“Because Luke attacked one of your women.” My smile was tight. “You protect your own.”
He tipped his chin up. “You should have come to us sooner.”
“Not as easy as you think when you have security following your every move. They’ll report to my father.” My throat grew tight again. “I’d hurry. If he decides he needs to get to them first…”
The guy didn’t stick around to hear my conclusion. He just walked off, his boots silent against the ground as he disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. A breath escaped me as I pressed back into the wall.
My task was over. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
Two
Link
“I believe her.”
“She had tits and ass. Of course, you believe her,” Steel muttered, snorting as he began shuffling a deck of cards. It was a nervous tic of sorts, a new one. That damn deck was in his mitts at all times, had been ever since we’d found out about Luke Lancaster’s little harem from hell.
I figured it had to do with the prospect of some innocent women being imprisoned somewhere in the United States of America. Starving to death…
I blew out a breath.
Yeah, no wonder he had a nervous tic. I was getting that way myself. When I closed my eyes at night, I thought about those poor bitches, locked up, not knowing when the cunt who held the keys to their prison would return. Not knowing that he’d never return. I thought about how hungry they must be. How cold. How fucking alone, and yeah, I ended up not sleeping.
I was a callous son of a bitch. By nature and nurture. You couldn’t do what we did and have a big heart, but even the cold stones lodged in our chests were flopping like dying fish at what those women were going through.
Even so, I resented Steel’s words. You made one fucking mistake as a teenager, and these bastards never let it drop.
“Could be a trap,” Rex concurred, breaking into my irritation, rubbing his chin as he eyed up the way Steel was shuffling those damn cards.
“Doubt it. She was nervous as fuck. Paid Cody behind the bar to dope up her guards’ drinks with vodka. Then was antsy all night waiting on them to get drunk. Plus…” I winced as I dragged my pointer finger along the curve of my cheekbone. “She’d been beaten. All covered up. Well, too. Not the first time she’s been hit with makeup skills that good.”
Steel’s jaw clenched. “She put herself at risk.”
At his words—words that were a statement and not a question—I muttered, “Yeah. I think so.”
Rex sighed. “We can afford to send out a couple of brothers to check this shit out. Even if she’s blowing smoke up our asses, I’d rather be safe than sorry. Don’t think I’d be able to fucking sleep at night if we didn’t at least look.”
Steel winced. “Yeah.”
Rex clapped him on the back. “You’re watching out for the MC, brother. That’s what your job is.”
“Feel like a cunt.”
“We all do,” I retorted, shrugging my shoulders uneasily. “We’re all hyped up. Worrying about Giulia, worrying about Nyx worrying about Giulia, and wondering when he’s about to break and go on the fucking rampage.” I let a breath whistle out from between my teeth. “Then there’s those women.” I gulped. “Dunno about you, but I’ve slept like shit for the past week.”
Rex dipped his chin. “Yeah. I’m going to go and tell Nyx.”
“You know he’s going to want to come along for the ride,” Steel pointed out.
“Which means Giulia’s coming too,” I said dryly. “No way in fuck he’s gonna take his eyes off her.”
Rex grimaced. “Because taking her to some fucked up prison in the middle of nowhere is his idea of a date now. Jesus Christ.” He scraped a hand over his head. “Last thing she needs to see is that.”
“Bet she wants to go. She’ll want to help. And fuck, she knows what it’s like to be vulnerable to that cunt. Maybe it will help them?”
“Won’t help her though, will it? And I have to think of Nyx.”
Despite myself, I had to snicker. “You worry about him too much. He’s not as vulnerable as you think he is.”
“I don’t think he’s vulnerable,” Rex denied instantly, but his glower told me I’d hit a nerve.
“Yeah, you do. He ain’t,” I countered. “Bro’s got brass balls, and even if he was fucked up, Giulia’s straightening him up some.”
Steel’s eyes widened. “How did you say that without busting your gut laughing? Last thing that bitch is gonna do is straighten a guy like Nyx out. If anything, she’d encourage him.”
“Two psychopaths in sweet harmony,” I joked, leaning back against the wall and digging my heel into the drywall as I did so. “Did you hear about what she did to her stepfather? Good thing Nyx’s balls are brass. That’s the only thing that’ll keep them safe if she goes nuclear.”
My words got my brothers smiling, just as I’d intended, then I reached forward, gripped Rex’s shoulder, and urged, “Hustle, Prez. We need to get them girls out.”
“If they’re even there,” Steel muttered.
“Don’t be negative,” I chided. “Let’s hope they are there, then maybe we can sleep again.”
Rex grunted but moved down the hall to Nyx’s room, where he and Giulia were probably sleeping. He knocked and I heard a few thumps as Nyx made it to the door. When the door slammed shut a few minutes later, and I heard more thumps, I knew he was getting ready.
Steel cut me a look. “You think this is true? Not BS?”
“Fuck knows. I just hope she wasn’t lying.”
“I’ll slit her throat myself if she is. What kind of sicko—”
Before he could continue, I mumbled, “She’s related to Luke Lancaster. A guy who rapes for fun? Let’s hope being a psycho isn’t a genetic trait in her family.”
Steel grimaced but shoved the deck of cards away in his jeans’ pocket.
About twenty minutes later, Nyx and Giulia were on his hog, Steel was on his, and I was climbing onto the back of mine. A quick glance at the clubhouse told me everyone was watching, even though this was supposed to be under wraps, and I mock saluted those peering at us from behind the curtains before I kick-started my bike into action.
The roar of the trio of hogs made my blood sing, and even though our end destination might be the definition of a nightmare in the flesh, I felt energy flood my veins as we began the roll down the drive.
The gates opened the second the Prospect saw us, and we sped up, flying out of the compound like we were using winged chariots.
As the wind smashed me square in the face, I let out a holler, and wasn’t surprised when a feminine version that matched my own came next. I twisted around and saw Giulia was clinging to Nyx, but her hair was whipping around in the wind, her face was tilted to get it full frontal, and her eyes were closed as she gloried in the moment.
If I hadn’t known that she came from biker stock, I had proof then and there. This shit was genetic. Passed down from generation to generation. We were born to ride these beasts, just like our ancestors had lived on horseback. Some people were meant for the constraints of city living, of the rat race, then there were folks like us. Folks who lived on the fringes of society. Who led their lives the way they wanted, not the way the government did.