of strawberries and talc washed over me, and I had

to close my eyes and dig my fingers into my thigh so I wouldn’t grab her and throw her over the desk. Audrey had no idea how desirable she was, how very attractive I found her. It was dangerous, having her this close. But I knew that I didn’t have any other choice. I was addicted to her now, and I had nothing to do but ride out the addiction until I was free from it. I’d never felt the way I felt about Audrey. It scared me. The only other time I was ever close was when I was growing up. My friend, Tony, had come from a rich family. My family had been poor as dirt and from the wrong side of the tracks. I never thought that I’d amount to be anything in life, and that was probably one of the reasons Tony befriended me in high school. We were fourteen years old, in the same algebra class, and one day he leaned over and slipped me a joint… “This’ll relax you, Lennox,” Tony said with a smirk. We snuck out of class and shared the joint under the canopy overhang by the teachers’ parking lot. It was the first time I ever remembered enjoying myself at school. Tony was suaver than me, more confident. He’d already had two girlfriends, and he’d fingered one of them by the time we became friends. Teachers

hated him. He was good-looking, cocky, and completely arrogant—basically, their worst nightmare come to life. When the two of us were together, we ran around town with Tony’s older brothers, causing hell for any girl who dared cross the street. We’d been friends for almost a year when I met Cindy. She was beautiful. Seventeen years old, amazing tits, perfect tanned skin, and blonde hair. She hung around Tony’s house all the time—I thought she had a crush on one of his older brothers. Whenever I saw her, I thought my heart was going to explode and leap out of my chest. My parents were so poor that I was ashamed of where we lived, so Tony never came over to my place. Instead, I spent most of the summer living with him. We’d stay up all night playing video games and gorging ourselves on the snacks and candy that his mother would lovingly provide. We’d sleep in until noon, then go wake up by taking a swim in Tony’s backyard pool. I remember being deliriously happy in that summer. I envied Tony so much, but I was starting to enjoy my life as his friend. “Cindy’s smokin’ hot,” Tony said one night. We were taking a late-night swim, the pool lit up with

submerged lights. “I want to bang her.” I snorted. “She’s too hot for you,” I teased. “She wouldn’t even let you touch her.” Tony smirked at me. “She’d do anything for my brother,” he said wistfully. “I wish I knew how to tell her he’s already got a girlfriend.” I laughed. I knew that Marco, Tony’s older brother, was just as self-involved and cocky as he was. Marco probably had three girlfriends, all of them as gorgeous as Cindy. But he wouldn’t ever tell a girl to stop paying attention to him. It went against his ethos, like some kind of sacrilege. I admired him and hated him all at once. Even though I’d just turned fifteen, I felt as scrawny as ever. My chest caved in, and I had the thin, freckled arms of a little girl. “Cindy looks at you sometimes,” Tony said with a sly smirk as we hauled ourselves out of the pool and lay panting on the still-hot concrete. “She’s such a babe. I bet you could get her number.” Even though I didn’t believe him, my heart started thumping hard at Tony’s words. It was unbelievable that someone like Cindy would want anything to do with me. She wore perfume, she smoked cigarettes

—she was so clearly above being involved with a teenager. Marco was twenty, and I understood her attraction to him; he was burly and muscular, with a hot car and a never-ending supply of pot. Tony used to pinch enough off of him just to roll joints for the two of us to share. “I swear it,” Tony said. He nodded up and down. “I caught her checking you out the other day.” In my rare moments alone, I fantasized about Cindy until I thought my dick was going to fall off from jacking off so often. I imagined her coming to me and sitting on my lap, pressing those amazing tits against my chest until her stiff nipples rubbed at my bare skin. She was the hottest thing I’d ever seen—my ultimate fantasy girl. I knew that I wouldn’t have been able to talk to her, but I always wished that she’d say something to me just the same. One day, I got my wish. Tony and Marco were leaving for vacation, and I was hanging around their house like always. Their parents were taking them to Greece to meet their family, and even though I was only Tony’s best friend, I was offended at not being invited to go along. Tony and Marco were trying to make me jealous—telling me that in Greece there was no drinking age.

“We’re gonna get blasted every night!” Tony cried out, making a fist and slamming it down on the counter. I glared at him. I wasn’t looking forward to two weeks spent in my mom’s shitty apartment with no air conditioning. Compared to home, Tony’s house was a palace. “Yeah, right.” Marco smirked. “Hey, Enzo, don’t cry,” he added with a nasty grin. “We’ll bring you back something real nice!” I rolled my eyes and hopped off the counter. Pretending to be too cool for the situation wasn’t a trick that I’d mastered yet, but it was something I was working on. “Whatever, asshole,” I said, slapping Tony in the arm. “Have fun with your fat, hairy cousins.” I let the front door slam behind me, dragging my toes along the asphalt of their long driveway. Cursing under my breath, I reached down and picked up a rock before throwing it hard across the street. “Hey!” Cindy’s voice was indignant. She popped up and glared at me. “Watch where you’re

throwing that, you creep!” I gulped hard. She’d been sunning herself on Marco’s car, and she was clad only in a thong bikini and a triangle top that did little to hide her luscious, amazing tits. My mouth went dry as Cindy sat up and rubbed lotion over her already-bronze arms. “They’re leaving today,” I said matter-of-factly. “They’re not going to take you with them.” “I don’t care.” Cindy pouted. Her mouth was the perfect shade of bubblegum pink, and I watched as her lower lip stuck out. I wanted to lean over and suck on it until she was moaning. “I don’t give a shit about Marco, anyway. He’s such a selfish asshole.” I rolled my eyes, suddenly feeling more confident. Even though Cindy wasn’t drooling over me like I was her, I could tell that she was watching the way I walked down the driveway. Her bright green eyes honed in on me like I was a faraway target. “Hey, why don’t you ever talk to me?” Cindy snapped her gum and rolled over onto her belly. When I saw the way the thong material strained between the rounded cheeks of her perfect ass, I

felt my cock spring into a hard erection. “Because,” I said, shrugging and trying to sound casual like I didn’t even care, “you’re chasing Marco.” I laughed suddenly. “You look so ridiculous waiting around for him here right now.” Cindy crossed her thin, tan arms over her perfect chest and glared at me. She climbed off the hood of Marco’s car and strutted over like she was on a catwalk. Just watching her move… my cock was going to explode. I wondered what it would be like to touch her skin, to slide my tongue around in her mouth. I’d made out with a few girls, but none of them had been as gorgeous as Cindy. She made me realize how much I actually loved women. “You don’t have to be such an asshole,” she said, narrowing her perfect eyes. But I sensed something behind them: vulnerability. “You’re right,” I replied, puffing my chest out and walking over. I tried to make myself seem as tall as she was. “I think I’m jealous, too.” I looked back towards the house. “I hate the idea of going home for two weeks.” Cindy laughed. It was a nice laugh, a real laugh, not the stupid girlish giggle she tried whenever

Marco was around. “You’re sweet, Enzo,” she said finally. I watched as she licked her lips, feeling my cock twitch with the most intense lust I’d ever felt in my short life. “You should call me sometime.” That evening, she pecked me on the cheek and gave me her phone number. Normally, I would have been too chickenshit to call her. But with Tony out of town, I had nothing to do. Finally, I worked up the courage after three days and asked her out. To my immense surprise, she said yes. We met at the movies and saw something with a PG-13 rating because I wasn’t old enough to get into an R movie yet. As soon as the theater went dark, Cindy slipped her hand between my legs and began stroking my cock until I was having a hard time not groaning loudly. When she turned towards me in the little seat, I pressed my mouth against hers and kissed. She tasted like warm sugar, like candy that’s been sitting out in the sun. I knew that I was in love. I knew that what we had would last forever. In her car, after the movie, I fingered her. It was my first time ever doing anything sexual with a girl, and I came in my pants as she moaned against me. Sex was pleasurable and intense, but more work than I’d thought—it wasn’t like I could just

put my hands on a girl and thrill her. Still, it was the best night I’d ever had. I tried to act cool and deserving of her attention, but inside I was jumping for joy. I couldn’t wait to tell Tony about what I’d done, and how Cindy Lawson couldn’t get enough of my cock. Fifteen years old or not, it was a defining, religious experience. Cindy and I hooked up every day that Marco and Tony were gone. She taught me a lot about women —how to find the clit, how to pinch and rub her nipples until she was soaking wet, how to kiss. I felt like I was getting really good at pleasuring her, and I was feeling more confident than ever before. My skinny chest and arms didn’t matter so much because I had a hot older girlfriend, and I knew how much she wanted me. The day that Tony and Marco came back, I rode my bike over to Cindy’s. Her car was gone, and no one was home. I remember that gave me a bad feeling in my stomach, but I couldn’t name it at the time. Instead, I rode over to Tony’s, desperate to tell him what had happened. I knew he was going to be so jealous. I didn’t even care about hanging out at his place anymore, I just wanted to brag about my conquest.

What I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. Cindy and Marco were sitting on the hood of his car, kissing so hard their heads looked merged. She was wearing a crocheted bikini top and a denim miniskirt, and Marco’s hand was buried inside her panties. Cindy was moaning and rubbing her tits against Marco’s chest. She didn’t even see me as I snuck into the house. Tony was watching at the window with a pair of binoculars. “This shit’s been going on all morning!” I shook my head, feeling sick and nauseous inside. “She’s a terrible person,” I said under my breath. “I mean, she was with me the whole time you guys were gone.” Tony frowned and turned to me. “Dude, I know you’re mad that I didn’t ask you to come, but stop lying about that shit! It’s fucked up!” “Enzo?” Audrey knocked on my open door. “I’m leaving for the day.” She stepped closer to my desk, bringing a wave of strawberry scent with her. “Is there anything else I can get for you?” She licked her lips and watched me intently, her eyes focusing on my face. I felt an overwhelming wave of lust attack my body. Audrey was no Cindy; she was

even better. “No, thanks,” I said dismissively. I gestured down towards the papers on my desk. “This stuff was great, Audrey. Thanks for your help.” I narrowed my eyes. “You know, Hodges used to use a lot of code that I never bothered to figure out… maybe I should take another look, too.” Audrey nodded. “That’s the way it seems to me. Based on the context of those emails at least.” She nodded her head slowly. “I mean, he never mentions anything about shoes. Just the store, and only at certain times.” “Thanks,” I told her again. “Actually, you know what? Wait a second,” I added. “You’re coming with me. There are some things I want to explain to you.” Audrey blinked. “Now? At the end of the day?” I nodded. “As my secretary, you have to be privy to this information.” And I am dying to get you alone because I don’t think I can keep myself from touching you here. “It could be useful in the future.”

Chapter Fifteen Audrey I waited at my desk as Enzo gathered some things together in a chic, black leather bag. I had no idea what he would need to speak to me about outside of the office. Suddenly, my head was filled with terrible thoughts: Enzo yelling at me and telling me that I wasn’t good enough to work for him anymore. Enzo telling me that I was being too obvious at work. Enzo telling me that he’d found another secretary and that I’d be transferred to another part of LennoxCo. By the time he’d appeared, I felt like a nervous wreck. “Ready to go?” Enzo actually smiled at me—one of the first times ever. I was taken aback by his expression. He looked a bit hectic and manic, but otherwise, there was no change from usual. I wondered what was going to happen. Deep down, I was dying to know, but shamelessly all I could think about was how it would feel to kiss him again, to let him take me into his arms and hold me.

“Yeah,” I replied. I grabbed my purse and slung it over the shoulder of my pink parka. I was sweating by the time we reached the massive front doors to LennoxCo—both from nervousness and the sheer heat that was pumped into the front of the building. “Where are we going?” Enzo didn’t reply. He hailed a cab and opened the back door for me, sliding into the back seat. When the cab took off, he jolted against me. It was the first time that our bodies had touched all day, and a shiver of delight and pleasure went soaring through my body. “We’re going out to dinner,” Enzo informed me casually. “French food—hope that’s okay.” He leaned forward and gave the driver an address a few blocks away. “There are some things I need to discuss with you.” I bit my lip. “About work?” My words came out shaky, hesitant. Enzo nodded. “Of course.” Frowning, he turned to me, and a self-conscious blush broke out over my cheeks. “Why? Did something happen?” I shook my head and turned away, staring out the

window as we passed skyscrapers and elegant people strolling around. I could never understand how some people managed to look glamorous despite the horrible Chicago weather. In the winter, my face always felt chapped and wind burned. In the summer, I could barely stop sweating long enough to keep my hair dry. Enzo, on the other hand, was a vision in perfectly tailored gray. His chic overcoat was turned up to keep the chill away from his tanned neck, and he was wearing the same scarf I’d seen on him a handful of times. Before I knew it, I was staring at him, fantasizing about the way his lips would feel on my cold neck. We pulled up in front of a big building, and Enzo passed the driver a twenty. “Keep the change,” he barked out, opening the door and guiding me out onto the icy sidewalk. The wind was whipping fiercely around us, and I shivered as Enzo took my elbow and led me inside. The inside of the building was done in muted gray, cream, and a dull gold. I watched in awe as Enzo led me into a vaulted lobby with a domed ceiling. La Maison Françoise was printed in a squirmy font over the top of a door.

“This is my favorite restaurant,” Enzo said. “I’ve done some of my best thinking here.” He took my elbow and led me inside. “I hope you like French food.” I’d never had French food before, and somehow, deep down, I knew that Enzo was aware of that. “I’m sure it’ll be nice,” I replied, wincing at the awkward sound of my Wisconsin accent. “Thanks, Enzo.” “Mr. Lennox!” A maître d’ bowed and greeted us. “It’s been some time!” His gaze flickered over me, and I saw the faintest hint of disgust on his face. “And who is this?” “She’s my secretary,” Enzo barked out roughly. “My usual table in the back. Wine list first, please.” The maître d’ nodded and bowed again. His eyes were focused on Enzo’s chillingly perfect face. If I hadn’t been so worried about what Enzo was going to reveal to me, I might have found the situation funny—the man was obviously trying to snub me. But Enzo was absolutely perfect. I had a hard time believing that he’d ever been with a woman as gorgeous as he. “Back here,” Enzo said in a low voice. He put his

hand on the small of my back, guiding me forward. I felt an electric spark jump between our bodies as we entered the mostly dark room. The restaurant was elegant but seemed out of touch. It wasn’t like the places that Enzo favored with lots of natural lighting and glass and chrome. Instead, it looked like something from an old gangster movie. The tables were dark wood—shiny but stained from decades' worth of service. The walls were painted a dusty gold and covered with dark red velvet curtains. There were a few windows, but the overall effect of the place was a very dim one; it was private, almost like something from a mob movie. “This is nice,” I said as I glanced around. “But I’m a little surprised. It doesn’t… well, it doesn’t exactly seem like you.” I blushed as soon as the words were out of my mouth. It seemed startlingly intimate to comment on something as personal as Enzo’s favorite restaurant. Enzo chuckled. “There are a lot of things about me that you don’t know, Audrey,” he said in a low, silky voice. “Trust me on that one.” I shivered. Even with my parka on, I could tell that the interior of the room was chilly. Enzo watched

me intently as I slipped out of my jacket. Instantly, a waiter was at my side. I felt startled—I hadn’t even seen him walk up to us. Had he been waiting? “I’ll take that for you, ma’am,” he said smoothly, pawing my jacket and bag away from me before I could resist. I felt naked without my parka. The restaurant was so sexy, so intimate, that I had the same feeling as I’d had last night in bed—that Enzo and I were the only two people in the world. “So,” Enzo said. He picked up a leatherette folder and glanced down. “I take it you’re fine with a Malbec?” I swallowed. “Um, yeah,” I replied. I didn’t want to tell him that I’d never had nice wine before. I’d had a couple of glasses at events hosted by the college, but that had been years ago. Now, I wasn’t really much of a drinker. Something about being drunk had never appealed to me—I never wanted to lose control of my faculties in public. Besides, being with Enzo was thrilling enough. But a little spark of excitement went through me when I realized that it would be like a scene from a movie: I’d be drinking wine with a sexy guy, alone in the chicest restaurant I’d ever seen.

“It goes well with the food,” Enzo said smoothly. He folded the menus together and held onto them. I felt perplexed; I hadn’t even gotten a chance to look at the offerings yet. When the waiter appeared, Enzo ordered the same meal for each of us: herb-crusted rack of lamb with a small Caesar salad to start, plus a bottle of wine. I gulped as the waiter carried the menus away with a swift grace. “This is so funny,” I said. My voice echoed in the big room, and I blushed. “I mean, it feels like we’re alone in here. Is it always like that?” “When the staff knows that I’m arriving, they clear out the other patrons,” Enzo said. He took a sip of water, his features perfectly composed in the dim lighting. “I prefer to be alone, usually, but there are some things we need to discuss.” He leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap, and stared at me. “Audrey, I don’t want to frighten you, but Hodges is a very powerful man. He knows that I’ve gone out of my way to avoid working with him in the past. He almost ruined me, you know. LennoxCo almost went under as a result of his scheming.”

I blinked. “Wow. And now he’s badgering you for help?” Enzo shook his head. “No, not exactly.” He chuckled. The waiter arrived with a bottle of wine, which he opened and poured into Enzo’s glass. “How is it, sir?” “Perfect,” Enzo said drily. “Thank you.” When the waiter had gone, Enzo picked up the bottle and poured a generous amount of wine into my glass. “Audrey, Richard’s a dangerous man. He’s very powerful.” I nodded. “I understand.” When I sipped the Malbec, it wasn’t at all how I’d imagined. It was fruity and chocolatey and dark, almost like a piece of candy. At the same time, I could tell that it was savory, too, and that it would pair perfectly with the lamb. I began to feel overwhelmed again. This was just another way that Enzo and I were polar opposites. He knew about wine and fancy dining. I, well, didn’t. “I’m worried that he’s going to try to buy me out of LennoxCo,” Enzo said carefully. He lifted his glass of wine to his mouth and drank deeply. “He’s

threatened as much, and I know that’s what he wants. He can’t stand how I managed to survive what happened all those years ago.” “I see. But why you? What about LennoxCo is so appealing to him? Why not find some other company? If he’s as powerful and rich as you say, he shouldn’t have a hard time finding someone willing to sell to him.” Enzo chuckled and sighed. “I wish I could give you a good answer to that. But unfortunately, I have a feeling that the only reason he’s interested is because of me. He resents me for building the company back up to a level of greatness. He’s jealous he hasn’t managed to do that.” “What is he doing right now?” “He was just hired as a temporary CEO for a banking company, which doesn’t bode well. I’m surprised the company didn’t look into his background—it’s pretty spotty.” I bit my lip. “If he’s as bad as that, why did you work with him all those years ago?” I blushed as Enzo chuckled in response to my question. “I mean, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be impertinent. I just don’t understand.”

Enzo shrugged. “It was my own fault,” he admitted. “I was stupid enough to be taken in by the idea of being able to make so much money, so quickly. I bought everything he sold me, hook, line, and sinker. If I’d been more careful, he’d probably be in a white-collar prison somewhere, doing time for embezzlement and money laundering.” My mouth felt dry. I picked up my wine glass and took another long sip. The Malbec was beginning to warm up, and I felt a slightly hot sensation in my throat. I wasn’t used to it, but it felt good. My head felt a little watery, almost floaty. I swallowed hard. “This is good wine,” I murmured. “Thank you.” Enzo waved his hand in the air. “This isn’t the best place around, but I’ve made some solid business decisions here.” He sighed, and I watched the long curve of his neck. Desire prickled at my body, making me feel alien in my own skin. “I had a feeling you’d like it.” “It’s wonderful,” I said honestly. “I’ve never been somewhere so posh.” “So now that you know what’s happening,” Enzo continued, as if we’d never broken in conversation, “you have to be on your guard, Audrey. Make sure

that Hodges doesn’t hear anything scandalous. Always try to hold him off. If he wants to come in, suggest it in a couple of weeks. Don’t act like he’s worth as much as he is. Make him feel like we’re interested, but not interested enough.” “I don’t know that I can do that,” I replied. “I’m not a very good liar.” My cheeks were burning hot, but somehow, I knew that it wasn’t just from the wine. “I’ve never been able to lie convincingly. What if he knows? What if he calls my bluff?” “He won’t,” Enzo said smoothly. “He won’t know because you’ll lie very well. Understand?” I nodded. An odd feeling came over my stomach, and I licked my lips. “Enzo, this isn’t… illegal or anything, right? I mean, I’m not doing anything that’s really wrong?” Enzo waved his hand in the air again. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he chided me. “Of course not. This is all part of business. I just don’t want him getting any designs or ideas. Not until I’ve come up with a good way to get him the hell away from my company.” Enzo’s nostrils flared, and he looked almost angry. “This company is the only thing I have,” he said bitterly. “I’ve spent so much time working on it, I couldn’t let it fall now. I couldn’t

let that asshole take it away from me.” I stared at him in quiet surprise. I’d always known that Enzo’s company was incredibly important to him, but it almost came as a shock to hear him sound so passionate. I’d never heard him sound like that about anything, especially not work. Slowly, in my wine-addled brain, I began to realize that there was a lot about Enzo that I didn’t know. The waiter swooped down in front of me, placing a small salad to the side and a tasteful rack of lamb chops on the table. My mouth watered at the delicious smell of the roasted meat. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten anything this good, if ever before in my life. Most dinners consisted of sandwiches with Pepper on the couch, or sometimes takeout cheeseburgers if I was feeling really lazy. Back in college, sometimes I’d go out for pizza or cheap Italian food with my study groups, but none of that had ever come close to this. “Are you okay?” Enzo’s voice shook me out of my reverie. “You’re staring down at your food.” I nodded quickly as I grabbed my wine glass and tilted the last of the red liquid into my mouth. “I don’t think I’ve ever had lamb before,” I said shyly.

“It smells amazing.” “They do a good job here,” Enzo said. He winked at me. As he refilled my wine glass, I went to yank it away. “Oh, no,” I said with a giggle. “I think I’ve had too much already.” “I insist,” Enzo replied. He gently pried my fingers apart and took the glass from my hand. “This wine is excellent with the lamb. You should try.” I swallowed uncomfortably. “What happens if I get drunk?” Enzo raised his eyebrows. “Then you get drunk,” he replied simply. I giggled. “What if you have to carry me home?” Enzo chuckled darkly. “Don’t worry,” he said in a silken voice, reaching for his knife and cutting a delicate bite of lamb away from the bone. “I’ll make sure no harm comes to you.” I shivered. There was something about eating with him, alone, that was almost more sensual than our sex had been. The lamb was delicious, unlike any

other meat I’d ever tried, and Enzo was right, it matched perfectly with the wine. The combination of spicy, heady, and rich flavors on my tongue filled me with a kind of ecstasy that I’d never felt before. The wine was swimming in my brain and making me feel sexy, fluid, relaxed. For once in my life, I actually felt comfortable in my own skin. And sitting across the table from Enzo was its own kind of amazing reward. Every time he looked at me, every time his perfect gray eyes flicked over my body, I felt a rush of warmth and lust. I wondered if we’d sleep together again. Did he still desire me? I was always horrible at trying to figure things like that out, but somehow, I knew that the answer was yes. When we were finished eating, I watched as Enzo declined the dessert menu. “I have something in my apartment,” he said with a smirk, handing his credit card to the waiter. I hadn’t even glanced at the menu, but I knew the meal couldn’t have been cheap—it was some of the most luscious food I’d ever tasted in my entire life. I swallowed as I stood up. The room seemed to shake, or spin, just a little bit. I steadied myself with

a hand at the back of my chair. The waiter had returned my parka and my bag, and he held out the coat for me to slip into. Even though I didn’t want to put it on while we were still inside, I felt like I couldn’t refuse. As soon as the jacket was on my shoulders, I felt uncomfortably warm. “Shall we go to my apartment?” Enzo raised his eyebrows at me. “I think that would be for the best.” I frowned. “I can’t leave Pepper. I mean, I’ll have to call the dog sitter or put her in a facility or something.” Enzo grimaced. “I don’t love dogs. Is she wellbehaved?” I swallowed again and nodded. “Of course,” I said quickly. “She’s perfectly well-behaved.” That wasn’t exactly true—Pepper had a few accidents over the course of the last year. But I didn’t want Enzo to forbid her from entering his place. I vowed that I’d keep an eye on her. “We’ll take a cab to your place, of course,” Enzo said smoothly. He stepped forward to the road and

raised his arm. I shivered at the sight of his face in the moonlight— he looked cold and determined, but also sexier than I’d ever seen him. The alcohol kept rising inside of me, almost like something wanting to get out of my belly. I shuddered with lust as Enzo turned around and locked eyes with me. When he glanced at me like that, I felt like we were the only people left in the world.

Chapter Sixteen An hour later, Pepper and I were sitting in Enzo’s living room. He lived in a beautiful high-rise building downtown with an infinity pool on his balcony and a ton of space. It looked big enough to have three or four bedrooms, and I was relieved to see that the floor was a dark wood. “Good girl,” I whispered to Pepper, scratching her between the ears. “You settle in and don’t cause any trouble, okay?” Now that we were alone, I felt nervous again. Some of the effects of the wine had worn off, and I was beginning to feel both tired and anxious at the same time. Enzo reappeared with two glasses of red wine. “Here,” Enzo said. He thrust one glass at me. “This will help.” “Help?” I frowned. “What’s wrong?” Enzo chuckled as he lowered himself down next to me on the couch. His condo was beautiful, and just like I’d imagined, it was all glass, leather, and chrome. The furniture was black leather. In the

kitchen, I’d briefly glimpsed stainless steel and chrome appliances with a silver-tiled floor. It looked chic and modern, but almost like a model home. Aside from his pair of leather loafers at the door, there was hardly a sign that anyone lived here. “Audrey, you should look into moving someplace nicer,” Enzo said. He leaned back on the couch and took a long sip of wine. “That neighborhood is dangerous.” He raised his eyebrows. “And think about getting a new wardrobe, too.” I glanced down at the jumper and turtleneck I was wearing. “This is fine,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, they’re just clothes.” Enzo inched closer, and a wave of lust washed over my body. “Audrey, that may be the truth, but in my industry, at LennoxCo, people judge you based on your appearance. For me, I know that I have to look professional all the time. And technically that would extend to you as well. You’re my secretary. People are going to think of me based on what you look like.” I blushed. I’d never thought about that before, but I didn’t think he was wrong exactly. Still, it was embarrassing to know that the man I was becoming

obsessed with found my clothes ugly. I knew that I wasn’t exactly fashionable by any stretch of the imagination. But usually, I didn’t think I looked that bad. “Audrey.” Enzo spoke my name as a command. “Come with me.” He stood up from the couch and walked down the hallway, into a room opposite from the kitchen. I swallowed hard and trotted after him, the heels of my shoes clicking on his unfamiliar floor. “What is this room?” I stepped inside and glanced around. What I saw shocked me. There was an open wardrobe bigger than my closet at home filled with women’s clothing. There was everything I could think of: dresses, blouses, jeans, skirts, even shoes and handbags at the bottom. All of it looked brand new. There were even price tags dangling from some of the garments that Enzo had pulled into his arms. “Strip,” Enzo said softly. He stepped closer and put a hand on the back of my neck. Nervously, I took a sip of my wine before setting the glass down on a small table. “What is all of this?” I stepped closer, gazing at the clothes in wonder. I’d never seen anything like this

before. I had never shopped in a department store; I bought most of my stuff secondhand or at discount shops. But this was a level of luxury that I’d never even imagined. “Is this for me?” “It is my most fervent hope that you’ll wear some of it,” Enzo said. He didn’t smile as his fingers gripped my shoulder. “I believe I told you to strip.” I shivered at the feeling of Enzo’s fingernails on the back of my neck. “Yes, sir,” I replied automatically. Suddenly, the air between us was tense and full of lust. I wondered what he would do when I was naked. Would he touch me? Try to seduce me again? I licked my lips and unfastened the big buttons on each shoulder holding my jumper in place. Then I pulled the jumper over my head and tossed it on the floor until I was standing in front of Enzo clad in my turtleneck sweater and baggy leggings. The air in the room was chilly, and I crossed my arms over my chest and hugged myself as Enzo reached forward and yanked my leggings down. Goosebumps sprang up over my flesh, and I stepped out of the material. “That, too,” Enzo said. He plucked at the cotton of my turtleneck. “Take it off, Audrey.” His voice was

low and deathly calm. I closed my eyes, pulling the shirt over my head and feeling it tug my ponytail upwards. When I was standing in only a bra and panties, Enzo walked around me in a circle. “Strip,” he repeated, reaching out and gently spanking my ass. My cheeks turned crimson as a bolt of desire and pleasure went through me. It scared me how much I’d liked it when he spanked me just now. I wondered if he was going to do that again later. I want him to! I thought desperately. I really do! Licking my lips nervously, I reached behind myself and unfastened my bra. It was an older one—the white material was yellow with age–and I let it drop to the floor. As I closed my eyes, I hooked my fingers on the waistband of my panties and tugged them down my legs before kicking them to the side. When I opened my eyes, Enzo was staring at my chest. I glanced down to see my hard nipples protruding, and a wave of self-consciousness washed over my body. “Very nice,” Enzo purred out. “Now stay there.” I swallowed and watched helplessly as he stalked

across the room. Enzo opened a set of drawers adjacent to the wardrobe and pulled out something dark green and silky. When he walked back over to me, he handed me a silk thong of a brilliant turquoise and a matching bra. “Put these on,” Enzo instructed. I bobbed my head and fumbled with the clasp on the bra. Even though it was silk, it wasn’t all that comfortable—it pushed my breasts high in the air and pinched at my rib cage. I’d never worn a thong before either, and I was surprised at the feeling of the material on my labia. It cradled my pussy in a sensual way that made me think of Enzo’s touch. As I took a step forward, the silk twisted between the cheeks of my ass and sent a tingling sensation straight to my clit. My cheeks broke out in a blush as I let out a little gasp. “I was mostly right about your size,” Enzo said in a lazy, low voice. He walked around me once more, inspecting me. “Those will do nicely. Come with me, Audrey.” I glanced at the open doors of the wardrobe. “What about the other clothes?” I crossed my arms over my chest, conscious of my breasts sticking up in the air. “Shouldn’t I get dressed?”

Enzo raised his eyebrows. “Why, Audrey? There’s no one here save for Pepper and me. Surely she’s seen you naked before.” I blushed and looked away. “Yes,” I mumbled in reply. “She has.” Enzo smirked at me, and I felt another strong thrust of desire towards him. I licked my lips and stepped forward. Each step wearing the silk thong was torturous, almost like Enzo himself was rubbing between my legs. “Trouble?” Enzo raised his eyebrow. “No,” I managed to say clearly. “I’m fine.” “Good.” Enzo winked at me. “Let’s go have some dessert.” Ten minutes later, we were standing in Enzo’s kitchen. Pepper lay on the floor, contentedly snoozing after Enzo had given her a ham bone. “Come here, Audrey.” I stepped closer. Enzo opened one half of the giant refrigerator/freezer and took out a carton of gelato.

He turned to me. “Do you like caramel?” I nodded. I wasn’t hungry, but the air was so full of tension that it almost hurt. Enzo plucked a silver spoon out of a drawer and took the top off the carton of the ice cream. “Come closer,” Enzo said. His face was the perfect mask of a sex god. Trembling, I stepped nearer to him, feeling the chill from the empty room on my limbs. It felt delicious, like I was experiencing a whole new world of sensuality. I watched as Enzo dipped the spoon into the gelato and lifted it to my mouth. When I reached out to take it from him, he shook his head. “No,” Enzo said simply. “You will eat when I offer food to you.” Blushing, I obediently opened my mouth. Enzo let the spoon rest on my tongue. The creamy taste of caramel melted on my tongue and dripped down it, rich and smooth as butter. I moaned softly as I swallowed. It was the most exquisite thing I’d ever tasted, aside from Enzo. “Do you like that?” I swallowed and licked my lips. “Yes, sir.”

Enzo nodded. He reached behind my head and gently tugged the elastic out of my hair. When I felt it drape over my shoulders, I shivered. Enzo’s hand gripped my shoulder. He began to gently massage me with his fingers until I was putty in his hands, melting and sliding all over the place. Enzo grinned. I felt a fluttery sensation in my lower belly as he squeezed my neck. “You’re so sexy, especially like this,” Enzo murmured. Instinctively, I let my body be pulled closer to his. “I love it when you look like this.” I swallowed hard. “Thank you.” Enzo put his other hand on my shoulder and traced his fingers down my back. As I stepped closer, he took his free hand and tilted my chin up so that I could look into his eyes. It felt sexy and sensual to be standing so close to him in a state of undress, with him still wearing his full suit from work. I felt like I was on display just for him, like somehow, he’d chosen me out of a city full of beautiful women. Enzo’s light gray eyes sent shivers of arousal through my body. “Audrey,” he said in a husky voice.

I closed my eyes and leaned forward, closing the remaining distance between our bodies. Our lips pressed together, and sparks flew between our bodies. My stomach melted and my heart started pounding as the kiss became more intense with each passing second. As Enzo wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close, he nuzzled me and tenderly slipped his tongue into my mouth. My breasts were pushing against his chest, and the feeling of the silk against my nipples was almost too much to bear. As Enzo squeezed the bare cheeks of my ass, I felt my skin go hot with a sensual flush. Moaning, I arched my back and threw my head back until the ends of my hair were brushing against the small of my back. Enzo grabbed my wrists. “Come to bed,” he ordered in a low voice. My mouth was so thick with desire that I could barely speak. “Yes, sir,” I whispered softly. Enzo led me down the same hallway but into a different room this time. The whole room was black. The walls were covered with leather wallpaper and the floor with a thick shag carpeting that my feet sank into as I stepped inside. Even the

ceiling was black. All of the light fixtures were black and chrome, giving an eerie, sleek look to the room. “Get on the bed,” Enzo ordered. He wasn’t smiling. I moved forward and climbed onto the bed. The comforter was silky soft and plush down feathers. I moaned softly as I got on all fours and let my hands and knees sink into the soft material. My whole body was alive, every cell tingling and craving Enzo’s touch. I closed my eyes as I heard him step closer. “I’m going to touch you now,” Enzo said with a low growl. I whimpered as I felt his fingers tangling in my hair and yanking my head back. As he ran his nails down my back and squeezed my ass, I shivered with lust and delight. When Enzo’s fingers gently rubbed the silk material between the cheeks of my ass, I squirmed. There was a pause, and then a short, hard slap sounded on my ass. “Don’t move again,” Enzo threatened. “Or I’ll spank you until your ass is so sore you won’t be able to sit for a week.”

Even though I didn’t want him to do that, my clit tingled at his words. I loved Enzo’s hands on me, his rough touch, the way he made my whole body sing with pleasure and desire. I closed my eyes and resolved not to squirm when he touched me again. It was harder than I anticipated. As Enzo’s hands worked all over my body, I shuddered as his fingers grazed my clit through the silken material of my panties. I bit my lip to keep from moaning as he slipped gently inside the crotch and began rubbing me. I was already soaked and when I wiggled my hips slightly, the fabric strained against my pussy and my ass. My whole body was tingling and thumping with arousal by the time he took his hand away. “I need you,” Enzo said in a husky voice. I heard the soft swish of him tearing his clothes off and tossing them to the floor. The bed groaned under our combined weight as he crawled towards me and pulled me into his warm, muscular arms. Enzo smelled heavenly. I closed my eyes and inhaled as he pressed his lips against mine. His chest was smooth, muscled, and it sent shivers of lust through me as we touched. As we kissed, Enzo reached behind my back and neatly unclasped the uncomfortable silk bra. He tossed it to the floor,

and I moaned into his mouth, grateful and relieved to feel my breasts swinging loose. “Ride me,” Enzo commanded. He got onto his back and stroked his cock up and down, watching me with an evil gleam of lust in his eye. I gasped at the sight of him naked—he was so beautiful; I couldn’t stand it. Just seeing him was enough to make me want to come, and I couldn’t tear the silky panties away from my pussy fast enough. Nervously, I crawled towards Enzo. He grabbed my hips and pulled me on top of him, spreading my legs and thrusting upward until his cock buried itself in the warmth and wetness of my pussy. The sensation was incredible. I let out a yelp, then closed my eyes and savored the feeling all over my body. As Enzo grabbed my hips and shoved me back and forth on his cock, I moaned. His pubic bone kept rubbing against my clit with every thrust, and I could barely even breathe. The sensation that was building in my lower belly was amazing—like before, when Enzo was going down on me, but better. I closed my eyes and ground my hips hard against

his muscular body until tears came to my eyes. Beneath me, Enzo was groaning and straining every muscle until he was tense and stiff. His cock filled me so completely that I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think of anything but fucking him: it was all I wanted to do, forever. Enzo grabbed my wrists in one of his strong hands and pulled my arms over my head until I was lying flat against him, my nipples rubbing his chest. Every cell of my body was stimulated, everything felt so incredibly good that I didn’t couldn’t handle it. As we moved together, Enzo’s other hand began to roam around my ass. First, he squeezed my cheeks, then slipped a finger between the globes. “Someday, Audrey, I’m going to fuck you in the ass,” Enzo whispered into my ear. An electric thrill went through me at the sound of his words, and his cock plunged deeper inside my pussy than ever before. The sensation was astonishing, and I held my breath as it grew and grew, feeling like something was gripping me strongly between the legs. Before I knew it, I was crying out and beating my fists against the headboard, coming so hard that tears were leaking down my cheeks. My reaction set Enzo off, and he grabbed me and thrust up inside me harder than

ever, bucking and groaning like a prize stallion beneath me. When it was over, Enzo gently pushed me to the side. He lay on his back, staring straight at the ceiling. “All of those clothes are yours,” he murmured. “I bought them all for you.” I gaped at him. “Enzo, what am I gonna do with all that stuff?” He chuckled. “You’ll find a way to use it all, I’m sure. I mean, you’re a woman. You love clothes, right?” I frowned, rolling onto my side and staring at the wall. That was just the thing—even though I felt like a real woman with Enzo, I still worried about not being the kind of woman that he’d want to spend the rest of his life with. There was nothing special about me; I was just plain Audrey Turner, twenty-two years old and a tiny mouse in one of the world’s biggest cities. “Thanks,” I said reluctantly. Enzo didn’t reply. When I rolled back over, I saw that he’d fallen asleep.

Chapter Seventeen I couldn’t sleep. I lay next to Enzo in his silken bed with the lights out, marveling at how much quieter it was up here on the thirty-fifth floor. Back in my apartment in Pilsen, I felt like I was practically outside. I couldn’t relax. Even though we’d just had amazing sex following an almost-equally amazing meal, something was ticking like mad inside my brain. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t quite manage to turn it off. Finally, I slipped out of bed. There was a turquoise silk kimono-style robe on my side of the bed, and I figured that it was meant for me. Slipping it on made me feel glamorous, but I quickly realized how impractical the silk was: the sleeves slipped past my hands and buried them, making me feel like a kid playing dress-up in her mom’s clothes. The material felt good against my naked skin, though, and I belted it closely as I padded out to the kitchen. All of the lights in Enzo’s condo had been turned out, and I watched in silent awe as the skyline flickered. It was still pitch-black outside, and Pepper was snoring soundly on the floor of the

kitchen, but even seeing her didn’t make me feel confident and better about what had just happened. It was impossible to relax or feel like I was at home. After all, I barely even knew Enzo. I had no idea what kind of guy he was. Besides salad and lamb, I had no idea what he even liked to eat. The gelato from earlier was still opened, and the spoon rested on the shiny counter, leaving a sticky puddle behind as I placed it in the sink. There was no sponge or roll of paper towels, or anything even resembling cleaning supplies. I gulped and turned back towards the incredible view from the living room. Pepper must have sensed my presence; she got up and padded over to me, gently whining and pushing her head against my legs. “I bet you’re thirsty, huh?” I rubbed her ears and started digging around in Enzo’s cabinets for a bowl to use for her water dish. The contents were as meticulous as I would expect: everything facing the front, all utensils grouped together, everything looking as neat and orderly as a model home. Like Enzo didn’t even live here. Pepper whined as I finally found a plain-looking white ceramic dish and filled it with water before

setting it down on the floor. She nosed the bowl over to the corner, slopping water over the sides, before flopping down on her belly and drinking in long, contented gulps. Even knowing that she was better didn’t make me feel relaxed. I felt tense like I was on edge. Like this whole thing was just some kind of obvious, stupid joke. Like I was just waiting for Enzo to wake up and realize that he didn’t actually want to be with me. “Pepper, come here,” I said in a low voice, beating my hand against my thigh. But she was still drinking, and I knew that I couldn’t pull her away. With a sigh, I walked into the living room and flopped down on the taut black leather couch. The room which had seemed so tense and full of sexuality earlier didn’t seem to be doing much for the way I felt. Whenever I looked out at the huge, domineering skyline, I just felt empty inside. I thought about my parents—what they’d say if they saw me in a place like this. The only advice Mom had ever given me—besides “Keep your head down and work harder than you think you need to”—was to find a good man, someone wealthy, someone who’d take care of me. It had

never been a priority, but now I wondered if it was something I’d wanted along. I swallowed hard. I love him, a voice chimed in from the back of my mind. I love him, and I don’t know what to do about it. I was faced with an interesting dilemma: either I could tell Enzo how I felt, or try to assume that he’d just know. But I knew deep down, Enzo wouldn’t know. He was used to women falling in love with him, but I didn’t even know how to show how I felt. I finally understood all of the romantic comedies that I’d seen over the years and all the jokes about feeling stupid and breathless around the object of your desire. I’d never thought that would become me. I was flustered and awkward around almost everyone, except for Carl. It didn’t seem right that I would be tongue-tied around someone like Enzo, at least not more so than I already felt. My mouth felt dry, and my head was twanging with the beginning of a headache. I thought about going to Enzo’s bathroom and rifling through the cabinets for some ibuprofen, but the mere thought was exhausting. I didn’t want to get up, and I certainly didn’t want to wake him up. He was the kind of

man who rarely slept, and I had a feeling this was the first sleep he’d gotten in quite a while. Finally, Pepper finished drinking and walked back over to me, her toenails clicking on the hardwood floor. She whined a little and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. “Sorry, Pep-pup,” I told her regretfully. “I don’t think Mr. Enzo would like you on his couch very much. This is leather.” Pepper made a sighing noise and sunk down on the floor. I could tell that she was anxious, too. What was I doing here? Why had Enzo even brought me here in the first place? To seduce me, I realized with a sinking feeling in my chest. He brought me here to fuck me again. The words felt strange and clunky in my mouth, like they were inaccurate. But I knew that I wasn’t wrong—that was exactly why we’d come here. Enzo knew what he was getting into when he’d brought me home. I sighed. I wanted to talk to someone, anyone! But I had no idea to whom I could turn. Everything was muddled and complicated. Of course, I realized that the only person I really needed to speak with was

Enzo. But he wouldn’t listen. I had a sinking feeling that he’d masterfully shut down any kind of relationship talk before it even had a chance to stick. That was the kind of guy he was. I bit my lip, thinking of Karen. Would I become like her? Or would I just be fired? This whole thing was giving me a headache. I didn’t even know what I wanted. I thought I wanted Enzo, but I knew that I couldn’t afford to lose my job. Whenever we were in the same room, all I could think about was him and his hands on me, how they were going to make me feel. And then whenever we parted ways, the anxiety and the doubt would begin to creep in almost as soon as he was out of sight. I thought of him snoring away in the bedroom, completely oblivious that I was out here and feeling discomfort. But then again, I wouldn’t have wanted him to know that I was hurting. I felt private about my pain, like I didn’t even deserve to wallow. After all, I’d gotten myself into this mess. I’d let him seduce me, and I’d loved it. Pepper barked, and I jolted up on the couch. “Pepper!” I scolded. “Hush!” She looked at me and

thumped her tail on the floor. I sighed. If we were at home, I’d bundle up and take her outside. But as it stood, I had no idea how to even get back inside Enzo’s condo. The inside was almost like a maze, and I had no idea where he kept his keys. I didn’t want to risk waking him up. Would he be mad that I’d slipped out of bed? Would he be grouchy? What was a guy like Enzo even like in the morning? I couldn’t imagine seeing him without his fancy suit and perfect hair. I coughed once, then lay down on my back. The silk robe hadn’t warmed up to my skin, and the touch of the fabric against me was startlingly and alarming chill. The couch felt solid and hard underneath me—comfortable to sit on, but not exactly for a nap. There weren’t even any pillows or throw blankets. It was like the most sterile living room that I’d ever seen in my life. Suddenly, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I sat up and pulled an elastic off my wrist, making a ponytail with my hair and knotting it at the nape of my neck. I motioned for Pepper to stay, then walked into the bedroom and tossed the silk robe on the floor.

After a second thought, I picked it up and gently folded it and put it on the bed. The slippery material made it nearly impossible to leave looking neat, but I didn’t want to offend Enzo more than I had to. It took me a few minutes to find my jumper, turtleneck, leggings, bra, and panties in the dark. Enzo had scattered my clothes on the floor of the dressing room, and I dressed quickly, feeling a snake slipping back into her old, discarded skin. I set my mouth in a thin line and looked in the mirror. I looked exactly the same as I always had, not trussed up in expensive silk nightclothes like some kind of trophy wife. “It’s better this way,” I said to my own reflection, startled at the huskiness of my voice. Walking into the living room, I called for Pepper and quickly pulled a leash out of my purse. “We’re going home, Pep,” I murmured, rubbing her ears. “We don’t belong here.”

Chapter Eighteen I was afraid of who I was becoming when I was with Enzo, pure and simple. Pulling off the silk robe had really made me realize it: it didn’t matter what he said about clothing. I got that he had a point about the office—thinking about embarrassing him with my sartorial decisions made me feel horrible— but if we were going to be together, I was going to keep my clothes. “That’s right, Pep,” I told her as we waited on the frigid “L” platform for the next train. It was so cold that, for a moment, I’d regretted my decision to leave Enzo’s toasty condo. I wish I could have called a cab, but I didn’t want to spend any money. Not knowing how much longer I’d have a job was definitely taking a toll on me. Pepper wagged her tail, then sat down and whined at the cold platform. I winced and reached down, stroking her soft fur with my gloved hand. As I stamped my feet, I checked the timetable—the nearest train was still twenty minutes away. It was sometime after midnight, and I was lucky that I’d managed to catch the last one at all. Even though it would probably take me over an

hour to get home, I was glad that I’d left. I didn’t want Enzo to wake up, and I cringed when I thought of his reaction to the clothes. After all, I didn’t think what I’d done was gracious. Another girl, probably any other girl, would have taken the clothes. But I didn’t want to let Enzo, the man I loved, change who I was inside. I didn’t want to become mean and superficial like Karen or those other girls he’d slept with. After all, if he liked me for me, he’d understand that. Assuming that he likes you and you’re not just another notch on his bedpost. Haven’t you ever heard about virgin fetish? I shuddered as the small voice in my head popped up, determined to undermine how I was feeling. I hated that I couldn’t think anything without doubting myself. I envied Enzo—that didn’t seem like a problem that he ever struggled with. He was the kind of guy who didn’t let anything faze him. Or at least, not that he showed. Pepper rubbed against my legs. She was cold, and I felt guilty, but there was nowhere else to go. After sunset, the Loop usually got pretty deserted. Only rich people like Enzo could afford to live downtown, and most people who worked in the office buildings went home to their suburbs or other neighborhoods.

It felt eerie, almost like a ghost town. I’d rarely been downtown past closing hour, and it was definitely the first time I’d taken the late train by myself. I knew that I shouldn’t be afraid—after all, my weekly shifts at Helping Hands were probably more dangerous than anything else—but the crime rate in Chicago had skyrocketed as of late. Suddenly, I was nervous that I wouldn’t even make it home. Pepper whined again. “I know, girl, you didn’t have dinner, but we’ll have some meatballs when we get home, okay?” She whimpered, rubbing her face against my legs. I rubbed my hands together; my fingers were starting to go numb even in my fleece gloves. As I looked out over the tracks, there was a weird scraping noise, seemingly from underneath the platform. I jumped a foot in the air. Suddenly, I was actually scared. I wanted to go home. Hell, I didn’t just want to go home, I wanted to be with Enzo. A lump swelled up in my throat as I thought of him, warm and snuggled in his bed, not four blocks from where I stood. “It’s okay, Pepper,” I said nervously. “We’re going to be okay.” She barked, and I felt a slight surge of confidence—maybe whoever was out there wouldn’t want to mess with me knowing that I had

a dog. As she got up and paced around me in a little circle, I strained and listened in vain for the sound again. The air was silent. My nose tingled with the cold, and when I looked up into the inky black sky, I saw tiny flakes of snow coming down towards my face. Great, I thought sourly. That’s just awesome. Now I’ll be a brick of ice by the time the train gets here. Maybe Pepper can drag me onboard. Stamping my feet in a useless effort to warm up, I finally saw a flicker of light all the way at the end of the platform. As the train approached, the platform shook and quivered with the weight of the train. Gratefully, I took off my gloves and started to blow on my frozen hands. They were so cold that my breath felt like an icy blast and I cried out in pain, shoving my hands deep into the pockets of my jumper. When the doors of the train opened, I hurled myself inside. It was hot and sour-smelling—there was a homeless person curled up on the bench across from me—but I was so grateful to be out of the cold that I didn’t even mind. Pepper curled up on thebench and rested her head on my lap. Closing my eyes, I relaxed and let my head thump against the window. I didn’t want to watch as the train

pulled out of the station and away from Enzo. I couldn’t bear it. Shifting in my seat, I wondered if he’d be unhappy with me for leaving. He was both possessive and controlling. Oddly, I didn’t mind as long as I could exercise some degree of autonomy. I wasn’t going to change my life for Enzo, but I didn’t mind a little domination in the bedroom. Pepper whined. “Hush,” I said softly. “It’s not my fault that thinking about him makes me so hot and bothered.” She whined and thumped her tail against the seat. “I know, girl,” I said as I rubbed her ears. “I know. It’s late. We’ll be home soon.” As the “L” train hurtled through the darkness, carrying me up and away from the city, I felt a strange sense of calm blanket my limbs. There were so many mornings that I’d seen women, still clad in evening clothes with lipstick clinging to their mouths, struggling on the train. I was finally one of them. I was finally one of those girls who stayed out all night at a guy’s place and then returned home in the wee hours of the morning. Even though it was miserable and cold outside, I could tell that it was just before dawn. I didn’t entirely feel good about my revelation. For all the

happiness that Enzo brought me, I still wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do a good job maintaining my life without him. We screeched to a stop, and my stomach froze. The homeless man across the aisle from me didn’t even stir as the lights on the train blinked on and off. Suddenly, I felt just afraid as I had back on the platform. Chicago at night was an entirely different creature than Chicago during the safe daylight hours, and I couldn’t wait until I was home and snuggled on the couch with Pepper. It was almost daylight, which meant that I could maybe shower and nap for an hour or so before going into work. The train finally reached Pilsen, and I gently pushed Pepper off the bench as we exited the train. The first pinky-gray streaks of dawn were starting in a far-off corner of the sky, and I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. I was too far away from Lake Michigan to smell anything fresh, but it smelled like home all the same. My home, where there wasn’t a single silk item in the whole apartment. I grinned to myself as Pepper and I jogged up the stairs. Sure, it wasn’t Enzo’s luxe high-rise, but it was what we knew. Pepper barked and growled, stopping dead in her tracks as I took my keys out. I looked down and

saw that the fur on the back of her neck was sticking straight up. “Girl, what’s wrong?” I asked in a soothing tone. I reached down to stroke her, and she tensed again, growling and backing away from the door. “Pepper? Did something happen?” Frowning, I looked at the door. Everything looked fine—it hadn’t been broken, or jammed open. Still, a sense of fright and unease descended over me. Pepper never acted up unless something was really wrong. What did she know that I didn’t? “Pepper, come on,” I insisted. “Stop being such a silly goose. You’re coming with me girl, okay?” She dug her paws into the wooden landing and refused to move, growling and barking sharply. I winced. “Pepper, hush!” I scolded her. “We have neighbors!” My mouth went dry, and my heart started to beat faster in my chest as I slowly pushed the door open. For a moment, everything looked fine. Then my eyes adjusted and I let out a scream of fright. The inside of my apartment had been completely ransacked. The kitchen was a mess—all of the doors to the pantry were open, and everything had been pulled out and tossed on the

floor. I felt shocked, like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over my head. Pepper growled again, and I gripped her leash tighter, pulling her inside the door with me. “Hello?” I called loudly. My voice trembled and I cursed myself—I was the least intimidating woman out there! “Hello? Who’s there?” There was no answer as I slowly slipped into the house, treading as lightly as I possibly could on the floor. Pepper strained and tugged at the leash. She pulled me into the living room, and I let out a small gasp. It was completely destroyed, even more so than the kitchen had been. The couch had been ripped apart—stuffing and slashed cushions littered the floor—and my TV was broken and smoking on the ground. I winced as I trod over some broken glass. It crunched under my boots, sending a scary tremor through my body. I bit my lip as tears welled up in my eyes. My whole apartment was ruined! What the hell was I supposed to do now? Taking a deep breath, I pulled out my cell phone. Enzo was the last person I wanted to call, but I knew he was the only one I could turn to. Pepper barked as I dialed his number.

“I know you don’t like him, Pep, but we don’t have a lot of options right now,” I said to her as I braced the phone between my shoulder and my cheek. Pepper growled in response.

Chapter Nineteen Enzo I was having some kind of amazingly lusty dream. In my sleep, I reached out for Audrey, expecting her warm, supple body to be right there next to mine in the big bed. My eyes flew open when I only groped cool silk and the comforter. “Shit,” I muttered. Where the hell did she go? Climbing out of bed, I pulled a robe on and stalked into the living room. I knew that it would be empty before I got there, but seeing the confirmation only made my heart sink. She was gone. Her mutt, Pepper, was gone, too. One of my solid gold serving bowls was on the floor with some water and crumbs in it, and I rolled my eyes. Fucking Audrey. Of course she’d pull down a three-thousand-dollar dish and use it for her goddamned mutt. “Audrey?” I called out. “Audrey. Where are you?” Balling my hands into fists, I stalked through the apartment and looked for her. She was gone. She’d

left, and taken the pooch with her. In the bathroom, I flicked on the light and gazed at myself in the mirror. I looked terrible. I needed to moisturize and get a haircut, but somehow, I knew that wasn’t the reason why she’d left. A feeling of discontent came over me, and I whirled into the dressing room. Sure enough, Audrey’s dowdy clothes were gone, and the silk bra and panties were on the floor. I rolled my eyes as I snatched them up and stuffed them in the bag. I’d sent one of my personal assistants on a shopping spree after giving her Audrey’s size, and she’d spent close to twenty thousand dollars at some new boutique. Bags littered the floor. I picked one up and read the label: RH Shoes. “Goddamn it, Audrey,” I mumbled, dropping the bag on the floor and kicking it to the side. I couldn’t believe she’d done that. What was her fucking damage? I took her out to a nice meal, took her home and fucked her and gave her amazing new clothes, and she left? What kind of woman did that? I’d never been with a girl who didn’t positively leap at the prospect of new clothes. She was a strange woman, alright. I set my jaw in a thin line and went back to the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting hot water gush down. With a

sigh, I looked out the window. The sky was streaked with the first beginnings of the new day, and I felt like I’d barely slept at all. My muscles were slightly sore from fucking Audrey so thoroughly, and I was regretting the fact that I’d eaten red meat and drunk so much wine on a weeknight. I normally didn’t get hangovers, but lately, the lack of stress and sleep had gotten to be almost too much. The hot water felt soothing, almost calming on my head. I closed my eyes and ran my head under the spray, letting the water wash away all thoughts of Audrey. Mmm, Audrey. Audrey in the shower, wet and naked and pliable, all for me. My cock stiffened, and I hesitated for a moment before reaching down and wrapping my hand around the shaft. It felt good to stroke myself, though not nearly as good as Audrey’s pussy, and I closed my eyes, thinking of her delectable body. I was angry with her, but that somehow only made the moment hotter, and before I knew it, I was coming and bracing myself against the thick glass walls of my shower. I didn’t feel any better when I got out of the shower. I couldn’t explain it. Most of the time, when a girl left without asking, I was fucking thrilled. I didn’t love having to kick women out.

Hell, I couldn’t even believe that I’d fallen asleep with Audrey after sex. So why was I so fucking mad? Scowling, I walked into the bedroom as I toweled myself off. Audrey’s robe was folded messily on the bed, and I rolled my eyes. Of course, she had to be such a fucking martyr that she couldn’t even accept a gift. Of course. As I was pulling on a pair of boxers and a fresh shirt, my phone started to buzz on the nightstand. I frowned. Back in the early days of LennoxCo, getting phone calls at five in the morning had been part of the routine. I hadn’t even minded; hell, most of the time I’d slept at the office anyway. But things weren’t like that anymore. Now it was pretty typical for me to leave for the day and not hear anything new from work. When I stepped closer, I saw that it was Audrey’s number. Of course. She wanted to call and apologize and tell me that she just isn’t that kind of girl, blah, blah, blah. I debated not answering, watching the phone light up and buzz across the nightstand. I should just ignore her from now on. That would serve her right. I felt almost disappointed when Missed Call

showed up, and the phone stopped ringing. With a smirk, I walked over to the dresser and pulled a fresh pair of pants from my drawer. If Audrey had to put on such a self-righteous act about the clothes and the food, she could find someone else to do it with. I wasn’t going to put up with that shit, not from her. I whipped my head around when I heard my phone start to buzz again. I frowned. It wasn’t like Audrey to call more than once. Frustration welled up inside of my chest as I walked over and ripped the phone out of the charger. “What?” I demanded into the receiver. “What the fuck, Audrey? Can’t you just apologize at work like a fucking normal person?” She didn’t answer. I only heard the breathy sound of her sobs. “Enzo,” Audrey finally said in a broken, raspy voice. “Enzo, someone broke into my apartment.” A chill flooded my body. “I’ll be right there,” I snapped. “Don’t go anywhere, you hear me?” Twenty minutes later, I was in the back of a car racing across town. The sky had fully lightened,

and the city was starting to wake up to the morning —homeless people were dragging their shopping carts full of possessions across the streets, and the first commuters were blearily approaching “L” stations, clutching briefcases and economy-sized containers of coffee. I closed my eyes and willed the driver to go faster, but we kept getting caught at one red light after another. My mind was racing. I couldn’t believe that someone would have attacked Audrey. Then again, she lived in a shitty neighborhood. It was possible that whoever broke in had absolutely nothing to do with LennoxCo. But I wouldn’t know until I saw it for myself. Audrey and her mutt, Pepper, were standing outside. She was wearing her pink parka and her usually pale face was red from the cold and from tears. She reached up to wipe a tear away from her eyes as I ran out of the car and stood in front of her. “We got home,” Audrey began in a shaky voice, “and Pepper was making a fuss, and I didn’t know what was bothering her because she never growls or barks like that! And she didn’t want me to go inside, but I dragged her anyway…” Audrey hiccupped, and her voice broke.

When I realized that she was trembling, I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. Even though she was wearing that ridiculous marshmallow jacket, her frame felt thin and vulnerable in my strong arms. The dog whined and howled as I hugged Audrey, but I didn’t let her go. “Everything’s going to be okay,” I said firmly. “We’ll check it out together, okay? And we’ll make sure you don’t have to come back here.” Audrey blinked and swallowed hard. Her tongue darted out of her mouth and nervously licked her lips. “Okay,” she said in a shaky voice. “Here, take Pepper.” She held the leash out to me. “She’ll bark if you’re in danger.” I rolled my eyes. Pepper was a fat mutt who looked like she wouldn’t even be able to scare off a squirrel, much less a bunch of rabid burglars. “It’s fine,” I said. “You keep her. I’ll be right back.” Swallowing hard, I pushed my way into the apartment. It was a complete mess—it looked like someone had broken in and destroyed literally everything in sight. When I heard a noise behind me, I turned around to see Audrey standing there.

“I told you to stay outside,” I growled out in a low tone. “Don’t you ever fucking listen?” Audrey blushed. “I feel safer with you,” she said softly. She still had her hand clamped tightly around the mutt’s leash. “And Pepper was cold.” “Whatever,” I mumbled, turning around and sweeping my gaze over the kitchen. “It looks like someone broke in looking for spare cash, Audrey, like maybe someone who needed it for drugs. Is anything missing?” “Not that I could see,” Audrey murmured. She stood there and trembled like a leaf in a slight breeze. “I mean, I didn’t look in the bedroom.” “Do you have any valuables? Jewelry? Anything?” I scrutinized her face. Audrey shook her head. “No. Um, well, there was the TV. But it’s broken. Whoever was here pulled it down, and it cracked the screen.” I frowned. “That’s strange. Normally when breakins like this one happen, it’s because someone needs fast cash for drug money. Did you have any cash laying around in plain view? What about your neighbors, do you know them?”

Audrey shook her head. “The people who lived upstairs moved out last month. And that apartment has been empty.” I scowled, kicking at a ripped cushion. The stuffing was scattered across the floor so that it almost looked like a snowstorm had ripped through Audrey’s place. “We’ll look together. Come on.”

Chapter Twenty Audrey I stood there shaking, watching as Enzo rooted through everything on the floor. I could tell that he was angry—he wasn’t looking me in the eyes, and even though he’d hugged me when he’d first arrived, his body language wasn’t what it normally was. “Audrey,” Enzo said sharply. “Are there any other electronics here? Do you have a computer?” My heart stopped in my chest, like all of the air had been sucked right out of my lungs. “Um, not exactly.” A blush rose to my cheeks, and I had to swallow and look away. “I mean, I had my work laptop. It was here.” Enzo clapped a hand against his forehead. “Oh my God,” he mumbled. “Are you fucking kidding me?” His voice grew sharper. “You had your fucking work laptop here?” I nodded. “Yeah,” I said guiltily. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, but, um, I forgot it yesterday when I came into work. That’s why you had to give me all

those print-outs, remember?” A look of recognition and anger came over Enzo’s face, and he scowled. “Fuck. Are you fucking kidding me?” I bit my lip and looked at his face. His normally tan features were pale with rage, and I could tell that he was shaking with anger. “No,” I murmured. “I’m sorry, Enzo. Why are you so mad?” Enzo closed his eyes and sank down on my ruined couch. “Those emails… I emailed them to you yesterday before I gave you the printed copies. Now anyone who sees that laptop is going to know that you were looking into Hodges.” “But if someone only broke in for drug money, I don’t even see how that would be possible,” I replied. Enzo glared at me. “Audrey, I don’t think it was someone looking for drug money anymore. I think someone, someone bad, someone associated with Hodges, broke in, probably planning to scare you into silence. When you weren’t here, they went crazy and looked for everything they could find to use against you. The laptop is the only thing missing. Doesn’t that make sense?”

I swallowed. “Um…” “Shut up,” Enzo said with a scowl. “Just shut up right now, okay? I have to fucking think, Audrey!” I watched as he paced around on the floor, kicking broken objects from one side to the other. “I have to fucking come up with a plan.” “Maybe now isn’t the best place to do that,” I said softly. “Maybe we should go into the office, and then we can talk there.” Enzo glared at me. “I’m not going in right now,” he said in a deadly serious voice. “And I suggest you fucking listen to me and stay here for the moment. You’re staying with me, by the way. I’m not leaving you alone again, not after this.” I stood up, feeling outraged. “What the hell, Enzo? You can’t treat me like this! I had no idea someone was going to break in and steal that laptop! It wasn’t like I planned for it to happen! And I’m not staying with you!” I balled my hands into fists as tears came into my eyes. No! I wasn’t going to be that person; I wasn’t going to be that dependent little girl! There was no way Enzo could get me to stay with him! No way in hell!

Enzo came over to me and grabbed my wrist before I could move. His fingers tightened, and I let out a small yelp of pain. “Audrey, you are to listen to everything I say, have I made that clear?” His voice was a low growl. I shivered. “Okay,” I said in a shaky voice. “Okay, I’m sorry.” Being this close to Enzo was creating a reaction in my body that I couldn’t ignore. My heart was beating faster, and my skin was growing hot, even in the chilled apartment. As he stared into my eyes with his perfect gray orbs, I shivered and felt something hot grip the base of my spine. No, I thought desperately. No, I can’t be attracted to him! Not at a time like this! Not now! But my body wouldn’t listen. It was like my lust and desire for Enzo had taken hold of me and refused to ever let me be normal again. I couldn’t believe the feelings surging through me—part of me wanted nothing more than Enzo grabbing me by the hair and dragging me off to the bedroom, while the other part of me never wanted to see him again. I missed my life the way it was before I’d met Enzo. I wanted everything to be uncomplicated again, simple, the way things had always gone. I’d

liked those times. Even though most people would have called my life boring, that was how I’d preferred it. Every night was just TV and relaxing with Pepper. Every weekend was volunteering at Helping Hands. Enzo pulled me close to him, and my body slammed against his as I tripped over some debris on the floor. My heart was beating wildly in my chest, and as his light gray eyes bored into my own, I felt a thrill of arousal surge through my lower belly. “Audrey,” Enzo hissed out in a low voice. “You ran away from me.” His gray eyes flashed with menace and desire. “You ran away from me. Did you forget that I told you that you weren’t to leave?” He pulled me closer, shaking me when I didn’t answer. “Answer me!” Enzo demanded loudly. “Tell me that you know you were wrong! Apologize!” I closed my eyes, seeing a hot flush of red behind my lids. “I’m sorry,” I squeaked out in a small voice. Tears dripped down my cheeks as Enzo gripped my arms and tossed me roughly to the side. I landed on the couch, on my back, with my legs spread. “I’m sorry!” I cried out again, feeling vulnerable even though I was still wearing my parka. “I had to leave! I couldn’t stay!”

Enzo leaned over me. His features were a perfectly sculpted mask of calm. “Audrey, I instructed you to stay,” he said. “Just as I instructed you to get rid of those horrible clothes. Why didn’t you listen?” I flinched as he tugged my parka off, tossing it on the floor. Even though I was still wearing my jumper, turtleneck, and leggings, I felt exposed in front of him. Enzo crawled on top of me, pushing me down into the couch. When I first felt his mouth on mine, I moaned. My body seemed to betray me—even though I wanted nothing to do with him, I couldn’t stop myself from reacting to his touch. He knew exactly how to turn me on, exactly how to push me around just hard enough. Enzo kissed me roughly, pressing his teeth against my lips. He bit and sucked on my lower lip until I was crying out and wrapping my arms around him. Enzo broke the kiss and pulled away. He threw his jacket to the floor and pulled his shirt over his head. Seeing his muscular, bare torso over me kicked my desire into overdrive, and before I knew it, I was pulling down my leggings and spreading my legs. Enzo slapped my hands away.

“No,” Enzo said harshly. “I get to strip you. You are not to touch yourself, or me, do you understand?” I nodded, feeling the blood rise in my neck and cheeks. “Yes, sir,” I whimpered meekly as Enzo ripped my leggings off and tossed them to the floor. He stared down at me with an arrogant, lustful look and I shivered, knowing that I was about to feel the amazing force of his cock once again. He leaned down, kissing me roughly. Enzo’s hands tangled in my hair and yanked my head back, exposing my neck. His mouth on my neck felt amazing, and I moaned as his hot lips and tongue trailed down the exposed skin. When his hands touched my bare thighs, I moaned more. There was something so naughty, so sensual, about being taken with most of my clothing on. The desperation turned me on more than ever before, and my clit throbbed with lust. Enzo fumbled with the buckle on his belt, then tossed his pants out of the way. As always, the sight of him completely naked took my breath away. Even with an angry expression on his gorgeous face, he still had the perfect body of a Greek god. I whimpered as he crawled between my thighs,

feeling the head of his cock poke at my labia. “You’re gonna take me hard,” Enzo grunted in my ear as he positioned himself on top of me. “You’re gonna let me fuck you until I’m done, you hear me?” “Yes, sir,” I whimpered as Enzo’s hips pushed me hard into the couch. As he slipped inside of me, I groaned. His cock fitted perfectly, stretching me until I felt full. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around Enzo’s neck, struggling and pushing my body against his. The rhythm of his hips against mine was incredible, and I strained and moaned, desperate to match Enzo’s pace with my own. As his cock thrust in and out of me, his torso pressed against my body and I whimpered. Enzo snaked a hand between our bodies and began to rub my clit until I was screaming with pleasure. The feeling exploded in my belly like a firecracker, and I knew that tears of pleasure and desire were streaming down my face by the time I came harshly. When it was over, Enzo pulled away and climbed off of me. He was panting and sweating. I could

barely look at him. I felt half ashamed, half completely sated. If my house hadn’t been an absolute mess, I could have crawled into bed and slept for hours. Enzo tugged on his clothes and flopped back down on the couch. Modestly, I tugged the hem of my jumper down to cover my bare knees. I was overly warm even though the apartment was cold; my skin was flushed hot with the lust that had just pumped through my body. “I’m still mad at you for leaving,” Enzo said in a sotto voice as he folded his jacket and sat down with it on his lap. “You shouldn’t have done that. It’s dangerous in Chicago, Audrey, this isn’t a safe city. You could have been raped or mugged.” I frowned, feeling my brow crease with the effort. “That’s not true,” I replied sharply. “I had Pepper with me. She would have protected me.” Enzo glanced at the dog laying on the floor of the ruined kitchen with her snout hidden under her front paws. “I doubt she could fend off a child,” he said mildly. “You’re coming and staying with me, no question about it.” He glared at me. “And I’m not leaving you here until you agree.”

A shiver went through me as Enzo’s eyes penetrated me with gray fire. I almost wanted to say no, just to see if he would fuck me again. I shivered. I hadn’t ever imagined that angry sex could be more exciting than regular sex, but it had been absolutely incredible. “I don’t know,” I said, frowning. “I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I feel safer here. I have Pepper, you know.” Enzo sighed. He relaxed, letting his head fall back on his shoulder as he stared at the ceiling. “Why did you leave those things?” He turned and looked at me. This time, his voice was softer. “I bought everything for you. I thought you’d like it.” I winced at the implication of his words: that any other woman, anyone but me, would have been thrilled. I frowned. “I don’t know,” I murmured. “It’s hard to say. I didn’t feel like me when I was wearing that stuff.” Enzo snorted. “So you have to be wearing dumpy clothes to feel like Audrey? That’s a first. I feel like Enzo even when I’m naked.” I blushed, thinking of his perfect, sculpted body. “No, I… It’s hard to explain, but I feel like a

traitor. I feel like I don’t deserve to wear nice things. I feel like I haven’t earned them, or that it would be a betrayal to my parents.” Enzo raised his eyebrows. “A betrayal to the parents who couldn’t even afford to have a kid, and yet they had you?” He smirked. “I would have thought you’d be all about trying to indulge now that you’re an adult who could afford it.” My stomach twisted in my gut and I had to look away. When Enzo talked like this, I had a hard time imagining that we had anything in common. “That’s not it, I just… well, I feel like a phony. Or a fraud, I guess. I feel like wearing clothes like that don’t make me any better, so I might as well stick with everything that I have now. Does that make sense?” Enzo shook his head. “Not really. You know, years ago, I was poor, too. I couldn’t afford to shop at places like RH Shoes. And when I finally had the money to indulge in whatever I wanted to indulge in, it felt good.” He smiled, closing his eyes at the memory. “I felt like I finally deserved something nice. And who knows, maybe I enjoy it more because I didn’t always have it.” Enzo raised his eyebrows at me. “Have you ever felt like that?”

I swallowed. I hadn’t ever felt like that, and I couldn’t imagine that changing. “I don’t think so,” I said. But Enzo’s word had an unintended effect. Now, suddenly, I saw him as someone like myself, someone who had risen from poverty. The only difference was that Enzo was proud. And I wasn’t. Or rather, it wasn’t that I didn’t feel proud, but I didn’t feel any differently than I ever had, and I still didn’t feel entitled to anything. Maybe that was the difference. When the words came from Enzo’s mouth, they were softer than before. “I didn’t mean to offend you,” he said. “I just wanted you to know that you deserve nice things, Audrey. I thought it would bring you joy if I helped you with that.” I scowled. He definitely hadn’t brought me joy, but his confession had made me feel like there was a chink in Enzo’s armor. I had to believe that he didn’t confess his poverty-stricken childhood to every woman that he slept with—it wasn’t Enzo’s style, not by far. And somehow, the fact that he’d told me the truth made me feel even more for him. You love him, a little voice in my head said sharply. And you’re a fool if you think you don’t.

I felt an uncomfortable feeling in my chest, like my heart welling up with unwanted emotion. It was true—I was falling for Enzo. I loved him. So why couldn’t I let myself just fall all the way?

Chapter Twenty-One Enzo I couldn’t even think straight. I was so angry—at Audrey, at Hodges, at myself—that I couldn’t make heads or tails of the situation. Deep down, I knew that Audrey really wasn’t to blame. Even though she lived in a shitty neighborhood, the chances of her place being broken into were fairly slim. It wasn’t like her windows were filled with ostentatious displays or anything like that. I had a feeling that Hodges had known exactly when to wait and attack. It was like he’d known that she was going to be with me, that she’d been with me all night. I clapped my hand to my forehead and growled. “What is it?” Audrey’s voice was quiet and meek. “Enzo, what’s happening? What are you thinking about?” I sighed. “We need to get going,” I said sharply. “We need to get back to my place and then go into the office and figure out some kind of plan.”

Audrey stared at me. “Enzo, I’m not moving in with you,” she said nervously. “I can’t… I mean, I can’t leave this place. It’s under my name, and I’m responsible for it.” “Audrey, for fuck’s sake, it’s not like you own the damn place!” I stood up, gesturing around. “This place is a shithole! Get over it, pack a bag, and come with me!” Audrey crossed her arms over her chest. She was still wearing her jumper and turtleneck, and even though her bare legs were alluringly pale, I knew that I couldn’t give in to desire again. Not so soon. “No,” Audrey said, firmer. “I’m not leaving.” She blinked and wiped at her eyes. I realized that she was tearing up and I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “This is my home, Enzo.” “And someone broke in!” I hissed, gesturing around to everything broken and ruined around us. “Someone broke in and ruined all of your things! Are you saying that you just want to hang around and wait for him to come back and grab you?” Audrey looked at me in disbelief and exhaled, blowing her bangs high into the air. “No, but according to you, he got what he was looking for,

right? So he won’t come back!” She looked at me triumphantly. “I don’t have anything to worry about. And Pepper’s here! Pepper!” She called out. “Pepper girl, come here!” There was a low, canine whine and I saw the ancient mutt pick herself up off the ground and trudge towards Audrey, tail wagging almost imperceptibly between her legs. “Pepper will protect me,” Audrey crooned, more to the dog than to me. “Isn’t that right, girl?” “Look, Audrey,” I said, sighing, “I’m not trying to be the asshole here, but I really don’t think that dog is going to protect you against an intruder. What about a gun? Do you have a gun?” Audrey’s mouth dropped, and her blue eyes opened wide. “Are you kidding me? Of course I don’t have a gun.” She reached out and patted the dog. “Why would I have a gun? Do you think I’m some kind of criminal?” “Jesus,” I said as I buried my face in my hands. “No, Audrey, I don’t think you’re a fucking criminal. But you live in one of the worst neighborhoods in Chicago, and unless you have one, I don’t think you should stay here. Hell, even

if you did have a gun, I wouldn’t let you stay here alone.” “I’m not alone,” Audrey said stubbornly. “I have —” “Pepper,” I said, my voice only getting sharper. “I know, I know, you have a fucking dog. Big whoop. Don’t you realize they could take her out in, like, five seconds?” Audrey looked shocked. She pulled the dog close and hugged her. “Pepper, don’t listen,” she said fiercely. “Enzo doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” I rolled my eyes. Exasperation and anger surged through my body. “Audrey, Jesus! You have to stop being so fucking stupid! This is your safety that we’re talking about here, don’t you get that?” Audrey glared at me. “You’re being an asshole. And I don’t have to listen to you if I don’t want to.” She stood up, reaching for her awful leggings and pulling them on. “I don’t have to do anything!” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And I don’t have to go with you, and there’s no way you can make me!”

I sighed as I raked a hand through my hair. “Audrey, look, I’m just trying to convince you that it’s for your own good.” The dog whined. “And for you, Pepper,” I added, feeling like a complete moron. “Audrey, Pepper can come with you. It’s not like you have to leave it here.” “Her,” Audrey corrected immediately. Her lip trembled and quivered and, for a moment, I was terrified that she was going to burst into tears. “Pepper is a girl, Enzo.” I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and trying to exhale. “I get that. But come on, Audrey. This isn’t even a choice! It’s like choosing to die or choosing to live! Are you really that careless with your own life? What would your parents say? Or that old homeless guy at the food pantry? What’s going to happen to them if some asshole burglar breaks in and kills you?” Audrey sighed. Her face softened, and she wiped a tear away from her cheek. “I guess I didn’t think about it like that before,” she said softly. “Okay.” I stared at her. “Okay, so you’ll come?” Audrey sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Okay, I’ll come,” she repeated. “But I want to

pack some things and call my landlord first, okay?” She was tired—I could tell because her hideous Wisconsin accent was starting to emerge. I shook my head. “No. We need to leave now, and I need to get into the office as soon as I possibly can. This isn’t a good time to hang around, Audrey.” She glared at me. “But it was a good time for you to fuck me?” “Audrey, come on,” I insisted. “Don’t be like this. Everything’s going to be fine, just come with me.” “Don’t treat me like a child!” Audrey snapped. “I’m not a little girl! I’m a woman, and you have to respect my boundaries!” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay,” I told her. “Look, I’m sorry. But we really need to go. If it was Hodges, he’s probably going to get bolder and come back. There’s a lot of really sensitive information on that computer, and the sooner we try to track it, the better.” “It’s not my fault that he broke into my apartment,” Audrey snapped. “Maybe if you’d actually taken his calls and dealt with him, this wouldn’t have happened!”

Rage and anger rose in my body, and I fought hard to keep them down. I wanted to snap at her, tell her the only reason that she was safe was because of me, but I didn’t want to push the situation and make it worse. She was already treating me like shit because of the break-in, and I knew that I had to diffuse the situation and get her to calm down as soon as I could. “Audrey, come on, calm down,” I said in a soothing voice. “Come on, just grab a bag and whatever you need for the dog, and we’ll go, okay?” Audrey’s blue eyes flashed with anger. “No!” Her voice was forceful, almost a yell. “No, Enzo. No, I can’t go with you. This is all your fault!” “Audrey, look, I couldn’t do anything about Hodges until I figured out what he was trying to do!” Even though I was trying to stay chill, I couldn’t help it—Audrey’s angry tone and accusations were making my anger boil over the edge. “And if we want to talk about whose fault it is, maybe I should have fired you for mixing up his name! Hotchkiss, remember?” Audrey recoiled as though I’d slapped her. “Fuck you,” she spat out, grabbing Pepper’s leash and

stalking into the next room. Shit.

Chapter Twenty-Two Audrey I locked myself and Pepper in the bathroom, away from Enzo and his stupid anger. Pepper was upset —she could tell something bad was going on—and kept pacing in little circles, whining and drooling all over the bathroom floor. I didn’t have a huge bathroom, nothing like Enzo’s, only a tiny, grubby shower stall, a toilet, and a sink with a mirror over the top. I couldn’t even stand to look at myself. I flopped down on the edge of the toilet, feeling the cheap plastic seat begin to give way even with my light weight. Pepper came and rested her head in my lap, looking up into my eyes with her soft brown gaze. “This sucks, Pep,” I told her as I rubbed her ears. She closed her eyes contentedly but didn’t move away. “I don’t know what to do.” Outside the bathroom, Enzo was pacing around. My stomach knotted and twisted and, for a moment, I thought I was going to be sick. Then I remembered everything that I had to get. There wasn’t a lot of things in the apartment that I cared

about. My mom’s old blazer, for one, and I had some cheap costume jewelry that had come from her collection. I didn’t really have anything valuable. Truth be told, the only thing I had that was worth more than a hundred dollars was probably the laptop that the robber had taken. Maybe that meant it wasn’t Hodges after all! Grabbing Pepper’s leash, I opened the bathroom door and stalked into the living room. Enzo was sitting there, aimlessly picking stuffing out of one of the slashed-open couch cushions. He didn’t look up at me. “Enzo,” I said sharply. “I don’t think it was Hodges.” His head snapped up, and he looked into my eyes. His expression was completely unreadable—it was like the first day I’d seen him when he’d been balls deep inside of Karen. “Why not?” His tone was wary. “What happened?” I swallowed hard, blushing furiously. “Because I don’t really own anything that’s worth any money. Even the television was a present from someone I work with at Helping Hands—it was used when I

got it, and that was years ago. The laptop was the only thing I had worth more than a hundred bucks.” Enzo gaped at me. “And you think maybe someone took it for drug money?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just don’t want you jumping to conclusions about that Hodges guy. Maybe he’s not really doing anything that bad after all.” Enzo shook his head. “Audrey, don’t do this,” he said in a warning tone as he stood up and put his hands on his slender hips. “Hodges is a bad guy. Even if he didn’t do this, that doesn’t make him a good guy. He’s out to get me, and if he knows anything about you, you’re probably on the list.” “Why?” I stared right at Enzo. “Why would you say that? What would he possibly want with me?” Enzo’s mouth opened and closed but no words came out, and for once I had the feeling that I’d rendered him completely speechless. “It doesn’t matter, Audrey,” Enzo replied stiffly. “All that matters is getting you out of here, which we’ve got to do immediately. Don’t you know that? Don’t you know you’re in danger if you stay here?”

I shook my head, feeling less and less certain about Enzo with each passing second. He was rich, he was an egomaniac, so it made total sense that he’d worry about someone out to get him when really nothing was going on. “I think you’re being paranoid,” I said. “Look, I’ve lived in a house that got broken into before. It looked pretty similar to this, and there was nothing that sinister about it. People do fucked-up things. It was cold last night—maybe someone just wanted a place to sleep.” “So they ripped up your couch?” Enzo shook his head. “Look, Audrey, I know you have a soft spot for homeless people, but they can be vicious. And I still think this is related to Hodges, it makes too much sense not to be.” I frowned. “Why? What makes you say that?” I stared at him. Enzo looked uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure why I was pushing him so hard, but I felt like suddenly, Enzo was hiding something from me. I could tell there was something he didn’t want me to hear, or at least something that he didn’t want to say. “Because you were with me last night and then randomly, your place gets robbed,” Enzo replied

coolly. I could tell he was lying. “You’re here every single night. And the first night you’re gone, someone comes for the laptop.” “But if it was Hodges, why wouldn’t he just try to rob the office?” I put my hands on my hips. “It doesn’t even make sense because he shouldn’t have known that my laptop was here! I never should have left it behind.” Enzo shook his head. “Unless he was watching you,” he said in a sinister tone. “Which he may be doing. He may even be doing that right now. And the offices of LennoxCo are far too protected. Plus, Hodges is on the guard’s watch list.” “Not because you care about me?” “What?” Enzo looked at me stupidly. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?” “What would Hodges want with me, unless it was because he knows that you care about me,” I said. Suddenly, my feet and hands felt numb and shaky. My mouth was dry, and it was hard to get the words out. “Unless you can’t admit that you have feelings for me.” Enzo shook his head. “That’s not it at all,” he

replied, his tone cold. “Hodges is sly. He’d try anything to get to me.” The bad feeling in my body continued. “I can’t do this anymore.” “Right, me either. I hate arguing. Get your stuff together and let’s go.” “No,” I murmured. “You don’t understand. I mean you. I can’t be with you anymore.” Tears welled up in my eyes, and I swallowed hard against a giant lump in my throat. “I can’t do this, Enzo. I don’t even feel like myself when I’m with you!” “That’s the point of dating someone—to get a new perspective on things!” Enzo shot back. “Audrey, you’re being so stupid about this! Just relax and let things happen!” “No! I hate you! And I hate myself when I’m with you!” I sniffled, burying my face in my hands. “I feel like someone completely awful and selfish and self-absorbed! I hated those stupid rich clothes you bought me because you’re not comfortable with me being me! You want to change me; you want me to be someone else!” “Audrey, that’s not true.”

“I want to quit being your secretary, I want to be left alone! Don’t you get that? I don’t want anything to do with you anymore! I want to be on my own!” Enzo stared at me. “Audrey, come on.” He scoffed. “You can’t possibly mean that.” A tear dripped down my cheek, hot against my cold skin, and I shivered. “I do mean that. I hate myself for being with you, I hate myself for having sex with someone like you.” Enzo narrowed his eyes. “Someone like me? What the fuck does that even mean?” “It means… someone like you!” I exploded. “Someone who doesn’t care about their family, or send money to their poor parents! Someone who hates dogs! Someone who ruin the lives of perfectly innocent women just because they happen to work for him! Someone who doesn’t even respect himself!” Enzo shook his head. “Audrey, you have this all wrong,” he said, but even I could tell that his voice was shaking. “I know you’re stressed, and this has been a scary morning, but please calm down, I

promise you’re overreacting.” “Oh my god,” I snapped. “Yeah, that’s it. A woman decides that she doesn’t want to fuck you anymore and suddenly she’s the one who’s overreacting.” Enzo swallowed. His face composed itself into a neat mask of calm. “Fine,” he said smoothly. “If that’s what you want, so be it.”

Chapter Twenty-Three Enzo I stared at Audrey, unable to conceal my disgust any longer. “Audrey, come on,” I told her sharply. “We have to get going.” Audrey blinked. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Pepper and I are staying right here.” “No, you’re coming with me. I don’t give a shit about hurting your feelings anymore, so I’ll tell it to you straight: you’re in danger if you stay here. Do you get that? You’re in trouble. Furthermore.” I glanced down at her dog, “Pepper’s in trouble, too. What happens to her if someone breaks in while you’re at work? Did you ever think about that?” Audrey blinked. I could tell that I’d hit her right where it hurt. “She’ll defend the apartment,” she said, but her voice was shaky. “Audrey, look at her. She’s not a guard dog. She’s a pet, and she’s not going defend shit. See, she doesn’t even act afraid around strangers.” I slapped my thigh and Pepper walked over to me, tail wagging broadly in the air. “Audrey, she’s going to

get hurt if someone comes back here looking for you. They’re going to be really angry that you’re not at home, and they could hurt her. They could even kidnap or kill her.” Audrey’s face crumpled again. “Okay,” she said softly. “I’ll get my things. Give me ten minutes.” I sat on Audrey’s ruined couch as she bustled from room to room, packing a small bag full of Pepper’s foot, water bowl, and some of her clothes. I didn’t want to say anything, but I planned on getting rid of all of her clothing as soon as we got back to my condo. Just because she’d broken up with me didn’t mean she could continue looking so unprofessional at work. That is if she doesn’t quit like she told you she was going to do, I realized with an unhappy sigh. “I’m ready,” Audrey said stiffly. She was standing there, looking like she’d seen a ghost. “Come on, Pepper.” She patted her leg and Pepper ran towards her, barking and drooling. “We’re going to stay with Mr. Enzo for a while,” she told the dog. “Everything’s going to be okay.” I led Audrey outside before calling a driver with a Town Car to come from LennoxCo and pick us up. The day had warmed slightly—the sun was out at

least—but it was still bitterly cold. It was also beautiful, there wasn’t a single cloud in the bright blue sky. Audrey shivered and wrapped her arms around herself in that hideous pink coat. “Pepper, don’t worry,” she told the dog. Pepper looked calm to me, and I knew that Audrey’s words were more for the benefit of herself than the dog. Finally, the Town Car pulled up. Audrey and I climbed into the back seat. It was wide enough where our bodies weren’t touching, and Pepper curled up on the floor, drooling with her tongue hanging out of her wide, pink mouth. “Take me home,” I called to the driver. “And then I want you to wait for me. I’ll be showering and then going into the office.” “Yes, Mr. Lennox,” the driver called back. I frowned, he wasn’t one of the men I recognized. Normally, a guy named Rico drove me home. “Where’s Rico this morning?” “He’s sick, Mr. Lennox,” the unfamiliar driver replied. “I’m Lenny.”

“Right,” I muttered. It didn’t matter. Aside from Rico, most drivers blended into my memory. In fact, I wasn’t even sure that I’d memorized any other names. “Enzo?” Audrey’s voice was quiet. “Do you have a second bedroom?” I nodded. “I have three. Take your pick.” I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her right now. I rested my hand on my fist and stared moodily out the window. “It doesn’t matter, Audrey. But I want you to have those clothes. I bought them for you.” Audrey frowned. “I won’t need them if I’m no longer working at LennoxCo,” she said cuttingly. I sighed. I didn’t have a reply for that. Just as Lenny was rounding the corner to my condo, I saw that he was turning on a red light. “Hey, asshole. Lenny! Pay attention! You nearly got us killed!” The car seemed to slow down, and panic rose in my throat. “Mr. Lennox, don’t worry,” Lenny said in a smooth voice. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” He turned around and flashed me a grin.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a car plowing across the intersection. My stomach jumped as I realized it was headed directly for the Town Car. “Lenny!” I yelled, my voice giving way to panic. “Move!” Audrey’s eyes were wide with fright, and she reached down to the floor to grip Pepper. I tried to unfasten my seatbelt, hoping to dive on top of her, but it was too late. There was a loud crash, and everything went black. ### When I woke up, my head was aching. My vision was fuzzy, and I struggled to focus on the man looming over. “Lenny?” I croaked. “Where’s Audrey? What happened?” “Sir, I’m going to need you to calm down,” a sharp voice replied. “Stay calm, sir, the ambulance is on its way.” “What?” I blinked, struggling to clear my vision.

Slowly, things were coming into focus. I was freezing cold. When I looked down, I realized that I was somehow sitting on the asphalt, in the middle of the road. Audrey and Pepper were nowhere in sight. Panic rose inside me, and I fought the person who was holding me down. “Let me go!” I yelled. “Audrey! Audrey!” “Sir,” the voice said again. “Sit down, sir!” I tried to stand up but dizziness overcame me, and I tumbled back down to the ground, weak as a baby. Sirens and flashing lights were all around me, and more panic overwhelmed me. Where was Audrey? I looked around nervously, not catching a glimpse of her pink jacket anywhere. “Audrey!” I yelled. My voice sounded strangled and harsh. “Audrey, where are you?” “Sir,” the voice said, and suddenly I felt a needle slip into the crook of my arm. “Just calm down. We’re taking you to the hospital now.”

Chapter Twenty-Four When I woke up, I was in bed, surrounded by monitors and covered in tubes. “Mr. Lennox?” A nurse, petite and blonde, leaned over my bed. “Mr. Lennox, you were in a car crash.” “I know,” I rasped out. Immediately after speaking, I winced. My head was spinning, and even though I was already lying down, I somehow felt like I was going to collapse. The room around me was flashing different colored lights, and I closed my eyes, wincing in pain. “I know I was in a car crash,” I repeated, making my voice steadier this time. “My driver… my driver stopped at an intersection, and someone hit us.” The nurse nodded. “That’s very good. That’s exactly what happened.” “What happened to Audrey?” My eyes flashed open again. “Where is she? What happened to her? Is she okay?” The nurse frowned and flipped through a pad she was holding on her lap. “I’m sorry, sir, is she

someone we should know about?” “She was in the car with me,” I said, my tone snappish. “She and her dog, some lab-mix mutt.” The nurse blinked. “There was no one in the car with you, Mr. Lennox,” she said, sounding uncertain. “I’m sure of it. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, it was only you.” “What about the driver? His name was Lenny. Come on, don’t tell me he disappeared, too.” The nurse bit her lip. “He wasn’t at the scene,” she said softly. “He may have sought treatment on his own if he was injured.” A black fog of panic descended over me, and I closed my eyes. Shit. “Mr. Lennox? We need to take you in for more tests today. You have a concussion, and you’re incredibly dehydrated. We’re giving you an IV now with some antibiotics to ward off infection, but we want to make sure there was no lasting brain damage.” “No,” I said wildly, flailing my arms and trying to climb out of bed. The nurse pushed me back with

surprising strength. “I have to find Audrey.” The nurse shook her head. “I’m sure whoever she is, she’s fine,” she said in a patronizing way. “I’m sure everything’s going to be okay, sir. I’m sure it is.” “No!” I yelled. “She was in the car with me, and they took her! They took her! Audrey!” I yelled even louder. “Audrey!” The nurse had an alarmed expression on her face as she leaped up. “Sir, if you don’t calm down we’re going to have to tranquilize you. You can’t be thrashing around like that, it’s not good for your concussion!” Seeing the look of terror in her eyes, I deflated. I had to find a way out of here, and fast. “You know, nurse, I actually feel fine,” I snapped. “I think I could probably leave. And I’m expected at work, you know, I’ll need to go into the office.” “Don’t be silly,” she said, cajoling me. “I’m sure they’ll know to expect you out for a few days after they hear about the crash. You made the morning news!” I rolled my eyes and flopped back against the stiff

hospital pillows. “You’re not listening to me.” I growled. “I have to get out of here, now.” The nurse chuckled. “Sir, don’t let your lack of insurance make you paranoid! It doesn’t matter, we have to accept all patients now.” “I have insurance,” I said through gritted teeth. “But I don’t need to be in the hospital right now. I’m completely fine, and you know it.” The nurse frowned. “You’re a little grumpy this morning. I’m going to get you some juice and a little snack to get your blood sugar up. Then we can talk about having those tests later on.” I watched her swish out of the room, feeling more helpless by the second. I’d known there was something fishy about that driver, Lenny. I wondered if somehow Hodges had infiltrated my staff and sent one of his stooges to bang me up in a car crash. And Audrey! Audrey! She wouldn’t have just walked away, leaving me to die. That wasn’t like her. Even though I knew she was angry with me, I couldn’t imagine that she was the kind of woman who would abandon me because of an accident. The Audrey I knew would have stayed, holding my hand until the paramedics arrived.

My gut twisted and for a moment I felt like I was going to be sick. I closed my eyes. Audrey and I were having a normal morning; we were just on my way back to my condo. She was going to change, and I was going to shower and go into the office. I thought of the bags of clothing and shoes that I’d bought for her. RH Shoes. I frowned. Something about that name didn’t sound right. It was a fancy store, but how come I hadn’t heard of it before? It had seemed odd that my assistant would have recommended the store to me with it being such a no-name brand. Everyone who worked for me knew that I only cared about established brands. Suddenly, it hit me. My driver had been working for Hodges. And whoever had sent me in the direction of RH Shoes had been working for Hodges, too. I began to panic as I realized the level of deception that had been worked on me. RH Shoes. RH stood for Richard Hodges. And that goddamn shoe store was how he’d managed to embezzle money from LennoxCo all those years ago. Shit.

Chapter Twenty-Five I was in a dense, thick fog that I couldn’t seem to shake off. When I closed my eyes, I felt myself drifting away from reality. No, I screamed in my mind. Enzo, don’t go! Stay awake! But the pull was too much—I couldn’t resist sinking further and further into the deep blackness, like Dante falling into Hell. I was in a dark, cold room. When I opened my eyes, I saw nothing but blackness. When my eyes adjusted, I realized that the room was almost completely sealed. There was a vent at the top, and a weak, tiny ray of light was falling through. I felt weak and dizzy, and my head was swimming in a cloudy sea. When I tried to stand up the first time, I stumbled and almost fell. That made me open my eyes wide. This wasn’t normal. I was Enzo Fucking Lennox, for God’s sake, and I worked out every morning. I ate healthily, and I fucked a lot of women on the side to stay as trim as I could. This wasn’t something that should be happening to me—I shouldn’t be falling down. “God,” I said under my breath. “What the fuck

happened to me? Didn’t I get into a car accident?” As hard as I tried to remember, the memories I had of my time before the black box were hazy and fuzzy. For each thing I remembered, I knew there was probably a gap of five things I didn’t. My brain was turning into Swiss cheese before my very eyes, and there was nothing I could do about it. “Enzo,” a voice said softly. I jumped when I heard it, falling back down in a heap of pain on the hard floor. “Enzo, you’re going to be okay. Can you hear me?” “I’m down here!” I shouted. My chest ached from the force of air pumping out of my lungs, and a wild, crazy sense of desperation welled up in my throat. No, no! I couldn’t be left here! Whoever had put me here had clearly made a mistake! I needed to be at work! I needed to be doing something important! “Enzo,” the voice said again. It didn’t sound like anyone I knew. It was barely female, the kind of voice that almost sounds like it’s coming from a machine. “Enzo, where are you? I am looking for you, and I can’t find you.” “I’m down here!” I yelled again. My lungs felt like they were going to burst and I had to close my eyes

and steady myself against the wall even though I was already sitting down. Dammit! I couldn’t ever remember feeling this weak, or this useless. Tears of frustration came to my eyes, and I clenched my jaw. I couldn’t cry. Not like this, not now. I had to do something, anything, I had to get out of here. I closed my eyes and lay down on the cool, damp floor. It smelled musty like no one else had been inside for years. When I moved my arms and legs, I smelt my own sweat. I realized that it had been days since I’d had a shower and that somehow only made the desperation and anxiety grow. I wasn’t at home; I wasn’t at work. Where the hell was I? “Enzo, come on,” the voice insisted. “I don’t have time to wait around for you all day. Stop playing games and get over here, you little shit!” I groaned as I recognized the voice. It wasn’t anyone I’d known for a long time. It was someone who I’d wanted to forget. My mother. When I opened my eyes, I gasped. Even though I still felt the cool concrete beneath me, I was no longer in that dank room. Instead, I recognized the apartment where I’d grown up on the South Side of

Chicago. The same dull yellow walls, the same ceiling with the giant crack going from one side to the other. Most of all, the same brownish-gray carpet that looked like a pile of vomit had dried. “Enzo,” my mother scolded. “There you are. I’ve been looking for hours!” “I’ve been right here,” I said. I swallowed. My voice sounded funny, high-pitched, like it wasn’t really me. “I swear.” I looked around. The furniture was the same as ever: an odd floral couch with different cushions sewn in and a brown leather chair that was cracked and peeling with age. My mother frowned. She was a thin woman with gray eyes and dark hair. When I was younger, I used to think she was the most beautiful woman in the world. But now she looked old, tired, and wornout. She was so thin that she was gaunt, and her collarbone stuck out of her shapeless housedress. “Enzo, I don’t want any of your sass,” she said angrily. “You get in the kitchen and help your father before I take a strap to your lazy butt.” I jumped up and nodded. Somehow, the mere mention of my father could always put me in a sour mood. I hated him. He was the worst man I’d

ever met. He’d taken my mother’s youth, her money, her everything, and thrown it all away on drugs and booze. He couldn’t go an hour without being fucked up in some way, and I resented him for it. After all, this was why our family had become ruined. It was all his fault. “Yes, Mom,” I mumbled as I pushed past her into the kitchen. The room was even smaller than I’d remembered. There was a linoleum floor that was ripped in two corners, showing the patchy and moldy wood underneath. “Enzo, don’t you smirk at me!” My mother roared with surprising strength. I gaped at her—I wasn’t used to seeing her as anything but weak and powerless. “Things have changed around here, boy,” she said in the same sharp tone. “And if you try anything, I’ll find out about it! You mind your elders,” she added. “I wouldn’t want to have to come after you.” A chill of fear crawled down my spine as I looked around for my father. He was nowhere in sight. The kitchen table, rickety and missing a chair, was heaped with newspapers and plastic bags, but I knew there was no food inside. Finding anything to eat in my parents’ house was always like searching for a needle in a haystack, and I knew it was damn

near impossible. “Dad?” I called out as I ducked my head outside. The backyard of the house was covered with a patchy lawn. Even though we technically lived in Chicago, it didn’t look much like a city. The area had once been a nice neighborhood, but years of drugs and gang activity had robbed the house of anything that could have once been considered beautiful. Now all of the houses were just as run down as ours was. I glanced nervously across the street. The house across from ours was missing both windows in the front, making it look like a gap-toothed smile of an old man. My shoulders slumped. “Mom, I can’t find Dad,” I called as I walked into the yard. “Where is he? Did he say where he was going to go?” My mother came out with her bony hands on her bonier hips. “No, smart-ass, he didn’t tell me,” she said in a snippy voice. “But you better make sure he doesn’t spend all of his money down at that damn club again.” My mother’s gray eyes flashed with anger. She was going blind, but I knew she could still see me perfectly. Even though that should have given me comfort, I couldn’t feel anything except fright when I thought of my

mother and her intense, bug-eyed stare. I hesitated. I didn’t want to go looking for my father, but I had a feeling that my mother wouldn’t be giving me any choice in the matter. “Do you want me to go find him?” “How many times have I already asked you?” My mother’s face was pinched with rage and disappointment. “I swear, boy, you are about the dumbest son I could have produced,” she said as she turned away and slammed the door. I swallowed hard. The day was hot, freakishly so, and I felt myself sweating under my thin T-shirt and work pants. Everyone always thought summers in Chicago were perfect because the winters were so bad, but that wasn’t true. It got hotter than hell sometimes, and just as humid. And I wasn’t even close enough to the lake to go swimming. Dusk was falling, but the heat showed no sign of letting up, and my mouth was parched. I hated the idea of walking all the way to the strip club where my father spent most of his time, but I shivered when I glanced back at the house. I couldn’t go in there, not without finding him first. My mother would kill me.

With a sigh, I started trudging along the road. The heat shimmered on the pavement, and I felt it soaking up through my jeans, into my legs. The houses on either side seemed never-ending, and I shook my head, trying to catch any hint of a breeze. The air was dead still. I couldn’t even remember what month it was supposed to be. “Enzo,” my mother called. “Enzo, hurry up! I’m not gonna wait for your slow-ass all day!” I jumped at the sound of her shrill unhappiness. But when I turned around, there was no one there. Fear quickened in my heart, and I began to run forward, suddenly afraid of what would happen to me if I stopped. “Please don’t hurt me,” I said and prayed under my breath as I jogged past the houses. My heart skipped in my chest, slamming against my ribs and making me feel as though I’d never be able to breathe properly again. “Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me.” The muscles in my legs were aching, but I forced myself to keep moving, to keep running, to keep going ahead in search of my father. When I reached the end of the street, I had to lean over and rest my hands on my knees. I was

breathing so hard that my chest hurt and my heart felt like it was going to leap out of my body and pound away down the street until I was dead and gone and there was no ounce of Enzo Lennox left in the world.

Chapter Twenty-Six “Enzo, you need to sit up and drink this,” a voice said, their voice severe. “Mom?” I croaked. “No,” the voice replied. “Enzo, this is Nurse Barnes. Now, sit up and take a drink of this broth.” My eyes shot open. Suddenly, I was no longer at my old home, the South Side of Chicago. I was in the hospital, and my body was aching, and everything started coming back to me in a hectic rush. “Enzo, please,” the nurse said, her tone only getting crosser. “I don’t have all day. I have other patients too, you know.” She held out a spoon overflowing with a thin, yellowish broth. I leaned forward and tried to take the spoon from her hand. She was a slender, older woman in pink scrubs and she yanked her hand away from mine, spilling lukewarm broth all over the sheets. “Now look what you made me do,” the nurse said in the same cross voice. “Now I’m going to have to

change your sheets,” she added. “Can’t you have some of this?” She held the spoon up again. I sighed. Realizing that she wasn’t even going to let me feed myself, I leaned forward and opened my mouth. The broth tasted bland. It wasn’t as salty as I’d thought, and I wrinkled my nose and swallowed it down. “I need to get out of the hospital,” I said as soon as I’d swallowed. “I need to go. I need to leave right now.” Nurse Barnes shook her head. “You’re not going anywhere.” She pointed to an illegible chart at the end of my bed. “You’re crazy if you think I’d let you leave, Enzo,” she added. “You have a severe concussion, and you’ve been unconscious for almost thirteen hours. Now, that doesn’t sound like someone who’s fine.” “But I woke up, I feel better now,” I insisted, trying to sit up in the bed. My body was incredibly weak. I winced as I glanced down—even though it had only been a few days since I’d hit the gym, I could tell my muscle tone was starting to fade. “I promise, I feel totally fine.” I grinned at her, trying for an ounce of that old Enzo charm. “I’m totally fine to leave. Just get the doctor, and I’ll clear it

with him.” Nurse Barnes rolled her eyes. “They said you were a workaholic,” she said absentmindedly as she deftly rolled me off the bed and onto a gurney. “And they weren’t lying. Enzo, your business isn’t going to collapse after just one day of not going to work. Tell me that you understand that at least.” I frowned at her. I knew, deep down, there was another reason why I had to leave the hospital. There was something really important and really dangerous. Why couldn’t I remember? Every time I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate, I felt like something was punching me in the head. “I have to leave because…” I trailed off, looking down. Nurse Barnes was busy changing the sheets of the hospital bed. The gurney was stiff, and when I realized how high I was off the ground, I felt dizzy. “I have to leave because I have something to do,” I said, trying to make my voice strong and confident. “I have something to do, and I know it’s important.” “But you can’t even remember what it is?” Nurse Barnes looked at me and clucked her tongue. “Enzo, you’re too sick to leave the hospital,” she repeated firmly.

I sighed. This wasn’t going to work. “I have to talk to a doctor.” I pointed to my arm. There was an IV in the crook of my elbow, and when I moved, it felt like I was being pinched. “My arm hurts,” I said suddenly. “My arm’s going numb.” “That’s because you’re moving around too much with that damn IV in,” Nurse Barnes said. Her face was red from the effort of moving me from and back to the bed. “You need to stay put. You’re never going to recover if you don’t take care of yourself, Enzo.” “Come on,” I insisted. “It’s serious! It’s going numb!” I waved my arm wildly in the air. “Come on, nurse, don’t you realize I’m in trouble?” She glared at me. “The only trouble you’re going to be in is the trouble that happens when I tell the doctor how much you’re misbehaving.” She shook her head and sucked her teeth, indicating disdain. “Now you need to stay put, mister. I’m going to get you your medicine, and then you’ll take it and settle down for another nap. We’ll come check on you later.” “No!” I shouted. “No, no, that’s not going to work. I need to see a doctor now.” My heart was racing in

my chest, and suddenly I was filled with fear that I wouldn’t even be able to break out of the hospital. “It’s urgent,” I said, pointing to my chest. “See, I’m hurting here, too.” Nurse Barnes rolled her eyes as she stepped away from the bed. “Enzo, no more funny business!” She wagged a finger at me. “I know you’re lying, and I won’t stand for that.” She looked at me, and suddenly I was reminded of every female authority figure I’d ever hated. “Now you should feel lucky because I’m the nice nurse on your shift,” she hissed out, leaning down and staring me in the face. “Enzo, you behave while I get your medicine, okay?” I sank down on the hot, starchy pillows and nodded, feeling defeated. If I couldn’t even remember why I had to leave the hospital, what the fuck was going to happen? I closed my eyes and tried to remember. I was fine. I was not at work for some reason. Why wasn’t I at work? What was I doing in a car in the middle of the day? Was I going to a meeting? Were any new clients trying to get in touch with me? What was going on? By the time Nurse Barnes came back with a cup of pills and a clear plastic bottle of water, I was feeling more dismal and panicked than ever. She had a

calm expression on her face, and I knew that I had to try one more time. “Nurse, please,” I said in my most suave, humble voice. “I really don’t need to be here.” I laughed. “I’m fine, and I’m not even in pain. I was just lying because I wanted to see the doctor. But I really need to leave the hospital,” I added hopefully. “I don’t actually have insurance right now, and—” “Enzo,” Nurse Barnes said sharply. “Stop lying to me, I don’t appreciate that. Your condition is not fit to leave the hospital, and you know that. Why just five minutes ago you were complaining about how weak you felt!” “I was just frustrated.” Panic rose in my throat, and I struggled to stay calm. “I don’t need those pills either.” Nurse Barnes was offering them to me, and I cringed—three giant white pills and two smaller yellow ones were in her palm. If I took them, I was afraid I’d pass out again, and then I’d really be helpless. “Enzo, I’m warning you, if you can’t take them on your own, I’m going to have to call in one of the other nurses.” Nurse Barnes stood with her hands on her slim hips. For a moment, I wondered about her life outside of work. Did she have friends?

Family? Family. My mind clung to the word, and I shook my head a few times, hoping to jolt myself into remembering whatever I’d forgotten. “I’ll take them,” I said, grabbing the pills from her palm. Afterwards, she had me open my mouth. The pills were tucked under my tongue, and I had my fingers crossed under the scratchy hospital sheets so that she couldn’t see them. “Good,” Nurse Barnes said. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” She walked out of the room, working her arms from one side to the other as though she were exercising vigorously. When she was gone, I spat the pills into my hand and shoved them between the hospital bedframe and the mattress. I sat up quickly and was hit by a massive dizzy spell. I had to lean over and rest my face in my hands before I started to feel more awake. I have to get out of here, I have to get out of here, I have to get out of here. Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed made me feel dizzy, too, but I kept going. Finally, I managed to stand up. My stomach growled, and suddenly I wished that I’d eaten the broth the nurse had

brought me. I couldn’t remember when I’d eaten last, and I felt weak as a newborn kitten. As casually as I could, I walked outside into the hallway. Outside of my room was a bustle of activity. Nurses rushed back and forth, all in different scrubs but with the same harried facial expression. I stepped back as a crowd of young doctors in green scrubs and white gowns rushed by, all craning their necks to see a clipboard held in one of their hands. The nurses’ station was right down the hall. I tried to smile my best smarmy Enzo Lennox smile and strolled casually towards it. Inside, my body was aching. I felt like I was going to pass out at any minute, but I knew that I had to appear awake and feeling normal. “Hi,” the nurse sitting at the desk chirped. “Can I help you? Is everything okay?” “Everything’s fine,” I replied with a chuckle. Her face relaxed, and I got my first real burst of pride that day. Good, just keep going. Make her laugh. “I was just wondering about something.” “Sure,” the nurse said in the same perky voice. “What can I help you with?”

“I was in a car accident,” I said, grinning and flashing my white teeth at the nurse. I watched a slight flush rise to her cheeks. “And I was wondering, who were the people working the night I was brought in?” “What’s your name?” “Enzo Lennox,” I said, leaning down over the counter. The nurse looked positively flushed and excited by my presence. Yes. You can do this. You’ve conned women hundreds of times before. That’s who you are. You’re Enzo, you got this. “Alright, Enzo, just give me one moment while I run a search.” The nurse flashed me a smile, and I returned it. The nurse was older than I was and heavily overweight. Based on her reactions alone I could tell that not very many men paid attention to her. “That’s fine,” I said, glancing behind me. No sign of Nurse Barnes. Good. “Enzo, it looks like Dr. Mendel and Nurse Connor were taking care of you that night,” the nurse said. It was cold in the atrium, but her face was red and perspiring. As I watched, she stuck her pink tongue

out of her mouth and licked her cracked lips. “Audrey,” I said. My heart started to slam against my chest. “Audrey!” “What?” The nurse frowned. “I’m sorry, Enzo, are you talking about someone? Nurse Connor’s first name is Sarah, not Audrey.” I have to find Audrey. I have to find her. I have to go! “Never mind,” I said, my voice no longer polite, pushing away from the nurses’ station and flinging myself down the hallway. Suddenly, I remembered everything perfectly. I’d been in a car accident. I’d been in the car with Audrey, and some new asshole chauffeur deliberately got in a crash. The next details were fuzzier. I remembered being brought into the hospital, and I remembered asking about Audrey. So why hadn’t I remembered her when I’d come out of that sleep? The image of the white pills flashed into my mind. “Fuck!” I howled. Whatever they’d given me to help me sleep must have completely erased my memories of the previous events. God fucking dammit. If I don’t find Audrey soon, I don’t even

want to think about what’s going to happen to her. And how much time has it been already? That bitch nurse said that I’d been asleep for almost half a day. So how much time did I waste in that stupid hospital bed? My heart was pounding, and my head was aching, but I knew that no matter what, I had to find a way out of the hospital. I had to get to Audrey, I had to warn her somehow that she was in grave danger. That we were both in grave danger unless I acted quickly. “Sir, are you okay?” A nurse stepped forward. “You look like you’re not feeling well. Can I help you back to your room?” “No!” I shouted. “I’m sorry,” I added quickly. Sweat beaded on my forehead and I stepped back. “I’m fine, thanks.” I turned on my heel and ran down the hallway. Getting out of the hospital was a nightmare. Every corner brought nurses, doctors, and techs who were all desperate to see me get back to my room. Plus, the place was like a goddamn maze. No matter which way I turned, I still felt like I was lost. Finally, I found a set of elevators. Just as I pressed

the button, Nurse Barnes rounded the corner. When she saw me, her face went white with shock. “Enzo! What are you doing out of bed?” “Leaving,” I replied as I hurled myself into the waiting elevator and jammed my thumb against the Doors Close button. Nurse Barnes stepped closer and closer but finally, the elevator doors crunched together, and I felt myself being carried down, away from her, and out of the clutches of the hospital.

Chapter Twenty-Seven When I got down to the street, everyone was staring at me, and for a moment I was terrified that Nurse Barnes was going to give chase. Then I realized why: I was still clad in a cotton hospital gown, my ass exposed for everyone to see. Hailing a cab, I launched myself into the back seat. I gave the driver the address of LennoxCo and rested my forehead against the greasy glass window, trying to catch my breath. I still didn’t know what had happened to Audrey, but I had a feeling she was in trouble. It bothered me that I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Just what, exactly, was going on? Was it because I felt responsible? Or guilty? Deep down, I knew that I didn’t even want to dwell on why I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I knew that it was something aside from guilt, but whatever it was, it wasn’t something that I wanted to focus on. Not right now, not when I had Richard Hodges to go after. The cab pulled up, and I dashed out, promising to send a girl down with the fare. Everyone stared at me as I raced through the lobby and jumped the

identification turnstiles. When I finally made it up to the executive floor, I rushed into my office and grabbed a change of clothes from the desk. Even though I knew deep down that Audrey wouldn’t be sitting out front of office, not seeing her there was like a punch to my gut. The phone rang, and for a second, I felt a flash of irritation that Audrey hadn’t picked up the call. When I remembered what was going on, I grabbed the receiver and pressed it against my face. “Hello?” My voice was ragged and hoarse. It sounded like I’d been running a marathon. I coughed. “This is Enzo Lennox,” I said, my tone biting. “Who is this?” “Enzo.” When I heard Richard’s voice, my free hand balled into a fist at my side. “Enzo, looks like you ran away from the hospital.” “Fuck off,” I snarled out. “Where is she?” Even though I couldn’t see him, I knew that Richard had to be smirking at that exact moment. “Where is who?” “Audrey,” I spat out. “Where is she?”

Richard laughed, a silken sound, like he was enjoying himself. My blood boiled when I realized the truth—he was enjoying himself. He’d always enjoyed tormenting me, far too much. “She’s safe, don’t worry. Although, if I’m being honest, I have to say that I don’t really get the attraction, Enzo. Just what is it about Audrey that’s so enticing to you?” I growled. “Where is she?” “Enzo, I’ll tell you where she is. All you have to do is one little thing for me, okay?” I didn’t say anything. My blood was pounding in my ears, and suddenly I felt like I was going to pass out again. I knew that I needed to eat something, fast, but now that I had Richard on the phone, I didn’t want to let him go. “Enzo, just give me the company. I want LennoxCo. Or rather, HodgesCo,” Richard said in a nasty tone. “Just hand over the company, and you get Audrey back. Isn’t that a fair trade?” He snickered. “And don’t worry, I won’t want anything to do with her. I have my eye on a little girl who looks like Christie Brinkley to be my secretary.”

I slammed my fist on the desk and almost howled as pain shot through my body. “Forget it.” I sneered into the phone. “You’re not getting my company, Richard. You’re not even getting a dime of my money.” “Well, then suit yourself,” Richard said airily. “I know what you’ve been doing, Enzo. I know you’ve been looking for ways to incriminate me. And you’re a fool if you think that’s going to work. I’m smarter than you and tougher than you, and a hell of a lot scarier than you. You’re not going to bully me into doing anything.” Inwardly, I groaned. “Richard,” I said through gritted teeth. “Get this through your thick fucking skull. I’m not selling my company to you. I’m not giving my company to you. LennoxCo is none of your fucking business, and you’re going to leave me alone and let Audrey go. You understand that?” Richard snickered. “That’s not the way things are going to end,” he said with disdain. “Enzo, I would have thought you were smarter than this. After all, you’re a self-made man, aren’t you? You didn’t have to learn the business from anyone, not like me. You self-made assholes are supposed to be better businessmen!”

“I’m keeping my business and running it the way I want to,” I hissed out into the phone. “And that’s the final word on that!” Feeling triumphant, I slammed the phone down into the cradle. Again, I almost called Audrey’s name until I looked out of my open door and saw that her desk was empty. My heart sank. I ran out into the hallway. Karen was standing there with a group of women, chattering and laughing. When I dashed up, she glanced at me with surprise. “Enzo, you’re looking tired,” she said, eyeing me from head to toe. “Karen, you need to call Sebastian,” I told her. “Tell him to come to my office, immediately. This is important!” Karen squinted at me and narrowed her eyes before crossing her thin arms over her chest. She was still one of the hottest women I’d ever seen, but I felt as little desire for her as for a corpse. “Where’s Audrey?” She gave me a big, mocking smile. “Late again?” “She couldn’t come in today,” I snapped. “So hurry

up! Go! Now!” Karen skittered off, her heels clacking on the marble floor. Her friends looked up at me with a mixture of envy and disgust on their faces. Dashing back to my office, I pulled my phone off the hook. It rang again before I could even punch in the number I was thinking of. “This is Enzo Lennox.” “Enzo, I forgot one little thing.” I cringed as Hodges’ slimy voice filled my ear. “One little thing about your company, and about Audrey.” “I’m still not giving it to you,” I snapped. “And I have my ways to take you down, Richard. So don’t even think that I won’t try.” “You may try all you want, but you’re certainly not going to succeed,” Hodges replied in a silky tone. “After all, I’m the smarter one here. You know that, Enzo.” I swallowed hard. “So, what is it? What do you want?” “Oh, it’s nothing else that I want. Enzo, it’s a little past eleven in the morning right now. You have

twenty-four hours to change your mind about giving me your company. Or else, Audrey won’t live to see another day.” “Bullshit.” I scoffed. “I bet you don’t even have her.” “Oh, Enzo, you can be such a fool,” Richard said. There was a pause, and then I heard him yell Audrey’s name. There was a blood-curdling, highpitched female scream in response. My blood ran cold. “Hodges, you fuck,” I said into the phone. But the only thing in response was a dial tone. He’d hung up.

Chapter Twenty-Eight After Hodges hung up on me, I was a nervous wreck. I couldn’t stop pacing around my office like a caged animal. I knew that I had to do something, but I couldn’t think of what. And Seb hadn’t even shown up yet; I was wondering if Karen had actually found him. I thought of her with a touch of regret. Part of me thought that maybe if I’d treated her with just a slight bit of respect, we wouldn’t be having this problem. Then I shook my head. Karen was a petty, jealous kind of girl. She’d always been like this. She was the kind of girl who would have been jealous of Audrey even if Audrey was sixty years old and four hundred pounds. It didn’t matter that I was sleeping with her. Karen just hated feeling replaced. By the time Sebastian poked his head in, I was sitting down with my face in my hands. “Yo, Enzo, what the hell, man?” Seb sauntered in. His skin looked tan and glowing, like he’d just come from the tropics. I knew that I looked sallow and pale, a shadow of my former self. I glared at him. Seb and I had

always been the golden boys of the office, and I almost resented him for being able to maintain that image while I was sitting there looking like shit. “I need your help,” I said quickly. “I need to bring this asshole down.” Seb came behind my desk, and I pointed at my monitor. A picture of Richard Hodges, red-faced and grinning like a prize pig, was on the display. “Oh no,” Seb said. He shook his head and grinned at me. “Whatever this is, bro, I don’t like the sound of it.” He pointed towards the photo of Hodges. “I recognize that asshole. He was here a few times last week.” “Yeah,” I said, shaking my head, unable to tear my gaze away from the greedy gleam in Hodges’ eye. Despite the fact that the picture was an old one, I pictured him exactly like that: sweaty and proud of his own goddamn slimy behavior. “Man, what’s wrong? You look fuckin’ rough today. Did something happen?” I swallowed hard, reaching for a bottle of water on my desk. “It doesn’t matter,” I said darkly. “I’ll tell you later when all of this shit is taken care of.”

Seb crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest and lowered himself onto the black leather couch, kicking up his feet on one armrest and laying his head on the other. “Okay, say I agree to help you. What exactly do you need?” “Something you don’t do anymore.” I got to my feet and paced back and forth in front of the couch. “This guy, he’s out to fuck me, and I can’t let him win. He wants this company, and he’s dead set on getting it. At first, he kept trying to get me to sell it to him, but I refused. And now he’s threatening me.” Seb’s eyes flashed open, and he stared at me. “He’s actually threatening you? With what?” I paused. I didn’t want to tell Seb about Audrey. I had a feeling he already knew, but better to keep this as simple as I possibly could. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “I just need to focus on outwitting this guy. I need to dig up some dirt; I need to find things that he’s hidden and doesn’t want anyone to see.” “I don’t like where this is going.” Seb shook his head. “If you’re talking about hacking, you know I gave that shit up.” He grinned at me. “Scout’s

honor.” “I wouldn’t ask you unless I absolutely had to, and I think you know that,” I replied quickly. “And, Seb, trust me, I’ve thought of everything. But I can’t think of anyone else who could help on such short notice. And I’m in trouble if I can’t fight this guy off. It would ruin the company and ruin me, and probably ruin everyone who works here. No more pensions, no more retirement. Nothing. Everything you saved would be gone.” Seb winced. I knew that I’d finally gotten to him— he had over four million dollars invested in LennoxCo. “I really don’t like the sound of this, man.” He raked a hand through his hair and stared at me. “I almost went to jail last time.” Seb let out a little nervous laugh. “And I definitely don’t want that happening again.” I sighed. “I wouldn’t tell you this unless I had to, but… they’ve got Audrey, Seb.” Seb narrowed his eyes. “That dowdy little secretary of yours? Why the hell would they even want her around?”

I silenced him with a glare. “Because they know she’s important to me,” I said icily. “And if I don’t act fast, she’s dead. Richard said I had twenty-four hours to turn the company over to him or else he’d kill her. He’s crazy, and I don’t want to call his bluff, but I’m not giving up on LennoxCo. So, I need to find some dirt on him.” Seb closed his eyes. His face paled as he folded his hands in his lap. “I understand,” he said after a second. “I’ll help you, okay? Not that this is even remotely close to the kind of thing I’d consider again.” He let out a dry laugh. “Only for you, Enzo.” I nodded. “Thank you.” Twenty minutes later, Seb and I were stationed in the corner of a local Starbucks with his laptop, my laptop, and a hell of a lot of cords and wires. I didn’t even know the first thing about hacking, but watching Seb work was like watching the master. After I got a couple of lattes for us, Seb set up both computers and connected them with a fat, yellow cord. “My computer is going to be the slave, and yours is the master,” he said in a quiet, low voice as he booted up my computer. “So yours will work

through mine, through disguising software.” Seb looked up at me with a wild grin on his face and a glint in his eye. Even though Seb and I had been friends for years, I’d never seen him his crazed. Not even when the two of us had embarked on a weeklong bender with tons of booze and strippers. It was like coding was what made Seb tick deep down, beneath his airs of being a sophisticated city guy. I had to laugh. What was it that made me tick, exactly? When Audrey’s face flashed into my mind, I realized that I didn’t want to think about that anymore. I watched in fascination as Seb logged on to a secure server. Five seconds later, RH Shoes was displayed in a fancy pink font across the screen. “Bingo,” Seb said under his breath. He moved the pointer around the screen so quickly that I barely had a chance to see what he was doing. “See, Enzo, right now I’m bypassing his firewall and going straight where the secure FTP files are kept. We can take all of them, or whichever ones you want.” My mouth went dry. I felt like I was finally on the verge of something really powerful. I pulled a flash

drive out of my pocket and handed it to Seb. “Take them all,” I said. “And make copies, and send those copies to my secure LennoxCo email. You know which one?” Seb nodded. For a moment, we shared a tense look. Seb had helped me before, and he’d almost gone to jail for it, but this time I had a feeling we’d both get off without consequence. After all, Seb was a master hacker, and Hodges was wanted by the police. What could possibly go wrong? After Seb handed me the flash drive, I grabbed my laptop and darted back up to my office. Now that I wasn’t logged into Hodges’ servers anymore, I had to see what Seb had uncovered. I hoped it was enough to lock Hodges away forever, but until I looked at the records, I wouldn’t know. My heart was pounding, and sweat broke out on my forehead as the elevator carried me up toward the executive suite. This has to be it, I told myself. This has to be it; you’ve got him now. Just check and make sure Seb did his work properly. That’s all you have to look for right now. Just make sure Seb did a good job. When the doors pinged open, I broke into a run, dashing down the hallway and into my office. After

slamming the door behind me, I put my laptop on the desk and whipped the flash drive out of my pocket. It seemed to take an eternity to load. I was bouncing one knee up and down and tapping my fingers on the desk as I waited for all of the files to load. The folder was named Financial Records. I grinned. This had to be a good place to start! Opening the first file, I began to skim down. There was a list of all business expenses and acquisitions, and right away I realized that the file didn’t make sense. The expenses were far more than what should have been listed for a shoe store, even a luxury shoe store, and the acquisitions were huge sums of money, often listed with code words. I grinned. This was going to be easy. Richard Hodges was mine. I said a silent thank you in my head to Seb as I scanned through the rest of the files. The first one hadn’t been an anomaly; all of them were as indiscreet, full of large sums of money going in but not out. And even better, when I found Hodges’ fund records, I saw that he didn’t have nearly as much in legal savings as the sums being pumped into the shoe store. I couldn’t believe he’d gotten away with as much as he had—the money

laundering on the statements was some of the most obvious that I’d ever seen. I rubbed my hands together as a grim smile formed on my face. He may have gotten away with it, but that’s not going to last much longer, I thought. Hold on, Audrey. I’m coming soon.

Chapter Twenty-Nine Audrey I was cold, scared, and shaking. And worst of all, I had no idea what had happened to Pepper. The last thing I remembered was being in the car with Enzo and that weird driver. Then Enzo had freaked out and started yelling, and the next thing I knew there was a big crash and I woke up in the middle of a warehouse. I was still wearing my parka, but my purse and everything else was gone. The warehouse was cold and dark, with only a few vents on the top for lighting, and judging by the sounds around me, I guessed that I was somewhere near the waterfront. The sound of waves beating against wood was a hypnotic kind of lull that stayed with me throughout the day. I had no way of finding out what time it was, or who had taken me. I didn’t remember very much from the crash. I remembered Enzo and the chauffeur bickering about something, and then no matter how hard I tried to think of what had come next, I couldn’t.

Occasionally, I’d hear a loud crash, bang, or thump from the other side of the warehouse. I’d discovered early on not to move around too much —the wooden floor seemed rickety, and a board had snapped under my feet. For a moment, I had a terrible vision of the dark, polluted water below sucking me out to sea. But I tried to shake it off and concentrate on thinking about how to get out. The warehouse had two sets of doors. Both were covered with heavy iron chains. At first, I thought I’d be able to pull the chains off the door, but I didn’t have any luck. Even when I closed my eyes and tugged hard, I only fell backward. The chains didn’t even move—I guessed they had to weigh a few hundred pounds. My mouth was dry, and I was sweating with the effort of trying to move them, and I hadn’t even made a dent. Whoever had put me here really wanted to make sure that I couldn’t get out. I was also starving. I hadn’t eaten since the lavish dinner at Enzo’s favorite restaurant, and even though I felt sick, I knew that I had to eat to keep my strength up. I found a stale dog biscuit and a packet of sunflower seeds in a pocket of my parka and devoured both in record time.

The whole ordeal made me want to cry. I’d never felt so desperate, or been in such a scary situation. Even growing up virtually homeless at times hadn’t felt so scary. I’d had my family, and I’d known deep down that everything would be alright in the end. Right now, I didn’t feel like anything would ever be okay ever again. As much as I wanted to blame myself and convince myself that it was my fault that I was stuck here, I knew that dwelling on my mistakes wouldn’t change anything. And I was too worried about Enzo to even think about him much of the time. What had happened to him after the crash? Had he been taken, too? Or was he somewhere, waiting for me, wondering what had happened? When the sun rose up in the sky, I realized it was towards the middle of the day. I’d only been there for a few hours, and it had already seemed like an eternity. The warmth of the sun’s rays did little to change the temperature inside the frigid warehouse, and although I unzipped my parka an inch or two, I wasn’t ready to take it off. I wanted to laugh when I realized that I was supposed to be at work. “I hope I’m not going to be fired,” I said aloud, shivering at the weak sound of my voice echoing

off the warehouse walls. “I couldn’t handle that right now.” There was a bark, and I jumped up, running to the side of the warehouse. The thought of Pepper alone and scared made my heart race and I closed my eyes as they filled with tears. “Pepper!” I yelled. “Pepper, I’m in here!” The dog barked and growled low and I shivered. It wasn’t Pepper. It was another dog, someone else’s dog. Before I’d had time to think about whose dog it was, the doors to the warehouse burst open. Two pale, muscular men walked in. They were both wearing black pants, thick black sweaters, and gloves. Their faces and a strip of exposed skin on their wrists glowed in the dark, and I tried hard to focus on their features. They both had light blue eyes and hair so blond that it was almost white. “Hi,” I said, getting to my feet and wincing at the creaking of the boards beneath my feet. “I think there must be some kind of mistake. I’m Audrey, I’m just a secretary.” The men stared at me blankly. One of them stepped

forward—he was slightly taller with lines on his face. I figured that maybe he was the leader. “There is no mistake,” he said in a smooth, low voice. If I’d closed my eyes, it almost could have been Enzo speaking. But when the man spoke again, I realized there was some kind of thick, eastern European accent. “There is no mistake,” he repeated in a guttural tone. “You are Audrey, yes? We have you here.” I shuddered as the taller man took another step forward. He was so close that I could see the bright blue veins on his face and neck. “Don’t hurt me,” I begged. “Please, I didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t even know why I’m here!” “That is not for you to decide,” the man said icily. He began to pull off his gloves and examine his hands. “We are working for someone, and he wanted you brought here.” “Can you tell me what happened to my dog, please?” I looked into the man’s blue eyes, hoping for a trace of sympathy. They remained stony and cold. “Her name is Pepper, she was in the car with us, I am worried that she’s hurt.” The man clicked his tongue and snapped his

fingers. There was another growl, then a bark, and I gasped—three German shepherds ran into the warehouse. Their coats were thick and shiny, and big pink tongues hung from their mouths. They ran up to the two men and then stopped, sitting on their haunches and staring at me. The man reached down and petted one of them, then looked at me with a cruel grin on his slender face. “This is your dog?” He raised his eyebrows. “You lose this dog?” “No,” I said, shaking my head for emphasis. “I’ve never seen those dogs before. I don’t know who they belong to, they’re not mine.” The man threw his head back and laughed. When his companion joined in, I shuddered. “You have visit with our boss soon,” the man replied. “He come and visit you—make sure that you are alright.” “I don’t know who your boss is,” I said, my voice growing to a high pitch. “I told you, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing here! I was in a car with my boss, Enzo, and my dog, and then there was some kind of crash.”

The man smiled at me. He put his gloves back on and patted one German shepherd’s head. The other two dogs had their eyes trained on me. I closed my eyes and tried to take a deep breath. I was so scared that my lungs were aching and I thought that I was going to pass out. “It does not matter,” the man said. He tapped the dog on its haunches, and it rose to all fours. “I leave you with these dogs,” he added with a grin. “For company.” I sighed. “Okay. I’m not going anywhere. I don’t even know where I am.” “And I leave Maika,” the man said, nodding at the slightly short blond man. “He will watch you until boss arrives.” “Are you just going to leave me here?” I gestured around the warehouse. “It’s freezing in here, and I’m hungry. Can’t I have something to eat?” The man’s gloved hand hit my face faster than I could duck, and for a moment, I didn’t feel anything. Then a hot, painful sting spread through my cheek and jaw, and I winced as tears came to my eyes.

“You ask too many questions,” the man snapped. “We return later.” He nodded at Maika, then turned on his heel and stomped out of the warehouse. When he was gone, I saw Maika relax just a bit. Maybe the tall guy was the leader, I thought. Maybe this guy is just as freaked out as I am. I watched him carefully, looking for any sign that he could be counted on for sympathy. “Who do you work for?” I looked at the man warily, half-expecting another slap. He shook his head. “Do you speak English?” He shook his head again. He said something that sounded like “Rooskie” before slumping against the wall and sitting on the floor. The German shepherds curled up around him, looking almost angelic. A trace of my fear disappeared, and I sighed. What the hell was Enzo involved with, and who were these Russian thugs? What the hell was I doing here? I had no way of telling time. My phone had been taken, and I was resolved to sitting against the wall and watching the rays of the sun move along the

decrepit wooden floor. When my limbs grew stiff and began to fall asleep, I changed positions. There was absolutely no way of being comfortable, and if I sat in place for too long, I started to feel cold. The air was still chilly, but the sun had finally started to warm up the day a little—the tip of my nose was no longer numb. This isn’t so bad, I told myself. You’ve been through worse. Everything’s going to be okay, just hang in there and keep breathing. These guys don’t want to hurt you; he only slapped you because you kept asking questions. Just keep your head down, and everything’s going to be fine. Enzo’s fine, Pepper’s fine, and you’re going to get back to work with a funny story to tell. Don’t worry. Stay calm. I repeated those words in my head over and over. No matter how many times I told myself that everything would be okay, I still couldn’t shake the sense of dread and foreboding that came over me. One set of doors to the warehouse slowly creaked open. I gasped as the heavy metal chains fell to the floor. They dropped so heavily that I felt the floorboards give, then bounce and finally spring back into place. As the door swung open, I prayed that Enzo and the police would be on the other side.

Instead, it was someone I thought looked vaguely familiar. He was of average height with a spare tire of middle-aged fat around his waist, shiny pink skin, and thinning light hair. He was wearing a suit underneath some kind of woolen overcoat, and despite the winter chill, he looked completely warm and cozy. There were slim leather gloves on his hands, and he was wearing shiny, new shoes. “Hello, Audrey,” the man said as he stepped closer. “You’re looking a little cold.” He snapped his fingers, and the pale, muscular man from before darted inside after him. He was carrying a blanket. The man in the overcoat pointed towards me. “Give her the blanket,” he said to the pale man. “She looks cold. I told you, don’t let her get cold.” I couldn’t help but frown as the man walked over to me and dropped a thick, woolen blanket in my lap. It looked like the kind of thing you’d find at a military surplus store, but my legs already felt warmer. Gratefully, I pulled the blanket around me and crawled to my feet. When I was standing, I realized the man in the suit was actually pretty short. Especially compared to Enzo. He was only a few inches taller than me, and I could tell that he was probably in his early sixties.

His face was pink, plump, and obviously well-fed. “Excuse me,” I said softly, straightening up as much as I could. My back ached from being on the hard wood for hours, and my feet were swollen and cold in my loafers. “I don’t know why I’m here. I was in a car accident, and then I must have passed out, and I woke up here.” The man smiled, and for a moment, I felt a touch of relief. “Don’t worry. Everything is going to be fine.” He kept his smile trained on me for a long time, and suddenly, a chill of fear trickled down the back of my neck. “You’re in good hands, Audrey.” “When can I leave?” The man chuckled. “I hate to do this to you, but I’m actually waiting for someone. So as soon as I get what I need, you’re free to go.” He smiled at me, and I shivered. “That sound alright to you?” I shook my head. “I don’t understand. What does this have to do with me?” I frowned at him. “I’m not some high-ranking individual, you know. I’m just a secretary.” “Just a secretary,” the man repeated. He glanced at the tall, pale man and Maika. “She thinks she’s just

a secretary. Isn’t that funny?” As if on cue, all three men laughed. I glanced around nervously. What the fuck was going on? “I think there may have been some kind of misunderstanding,” I said, wrapping the blanket more tightly around me and cocooning myself inside. Even though it was only wool and felt trim, I still imagined that it was somehow keeping me safer. At least this way I didn’t feel so damn exposed. “I don’t think there’s anything I can help you with,” I added. “I don’t know anything.” The man stepped forward. His grin grew, and I watched his pink, shiny face twitch with the effort of it all. His eyes, an odd shade of gray, almost like Enzo’s, were glowing with a gleam that made me shudder. He suddenly reminded me of all the caricatures I’d seen of the Devil when I was going to church food banks with my parents. “That’s where you’re wrong,” the man said. His voice was like wet velvet or silk, suited to reading books on tape. “You can help me get exactly what I want.” I shook my head. “I think you’re overestimating how important I really am at work,” I insisted.

“You know I don’t do anything except grab coffee and make appointments. Sometimes I clean my boss’s office, that’s all.” The man leered at me and my gut twisted with fright. “You clean for Enzo? How sweet,” the man cooed. “And what does he make you wear when you do that?” He gestured towards my baggy leggings and loafers. “Surely not those horrid clothes.” I stared at him. “There’s something you’re not telling me,” I said slowly. “What do you want with Enzo?” “Oh, I don’t want anything with Enzo.” He reached up and rubbed his chin with one of his soft-looking leather gloves. “I want his company. Not Enzo. I don’t give a fuck what happens to Enzo. You know, I actually wish Enzo were dead.” I felt like I’d been punched in the gut, but I was still confused as to what the hell I was doing there. “And how can I help you get that?” I demanded. “It’s not like I know anything about the company. I don’t even have stock in the company,” I added. “Why wouldn’t you talk to someone who was more powerful?”

The man stepped closer. I could smell his cologne —it was sickly sweet, like something you’d find in a funeral home. “Because you’re exactly who I need,” he murmured. “You, Audrey. You, the object of Enzo’s obsession, are the exact pawn I need to push him into place.” I swallowed hard. There was a sick feeling rising in my throat, and I tried to ignore it. “You’re blackmailing Enzo because of me? You kidnapped me?” The pitch of my voice rose to a squeaky high, and I winced, feeling oddly unable to control my own body. The man reached out and stroked my chin. I shuddered; the touch of his glove was soft and cold, but I didn’t want him anywhere near me. “You’re a little smarter than I gave you credit for,” he replied. “You figured it out pretty quickly.” He smiled, showing a mouth full of teeth so perfect they looked like dentures. “Enzo doesn’t normally care about women, but I know he’s obsessed with you. So, I have to use you. It’s nothing personal, I assure you,” the man added. “But I’m Richard Hodges, and I get what I want.” I stared at him. “You’re Richard Hodges?” The man nodded. For a moment, he looked almost

prideful. “I am. In the flesh.” “Please let me go,” I begged. “I won’t tell anyone what happened, I promise!” Desperation and fear were starting well up in me, and for another moment, I was afraid I was going to be sick. I gurgled and coughed as hot, sour bile rose in my throat. Richard shook his head. “And I don’t really like you having all this room to move around either. Maika, Sergei! Tie her up!” At once, the Russians advanced towards me. I took a tentative step backward, and the rotting wooden floorboards creaked beneath my weight. “No!” I screamed as Maika reached for me “No! Help! Someone! Help! Help me!” My voice went shrill and high. Sergei, the taller of the two, grabbed me. Another strong wave of nausea tore through my body as I pushed away from him, bending over and retching all over the floor. Tears came to my eyes as the vomit poured out of my mouth. I felt helpless to stop it. Before I was even finished throwing up, Sergei grabbed my arms and twisted them painfully behind my back. I tried to pull away from him, but he was stronger than me, much too strong to fight. I yelped in pain as I felt coarse rope cinch around my

wrists, holding my hands fast. “Help!” I screamed. “Pepper! Anyone! Help me!” The German shepherds had risen from their lazy stances and were eyeing me cautiously. Hot tears leaked from my eyes as Sergei dragged me backward, holding onto the rope between my wrists. He pulled me out of the sunlight and into a dark corner of the warehouse, where a pile of old boards and rope lay. “You stay here,” Sergei said, his yellow teeth flashing in the low light. “Boss want you to stay here.” “Fuck you,” I spat out. Richard walked over. His expression was cross, and his arms were folded in front of his meaty, bulky chest. “Audrey, I don’t want to hear that kind of language,” he said in a warning tone. “I liked you better when you were begging me to let you go.” Richard smirked at me, and a bubble of hatred rose within me. “Why not try begging me again?” I clamped my lips together. “Just a little beg?” Richard raised his eyebrows and

leaned down, staring into my eyes. I looked away. My mouth still tasted of the sour vomit, and my stomach was aching again. “Where’s Pepper?” I asked in a sullen voice. “I want my dog. What did you do to my dog?” Richard cocked his head. “I don’t remember any dog in the car. Are you sure?” Making a fist with his hand, he crouched down and gently rapped me on the head. Even though it didn’t hurt, I cringed at his touch. “You sure you didn’t knock your little head on something hard, Audrey?” I glared at him. “Pepper is my lab. I know she was with me. What did you do with her?” Richard shrugged. “I have no use for mutts. Don’t accuse me of anything too sinister.” He smiled at me as he drew himself back up to his full height. “It’s not as though I’d do anything malicious to your pooch, Audrey. Or you, so behave.” He grinned at me again, and my stomach turned over. “Boss,” Sergei said suddenly. He tapped his wrist. “Darn, I was almost enjoying this little talk of ours. You stay well, Audrey,” he said casually. “Depending on Enzo’s response, hopefully, you’ll

see me sooner than later.” He winked at me. “Wouldn’t want you getting too cold now.” He turned to Sergei. “Gag her,” he said in a sharp voice. Then I watched Richard Hodges walk away. Sergei came at me with a roll of duct tape and something clutched in his fist. When he bent down in front of me, I realized in horror that he was about to gag me with a sock. I screamed as he put his hands close to my mouth. Clamping my lips shut, I glared at him. Sergei shook his head. “Open mouth.” He glared back at me. I shook my head. Finally, Sergei reached forward and clamped his strong fingers around my nose. My lungs ached immediately, but I twisted and writhed against him, hoping to free myself. Sergei’s light eyes bored into mine, and I shivered with the intensity of his gaze. Finally, I couldn’t keep my lips shut any longer, and I opened my mouth. Sergei stuffed a foul-tasting sock inside, sealing my mouth with duct tape. When he was done, all I could do was make weak, gurgling noises. Sergei grinned down at me as he got to his feet and brushed his hands off on his jeans. “Stay,” he commanded, pointing down at me. My cheeks

reddened, and I scowled beneath my duct-tape gag. He was treating me exactly the way I treated Pepper when she misbehaved. Finally, Sergei strolled out of the warehouse with his hands in his pockets. Maika and the German shepherds stayed behind, watching me balefully. I sighed through my nose and flopped back against the wood. My stomach was still upset, and for a horrible moment, I was afraid of gagging and puking again. But then I realized my stomach was probably empty by now—nothing left to throw up. Closing my eyes, I begged myself not to cry. The tears were there, but I didn’t want to cry in front of Maika and the dogs. It would have been almost as bad as crying in front of Richard. Please, Enzo, I begged silently. Please come and save me soon. I don’t know what he’s going to do to me, but I’m so scared!

Chapter Thirty Enzo As soon as I printed out all of the statements from Seb’s careful work, I called Detective O’Brian. O’Brian had worked on Hodges’ case all those years ago, and while I knew that he wouldn’t exactly be pleased to see me, I felt that there was at least something valuable that I could offer him. At the same time, I wasn’t exactly dying to speak to him. Anything I gave O’Brian reflected on my character as well, and I wasn’t about to be the guy who went to jail for bringing down the bigger criminal. And the kind of thing I was doing could very well put me in jail. After all, I wasn’t exactly blameless. I’d willingly worked with Richard all those years before. I didn’t know that he was doing anything illegal, like laundering money, but deep down, I’d always had the suspicion that he wasn’t as good of a guy as he pretended to be. “Chicago Police Department, how may I help you?” The receptionist sounded bored. “I need to speak with Detective O’Brian. Quickly, please.”

She sighed. “There’s no use rushing me, sir, we’re all in a hurry today.” The response was mechanical, as if she had to use it multiple times per day. “Hold, please.” Before I could agree, I was put on hold. Sappy, instrumental music played in my ear, and I rolled my eyes and put my office phone on speaker. I was too tense to look away from the phone though. My foot kept tapping up and down, and my muscles were clenching so hard that my body was starting to ache. I didn’t like this. Not at all. I hated not having any idea what had happened to Audrey, and the longer I took to find out, the more bad shit could happen in the meantime. “Sir, he’s in a meeting right now,” the receptionist said drolly. “Can I take a message?” “No,” I snapped. “I’ll wait. I need to talk to him now. It’s very important—it’s about a case from a few years back.” “Fine. Hold, please.” Again, the music returned before I could even agree. By the time O’Brian picked up the phone, I was halfway to deciding that I was just going to

walk down there and show him the files myself. “This is O’Brian speaking.” “This is Enzo Lennox calling. I need to speak with you about a Richard Hodges. You worked on his arrest a few years ago—white-collar crime. I don’t think he did time in prison, but he was close.” “Oh yeah.” There was a chewing sound. “I remember. Real asshole of a guy. Real smug fuck.” “Yeah,” I said, feeling lost. “He’s threatening me, and I have financial statements that prove he laundered more money than was proven years ago.” There was a pause. “And how did you get that information?” “I’d prefer not to say at this time,” I replied. Sweat broke out on my forehead, and I sighed. “Can we meet? I need you to go after him, I can’t wait any longer.” “Why not? Kid, if something is goin’ on and you don’t tell the truth—”

“I can’t say right now, but trust me, please,” I begged. “This is really important.” “I’ll meet you somewhere and take the information,” O’Brian said sharply. “And I won’t ask again. If this is what you say it is, then, well, I’ve been looking for this guy for a long time. And I —” “Can we meet this afternoon?” I jumped out of my chair. “I can meet you outside of the station, or anywhere that works for you. This is important, and we have to get it taken care of now.” There was another long pause. “I’m clear,” O’Brian said gruffly. “There’s a Starbucks in the Loop, across from the Randolph station. Meet me there in half an hour. And bring every single document you have, don’t leave anything behind. If I wanna get this guy, I need to have all the evidence you have.” He hung up without giving me a chance to reply. Panic surged through me as I printed out extra copies of all the documents. I wasn’t giving Hodges a chance to get away, not this time. If O’Brian wouldn’t help me… well, I didn’t want to think about that. Not just yet. Not now. With a quick exhale, I gathered together the papers

and stuck the flash drive in my pocket. Seb had done a great job helping me out, and I wanted to make sure there was no way to implicate him. I knew that if I wound up sending him to jail, I could never count on him for another favor again. My heart seemed to harden in my chest as I glanced around my office. Would O’Brian arrest me, too? Would this be the last time I was in LennoxCo as the CEO? What was going to happen to my company, especially if I couldn’t get to Richard in time? And above all, Audrey’s name was pulsing in my head like the beat of a drum. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her pale skin, her brown hair, her blue eyes. I shuddered as I imagined Hodges hurting her, or making her cry, or doing anything to make her uncomfortable. I swallowed. I’d never had these kinds of thoughts before. So stop it, I thought in irritation. Don’t waste time worrying about this girl when you have business to take care of. The big clock outside my office chimed the halfhour mark. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I knew that it was time for me to go and meet O’Brian.

Chapter Thirty-One I made it to Starbucks in just enough time. Traffic had been heavy. I’d set out in a black car from the office, but three blocks away, I’d hopped out and run with a leather attaché case containing the flash drive and the papers. It was cold outside, and the sun was shining, but I felt none of its warmth. Finally, I rounded the corner and burst into the Starbucks, panting and breathing hard. I was sweating under my wool overcoat, and I loosened the silk scarf at my neck before scanning the coffee shop for O’Brian. When I saw him, I made a beeline for his table. He was seated at the back with a steaming cup in front of him. Even though it had only been a few years since the last time I’d seen him, he looked like he’d aged a lot. He was in late middle age, with salt and pepper hair, lots of lines on his face, and grim blue eyes. “Enzo.” It was more of a statement than a greeting. We shook hands, and then I sat down, sliding the case across the table to him. “This is for you,” I said with diplomacy. “And

don’t ask how I got it.” O’Brian raised his hands in the air. “I want to know, but you know how badly I’m dying to catch this bastard,” he replied as he flipped open the case and began flipping through the papers. “And what’s this?” He held up the flash drive. “Electronic copies of everything. But I made paper copies so you could get to work on this straight away.” O’Brian nodded. “I want full immunity,” I said sharply. “As my present for complying and handing this stuff over to you.” O’Brian frowned. “Enzo, you know I’d promise you that if I could. But right now, I’m not sure that I can. It depends on what’s inside, and what my superiors say.” My heart sank. “I get it, but please try. You know I’m risking my neck by handing over these papers.” O’Brian’s worn face looked into mine, and his blue eyes seemed to harden. “I know. And I’ll do my best. But right now, I can’t make any promises. It

depends on what we find in here.” He patted the attaché case and tucked it into his bag. I nodded, swallowing hard. “Okay.” My heart was pounding like a drum. “So, you guys are going after him today?” O’Brian shrugged. “Probably not. It takes a while to get this paper pushed through the bureau, you know that. I’m not sure we’d be able to start anything until early next week, tops. Nothing before that, though.” “You can’t move any faster than that?” O’Brian narrowed his eyes and frowned. “Enzo, what’s the rush on this? What’s the big deal?” I shook my head. “I can’t tell you,” I admitted. “But trust me, please. This is a bad situation, and I need your help.” O’Brian stood up and sighed. He stretched. When I stood, I discovered that I was about a head taller than he was. In his police-issue boots, he was only slightly taller than Audrey. Just thinking about her name sent a bolt of warmth and panic through me. It was so easy to believe that she was back at the office, tucked away in some frumpy and lumpy

garment, ignoring all social clues and typing loudly. I shook my head. “Enzo, what the hell is up with you?” O’Brian squinted at me. “I’ve never seen you look so stressed.” He laughed, putting his hands on his beer belly like it was something funny. “Normally you’re the slickest guy around. But right now, you look like a real mess.” “Just find Hodges,” I snapped, putting on my sunglasses and scarf. “I have to go.” When I got back in the black car, I didn’t go back to the office right away. I had my driver loop around the downtown area. I wanted to see where the car had crashed—if there was any evidence of wrongdoing. Or any evidence of Audrey, if it came to that. “Just go around the block until I tell you to stop,” I instructed the driver. Rolling down the window, I braced myself against the bitter chill of the Chicago winter air. The pavement was clear save for a piece of gum here, a quarter there. The streets were much quieter than usual, especially for the middle of the day. I figured that everyone was inside, warming up at their desks. I cringed as the driver pulled up to

the intersection where we’d been attacked. There was nothing on the ground, not even shards of tinted glass from the car. “Stop here,” I instructed. The driver screeched to a halt, and I bolted out of the back seat, scanning the ground with my eyes. Even though I looked over every surface and sidewalk crack, there wasn’t anything that stuck out about the accident. Despite my almost-complete recovery from earlier, I was still sore and tired. Looking at the ground over and over made me dizzy. Finally, I turned back to the car. There’s nothing there, I thought in defeat. Nothing I can use against Hodges, nothing I can use to find Audrey. Something bumped into me, and I jumped back. “Excuse you,” I snapped under my breath, halfexpecting a kid or an old person to be behind me. When I turned around, I was shocked what I saw. Pepper. Audrey’s mutt was sitting on the pavement and wagging its tail. Its pink tongue was hanging out of its mouth, and it actually looked glad to see me.

“Pepper?” I frowned, patting my thigh. “Is that you?” The dog barked again and then whined, pawing at the ground. Cautiously, I stepped closer, half-afraid that the dog would run off. But it didn’t, it sat there watching me. It was wearing a collar and a tag and a leash that had been ripped or cut halfway through the cord. Sure enough, the tag read: Pepper. I let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the dog’s collar, pulling it forward. Pepper whined but didn’t resist as I tugged it into the back seat of the car. “You smell,” I complained. Pepper panted in my face, drooling on my slacks. For a second, I wanted to push it onto the ground. Then I realized that the dog could actually be useful. “Pepper, Audrey’s gone,” I said to the dog in a businesslike tone. “And we need to find her. Can you help me with that?” Pepper barked in response. “Great,” I muttered. “Now I’m so crazy that I’m working with a goddamn dog.”

Chapter Thirty-Two I had the driver take me to a pet store, where I bought Pepper a replacement leather leash and matching collar, plus some dog treats and a little bowl. The clerk stared at me as I put everything on my charge card. “What?” I snapped. “Your dog,” the clerk said timidly. He put a hand up to his face and hid his zit-covered chin. “Your dog is a girl dog.” I narrowed my eyes. “Yeah, so?” “So, it’s a her, it’s not an it?” I rolled my eyes as Pepper barked. “Shut up, you,” I told her, leaning over the counter. “Don’t try to tell me what my fucking dog is, asshole. Right now, I’m dealing with some serious shit.” The clerk shrugged. “I just think she would appreciate not being called it,” he said as he handed me the bag with Pepper’s new leash and collar. Pepper whined as I put the new leash and collar on

her neck, leading her out of the store. The dog didn’t seem to know that I was a friend of her owner, yet she was going with me all the same. “Some loyal man’s best friend you are,” I said, reaching down and ruffling her ears in the same way I’d seen Audrey do. Pepper whined and rubbed her head against my hand. She barked once, and I shook my head. When we got back in the car, I directed the driver to take me to Audrey’s ruined apartment. Part of me was nervous that Hodges would be inside, but I knew that I had to look for Audrey. Pepper seemed to know the way—as soon as we were within a few blocks, she barked and pawed at the window until the driver rolled to a smooth stop outside of Audrey’s dilapidated building. Leaving Pepper in the car, I leaped up the flights of stairs and pushed my way into the ruined kitchen. It smelled horrible in the apartment, and it was freezing cold. I realized that whoever had broken in had left food all over the kitchen floor and living room, as well as breaking every window in sight. Nice place for Audrey to come home to, I thought as I pushed my way into the bedroom. That is, if she even comes home.

Shaking my head, I grabbed a pair of leggings that were draped over the back of a chair. I ran back outside and darted into the back seat of the car. Pepper leaped all over me and licked my face until I pushed her away in disgust. “Don’t you know when you’re not wanted?” Pepper whined. “Smell these,” I ordered, holding the leggings under her nose. “Then we can find Audrey.” Pepper sniffed obediently, then looked out the window and started to bark. I called up front to the driver: “Keep driving around until she stops barking. Then I’ll get out and look.” I knew it was a harebrained scheme, but right now I was desperate. After O’Brian had told me that it could be up to a week before they started looking for Hodges, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. Audrey wouldn’t be alive in a week. She only had a few precious hours left to go—that is, until I showed up and saved the day. I grinned, imagining Audrey plastering her soft body against mine and thanking me with a passionate kiss.

Pepper barked louder, startling me out of my daydream. I stared at the dog. For once, I could tell that she was as stressed out as I felt myself. “Pepper, it’s going to be okay, we just have to find your mistress, okay?” Pepper whined again. My stomach twisted into a knot of anxiety. This was a stupid idea; we weren’t going to find Audrey because of her dumb mutt. If I wanted to find her, I was going to have to take action. “Never mind what I said earlier,” I called up front to the driver. “Take me back to LennoxCo. I need to call on a few friends for some help.” As the driver turned in the opposite direction, Pepper crawled over me and lay her head in my lap. She looked up at me with big, dopey brown eyes and I felt a sense of calm come over me. I frowned down at the dog. “Is this why Audrey keeps you around?” I asked as I reached down to scratch her ears. “Do you keep her chilled out?” Pepper whined in response, closing her eyes and nudging my hand with her big head.

I let my head flop back against the seat as I sighed. “I don’t know what we’re gonna have to do, Pepper, but we’re not letting that asshole take Audrey. You got that?” Pepper didn’t respond. She closed her eyes and let her head rest in my lap, drooping her body on the floorboards of the car. I looked down at her and shook my head. “You have it pretty fuckin’ easy, you know that,” I said as I scratched her neck. “If only we could all be so lucky.” On the inside, thoughts of Audrey were slowly tearing me apart.

Chapter Thirty-Three When I got back to LennoxCo, I took Pepper inside with me, and we rode the elevator to the executive floor. I got a few strange looks, but not many— CEOs were luckily blessed with being able to get away with almost everything. In my office, I set a bowl of water and treats down for Pepper. Then I picked up the phone and called Seb. “I need you in my office right now,” I said sharply. “Man, I’m not doing any more work right now,” Seb replied. I could hear him swallow over the phone. “I told you, I’m done with that.” “It’s not about that, asshole, it’s helping me with something else.” Seb hung up. Five minutes later, he waltzed into my room as though he had a standing invitation. “What do you need?” Seb flopped down on the black leather couch. Pepper immediately walked over to him and put her big blocky head in his lap. “What’s this, Lennox? A dog? You got a fucking

dog?” “She’s not mine. I’m just taking care of her for a friend right now.” Seb frowned. He pushed Pepper away and leaned back against the couch. “So, what do you need?” I sighed and raked a hand through my hair. The lack of sleep and concussion was starting to catch up with me, and I felt achy and sick, like I needed to sleep for hours. “I need help finding Audrey,” I admitted. “The secretary?” Seb frowned. “I thought that’s why you needed those statements, so you could go to the cops, and they’d take care of it.” “I handed everything over, but I don’t think it’s going to get taken care of before next week.” Just saying the words aloud made me feel sick and anxious. “The cop, O’Brian, said that it takes a while to process things. And he couldn’t even fucking guarantee me immunity.” “Shit,” Seb said. He leaned forward, spreading his muscular legs and resting his elbows on the inside of his thighs. “So, what now?”

I shrugged. “I have to find her. And I don’t have much time. I tried looking earlier…” I trailed off, looking at Pepper. She was lying on the floor with her snout covered with her front paws. “But that didn’t help. I couldn’t find her, Seb. I have no idea where that bastard took her.” Seb shook his head. “Man, just let the cops handle this. You don’t want any more trouble, and neither do I.” “She’s important to me, Seb,” I snapped. Once I said the words, I realized that they’d been true for a long time. I just hadn’t been willing to acknowledge it until now. “And if I don’t find her, I’m worried that he’s going to kill her or hurt her or do something terrible.” Seb stared at me. “And you didn’t tell the cops about this?” I shook my head. “Dude, no, I couldn’t say anything. I didn’t want to implicate her in anything.” “What could she possibly have done?” Seb laughed. “She’s your secretary, it’s not like she tried to take this guy down or some shit.”

“No, but she scanned through all of our old correspondence, and even though that bastard wrote it in code, I have a feeling she probably figured out some of what he meant.” “Okay. So where do you want to look?” I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, trying to think of every nook and cranny Hodges would frequent. “There’s the shoe store downtown, his store. That would be a good place to start. There’s a warehouse attached. I bet she’s probably there.” “Think about what you’re doing,” Seb urged. “You need to remember that this shit is dangerous, and it’s not like you can just go in there with that dumb mutt and find Audrey. Do you have protection? Do you know how many stooges this guy has hired?” I shook my head. “No, but I have to try. I have to find her, Seb. I can’t fail. I can’t let him win. Not this time. He ruined me once before, and I won’t let him do it again.” And I won’t let him hurt her, I thought, clenching my fists in frustration. No way, no how. Seb stood up and wiped his hands on his pants. “Alright, then I’m in.” He grinned at me, and I felt a rush of affection for him, my partner in crime.

“It’s funny,” I said as I stood up and clipped the leash to Pepper’s collar. “We used to party together and cover for each other.” Seb laughed and punched me in the shoulder. “Remember when you told my girlfriend that I’d gone home sick when I really went home with those strippers?” I rolled my eyes. “Hard to forget,” I muttered. “We used to be such assholes.” “Used to be?” Seb stared at me. “Have you completely pussed out? What happened to you, Lennox? You used to be a real man.” “Life happened,” I replied darkly. “Somewhere along the line, I think my priorities started to change. Now all I care about is my company. I don’t give a shit about partying or fucking strippers anymore.” And Audrey, my mind chimed in, but I didn’t dare say it in front of Seb. She’s important. She’s very, very important. “You totally pussed out,” Seb repeated. We walked to the elevator bank, Pepper straining at the leash. “I remember you used to be knee-deep in pussy and booze by the time five in the afternoon rolled

around. What happened to that guy?” Seb grinned at me, but I didn’t return the smile. “You used to be fun.” “And then some psycho kidnapped my secretary and ruined my business,” I countered. “And I decided maybe I didn’t give a shit about being crazy anymore.” “You’re missing out,” Seb said with a grin. “I tell you, you’re gonna miss that life someday. You’re not old yet, man. You’re what, twenty-nine? Thirty? That’s way too young to think about settling down.” We got into the elevator, and I pressed the button for the first floor. A feeling of dread and anxiety was washing over me, and I realized there was nothing I could do about it. In a way, I felt ashamed. I felt ashamed of myself for acting exactly like Seb for most of my life and not caring what other people thought of me. Ever since I’d been a kid, hell, ever since Cindy, I’d never let anyone walk all over me again. I’d always thought that I’d done the right thing, the strong thing, the manly thing. But now I was starting to realize that I’d barely done anything at all. I’d been a cad and an asshole to almost every

woman I’d ever met. Thinking of all the women I’d fucked and dumped made me want to cringe. I couldn’t believe that I’d ever thought it acceptable to be so damn callous. “I’ve changed, Seb. And I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the way I was before.” Seb grinned again, still unaware of everything rushing around in my head. “You’ll regret it.” He winked. “Just trust me on that.” I don’t think I will, I thought. I think I just got the wake-up call of a lifetime.

Chapter Thirty-Four I didn’t have the first idea of where to start looking for weapons. Thankfully, Seb was one step ahead of me. “Where are we going?” We were in a black car with Pepper, and as far as I could tell, we were driving out of the city. “Indiana?” Seb shook his head. “Somewhere better. Trust me.” I shrunk back into the leather seats and watched the scenery pass as the driver cruised down Lakeshore Drive into the southern part of the city. It was a stark change—the magnificent, well-kept architecture of the Loop faded away quickly and was replaced by dilapidated warehouse buildings and veritable shacks on the side of the road. I watched as we passed by increasingly apocalyptic landscape: a field burning off oil, a torn-apart old factory, a lot of ancient-looking abandoned school buses. “This is too much,” I said, turning to Seb. “How the hell are you even familiar with a place that looks like this?”

Seb had wraparound sunglasses on, and he looked impenetrable. “Does it matter?” He smirked at me over the tops of his shades. “I mean, I don’t really think it does, Enzo. I don’t think you actually give a shit where we’re going, as long as we get the weapons.” I shrugged. “I don’t want to finance any gang activity,” I said ominously as the car cruised past an old factory covered in spray paint tags and unreadable gang signs. “This is a dangerous part of the city.” Seb threw his head back and laughed. “You are such a pussy, Lennox,” he said with a scowl. “Where’s this heart coming from? You never cared who buttered your bread before.” He lowered his shades and glanced at me over the tops of the glasses. “I mean, that’s practically how LennoxCo was built. It’s not as though you used to have ethics. Why the change?” Seb rapped on the partition and instructed the driver to take the next exit, pulling off the highway and onto a little ramshackle road. As the car bounced from fresh pavement to a road covered in potholes, I closed my eyes and wished that nothing would happen. I can’t die right now. Audrey needs me. Please don’t let this be a bad deal, please.

When I opened my eyes, Seb was smirking. “Pussy,” he said again, shaking his head and winking at me. I rolled my eyes. “You have to admit, Seb, it would defeat the purpose of our coming here if we’re attacked before we even have the chance to get out.” “Shut up,” Seb said carelessly. “You have the cash?” I opened my attaché case and peered inside. Before we’d left town, we’d stopped at a bank, and I’d pulled out a few thousand dollars in cash. I pulled out a wad of bills and waved it at Seb’s face. “Right here,” I said, my tone smug. Seb craned his neck and looked down into my lap. “That should be enough,” he said. The car was bumping over the road so hard that once or twice, my ass left the seat, and my head slammed against the roof. Seb rapped on the partition window. “Goddamn it!” he yelled at the driver. “Can’t you drive any slower? We don’t want to bust a fucking tire out

here!” The car slowed, and I settled into my seat, jostling and bouncing along as we drove further and further away from any recognizable civilization. Finally, the car slowed as we passed a ramshackle house. “Right here.” Seb rapped on the partition with his knuckles, and the driver screeched to a stop. “Come on,” Seb said to me. He jerked his head to the side and climbed out of the back seat of the car. Outside it was freezing cold, and even windier than it felt in downtown Chicago. I craned my neck and looked up at the darkening sky. “Where the hell are we?” I looked around, trying to get my bearings. We were so far off the highway that I couldn’t even hear the roar of traffic. “What the hell are we doing out here?” Seb frowned. “What the fuck do you think we’re doing out here, asshole?” He pulled his coat tight around his muscular body and set off for the house. I was surprised—when we walked up, I could tell that it was clearly not in terrible shape. Rather, it was designed to look abandoned, but there was actually a lot of insulation.

“Is this a decoy?” I frowned as Seb knocked on the door. He shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Who the hell cares? As long as we get what we came here for, I don’t give a shit.” The door swung open, and a heavyset, middle-aged woman stepped out. Her face was lined with deep creases and her hair, or what was left of it, perched on her skull like cotton fuzz. She stared at Seb, taking in his tailored appearance. She even sniffed the air, and I shuddered as I thought about what she would smell like. “We’re here for the items. Let us in,” Seb said. I pulled his arm back. “Hey,” I said in a low voice. “Maybe try not being so rude for once?” Seb rolled his eyes again, but the woman stepped aside and let us pass. Inside, I was surprised again. The interior was wellbuilt to keep the cold out, and there was a fire going in one corner. There were two long tables set up, with black duffel bags on the floor. A man smoking a cigarette leaned close to the fire, then threw the butt of his smoke on the floor and

crushed it with the heel of his boot. When he walked over to us, I was startled at the resemblance between him and the older woman who had answered the door. They both had flat blue eyes and dull features, almost like they’d been blurred with the passing of time. “Hi,” I said, trying to keep my voice strong and confident. “We need to buy some guns.” The man let out a laugh. “I know what you’re here for, son,” he said, spitting on the floor. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his worn jeans and strutted over to one of the tables. “How much did you bring?” Seb grabbed the attaché case from my arms and threw it on the table. Wads of cash went flying out. I half expected the old couple to scramble for the bills, but instead, they stared at the money, coolly appraising. “And what kind of items are we talking about?” The old woman peered into Seb’s face, obviously having taken him for the leader. I didn’t mind. There was something about this old couple that gave me the creeps. For starters, how the hell did they even get out here? We were so far off the grid

that I thought I might hear banjos playing in the distance. “Something semi-automatic.” Seb looked at me. “Lennox, what kind of shit do you need?” I thought about it. I barely knew anything about guns—I had one in my condo, but I’d rarely used it. When I first bought it, I’d taken it faithfully to the range every other weekend to practice shooting. Ironically, I’d bought it right after my first almost deadly brush with Hodges. After he was arrested and taken down, I’d worried that he’d get out on bail and storm my apartment. Thankfully, he never did. I wondered if I was still a good shot. “Something small,” I said, being decisive. “It needs to fit in here.” I tapped the right pocket of my overcoat. “We’re going back into the city, and we can’t attract a lot of attention.” The woman nodded. She took some of the bills out of the case and counted. “We’ll take five,” she said, putting the rest back into the leather fold and handing it over to Seb. “You boys wait here for a minute.” Seb and I exchanged uneasy glances as she puttered around the cabin. Finally, she pointed to

her male companion and had him heft one of the big bags up onto the tables. When I looked at her face, I realized the tip of her tongue was sticking out of her dry lips. I shuddered. It was a powerful visual, if only because it reminded me so much of Audrey. “This should do it,” the woman said. She dumped the contents of the bag out across the table with a deafening clack bang thump. I gaped at the pile of guns as big as my body. The woman spread them out and began rifling through the collection with a practiced eye. Finally, she held up two small black handguns that looked like something out of a spy movie. “What are they?” I picked one up and frowned. It was light—I couldn’t believe that it would actually do some kind of damage. “Does it matter?” The woman cackled as her blue eyes met my own. “They come with two clips of twenty rounds. Does that serve your purpose?” I punched Seb in the shoulder, and he handed over another stack of bills. “Give us four clips each,” I said to the woman.

She raised her eyebrows and whistled. “You boys aren’t planning to rob a bank, are you?” I shook my head. “Nothing like that. I just need to take back what’s mine.” Ten minutes later, Seb and I were back in the car, heading back towards Chicago. Pepper seemed to sense distress—she was curled up on the floor of the car, resting her snout in her paws. Every few minutes, she’d look up at me and whine until I began to pet her. “You’ve gone soft,” Seb said again. I didn’t reply. We were close enough to the city that I could see the skyline, rising up like gray hunks of metal out of the earth. The driver sped up, and I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against the window. Audrey, hold on, I thought silently. I’m coming. I swear I’m coming soon.

Chapter Thirty-Five By the time the driver had us in front of RH Shoes, it was almost dark outside. I knew that I didn’t have much time. Seb and I loaded our guns and tucked them inside our coats as we slipped out of the car. On second thought, I reached back in and stared at the driver. “You take care of this dog back here,” I said sharply. “I know a certain woman who’s going to be over the moon to see her dog again. You understand?” The driver frowned. I knew that having a pet in a company car was a breach of protocol. But who gave a fuck? After all, I was the goddamn CEO. I should have been able to fill the whole back seat with dogs if I wanted. “Don’t let anything happen to her,” I warned again. “Or I’ll make sure you won’t be able to get another job in this city until you’re eighty years old.” The driver nodded and gulped. Satisfied, I rapped on the window and snuck into an alley where Seb was waiting.

The storefront of RH Shoes was dark, and I wondered if anyone was inside. “So, boss,” Seb said with an ironic grin on his face. I had to roll my eyes. For all his talk about not wanting to get arrested or involved with anything shady once more, he was doing a great fucking job at being a hired villain. “What’s the plan?” “We break in from the back, then scout for Hodges and Audrey,” I said. The store was connected to a warehouse with all of the windows painted black. “She could be anywhere inside, and she’s small, so remember to check everywhere you can find.” Seb nodded. He shook his head and grinned. “I never thought I’d be saying this, but this is kind of exciting, isn’t it?” I rolled my eyes. “Seb, this is dangerous. Hodges is a fucking lunatic. Just shoot him if you see him, okay?” Seb nodded. I mouthed, “One, two three,” and then slammed my body against the back alley door with all of my might. The metal creaked and groaned but didn’t give. Then Seb and I counted down once more, and both body slammed the door at the same time. It worked. The door creaked open, sagging on

one of its hinges. “Bingo,” Seb said. He held his gun in his hands and darted inside. A second later, I darted in right behind him. The store was dark and seemingly empty. I frowned as I stepped through the piles of shoeboxes. Lone shoes were scattered on the floor, making it look like a tornado had whirled through the store. “What the hell?” Seb whispered. We were creeping alongside one of the walls with our guns held high. “Looks like we’re not the first people to break in here today. Did the cops already check this place out?” I frowned and shook my head. Remembering that Seb couldn’t see me in the dark, I spoke. “No,” I murmured. “No, they haven’t been here. Look at this dust.” I pointed down at the floor. Our feet were disturbing a fine, thin layer of gray—it almost looked like ash, like a volcano had exploded and then settled over everything inside. Our movements, though slight, were stirring up some of the dust and I felt an insane itch begin to build up in my sinuses. “Shit,” I mumbled as I buried my face in the crook

of my arm and sneezed. Seb let out a muffled laugh, and I glared at him. As we made our way to the front of the store, I tried to look for anything unusual, but the problem was everything looked unusual. If I didn’t know that Richard had Audrey locked away somewhere, I would have guessed that he was trying to leave the country or make a hasty getaway. My heart sank when we got to the front of the store. The registers and computers were gone, and I could tell that someone had been here very recently judging by the large footprints in the dust that looked almost as fresh as my own. I swallowed. “She’s not here,” I said to Seb over my shoulder. “We need to check the warehouse.” He nodded, and we turned, then ran in the other direction. The back of the store was dark and made it hard to see where the door was. I ran my hand along the wall, searching for a partition or a material that didn’t feel like drywall. Finally, I noticed a smooth, almost imperceptible groove. “Here,” I whispered excitedly. “Here, we just have to break this open.”

Seb joined me, and together, we started pushing and knocking on the wall. But after a few minutes, we’d made no progress, and I was starting to feel panicked. The sun was almost all the way down—I could barely see the street through the distant front windows of the store. “Shoot it,” Seb said. He clapped me on the shoulder. Sighing, I raised my gun and fired it at the partition in the wall. Sure enough, the force of the bullet pushed the partition back just far enough for me to stick my fingers in and shove with all my might. As the wall gave way, I held my breath. Irrationally, I was terrified of what I’d find behind the wall. Audrey’s dead body? A team of thugs waiting for me? Hodges himself? Moving the wall kicked up a lot of dust, and Seb and I were coughing and sneezing as we waited for our eyes to adjust. It was still pitch-black when I opened my eyes, so I took my cell phone out and turned on the flashlight. Sweeping it across the floor of the warehouse, my jaw dropped. “Holy shit,” I said to Seb. “It’s dark as fuck in here. You see this shit?” Seb cleared his throat and coughed once more. Then he stood next to me, peering into the

darkness. The beam of my cell phone’s flashlight held suspended particles of dust, and as I moved the beam to the floor, I gaped. “Look at this,” I said, pointing. “Look, it’s the same statements I had printed out and gave to that cop.” Seb shook his head. “This doesn’t mean anything.” He stepped inside the warehouse. The partition seemed firmly wedged open behind us, but part of me was afraid that, somehow, we’d wind up trapped. “All it means is that he knows he fucked up, and somehow he managed to leave the evidence behind.” “Shit,” I muttered. “That’s no good.” “Damn right it’s no good,” Seb replied. “Come on. Let’s keep looking.” Cautiously, we stepped forward, holding our guns high. When the dust began to settle, I realized with a sinking feeling that the warehouse had been accessed much more recently than the store. “He’s been here,” I said in a low voice. “He was here recently.” The warehouse was huge—I couldn’t even see the other end of the inside.

“Look,” I said, gesturing at the ground. There was a sheaf of papers improbably fluttering even though there was no breeze in the building. “He must have been here, trying to clear out his tracks.” I picked up one of the papers and held my cell phone flashlight up, trying to read it. For the second time, I felt a sense of foreboding and dread. “Look, Seb, he was trying to get rid of the evidence.” The names and addresses on the paper had been covered with white-out and hastily typed over. I could still read snippets of the original, but it was clear that the file had been tampered with. “He was trying to lie about where all of the money came from.” “He’s on to us,” Seb said, his voice a tone darker. “We need to get out of here, he may even have it rigged somehow.” “That’s fucking ridiculous,” I snapped, crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it on the floor. “We have to search the rest of the warehouse.” I was starting to feel the sand running out of the hourglass, so I made Seb search one half of the warehouse while I searched the other. I didn’t find anything except for more papers on the floor and broken crates. There was no sign that Audrey had been here at all.

Curling my hand into a fist, I slammed it against the wall. “This was all for nothing,” I said, not caring how loud I was. “We did all of this for nothing. And we wasted so much fucking time!” Seb walked over and shook his head. “We didn’t do it for nothing. We were looking for your girl, right? That’s something. Even though we didn’t find her, we still tried.” I grabbed him by the collar. “We are not giving up,” I hissed out in Seb’s face. “Not at all. So if you want to leave, you can leave. But I’m staying until I find some hint of where Audrey was taken.” Seb glanced down. “Lennox, this might be better left to the cops,” he said in a low voice. “We’re out of our league. We have no idea where this guy’s hiding, and you’re the one who told me what a raving lunatic he is.” I swallowed hard. “I get that, but I’m not giving up until I know Audrey’s safe! Can’t you respect that?” Seb frowned. He turned away from me and tucked his gun inside his jacket. “I know you wanna be the hero of the day and save her, but sometimes that’s

not how real life works.” “What the fuck are you talking about?” I narrowed my eyes. Anger welled up within me, and my skin grew hot. I took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. “Of course I have to help Audrey! It’s my fucking fault she’s in this mess in the first place.” “I know that, Lennox. And I know you don’t want to hear this, but this could have been any girl! Not just Audrey. It could have been any of the women from the company.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “You’ve slept with all of them, right?” “What the fuck are you saying, Seb?” “I’m saying that you’ve already decided your company is more important,” Seb said calmly. “You told Hodges that you wouldn’t give it up to save Audrey’s life, and then you decided that you had to have your cake and eat it, too. Just walk away with your company, man, who cares about Audrey? Obviously, you don’t—not that much, if you weren’t even willing to give LennoxCo to Hodges just to get her back.” “You’re a fucking asshole,” I spat out. “You only care about money and yourself, in that order.”

Seb held up his hands. The fact that he was managing to stay calm was enraging me all the more. “Don’t say that. I’m only telling it like it is. All you’ve ever cared about is your damn company, and you know that’s true. You didn’t prioritize her life, and now you need to let the professionals handle this.” I swung back and punched Seb hard in the jaw. Flesh and bone cracked beneath my knuckles and a searing pain shot up my arm as Seb recoiled. When he stood up, rubbing his jaw, he eyed me ruefully. “Don’t hate me for being honest,” Seb said. “I know you don’t want to think of the truth this way, but come on, Lennox. You didn’t even think about turning LennoxCo over to Hodges when he made his demands. You immediately said no.” I closed my eyes as his words sunk in. I would have never admitted it, especially not to Seb, but deep down, I knew he was right. I wasn’t a good person. And even though I cared for Audrey, selfishly, I couldn’t have put her first. “I’m a piece of shit,” I muttered, slumping against the wall. My gun fell out of my hand and clattered to the floor. “I don’t deserve to live.”

“That’s being unfair.” He squatted down next to me and looked into my eyes. “Look, brother, you may have gone soft in the head, but you’re still an alpha male. And you do what you think is best. But don’t start acting like a fucking martyr when we’re in this situation because you’re the one who put us here.” My shoulders slumped, and the fear began to leave my body. “I deserve to die,” I said glumly. “You’re right. I thought I could do everything myself, but I can’t. I’m a piece of shit.” Seb shook his head. “You made the best decision for you and your company. A lot of CEOs wouldn’t, but you’re a true businessman.” I got to my feet and brushed my hands off on my pants. “Yeah, at the expense of another human life,” I shot back. “I can’t believe I didn’t stick up for Audrey. I should have done that.” Suddenly, I thought of her parents, poor and alone. “Goddamn it, Seb, people are counting on Audrey. Her parents, she helps her parents. And that damn dog!” “So stop whining about it and go find her.” Seb gave me a little nudge towards the door. “We’ll look somewhere else. But you should call the cops, too.”

I shook my head. “Not doing that until we try a few more places. Hodges may have won this battle, but the war isn’t over yet.” “That’s the spirit,” Seb said. He clapped me on the shoulder again, and I realized that I couldn’t stay mad at him. Seb may have been an old partner in crime of mine, but it took a true friend to say the things that he’d just brought up. I knew he didn’t think less of me for doing what I’d done, but I was starting to realize that after this whole ordeal was over, I was going to have to make some massive changes in my life. We walked back into the shoe store and then left through the back door that we’d slammed open. The nighttime air was cold and smelled vaguely of fish and rotting garbage. Seb sniffed the air and then gave me a disgusted look. “You ever think about how fucked up it is that this city reeks of garbage and fish year-round? Most places only have to deal with that shit in the summer. But we have it year-round.” The skyscrapers of Chicago loomed above us like giant sentient guardians, and for a moment, I felt incredibly small.

“It doesn’t seem fair,” I said darkly as we climbed into the car. “It doesn’t seem goddamned fair at all.” There was a buzz in my pocket, and I reached down and grabbed my phone, praying that it would be O’Brian. When I realized that it was an unknown number, a shiver of fear crawled down my spine. “Enzo, did you really think you could get the best of me?” Hodges laughed before I had a chance to respond. I held the phone at a wary distance from my face, staring at the blank screen and imagining his smug pink face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied. “Now where’s Audrey?” There was a pause, then Hodges laughed again. “I don’t know why you have to be so demanding. After all, we’re not even working together, and you’re still demanding things from me. Don’t you know that you only get to act that way with business associates and colleagues?” “Fuck you,” I spat out. “You kidnapped my fucking girlfriend; I’ll talk to you however I want.”

Seb’s eyebrows raised but I held up a hand and gestured for him to be quiet. The last thing I needed right now was another one of his smart aleck remarks. “Oh, she’s your girlfriend now, is she?” Hodges chuckled again. “Well, if you want to hear her say hello…” He trailed off, and there was static as he lifted the phone away from his ear. I heard him yell something indistinguishable and then there was a bloodcurdling scream that punctured the air with horror. Oh my God. He’s hurting her. He’s hurting Audrey. Panic bells went off in my head, and I felt like I was struggling to breathe underwater. Blood rushed to my face, and damp sweat broke out on my forehead as I waited in agonizing silence for Hodges to say something. “Well?” Hodges chuckled. “How was that? I think she misses you, Enzo. You’d better hurry up and sign HodgesCo… Oops!” He chuckled again. “I mean, LennoxCo. You’d better hurry up and sign LennoxCo over to me, Enzo.” “That isn’t happening,” I said through gritted teeth. “Where is she? And what the fuck do you want with her?”

“Well, she’s down hanging out with a couple of my friends,” he said, putting a cruel emphasis on the last word. “And they brought their dogs with them! She likes dogs, right? She kept asking about some stupid dog.” Hodges sighed, and I felt anger rise through my body like a tidal wave. “Anyway, some of my dogs are getting a little hungry. It’s been a few hours since they ate, Enzo. And even though your girlfriend is pretty skinny, I think she might make a nice meal for them.” “Shut the fuck up. Where the fuck is she?” “She’s down in a warehouse by the waterfront,” Hodges said casually. “And if you don’t come here soon and give me that flash drive that you stole, we’re going to kill her and throw her body into Lake Michigan.” He paused. “I mean, the pollution might be bad enough to kill her on its own. Or maybe we’ll feed her to the dogs after all. I haven’t decided yet. You’d better hurry up,” Hodges added. Then he hung up. I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it in shock. “He’s going to fucking kill her,” I said to Seb. Then suddenly, I sprang into action and rapped on the partition. “Waterfront,” I yelled to the driver. “Now!”

Chapter Thirty-Six Audrey It seemed like hours had passed. Maika was snoring as he leaned against one wall of the warehouse with the German shepherds sleeping at his feet. The sun had gone down, but I couldn’t see any moonlight filtering through the ruined ceiling of the building. It was dark and cold, and I felt more afraid than I ever had in my life. Richard hadn’t come back. I’d heard footsteps outside earlier, and my heartbeat had sped up so fast that I thought it was going to pound right out of my chest and leap away. But nothing happened, no one came in, no one called to Maika or the dogs. Sergei hadn’t come back either. I was even more glad for that. I wondered what Enzo was doing. The longer I went without hearing word from him, the more I began to worry that something really sinister and awful had happened. What if he’d been killed in the car wreck? It had been powerful enough to knock me out, and he’d been closer to the side with the impact. I knew Enzo was strong and in good health, but I still worried. A head injury could

knock anyone out. What if he forgot who he was? What if they took him to the hospital and he couldn’t remember what had happened? I tried to keep telling myself that it would be okay, that he would come for me, but it was hard to sustain hope when I hadn’t had any good signs. I had no way to keep time except for watching the movements of the sky, but I knew that things weren’t looking good. Richard would come back and kill me at any moment. I just hoped it would be quick. And Pepper. My poor, poor beloved doggy. What was going to happen to her? I cringed thinking about what could have happened after the accident. Had she been killed? Had she run out of the car into traffic? I didn’t see a lot of stray dogs in Chicago, so I had to assume that maybe someone would have taken her into a humane society. But she didn’t have a microchip. Even though she’d been wearing her collar, I worried that someone could have ripped it off of her and then paid the nominal fee to adopt her. Stop worrying, I tried to tell myself. It’s going to be alright. Whatever happens, you won’t have to worry for much longer. Maybe someone really nice found Pepper, and they’re going to give her a good

home. A tear leaked out of my eye as I thought about whether or not Pepper would miss me. I’d given her a good home—lots of love, snuggles, and table scraps. She’d been a loyal best friend, but I didn’t want her to spend the rest of her life in misery. If I couldn’t take care of her any longer, I prayed that she’d find someone who could. Maika stirred and one of the dogs opened its mouth, yawning widely and then snuggling back down against the others. Richard had left the woolen blanket wrapped around me, but I wasn’t able to move much, and the cold had sunk so deeply into my bones that I felt like I was never going to be warm again. My teeth had stopped chattering long ago, and my hands had been numb for so long that I’d almost gotten used to not moving around. Every time I closed my eyes, I prayed that my torture wouldn’t last much longer. The sound of footsteps outside made me jump. They weren’t like the footsteps from earlier. Those had been tentative, like kids playing around in a place they weren’t supposed to be. These footsteps were heavy, purposeful. Whoever was approaching knew what they were doing.

I closed my eyes and tears leaked down my frozen cheeks. Please be Enzo, I begged silently. Please, please, please. I can’t stand seeing Richard again. Anyone but him. Even Sergei. Please! The double doors swung open, and Richard’s heavy, meaty frame strode into the warehouse. The gag had long since made my mouth feel dry and full of cotton, but I swallowed all the same. He walked over to me, his face barely lit in the low light. “Ah, Audrey, I see you’ve been a good girl,” Richard said. He clasped his hands together in front of his chest. “You haven’t moved at all.” He leaned down and looked at my face. I felt blood rise to the surface of my cheeks. I knew exactly how I must look to him—beaten down, weary, and crying like a little girl. I tried to speak, but it just came out as a soft mumble with the sock in my mouth. “Ah, ah, ah, Audrey, no talking, remember?” I shuddered. Richard’s voice was almost kind. I closed my eyes as he stepped closer. “Audrey, not very much longer now. I know this hasn’t been a fun very wait for you. If only Enzo hadn’t been so selfish!”

My eyes flew open. “Ah, but you didn’t know that, did you?” Richard frowned. He let out a long sigh. “It’s always so unpleasant discovering things about someone that you wish you wouldn’t have known. Isn’t that right?” I almost nodded but managed to stare straight into his eyes. Maika woke up and scrambled to his feet, running over to Richard with a gleam in his eyes. “Maika, enough,” Richard said. “We’re not acting yet.” He held up his wrist and checked his watch. “You know, we still have a few hours.” Hope welled up in my body as big as a balloon. Richard yawned. “But you know, I don’t feel like waiting much longer,” he added. “I’m tired, and I want to go home.” He chuckled, and my anger came back tenfold. “It’s so tiring—waiting around for people like Enzo Lennox! I feel as though I’ve been waiting for him my whole life. And now I have to find someone else since Enzo didn’t work out. I have to find someone else to help me. I’m certainly not going to retire in the state that I’m in!” Maika didn’t respond. He stood there behind

Richard, a hulking figure in the darkness. From outside, there was a loud noise. At first, I expected to see Sergei dashing through the open doors. But instead, I heard voices. Lots of voices. Masculine, deep voices. Like Enzo’s. I shivered. Richard’s head snapped up. “What the fuck?” Richard turned to Maika. “What the fuck is going on? What the fuck are the cops doing here?” I saw the flashing lights through the lone vents on the top of the building. Maika shrugged. Richard glared daggers at me. “You,” he hissed out, leaning close. “If you had anything to do with this, I’ll kill you right now.” He reached into the pocket of his overcoat and pulled out a gun. “If you make so much as a peep, I’ll kill you and feed you to the dogs. By the time the cops get here, you’ll be nothing but dog meat. Sound good?” More tears of fright began to spill down my cheeks, and I nodded as emphatically as I could. Please don’t kill me, I silently begged. Please, Enzo, hurry up!

Chapter Thirty-Seven Enzo As the car lurched away from RH Shoes, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and began to dial. My fingers felt like clumsy sausages as I punched in O’Brian’s number and held the phone to my ear. When I heard a busy signal, I screamed and threw the phone on the floor. Seb held his phone out to me. “Try mine. We don’t have much time.” With numb fingers, I began dialing O’Brian again. This time, thankfully, he picked up. “O’Brian.” “It’s Enzo!” I yelled into the receiver. “You need to get your men down to the waterfront now!” “Hold on,” O’Brian said. He coughed. “What was that? Enzo, I can barely hear you. Are you somewhere with bad reception?” I could have reached through the phone and strangled him. “You need to get your men down to

the waterfront, by Lake Michigan, right now,” I hissed out. “Hodges is there, and he’s got someone tied up. He’s going to kill her unless we show up and intervene.” There was a pause. “Enzo, I told you to stay out of this,” O’Brian said in a flat, reedy voice. I could tell he was angry, but I didn’t give a shit. This was Audrey’s life on the line, and if we didn’t save her, I knew no one could. “I don’t care,” I said quickly. “This is too urgent, and someone’s in trouble.” “Alright, I’ll grab a team, and we’ll go down there. Where exactly?” “Down by Navy Pier,” I said darkly. “South of the Loop. Look for abandoned warehouses. I’m on my way there now.” “Enzo, no. Let me handle this. You’re not authorized—” I hung up before he could say anything else. The driver of the car was speeding through downtown Chicago, but I was worried that we would be too late. Richard had a sadistic streak running through him, and somehow, I knew that he’d take any

chance to punish me that he got. Even if that meant hurting Audrey. “I feel like such an idiot,” I said to Seb, shaking my head. I knew my face was pale with fear. My stomach was empty and growling, and I still felt weak and achy from the concussion, but somehow, I was able to push all of that to the side. “When this is over, I’m taking a long vacation.” Seb scoffed. “I’m taking a vacation as soon as we wrap shit up tonight. I’m fucking exhausted.” The car bounced into an empty parking lot. I heard the angry waves of Lake Michigan beating against the pier and bulkhead. There were giant lumps of ice far out into the water, and I shivered—as cold as it was outside, I knew the lake had to be positively frigid. I opened the car door and ran towards the row of warehouses. To my immense relief, I heard sirens in the distance. When I looked back over my shoulder, police cars were spilling into the lot. Seb was standing there, watching me, with an odd expression on his face. I knew that we’d been through a lot together, but this was going to change our lives forever. We’d

never go back to being drinking buddies, or the kind of office friends who high-fived over fucking the same secretary. Everything was different now. Everything had changed. “Audrey!” I yelled as loud as I could. The wind was whipping so fiercely around me that my voice seemed to disappear into the night, like someone had come down and snatched it from me. “Audrey! Audrey! I’m here, Audrey!” My legs ached, and my adrenaline was pumping, but I forced myself to run even faster until my feet were practically eating the pavement with each stride. “Audrey! Audrey! I’m here!” From inside one of the warehouses, there was a shrill scream. Audrey! I pulled my gun out of my pocket and ran towards where I’d heard the sound. The cops were behind me, hot on my heels. When I reached the building, I saw the double doors at the back were flung open. Inside looked dark and foreboding. I was afraid of what lay ahead and afraid of Hodges, but I knew I couldn’t let that keep me from Audrey any longer. I had to find her. I had to save her. I couldn’t let Hodges hurt her, not anymore and never again. “Audrey,” I said louder as I bolted into the

warehouse. “I’m here!” Richard stepped out of the shadows. He was wearing a black woolen overcoat and a hat with the brim pulled low. “Enzo,” he said, spreading his arms wide like he was greeting an old friend. “So nice of you to join us. I thought you’d never come.” There were footsteps behind me, and I turned around, expecting to see the cops. Instead, it was Seb. Shocked, I walked over to him. “What are you doing here?” I hissed out in a low whisper. Seb pressed something into my hand. “You’re going to need this,” he whispered back. I shoved it in my pocket without looking at it. “What’s all this?” Richard strolled over. “A fun reunion?” He looked behind me. “Oh, and the police. Well, now this is a fun party.” He snapped his fingers, and I struggled not to gape as two hulking, muscular men came out of the shadows. They dragged Audrey between them. It looked like her hands were tied behind her back, and she was gagged with duct tape. Her face looked terrible— bloodless and pale, with obvious grimy tear tracks on each cheek.

“If you’ve hurt her,” I said in a warning tone, “I’ll fucking kill you, Richard.” Richard grinned. “We haven’t done much… yet. After all, I was waiting for you to join the party. So, Enzo, hand over that damn flash drive. And then we’ll be done here. You and Audrey can go home, and everything will be just fine.” Suddenly, I knew what Seb had pressed into my hand. “Fine,” I said. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the flash drive and handed it over. Seb gave me a knowing look when it was in Richard’s hands. Richard looked down at the tiny device like he was staring at the crown jewels. “Enzo, I don’t think I trust you,” he said cautiously. “How do I know that you didn’t copy everything on here?” “I didn’t—” There was a loud bang, and Richard crumpled to my feet. Dark red blood began pooling around his body, so dark that it almost looked like paint. Gaping, I turned around to see O’Brian and a bunch of other cops standing there, holding their guns.

“Sorry I didn’t believe you,” O’Brian said gruffly. The shock barely had a chance to sink in before Audrey fainted, collapsing on the wooden pier right before my eyes. I rushed over to her and pulled her into my arms. Her wrists were cinched tightly behind her back, and I frantically untied the knots and began massaging her hands to bring blood back into the skin. Her face was pale, and I pulled off the duct tape as gently as I could before removing whatever hunk of fabric they’d stuffed in her mouth to use as a gag. “God, Audrey,” I said into her soft brown hair. She smelled like the cold air itself, but there was still a faint hint of strawberries and talc. “Audrey, I’m so sorry.” Audrey stirred in my arms, but her eyelids didn’t open. I held onto her firmly as I stood up, cradling her in my arms. “She needs medical treatment,” I called out. “We’ll take care of the situation here,” O’Brian replied. “Want me to call an ambulance?”

I shook my head. “I’ve got it, thanks.” I began the slow walk of carrying Audrey back to the car. I thought Seb would join me, but instead, he hung around with the cops. The sirens flashing reflected off Lake Michigan’s black waters, making the whole thing look like a scene from the depths of hell. “Audrey,” I crooned into her ear. “Audrey, wake up, please. Wake up for Enzo. Please, please wake up.” As if by magic, Audrey stirred in my arms. She swallowed, and her eyes opened wide when she saw me. “Enzo?” Her voice was fuzzy and hoarse like she’d been screaming for hours. “Is it really you? What happened?” “Don’t worry about that,” I told her. We’d reached the car, and the chauffeur darted out and opened the wide back seat doors for us. As I slid inside after Audrey, Pepper rushed to her and barked happily, jumping into Audrey’s lap. I tried to push the dog away, but Audrey held on firm, fresh tears running down her cheeks. “Pepper, my poor baby,” Audrey cooed. She buried

her face in the dog’s neck. “What happened to you?” I swallowed hard. “I went back to the scene of the accident, looking for clues,” I said softly. “I knew that Richard had taken you, but I didn’t know where. Pepper was right there, and I picked her up.” Audrey closed her eyes and sank back into the seat. “I’m so tired,” she mumbled. “So tired.” “I want to take you to a hospital,” I said, my tone firm. “Driver, get us to a doctor. Quickly!” I rapped on the partition between the back seat and the front. “Audrey, try to stay with me, okay? Please. I’m taking you to a hospital. You need medical care; you’ve been out in the cold for hours. The cops want you to go, too.” Audrey’s eyes flew open. “No,” she argued. “I don’t want to go to a hospital.” Her lower lip began to tremble. “I’m fine, Enzo, I just want to go home.” Her lip quivered and tears welled up in her eyes. My heart broke—she looked so innocent and so pathetic. I just wanted to take care of her forever. I scowled, then gave the driver the address to my

condo. By the time I turned back to Audrey, she’d fallen asleep. When we got to my apartment, I carried Audrey upstairs. I put her in my bed and waited with Pepper in the living room. I was exhausted, but I was also wired, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. Instead, I made myself a salad and sautéed a steak for Pepper, dumping it in one of my bowls on the floor. She ate the whole damn thing and then passed out in the kitchen, snoring. I hated to admit it, but the stupid mutt was growing on me. I knew she made Audrey happy, and, well, it was like nothing else mattered.

Chapter Thirty-Eight Audrey slept for almost four hours. When she woke up, I was halfway to sleep myself. Pepper and I were sitting on the couch together, watching as the first bits of dawn were streaking across the sky. “Hi,” Audrey said with a trace of shyness. I stood up and hurried over to her, kissing her gently. Her lips were chapped, and she smelled like musk and sweat, but it felt like coming home. Just the feel of her mouth against mine was enough to stir a small wave of desire in my body. “Hi,” I said, pulling away. Audrey followed me to the couch. When she curled up with her knees folded, Pepper scooted over to her and rested her head in Audrey’s lap. “Thank you,” Audrey said. She glanced down, and I saw that she was blushing. It was a familiar sight, and yet she looked different somehow. “I’m not sure how I wound up in that mess, but…” She trailed off, yawning and covering her mouth with a pale hand. “Thank you, Enzo.”

“Of course.” I felt at a loss. What else could I possibly have said? We’d been through so much together. “I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to see me again.” Audrey swallowed. “Are you okay, too?” She gestured towards my body. “I mean, after the crash. Do you need to go to the hospital?” I laughed drily. “I was already there. And I had to leave, it was terrible.” My head had begun to throb, and I winced. “I have a concussion, but it’s not serious. And those damn nurses would have kept me in the hospital for years if I hadn’t broken out.” Audrey’s eyed widened. “You broke out?” Her Wisconsin accent was there, but like the frumpy clothing, it just seemed like a part of Audrey now. I didn’t mind in the slightest. I laughed again. “I had to,” I admitted. “Otherwise there was no way I was going to get out of there.” Audrey pursed her lips together. “Enzo, I’m sorry.” A tear fell from her eye and dripped down her cheek, but she made no move to wipe it away. “I’m sorry for what I said—about how I wished that I’d never met you.” Her lip trembled, and the overwhelming desire to embrace Audrey came over

me. “It wasn’t true then, and it’s not true now,” Audrey finished. “I hope you can forgive me.” My heart softened. “Of course. I’d completely forgotten about that.” “So you’re not mad at me?” “God, mad at you? Why the hell would I be mad at you, Audrey? If anything, I’d think that you were angry with me!” Audrey shook her head. “I’m not angry,” she murmured. I moved closer and pulled her into my arms. At first, Audrey resisted. Then her limbs softened, and she leaned against me, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me close. Holding her, having her in my arms, was the most relaxed I’d felt all day. “This is nice,” I whispered into her hair. Pepper barked, and Audrey kissed me. “I know.” She pulled away. “Enzo, I love you. I don’t ever want to be apart from you. I had a lot of time to think in that warehouse.” Audrey’s thin

frame shuddered in my arms, and I hugged her extra tight. “And I don’t think I can ever be separated from you.” “I feel exactly the same way,” I told her honestly. Audrey looked into my eyes. Her own blue eyes were wide with fear, and her forehead was creased. “Are you sure?” She glanced down at herself—I’d put her into one of my old college sweatshirts and a pair of my sweatpants, but she was honestly dressed as flatteringly as ever. “I mean, I’m not exactly glamorous.” “I think you’re beautiful. And I don’t care about your clothes.” Audrey giggled. “Really?” “Really. I want you to wear whatever makes you happy. Of course, if that included the occasional lingerie from time to time, I wouldn’t exactly be upset.” Audrey blushed bright red. “I can’t believe you saved Pepper,” she said softly. “That’s when I knew. When I saw that you’d brought her to me, that’s how I knew how much I loved you.”

Pepper whined, pawing at my leg. I laughed again. “She grew on me,” I admitted grudgingly. “Good thing my condo allows dogs.” Audrey’s eyebrows went up. “What do you mean?” “Because you’re sure as hell not going back to that apartment,” I said. “Even though Richard’s dead, I don’t want you getting into any more trouble.” Audrey swallowed. “You mean, move in with you?” I nodded. “Yes. That is, if you want to. I can’t exactly force you.” “I do,” Audrey replied, her voice still so exquisitely soft. She closed her eyes briefly. “Do you think that makes me a bad person?” “What? Why?” “Because…” She opened her eyes, sounding exasperated. “Because it means that… well, it means that I’m not going to be living so frugally.” She looked away. “I always thought that I should be ashamed of my money.” I shook my head. “Audrey, it doesn’t make you a

bad person.” I pulled her close and hugged her tighter still. “It makes you practical. You’ll be safer here, and Pepper will be, too. It’s the best thing.” Audrey bit her lip. “What about my parents?” “Well, that’s something I have to talk to you about.” I handed her a sheaf of papers. “I did some research while you were sleeping, but obviously, I didn’t know where they’d want to live. I was thinking something in Wisconsin—since you said you grew up there. But maybe they’d like to move across the country instead?” “Enzo, these are all really expensive,” Audrey said, breathing out the words. She glanced down at the various papers, each showing a house for sale. “I couldn’t ask you to do this.” She blushed. “You can’t buy my parents a house!” “No, I can’t, but we can,” I said smoothly. Audrey gaped. “I mean, I want to. And I want you to be my wife. It won’t just be my money anymore. It’ll be yours, too.” Audrey shook her head. “You can’t be serious.” I got down on one knee and looked into her eyes. “Audrey, I’m more serious than I’ve ever been in

my entire life. I love you, and I can’t be without you. And I want you to be happy, which means taking care of your parents.” I swallowed hard. “And maybe even sending my family a check or two every now and then,” I relented. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Audrey nodded again as tears spilled from her eyes. She didn’t answer, just threw herself into my arms and wrapped her skinny arms around my neck. With her perfect body crushed against mine, I kissed her passionately, slipping my tongue between her lips until she moaned. When Audrey pulled away, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and looked at me shyly. “So, where’s my ring?” I groaned. “We’re going to pick it out as soon as you’re feeling better,” I promised her. “Whatever you’d like, I’ll get it for you.” Audrey blushed deeper. “You mean it?” I stared at her. “You know, I was perfectly serious about giving you everything you want,” I murmured. “This isn’t my money anymore. It’s our money, and I want you to be happy.”

“I don’t want a lot, Enzo, but I’d like to get married in a church, in a real white dress, and have my parents see me.” She closed her eyes and let out a long, happy sigh. “They’re going to flip! They won’t be able to believe this!” “Any thought to where they’d want to live?” I raised my eyebrow at Audrey. Audrey bit her lip. “You’re going to say no.” I shook my head. “Try me,” I countered. Audrey pointed to the floor. “Right here,” she answered. I stared. “I don’t think the condo is big enough.” Audrey shook her head. “No, no. I didn’t mean actually here. I meant in this building, close to us. My parents miss me so much, and I’d love to have them close.” She swallowed. “Plus, they’re getting older, and I always want to make sure I can be close by to take care of them when they need it.” I pulled Audrey into my arms and stroked her brown hair. She was in definite need of a shower, but I didn’t mind. I loved having her near me. “Okay,” I said into her hair. “If that’s what my

bride wants, that’s what she gets.” Audrey twisted out of my arms. She craned her neck back and looked at me. “Enzo, are you sure about all of this?” Before I could speak, she pressed a finger to my lips. “I mean, you’ve never even had a girlfriend before. What if you get bored with me?” Her expression turned anxious and sad. “What if you want another girl, or another secretary or something? What if you decide that you’ve had enough of me?” I laughed. “I’ll forgive you for asking,” I said in a warning tone as I nuzzled her forehead. “But you have to believe me, Audrey. There’s no one out there for me, no one except for you. You’re it, and I love you, and I never want to be without you again.” Audrey reached up to wipe her eyes. She sniffled and laid her head on my shoulder. In a moment, her arms were wrapped around me and squeezing me tightly. “I love you. I’m so sorry that it took me so long.” She wiped her eyes. “I thought that you were going to change me into a whole different person. I thought you wanted me to be someone that I’m not. And I guess that scared me,” Audrey finished softly. “But I love you just the way you are, and now that I know you feel the same way about

me…” She trailed off. “Baby, I’d never want to change you into someone else,” I whispered into her ear as I hugged her close. “And I’d do anything to make you happy.” Pepper whined and barked, and we both laughed. “And Pepper?” Audrey turned to me. “You know she’s basically my kid, right?” “And Pepper, of course. She’ll have the finest of steak every night if you so wish.” Audrey giggled. “I wouldn’t want her getting spoiled. But, Enzo? May I ask you something? There’s one more thing that I want,” she said, suddenly coy. “If it’s not too much trouble, that is.” I laughed. “Hit me. Tropical vacation? Done. I like Bora Bora, we’ll go there. You want your parents to have a second home? Done, we’ll get them one someplace warm, maybe Florida. And jewelry? You got it, babe. You’ll get nothing but the best.” Audrey shook her head. There was a cute little smile on her lips, and as I watched, she stuck her tongue out and slowly licked the chapped skin. “No,” she murmured. “Although all of that does

sound nice.” “Then what is it?” “I want to give Pepper a brother or sister. I want another dog.” “You got it. Whatever you want, it’ll be great.” Audrey broke into a wide smile and hugged me tighter than ever. “I can’t believe I’m getting everything I’ve ever wanted. I love you so much, Enzo.” “I love you, too,” I said as I pulled her close. “And I’m never gonna let you go.”

THE END Thanks for reading! Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/sqou66sq56 Also, follow me on Facebook for hot content and free giveaways! https://www.facebook.com/Sophia-Gray1096596530486125/

Also by Sophia Gray

You can get a sneak preview of any of my books by clicking the covers! HIS INKED BRIDE: Black Aces MC

SHE’LL BE WEARING MY RING… AND NOTHING ELSE. She thought she could lie to me. Big mistake. I won’t rest until I punish her for her mistakes… By branding her as my bride. She wanted to pull the wool over my eyes. It almost worked, too. A pretty girl like that can have her way with most men. But the thing is, I’m not most men. I’m a different breed. Hell, I’m a different animal entirely. Others are soft. I am carved from marble. Others are weak. I’ve got blood on my hands and fire in my chest. Others would forgive her… But I’m going to bend her over, claim her as

mine… And end it all with my ring on her finger. And she doesn’t get a choice in the matter.

HIS BOUND BRIDE: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

My billionaire boss wants to make me his bride. I was in danger from the minute I stepped into his office.

But there’s no escaping a man like Enzo Lennox. He’ll either force me to bend across his desk… Or put a ring on my finger so I belong to him for life. I should’ve have run away as soon as I had the chance. But there was something about Enzo that had me frozen in place. His eyes… His hands… The words that came out of his mouth – so shocking and filthy and downright powerful. I did everything I could to resist him. But he saw right through that. He knew what was boiling below my surface: Need. Desire. Craving. I was his slave from the second his eyes landed on me. Everyone warned me away from him. He’s a player, a scoundrel, they said. Here one day and gone the next. A broken heart was inevitable. I know all that.

And yet, when Enzo puts his hands on my hips, I can’t help but submit. But no matter how much I give, he wants more. The billionaire is not just satisfied with my body. He wants to own my heart, my mind, my soul. He wants me as his bound bride.

HIS CAPTIVE BRIDE: Grim Rebels MC

I was his prey. Now, I’m about to be his bride. I’ve spent years running from my past. But there’s no running from the bad boy with

my name on his list. He’ll either drag me back into the underworld I escaped… Or force me to the altar to become his dirty wife. Life’s not easy when you’re the devil’s daughter. The things I saw my father do used to haunt my nightmares. But that was the past. I’m a new person, now. I have a good life. A pure life. A happy life. And it’ll stay that way, as long as I keep away from dear old Daddy. Too bad he wants me back home. He sends his best man to come “retrieve” me – by any means necessary. And if my father is the Devil, then Vance Tate must be the Grim Reaper. He’s tall, dark, and deadly, With twisted tattoos that curve around his bulging muscles. And a weapon behind his zipper that looks capable of inflicting permanent damage. I know what’s going to happen if I try to run from

the hitman. He’s going to chase me down. Pin me to a bed. And screw me senseless. But to my surprise, Vance Tate wants something more than to cross my name off his list. He doesn’t just want a quick bang, either. He wants to make me his wife. And God help me if I try to say no.

MOAN: The Cantonneli Mafia

I won’t stop until I hear her moan. As a mobster’s daughter, she thinks she’s a bad girl. But if she wants to survive a night with me, she’d

better be on her best behavior. Good girls get rewarded. Bad girls get punished. And Melinda’s about to get both. It’s my job to keep her safe from danger. But I’m the biggest threat of all. She thinks she’s above it all. A little princess, spoiled rotten. Given everything she’s wanted since the day she was born. But I’m about to give her more than she’s ever gotten before. She’s never had a man like me. Hell, no one has. I’m big. Tattooed. Equipped, if you catch my drift. And I know damn well how to use it. I’m breaking every rule to make her mine. But rules are for suckers… And this prize is too tasty to pass up. Her moans will be music to my ears.

CONSUME ME: The Bleeding Prophets MC

I’m on my knees, begging him to consume me. I didn’t belong there. I wanted to leave. But that didn’t stop him from taking me.

He was a taste of something utterly forbidden… But by the time he’s finished, I’d do anything to have another lick. I was raised prim and proper. “Yes ma’am,” “no, sir,” hands folded in my lap and hair in perfect braids. That’s what I looked like when I showed up to the biker party. It was everything I wasn’t: Chaos and mayhem. Leather and liquor. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Years of a conservative upbringing were screaming at me to get out, get out now. But one look at Cade, and I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. He was carved out of marble, or so I thought. Tattoos coursed over his body. He was danger incarnate. And I loved it. But my taste of forbidden fruit might be the cause of my undoing. Cade’s world isn’t all parties and wild rides.

There’s bad people after him. And when they see what I mean to him… They decide to come after me, too.

DEVOUR ME: A Dark Bad Boy Romance (The Wicked Angels MC)

MY NEED FOR HER MIGHT EAT ME ALIVE. I swore off relationships a long time ago. I couldn’t bear the pain of losing another love.

But then Amanda wandered into my world, waking up the beast inside me. And he is hungry. She was an idiot for wandering outside in snow like this. If I hadn’t come along, she’d be a brunette popsicle by now. Instead, she’s curled up in front of my fireplace. But the danger in my cabin might be worse than the blizzard outside. I’m not a man to be trusted. I’ve got skeletons in my closet… Feelings, desires, needs that I’ve buried deep inside myself. And she’s bringing all that roaring to the surface. One look at that petite body and I’m rock hard again. It’s like the past disappears when she’s around. And all that matters is having her. The world outside my window may be frozen and foreboding. But in here, the heat of my desire will keep us both hot and sweaty. It’s only a matter of time until I devour her.

One More Ride: Carnage Warriors MC

I’M GONNA TAKE THIS LITTLE PRINCESS ON THE RIDE OF HER LIFE. I’m a convict. She’s a prison guard. This was never supposed to happen.

But I saw what I wanted and I took it… And now the world is about to make me pay for daring to break the rules. I took her the first time because I needed to remind myself how good it feels to have skin on skin. Lips on lips. Breath comingling with breath. It was what I needed. But her moans that night were enough to awaken a beast inside me. And when some drunk idiot says the wrong thing in my vicinity, that beast snaps. The punishment I inflict on that bastard is enough to land me in jail. But in that moment – with my bloodied fists, my unleashed rage – I felt alive for the first time in forever. Still, prison is no cakewalk. I’ll need all my wits – and all my luck – if I’m gonna make it out of here relatively intact. There’s killers lurking in the shadows. And not everyone is thrilled to have a burly, tattooed biker like me in there. Messing things up. Disrupting the delicate balance of power.

Some people have decided they might be better off if I weren’t around anymore… And they’re not shy about getting their hands dirty. Luckily enough, though, I’ve got a trump card. I’m bringing Beth inside with me.

ONE MORE NIGHT: Jungle’s Thorns MC

I MISSED HER TASTE. SO I TOOK HER FOR ONE MORE NIGHT.

Some things aren’t meant to be repeated. But I missed how it felt to bury myself inside her. I had to feel it again. So I did it – I put everything on the line in exchange for one. More. Night. ISAAC It was a mistake from the start. Drink after drink, and a girl who should have stayed firmly in my past. I should have seen through her deception. But I f**ked up. And now, it’s going to cost me everything. She knew my weaknesses and she exploited them ruthlessly. I couldn’t blame her, really. She learned how to be dirty from the best: Me. But I’ve got a few tricks left up my sleeve. I’m going to get her back under my control. And then I’m gonna make her pay for stabbing me in the back. It will be long. It will be painful. But by the end of it, she’ll recognize that she’ll

always belong to me. STEPHANIE I didn’t want it to come to this. But Isaac’s men did something that should never have been done. Vengeance is required. And I know how to strike a wound that will never heal. I know Isaac. Or rather, I knew him. But that was a lifetime ago. He means nothing to me now. He’s a monster. A pawn. And he deserves to be punished. At least, that’s what I keep telling myself. But deep down, there’s a little voice saying something completely different. It wants me to submit to his touch again. To beg. To moan. To whimper. It’s wrong – too wrong.

That can’t happen. It won’t. It shouldn’t. But God, I’d give everything to have one more night with him.

ONE MORE TASTE: A Dark Bad Boy Mafia Romance

One more taste won’t be enough. I need the whole damn thing. Saying no to me is always a mistake.

It’s gotten men killed, buildings burned… And in Diana’s case, it’s gotten her stripped bare and bent over my desk. Maybe next time, when I ask for more, she’ll give me the correct answer instead. She didn’t ask for this, but since when have I cared about that? I’m a kingpin, not a coward. I take what I want. And I’ve decided that I want her. I tried to be friendly – at least, at first. But that wasn’t enough for her. She tried to snub me. To ignore me. And that’s never a smart decision. I don’t have a choice now. I have to break her. I have to own her completely. I have to feast on her lips, her legs, her heart. Only when I’ve wrung her dry will I be satisfied. At least, that’s what I thought. But it turns out that there were some things I didn’t see coming.

Maybe my little toy was playing me all along.

SUBMISSION: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (The Marauders MC)

SEX ISN’T ENOUGH – I NEED HER TOTAL SUBMISSION.

I’ve got demons on my trail and skeletons in my closet. But they won’t stop me from making her mine. I need her to submit everything to me: Her innocence. Her willingness. And her womb. I never thought I’d want to be a father. But the new girl at the bar is awakening things in me I never knew were there. She’s running from her past, just like me. It’s easy to recognize the hunger in her – I feel it, too. She’s terrified – of the wrong things, though. She thinks her criminal ex-boyfriend is going to come hurt her. But what she should be scared of is something much closer… Me. I’m starving for a taste of her purity. I want her to give it to me – all of it. I want her on her knees, begging me for permission to move a single muscle. I get what I want, of course. I always do.

But it doesn’t take long before dominating her isn’t enough. I need more. Her body alone won’t satisfy me. There’s only one thing left that she can give me: A baby.

DADDY’S ANGEL: A Dark Bad Boy Baby Romance (Crowns of Satan MC)

DADDY’S ANGEL WILL STAY BENT OVER UNTIL HE’S DONE WITH HER.

I hired her for my business. I kept her for my pleasure. She’s perfectly wrong for me, but I don’t give a damn. Daddy’s gonna wring every ounce of pleasure out of this girl. Until there’s nothing left to take. She should have kicked me out the second I walked in her door. Well, she should have tried, at least. Not that it would have worked. I’m too big, too tattooed, too much man for her to do anything but submit to me. And submit she did. She did what I asked her to do, what I needed for my club to survive. And then she stripped naked and did what I needed to sate my hunger. I f*cked her silly. F*cked her raw… F*cked her senseless, dripping wet.

And when I was finished, I did it again. There’s only one thing to do with an angel like her: Fill her with my seed until she gives me an angel of my own.

DADDY’S PRINCESS: The Horsemen MC

The princess has my c*ck in her mouth and my baby in her belly.

I’d had hundreds of girls before her. But she’d never had a man – until I came along. She’s never had a lot of things, in fact: no pleasure, no pain…and no baby. Looks like I’m going to change all that. I was a walking mistake for a girl like her. She should have stayed the hell away. But how could she? I’m six and a half feet of muscle and steel. Inky tattoos crawl over my skin like snakes – beckoning, teasing, seducing. She never had a f*cking choice. The minute she stepped into that bar, she was mine. She stuck out like a sore thumb. A princess in a biker bar? Sounds like the start of a bad joke. But this was more like the start of a wicked night. I took her home, stripped her bare, made her beg for my taste and my seed. And when she’d said “please” enough, I let her have it. Over. And over. And over again.

When it was done, I expected never to see her again. Turns out, that was dead wrong. Victoria wasn’t just any girl. She was royalty – true royalty. And now she’s got a biker’s baby in her stomach.

FILLED: Berserkers MC

I’ll fill her with my wrath, my heat…and my baby. I was stabbed in the back and sent to rot in jail. Now that I’m free, there’s only one thing on my mind: revenge. I’m going to find the man that framed me, and kill him. Then I’m going to find the woman that betrayed me, and fill

her. I thought I loved her. But after years spent wasting away in that godforsaken cell, I know better. Now, all I want is to break her. Zelda served me up to my enemies on a silver g*ddamn platter. I have to get answers. But even more than that, I have to get even. My first steps out of prison carry me to her front door. And who do I see inside? Warming the bed I used to sleep in? Eating the dishes I used to eat from? F*cking the woman I used to be with? Santos. That bastard. That cold-blooded villain. I thought they’d already stooped as low as any humans could go. But I’m going to send them one step lower: To a hell they never saw coming. Whether by the violence of the gun or of the hard, brutal f*ck… I’m coming to claim what’s mine.

BOUNTY: A Bad Boy Mafia Romance (Giustini Family Mafia)

I was just a call girl. He made me a vessel for his baby.

I thought joining a brothel would be easier than my old life. And for a while, it was. Until Sebastian showed up. He’s a powerful earner for the Giustini crime family, and he gets whatever he wants. He wants sex? He gets it. He wants submission? He gets it. He wants a baby? Well…I have no other choice. My life has never been easy. I’d been working the streets since I was a young girl. It was hardly a fairy tale, but it was what I had to do to survive. I thought I’d seen the worst this city had to offer… But I was so, so wrong. What seems like a golden opportunity – safe, steady employment in Katrina Giustini’s brothel – turns out to be more like the edge of a cliff. Sebastian, a notorious drug dealer for the Giustini mob, takes a liking to me. But his affection has a cruel streak. Before I know it, I’m cuffed to his bed while his broad hands squeeze and spank and seize me.

The sickest part of all is this… I might just like it. And when I discover Sebastian has gotten me pregnant, I know for sure: Every part of me belongs to him.

Prize: A Bad Boy Hitman Romance

The bad boy’s prize is a baby in my belly. One night with the dark, mysterious man of my dreams – it should have been perfect. He swept me off my feet, took my virginity… and

left me with a child in my womb. But just when everything seems as horrible as it could possibly be, I find out who Nikolai really is – and what he is about to do to my family. Who knew getting lucky would turn out to be so unfortunate? I was new to the city, an innocent country girl with dreams as big as my eyes. He was a killer with a million-dollar smile. Some lines aren’t meant to be crossed, but our lust didn’t care about right and wrong. I wanted him; he wanted me – for one night, at least. That was enough. But two months later, a bout of nausea forces me to confront the truth: I’m carrying the bad boy’s baby. I don’t know what to do – do I look for him? Do I raise the child myself? Before I can decide, there’s a knock on the door. It’s Nikolai. To my surprise, he’s looking for my no-good brother.

But something in his eyes tells me that nothing good will come at the end of this search. My brother may be a scumbag, but he’s still my flesh and blood. If Nikolai wants to kill him, he’ll have to go through me… And our baby.

MINE: Fury Riders MC

Her heart, her body, her baby… it’s all mine. She is sweet, innocent, naïve; I’ve got my enemies’ blood drying on my hands. But she’s desperate for a baby, and I decide I’m

the one to give it to her. Twenty-four hours of unprotected lust – that’s the deal. But she doesn’t know that once I get my hands on her…I’m never letting go. At first glance, Josephine looks nothing like the kind of girls I typically screw. She’s too prim and proper. I prefer my women to be more like wild mares – that way, I get to enjoy breaking them. But beneath the blond veneer and the pearly smile, there’s a frantic lust. I can work with that. Her mother is dying, and she wants to give her a grandchild before it’s too late. So we strike a deal. For twenty-four hours, anything goes. Anything my twisted desires can conceive is fair game. The only goal is for me to put a baby in her belly… And then walk away forever. But as it turns out, that’s easier said than done. I never thought I’d fall victim to such a powerful

craving. Our time has ended, but I need her again. I need her now. And when I find out she’s carrying my son, that seals the deal. Josephine is coming back to me, whether she likes it or not. Nothing comes between me and mine.

SINS: Devil’s Horns MC

He will mark me with his sins… and fill me with his baby. Grant Reardon is heaven and hell in a single sexy package.

He’s the key to finding my missing daughter… and the only thing standing in my way. I try to ignore him – I need his help, not his domination. But when he takes me in his arms, the temptation to submit overwhelms everything else. My adopted daughter Sage disappeared without a trace. I suspect her biker boyfriend and his stupid motorcycle club are the ones to blame. Sage is my jewel, my precious, my world. I have to find her. I won’t rest until I do. But no one will give me answers. Mouths stay sealed and doors stay closed… Until one door opens that should never have done so. Framed in his entryway, Grant is like something out of a nightmare… A steamy, feverish nightmare. He’s rippling muscle and midnight-black tattoos. He’s swagger and filth and a toe-curling rumble. He’s everything I should stay far away from.

Too bad I have no way to go but forward. He tells me to get lost, that Sage is not coming back. But I can’t just stop looking. Finally, I convince him to help me. We take up the hunt, side by side, desperately trying to stave off the inevitable: Me begging him to take me rough, take me hard, take me until I can’t take anymore. He promises me we’ll find my daughter and that everything will be okay. But sometimes, hell is the person who promises you heaven.

OBEY: A Dark Romance

A blizzard traps us within these cabin walls… And Ciaran’s hands trap me beneath his rockhard body. He may have a near-death wound, But one look in his eyes reveals the truth: Nothing will stop him from claiming me. A normal man would have died long before I happened to pass by.

But Ciaran is far from normal. He’s a tattooed hulk, a Greek god of dark leather and heady musk and undeniable sex appeal. And it will take a hell of a lot more than this to send him to the grave. But despite his strength, he does need my help. The storm raging around us is worsening and his injury requires medical attention. There’s no time to get to a hospital – we have to get indoors now. Too bad the closest shelter is a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. Trapped within, I do the best I can to provide everything I can for him. But when he wakes up and looks at me with clear eyes, It’s obvious that he wants something more than I’m giving. He wants my body. He wants my heart. He wants my submission. And he’ll have them all, one way or another. When he commands me to bend over, I have no choice but to obey.

DENY: A Dark Romance

She won’t last long if she denies me my desires. I’m not the kind of man who takes “no” for an answer. After the hellish torments I’ve suffered, I learned

the hard way that the world doesn’t give you things just because you asked. You must take them. I’ve built a club and a career that way. By seizing what I want, bit by bit, until I have everything I could dream of. Everything but her. The one who got away. I’ve tried to bury the memory of her in countless club girls and the twisted thrill of violence. But life has a sick sense of humor, and Angel refuses to be forgotten. Imagine my surprise when I interrupt a mugging, only to realize that the damsel in distress is my former flame. Years haven’t touched her beauty, nor my desire to own it. I want to hold her as badly as I did the day I first laid eyes on that gorgeous frame. I want to claim her. To f*ck her senseless. And yet, as surreal as all this is, she’s only the first of two surprising discoveries. It turns out…

She has a son. Correction – I have a son. The realization leaves me stunned and furious. She will pay for keeping this from me. For keeping herself from me. The world can go to hell. I have scores to settle.

HEAT: A Dark Romance

She might not survive my heat. There are bad men in this world. I would know: I’m one of them. I f*ck women and leave them behind without

apology. I stomp out my enemies; I turn their wives into my slaves, their spawn into my servants. I hurt; I take; I kill. But despite all my sins and vices, I am not the worst this world has to offer. That title is reserved for the devil himself:. The bastard who murdered my family. I won’t rest until I’ve spilled his blood and condemned his soul to hell. He will feel the pain that I have felt a thousand times over. I will have my revenge. But I have one task left to complete before I leave to kill him or die trying. I cannot let my family name go to the grave with me. I need to know that my line will go on. That means one thing: I need a baby. But the women in my life aren’t fit to hold my seed, much less my heir. This requires someone special. Someone I can seduce.

Someone I can shatter. Someone I can mold into the vessel my child will require. So I go hunting, and I find the one. Lily is the perfect specimen. Ghostly white skin perfect to brand as my own, curves to bite and suckle. I’ve chosen her, and I’m not waiting to find out if she’s fully on board. I’m going to seize her and do what I’ve always done – Take until she has nothing left to give.

Sign up to my mailing list by clicking here: http://dl.bookfunnel.com/sqou66sq56 Also, follow me on Facebook for hot content and free giveaways! https://www.facebook.com/Sophia-Gray1096596530486125/

[LC1]Shouldn’t her reaction be more furious? Like how her ex could’ve allowed her and Micah to be in danger?

[LC2]When did her ex, Troy, say this? It wasn’t in Lilah’s dialogue in the previous chapter.

[LC3]This whole plot point reads a little ridiculous. The heroine’s son gets “taken” by her ex-husband, and the hero is

making her stay in his bed – and she will give herself to him when she’s ready – at the clubhouse?

[LC4]I don’t really believe her character when she says this. It sounds too convenient, like the writer has written it so it works for the plot.

[LC5]The events of this chapter, namely the hero and heroine being caught in a storm, in her ex-husband’s cabin, was a strange plot point on the first read.

[LC6]Why would she bother doing this? They need to track down her son?!

[LC7]Why didn’t he just have her stay there from the beginning?