“Still pregnant, as far as I know. No doubt still scheming against me. I’m certain she’s after something, I’m just not sure what. Or maybe it’s purely the fact that she likes to hurt me. I’m not sure why we never had the sisterly attachment, but it just isn’t there. She’ll do anything she can to make me suffer.”
“What a cow!” Scarlett huffs.
“Oh, she is,” Chantelle throws in. “They are nothing alike. At all. I could poke her eyes out. I’ve always hated her.”
“Still, it must have been awful to be betrayed by your own blood.” Amalie sighs. “I couldn’t imagine anything worse.”
“Yeah, it isn’t nice to find your boyfriend balls deep in your sister, let me tell you,” I mutter.
“Oh, my god,” Penny gasps. “That’s ... horrible.”
“And she’s now pregnant,” Charlie tells Penny.
“What!” Penny cries. “People are actually that heartless? My god!”
“Yep.” I nod. “That’s my sister, my blood. She loves taking what isn’t hers.”
“Imagine if she got her sights on Mason,” Chantelle mutters.
I glance over at Mason.
No, I don’t want to imagine that. Not at all. If my sister got her sights on him, I can guarantee she would take her chances.
I don’t know what I did to deserve such shitty family, but I’ll be glad the day I find a way to have them out of my life for good.
Especially her.
Yes, especially her.
~16~
MASON
What the fuck?
I stare at the man hovering near my front porch, staring up into the house, fingering a gun that’s tucked into the back of his jeans. Can’t be fucking serious? This mother fucker actually has the nerve to come to my house, knowing full well who lives here? Has word spread so fast, that these pricks are coming in to attempt to get cash? Things they can sell for cash? All because of Saskia’s stupid fucking ex-boyfriend?
I move slowly toward the man. Good thing I took my truck tonight and left it out front on the street. I did that so people would know someone is here; makes me feel better when we’re sleeping at night. But, it worked in my favor especially now because this idiot doesn’t know I’m rolling in behind him, but he’s about to find out. Oh, yeah, he’s about to fucking find out.
I’ll make an example of him.
Nobody is fucking with my home.
Or my girl.
I take slow steps until I’m basically up against his back. He notices at the last second that someone is behind him, but it’s too late. I jerk the gun out of his pants and press it to the back of his head. He goes still. “You didn’t honestly think you could come into my house and I wasn’t goin’ to find you and fuck you up, did you?”
“Listen, man, I’m just here to talk to Saskia and—”
It just gets better.
“With a fuckin’ gun.”
“Only because we heard bikers live here. I didn’t want to be fuckin’ shot down. I just have a message for her.”
“Good.” I shove the gun into the back of his head and he winces. “You can tell us together. Walk.”
“Listen—”
“Fuckin’ walk, now,” I growl.
He takes a shaky step, then another, and walks up the front steps.
“Saskia!” I boom, my voice thundering along the patio. “Open the door.”
It takes a few minutes, but the door swings open and Saskia appears. Her eyes go to the man and widen immediately. “What’s going on? Who is he?”
“Someone here to deliver a message to you, apparently. Found him snoopin’ around out the front, with a gun.”
Saskia goes a little pale and looks at the man. “What message?”
“We’re gettin’ to that,” I mutter.
I shove the man inside and growl at Saskia. “Top drawer of my room. Cuffs. Get them.”
“Listen, man, I’m not here to cause trouble, got paid money to send a message and then that’s it, not here to hurt anyone or—”
“What the fuck do I care what you got to come to my house and threaten my girl?”
Saskia appears a moment later with cuffs, and I tell her to cuff the man. She does, grabbing his hands angrily, not afraid at all. She looks pissed now. No doubt she is; I would be too if my ex-boyfriend kept sending people over to threaten me.
I spin the man around once he’s cuffed and shove him down on the sofa, then I quickly check the gun. Loaded. Thought as much. I point it at him. Saskia steps up to my side.
“Talk,” I growl. “And make it the truth. I’m in a bad mood and I’m more than willing to put a bullet in you, those kneecaps look promising.”
The man stares at me, horrified, then looks to Saskia.
“All this over her?”
I step forward and my fist connects with his face, hard. A loud crack radiates through the room, and he falls backward, roaring in pain, blood spurting from a wound I just created underneath his eye. Skin peels back beautifully there, one hit and it splits right open.
“What the fuck?” he roars.
“I could have done that,” Saskia mutters, crossing her arms.
“Not your job to defend you, sweetheart, it’s mine,” I rasp, panting.
“It would have given me great satisfaction.”
“Next time, baby.”
She smiles at me.
Yeah.
Fuck yeah.
“Now, insult her once more, and I’ll do worse. Tell me what you’re here for, and I might let you walk out uninjured, kind of.” I stare at his eye. “If not, I’ll make sure you never walk out of here again.”
“Enzo sent me,” the man splutters, holding a hand over the blood running from his eye. “He said he wants the money she promised him. That she isn’t getting away with it, and he’ll keep putting people on her until she gives him what she said she’d give him.”
I snort. “Some motherfucker in prison sent you around here?”
“He’s more powerful than you think. Enzo doesn’t mess around. He’s pissed. He has people on his back. He’s getting desperate. She made him a deal. Then she backed out. He’s not happy, and he wants her to know he’ll not stop until she delivers.”
“You can tell fuckin’ Enzo—”
“No,” Saskia says. “He’ll tell Enzo nothing. We’ll tell Enzo ...”
I look to her. “The fuck?”
“You and me, we’re going to pay Enzo a visit tomorrow.”
My eyes flash, and I grin at her.
I like the way she thinks. Fuck yeah, I like it.
“No one threatens me,” she huffs, crossing her arms. “Especially not that dick.”
That’s my kind of girl.
“What are we going to do about him?” she asks, nodding her head in the direction of the man staring at both of us.
“No use to us.” I shrug.
Her eyes sparkle.
“No, you’re right, he’s not. I’m sure nobody will miss him.”
Playing along. My smart, fucking gorgeous woman. She gets it. Doesn’t know fuck-all about club life, but she gets it.
Fuck yeah.
“Wait,” the man cries. “What?”
“We could put him with the club, let them play with him first,” Saskia says, rubbing her chin. “Or we could just dispose of him like we did the last one that threatened me? Depends, are you up for some fun, honey, or are we just going to get right down to business?”
I’m going to fucking marry her.
“I don’t feel like playin’ tonight, except with you,” I say, my voice thick and husky. “So, let’s just get rid of this fucker. You want to do the honors?”
The man starts screaming and thrashing, then tries to stand and run. I use my booted foot to kick him back down onto the couch. He’s panting and red in the face, looking completely freaked out.
“Please don’t kill me!” he screams. “Please! I didn’t mean any harm. Was never goin’ to hurt her. Please, oh, lord, ple
ase!”
He closes his eyes and starts crying.
Yeah, I think he’s learned his lesson.
I look to Saskia, and we both burst out laughing.
Yep.
My kind of girl.
~*~*~*~
SASKIA
“You sure you wanna do this?” Mason asks me as we get checked over at the prison.
It’s the first time I’ve seen Mason without his colors; he always wears them, but some prisons have a thing about letting bikers in. Probably assuming they’ll deliver drugs or something equally as mischievous. In all fairness, they’re the most unlikely ones to be doing it. It’s the other scumbags that come in. The ones they least suspect, like girlfriends, or mothers, or even children.
But let’s point fingers at the scary bikers.
I’m starting to see how hard life must be for Mason sometimes.
And all the members of the club.
Constantly being judged.
“I’m fine,” I say and, honestly, I am.
I feel like the way I feel about Enzo has drastically changed. Maybe the worse he continues to treat me, the easier it is for me to realize I never want a thing to do with him again. Any man that can send people around to threaten you is no man at all. And he’s certainly not someone I want to be spending my life with. After all, he’s been lying to me for god knows how long, which means he’ll do it forever.
I deserve better.
And realizing that makes it so much easier to move on.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes in my chest I still feel these moments where it hurts, like a dull ache. Maybe, mostly, because I gave so much of my life to him and I honestly thought it would be forever, or maybe it’s just purely that I’m ashamed I didn’t see what was right in front of me, clearly, for a long time.
“You don’t have to speak to that fucker if you don’t want. I can do all the talking,” Mason tells me, stepping close.
I like it when he’s protective.
I like everything about the way he makes me feel.
“He doesn’t scare me, Mason,” I tell him. “Not at all. And I have more than one thing I want to say to that ... that ... jerk!”
Mason doesn’t say anything as we finish all the security checks and move into the visitors’ room. We take a seat at a table, Mason sitting closer to me than I ever thought he would, but I totally like. And then we wait. About fifteen minutes later, they bring the prisoners in. I take one look and see Enzo right away. His eyes go to Mason, and his step falters for a split second.
That’s extremely satisfying.
Like, yes.
Hell yes.
He does keep moving to the table; it would have been nicer if he ran out like a little girl, but I know Enzo well enough to know his pride would never allow that. So, he walks over to the table and sits down, those eyes pinning mine.
And for the first time, I feel nothing when I look into them.
Fucking nothing.
Except utter disappointment.
“You couldn’t come without your little guard dog?”
“Oh, Mason?” I say, sweetly. “He’s not my guard dog. More like the man I’m seeing, who is, mind you, a thousand times better than you.” I lean across the desk. “I wish I had known all these years that you were utterly terrible in bed.”
Enzo’s face goes red, and he growls, “Back down, Saskia.”
“Careful how you’re talkin’ to her,” Mason says, his voice monotone and scarily calm. “Don’t appreciate what you’ve been doin’ to her, don’t make me angrier.”
Enzo looks to him. “A biker, classy.”
Saskia shrugs. “He runs rings around you. I mean, at least he knows how to hide his business dealings without getting busted. Hell, you can’t even send people my way outside the prison without us finding them. You need to pick better men.”
Enzo clenches his fists and glares at me. “We have a deal. You’re going to hold your end of the deal up. I need that money.”
“Yeah, no, she ain’t,” Mason says, staring at Enzo with a steely expression.
“None of your fucking business, biker.”
“It is my fuckin’ business when you’re sendin’ men to my house to intimidate my girl.”
His girl.
My heart flutters.
Enzo’s face gets harder.
He doesn’t like that. Well good.
“She and I have a deal.”
“We have no deal,” I say, and he looks back to me. “I don’t owe you shit. You lied to me for god knows how long, and you’ve been delving into the world of drugs for far longer than I’m okay with. So, the fact of the matter is, you got yourself tangled in whatever you got tangled in, and now you’re going to have to live with it.”
“Do you have any fuckin’ idea what you’ve done?” Enzo hisses. “Me bein’ in here has pissed off a lot of fuckin’ people. It has put the heat on operations, because you handed me into the cops. I had a good thing goin’, now I’ve got a fuckin’ army on my back, wantin’ revenge, wantin’ cash, wantin’ to take me out of the picture so I don’t ‘talk’ again.”
“Oopsie.” I shrug, putting my hands up.
“Fuck you, Saskia.”
I smile. “No, thank you.”
“You have no idea what you’re getting into,” he growls. “None, I will get my money, one way or another, and you’ll wish you never crossed me.”
“First thing,” I say, standing. Mason stands beside me, thank god. “You’re in here, and I’m out there. Second, do you see who is standing beside me? No? Take a good look. He has far more contacts than you ever will. If you continue to threaten me, we’ll make sure you don’t see the light of another day.”
Mason leans down, hands flat on the table, face stern. “Take her words seriously, boy. You don’t want to fuck with me, because I promise you, I’ll make you regret the fuckin’ day you were born.”
With that, we both turn and walk out.
I look to Mason as soon as we get outside of the prison. “Well, do you think he listened?”
Mason runs his hand over his face and sighs. “Doesn’t seem like the type to listen. Seems to me his pride is bigger than his fuckin’ brain. I guess time will tell. But, either way, we’ll be waitin’.”
I hope he listened.
For his sake.
Not for mine.
Because I’ve got bikers on my side, baby.
~17~
SASKIA
“Girl, seriously, sit down,” Chantelle says, stomping into my bedroom after ringing my doorbell like a crazy woman for five minutes.
“What is it, chicky?” I ask her, unpacking the last of my things. Mason told me he’s giving me the job full time.
I’m still not sure I’m making the right choice moving in here full time, living with him. I mean, right now, things are fun. We fuck. We laugh. We talk. But what if that changes? Will I honestly be able to live here and not let it affect me? I’m not sure I can, but, I figure, for right now it’s excellent money and I’ve met some incredible people. Not only that, I feel safe.
I like my job.
I like living here.
And I really like Mason.
“I’m pissed!” she huffs, flopping down onto my bed and lying on her back.
“Care to share why, or am I going to have a go at guessing?” I smirk, tossing the empty box aside and putting my clothes on hangers.
“Okay, so, after the bar that night, when you left with Mason, I was waiting out front for a cab when Boston came out.”
My eyes swing to her. “This is news. You didn’t tell me this!”
“Because, I’ve been, I don’t know, seeing what happens.”
“Okay, carry on, you have my attention.”
She crosses her arms and stares at the ceiling. “Anyway, he asked if I wanted a ride. Well, of course I didn’t say no. He took me home on the back of that motorbike.” She sits up quickly. “Have you been on Mason’s, yet?”
I nod. br />
“My lord, I was soaking by the time we got there. All those vibrations, and the hot biker I had my arms wrapped around.”
I grin. I know the feeling well. It’s sensational.
“Carry on,” I urge.
“Well, we arrived and got chatting, you know, just casual talk. I invited him inside, and he said yes. You can imagine, I was totally shocked, but so excited. He said yes!”
Oh, boy.
“Okay, and then ...”
“We had sex,” she says, meeting my eyes. “And my fucking lord, it was incredible. I can’t even explain, though I’m sure you know what it’s like to be with one of those big, powerful men. He had me against the wall, all muscle and cock, fucking me like an animal. I’ve never experienced anything like it in my life. Not ever.”
I know exactly what she’s saying, and I know how good it feels.
“Anyway, we talked a bit after, and he really made me laugh. He’s got this dark soul, but a dry sense of humor that really matched mine. We actually ... had fun. He left, and I felt okay, you know? Like it was just a good night and that was that.”
I sit on the bed beside her, too wrapped up in her story to pay any more attention to my unpacking. “But it wasn’t just that, was it?”
She shakes her head. “Two days later, he rolled in looking fine on that motorbike and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride. So, I got dressed, and we went for a ride.”
“What kind of ride,” I ask, and she grins.
“Believe it or not, not that kind. He took me sight-seeing, and we had lunch, and we talked a lot. For someone so broody and quiet, he wasn’t hard to talk to, we got along almost ... effortlessly. It was the first time I’ve ever been able to let my guard down, and just talk to a man, no sarcasm or attitude. Just me.”
Wow.
That’s a big deal.
Chantelle hides a lot of who she really is behind her bubbly personality and sarcasm, but she’s actually quite broken deep down. She’s had a hard life, and she holds it well, but there is a softer, far more fragile side to her she rarely lets people see. I’m shocked to hear she let Boston see it after such a small time.