His curiosity irritated him. For the longest time, he hadn’t cared for this woman. With her being in his home, part of his world, she’d started to invade more of his thinking space and he needed her out of it. This was for himself only.
“She’s not for sale.” He stepped away from the monitors and left the building.
Sitting in the back of his car, he pulled out his cell phone and saw the confirmation that Tony was indeed waiting for him.
He gave the orders for where they were to take him and with that, he sat back. Glancing down at his cell phone, he checked over his sister’s social media accounts. Every now and then, he liked to make sure she wasn’t getting into trouble and as he did, he started to notice the pictures of Claire. There was one taken this morning. They were lying on the sofa, smiling, clearly with their legs across the back of the sofa. There were several like this through the years. Not all of them with a nice, black leather sofa.
There were a couple of them at parties. He noticed one with Tony and Claire. The couple didn’t exactly look happy. Claire leaned against Tony, but the man in question appeared to be looking at another woman’s ass.
Claire had a great ass.
He closed his cell phone. He didn’t need to go through pictures to look at Claire. She was everywhere he fucking looked. He hadn’t been with a woman since she’d been in his world and with his sister also hanging out regularly at his place, well, it was making things difficult.
He arrived at the casino and went straight down to the basement again.
“Look, I don’t know what this is about. I swear I didn’t do anything. Someone’s trying to frame me. I don’t have nothing. I promise. I swear.”
“You do a lot of talking,” Gabriel said. He grabbed a chair and pulled it close to the man in question.
He was crying and sniffled. Snot ran down into his mouth. It sickened him, but he was used to men being so weak, begging for their lives. It was amazing what people would offer and plead with to save their own skin.
“I don’t know who you are, man.”
“And you’re not going to know. We have a mutual friend,” he said.
“I don’t know no friends of yours,” Tony said.
He snapped his fingers and one of his men produced a picture. It was a snapshot of Claire with her black eye.
“I don’t know what that bitch has done but I swear I’m done with her. She’s in this on her own.”
“You gave her the black eye.”
“She was yelling at me and I was done with hearing her shit. She’s a fucking waste of space. Fat bitch and she’s crap in bed as well. She doesn’t know what she’s doing. She clings. I got rid of her.”
“I know her. She’s a friend of the family, Tony.”
“Whatever she told you, it’s a lie.”
Gabriel stared at the man, watching, waiting. As if on cue, he pissed himself.
He sighed. This was the kind of man Claire went for?
“Please, don’t hurt me. I didn’t do anything. If you want her, she’s all yours.”
He wrapped his fingers around the man’s neck and squeezed. “I suggest you be very careful what you say to me. I’m finding it all a little insulting right now, hearing you say shit about her.” He kept on squeezing, not really sure why he cared, just that it bothered him.
So far, from what he could tell, Claire was hard-working with a bad taste in men. He didn’t know of any other boyfriends.
“Where’s her money?” he asked.
“That was my money for putting up with her. She can get money any time.”
Gabriel pulled out his knife and slid it into the muscle of Tony’s thigh. The high-pitched scream echoed around the basement. No one other than himself and his men could hear him scream.
There were parties going on upstairs, people who were living their lives and wouldn’t have a clue what he was doing.
He pulled the blade out and for good measure, stabbed him again.
“My name is Gabriel Locke.”
The moment he said his name, Tony whimpered.
“I see you know me. Well, Claire is like family and I don’t take kindly to someone hurting them. You’re going to bring back all of Claire’s belongings, and her money. You’re going to have my men go with you so I know you won’t try anything stupid. Am I understood?”
Tony nodded and Gabriel slammed his fist against the bastard’s face for good measure. Removing his blade, he cleaned the blood off and left the basement, heading back into the casino.
This time, he didn’t linger but headed back into his car, to go take care of some other business. A local MC wanted to do a drug run through his streets. It was polite to ask permission, but seeing as he had his own product to deal with, he was going to decline. When it came to bikers, he kept a wide berth and always tried to come up with a reasonable outcome.
Tony was a piece of shit.
What had Claire seen in him?
Why the fuck did he care?
Running a hand over his face, he tried to clear the fog from his mind. He wondered what Claire would say when Tony arrived with all of her things. He hadn’t done this for Claire, but for his sister.
When it came to Rhianna, he didn’t want her to ever go without. All his life, he’d made sure she never suffered. Their parents had been poor excuses for human beings, their deaths a blessing, and he’d gotten full guardianship of his sister.
He would protect her. Even as he thought about his sister, he couldn’t help but think about Claire. The two came together, but soon he’d have her out of his life for good.
****
The bar was closed.
Claire stood in the doorway, watching one of the women. She was the final dancer to work her magic on three men. It didn’t come as a shock when one man opened his pants and pulled his cock out, and started to work the length. She’d gotten used to such a blatant display.
Tammy, the dancer, not her real name, loved the attention. Claire had talked to most of the strippers and learned that each one was addicted to the power their body gave them.
She tensed up as she became aware of him. Gabriel stood right behind her, watching.
He didn’t touch her but his heat surrounded her. She waited for him to speak first.
Neither of them said a word.
His hand on her hip startled her.
“Is it time to leave?” she asked, whispering.
“I don’t mind you enjoying the show.” His lips brushed her ear. Her nipples tightened and she wanted to squeeze her thighs closed. She didn’t dare move.
“Is this something you’d want to do? Strip, spread yourself open, show every single part of yourself for men to admire, to crave? They all want to touch her, but in this room, they can look, never touch.”
Tammy had already removed her clothes and spread her legs wide. The lighting was low, giving only a hint of her pussy.
Gabriel’s hand tightened on her hip.
“I’m ready to leave.” She pulled away, not wanting to see any more. Casey always dealt with the last customers. Pulling out of his hold, she tried not to mourn the loss of his touch. She walked toward the car. The men were smoking as she neared but she ignored them, climbing into the backseat.
She removed her shoes and sat back.
Heat filled her body. She wanted to touch herself, to think of someone touching her, not being able to control himself.