“Hi there, Koda. Is Charlie still alive?”
I stare at her, then grin. She’s one of the only women I actually like. I’d go as far as calling her a friend, and I have very few of those with a pussy. I don’t do women very well. But Scarlett, I can handle her.
“That depends on what you class as alive? She’s still breathin’ ...”
She shoves my chest lightly. “You’re awful. Where is she?”
I jerk my head toward the house and Scarlett waves to Amalie. I nod and smile at the shy, beautiful girl that captured Malakai’s heart, and she smiles back, lifting her hand in a wave. When they’ve disappeared inside, I walk over and shake Malakai’s hand. “Glad to have you here, brother.”
He grins at me. “Surely she’s not that fuckin’ bad?”
I snort. “You have no idea. Biggest pain in the ass I’ve ever come across in my life.”
Maverick chuckles. “Do you good to interact with a female, bro. Fuck knows all you do is screw ‘em and send them on their way.”
“Exactly how it should be,” I mutter.
I shake Mason and Boston’s hands, and then help them set up camp, pitching a few tents. There isn’t enough room in the cabin for everyone. We’ll let the girls stay in there, if they want, that is.
“Well, there she is, lookin’ as pretty as ever.”
Malakai’s voice makes me lift my head, to see Charlie standing on the porch with Scarlett and Amalie by her side.
“Hello, Malakai, did you bring me someone else for protection yet? I don’t like Dakoda very much. In fact, I’m surprised he’s still alive.”
I glare at her, and she throws me a sarcastic smile.
“Watch yourself,” I warn.
“Come now, darlin’,” Malakai chuckles. “He ain’t all that bad.”
Charlie crosses her arms, and nearly every man there zones in on her tits. Fucking perfect tits.
“I’m starting to think you put me up here with him on purpose. I mean, surely you have other members of your club that could protect me. Are you getting some sort of twisted satisfaction out of this?”
Malakai grunts, then laughs. “Oh, abso-fuckin’-lutley.”
“Jerk,” she mumbles under her breath. “Well, I’m telling you, if any bad guys actually found me, there is no guarantee your man over here wouldn’t throw me right at them.”
“Too right,” I mutter.
“Now now, you two.” Maverick grins. “We’re here to break things up a bit. For a few days, you won’t have to talk to each other at all if you don’t want.”
“Thank God,” Charlie murmurs, shooting me a look.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” I snap.
“Okay.” Scarlett claps. “Now we got that out of the way, is it safe if we take Charlie for a walk to the river?”
Malakai looks to me. “Thoughts?”
“No one can get to the river without coming past the cabin first. They’re fine.”
Scarlett claps. “Yes!”
“Don’t get eaten by anythin’, darlin’,” Maverick tells her, his eyes lusty. “That’s my job later.”
Scarlett flushes, Amalie giggles, and Charlie grins.
Of course she grins.
Dirty bitch.
Fucking like it, too.
The girls all rush off toward the river, and I turn to help finish setting up the tents.
“Any more information?” I ask Malakai as we hammer the pegs into the ground.
“Fuck all, was hopin’ you had something?”
“Been doin’ research every night. Tryin’ to get information. Names. He’s keepin’ himself well hidden.”
“He?” Malakai asks, stopping and crossing his arms.
“Can’t tell me a chick is running a show this big.”
He thinks on that, then nods. “Yeah, probably fuckin’ right. Charlie said anythin’ more?”
“Not a fuckin’ word.”
“She’s closed lipped, eh?” Maverick says, joining the conversation.
“Tight as fuck. Won’t say a word. Not sure if it’s out of protection, or fear.”
“My guess,” Mason throws in, “fear. Fear makes you do far more stupid shit than protection does. She’s a hard woman, closed off, blocked everything out. Most people only do that when they’ve been forced to.”
“Agreed,” Boston mutters. “Whatever she knows, she’s scared of it.”
“Mmm,” Malakai murmurs. “I’ll try talk to her later tonight, see if I can get anythin’ out of her. We need to get this show movin’, if we don’t, things are only goin’ to get more dangerous for her, and us. We gotta get her safe, and the club.”
“Agreed,” I tell him. “You have a go, see what you can get outta her. She won’t tell me a damned thing.”
Maverick chuckles. “Like a fuckin’ married couple, you two.”
“Don’t insult me, Maverick,” I warn.
“See Sugar didn’t do her job properly the other night,” Malakai adds. “You’re still cranky as fuck.”
“You see how you go with her attitude swingin’ around,” I growl. “See if you can keep your cool.”
“Challenge accepted.”
Good luck to him.
She’s more than a handful.
~*~*~*~
THEN – KODA
It takes me three days to find the location of the storage shed that Braxton has. Three fucking days. The keys have no address, and I have to call every place in the city to find out which one he registered with. Turns out, he used a different last name. No idea how the fuck he got away with that, but he did.
I take a drive out there, and it’s thirty minutes away from his apartment. When I arrive, everything is well secured, big electric gates, cameras, top of the line storage. What the fuck would he need top of the line storage for? What could he possibly want so securely hidden?
I don’t want to know, but I’m about to find out.
I check in as Braxton and drive through the secure alleys until I find a big storage shed right down the back. I park my truck, pull out the key, and walk over to it. It’s triple padlocked, which I’m sure doesn’t come standard. There are five keys on the keyring, so I start using them all until I find the three I need. Then, I shove them into my pocket and slide the unit open.
At first, there isn’t much that would spark any interest. Furniture, which looks second hand and cheap, but it’s stacked heavily at the front of the unit. If the owners of this place checked this out, they’d likely open the door, take one look at all the furniture, and close it again. It’s going to take me a solid fucking hour to move this out of the way.
But I know my brother, and he’s smart.
He’s put all of this at the front for a reason.
To cover whatever the fuck he’s hiding at the back.
Most people wouldn’t tackle this much furniture, so if the unit did get checked, they’re unlikely to do more than glance.
Smart boy.
I start moving the furniture, dragging it out of the way. It’s all cheap, probably purchased at garage sales for a cheap price, purely for the sake of covering up whatever he’s hiding behind it. Panting, I wipe sweat from my forehead and keep dragging the heavy shit out of the way. Braxton is smart, really. After all, they have a picture of him on record, so the only reason I got in is because I’m his twin. Anyone else wouldn’t be able to get past the front desk, let alone this far down.
It’s safe.
It’s secure.
Clever.
When I clear enough of the furniture to squeeze, and I mean literally fucking squeeze, through it, I finally get to what I’m looking for. Big, wooden boxes stacked nearly wall high behind two rows of heavy furniture. I climb and shove until finally I’m able to get a spot where I can stand. What the fuck is in all these tubs? I can guess, and I know it ain’t fucking good.
I lean down, opening the first one. The top layer is shredded paper, just covering the whole thing. I grab handfuls, pulling it out
of the way, until my hand brushes against something hard. I throw more of the paper and reach in, grabbing the item and pulling it out.
Machine gun.
Black.
Deadly.
Fuck.
I start pulling out more stuff. Guns. Knives. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I move to another tub, opening it.
When my hand curls around something small and hard, I know exactly what’s in this one. I’ve felt these before, hell, I had plastic versions when I was a kid.
A fucking grenade.
I carefully release it. With the pin in, they’re fairly safe, but I’m not taking the risk.
I lean back against an old table, panting. It’s fucking hot in here, and my blood pressure just rose a fucking lot.
What in the name of God is my brother doing with tubs of guns, knives, and fucking bombs?
I thought drugs was the worst of it.
I thought I knew what he was dealing with.
Turns out, I have no fuckin’ clue.
And Braxton is in far, far fucking deeper than I could have ever imagined.
I think it’s time I pay my brother a visit.
-9-
NOW – CHARLIE
“So,” Scarlett says, dangling her feet in the icy-cold water.
Like me, she doesn’t seem to let it bother her. Which is something, considering it literally turns you numb in a few seconds. That can’t be good for the body, but oh well, it is what it is. It makes me feel alive, and I’m wondering if it makes her feel the same way.
“So, what?” I say, flopping down onto a rock beside her and putting my feet in the water also. I cringe for a few seconds, then smile at the cool that washes over my body.
“You and Koda?”
I stare at her. “For someone that doesn’t know me very well, you’re extremely ballsy.”
She grins. “I don’t have to know you to know we’re going to be great friends, which means I require all the gossip. Now, Koda ...”
“What about him?” I mumble. “He hates me. I hate him.”
She snorts. “Oh, right. Anyone with two eyes can see there is massive sexual tension between you two.”
I give her a horrified look. “As if!”
She looks to Amalie, who is crouched on the rock, smiling, but not putting any of her body parts in the water. “Amalie, it’s obvious, is it not?”
Amalie gives me a sympathetic nod. “It’s obvious.”
“Not even,” I huff, shaking my head. “Hate can often be confused for sexual tension, but sometimes, shocking as it might seem, it is actually just hate.”
Scarlett’s brows raise. “I write songs for a living. I watch all kinds of people. I pay attention, and I’m telling you, given half the chance, you two would be tearing each other’s clothes off.”
She’s wrong.
She didn’t see how he treated me the morning after he found me rubbing myself to him fucking another chick. No, he wasn’t happy about it at all. He treated me like I had a damned disease for the whole day. If he wanted to rip my clothes off, he would have taken that opening, and he would have done so.
She’s wrong about this one.
I choose not to argue.
“Well, no matter what you see or don’t see,” I say, “it’ll never happen. Koda is fully focused on finding out why I have a hit on my head, and he’s not letting anything else get in the way, I can assure you of that.”
“Hmmm,” Scarlett murmurs. “It’s so unfair you should be with all these bikers, and not be getting a little action.”
I laugh. “It’s not all about action.”
Her brows go up again. It makes her look even cuter. No wonder Maverick is obsessed with her. She’s adorable in a pretty, country way. “Honey, it’s all about action. Trust me, you want in on that at least once. These bikers ...”
She fans herself, and Amalie giggles.
“Am I right, Amalie?”
Amalie nods, flushing.
“You two would say that, you got two of the hottest from the club.”
Scarlett snorts. “Oh, come on. Koda is hot, if not hotter, than our two. He has that dangerous, scary edge. Oh, what about Mason? Or Boston? Those two are ... Mmhmm.”
I laugh, I can’t help it. This girl brings it out in you. She has such a bubbly, quirky personality.
“Boston is far too reserved ...”
“But Mason.” She wiggles her brows.
Mason is gorgeous. There is no denying that.
I’ve caught myself looking at him more than once.
“Totally hot, but I’m in danger, I’m not here to get a little action out of any one of those hotties.”
Scarlett gives me a look that tells me I’m dribbling shit.
I probably am.
Because, honestly, it’s been so long since I’ve been with a man. I’m far from being easy, but I am a woman, and I do like sex. A lot. Probably more than most, so being surrounded by all these strong, masculine, males ... It’s definitely challenging.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Charlie. You can still get protection and have some fun. When was the last time you had any fun?”
I frown.
“Probably when your boyfriend used me to get into that hotel so he could get to you,” I tell her, smiling.
That was the first time I met anyone from the club. Maverick asked for my help getting him into the hotel that was heavily guarded for Scarlett so he could see her because he screwed up. That was the first time I’d been out with some old friends for a long time, we went on a road trip. Since I got back and joined in with the club to help them and found out my dad was free, I haven’t seen any of them.
I can’t risk it.
Or them.
And that sucks.
But it’s too much of a risk until I know I’m safe again.
If that’s something that’ll ever happen.
“That was funny, well, not really at the time because I wanted to murder him, but it’s funny now.” Scarlett smiles. “But that was also months ago. You need to have some fun, girly. All you’ve been doing is worrying about the club and whatever danger is following you around, and trust me, that is all-consuming and can take away all your fun and cause nothing but stress. So, tonight, and tomorrow night, you’re going to have fun. You’re safe here. Which means you can let loose, just a little.”
I stare at her then glance at Amalie who nods.
“We bought cocktails ...”
I smile, I can’t help it. “Really?”
Scarlett nods. “Yep.”
“I could probably be persuaded into having a cocktail ...”
Scarlett claps her hands. “Then let’s get to it.”
Two hours and three cocktails later and we’re all sitting around a fire that Maverick made out front of the cabin in between all the tents, which are in a circle around it. Everyone is sitting down, and the smell of burgers cooking on the grill just off to the left fills the air and makes my stomach grumble.
But the laughter and chatter flowing around feels good.
Really, really good.
“I have to know,” I say to Scarlett, leaning in close. “How quiet can y’all can be?”
She looks to me, eyes bright from the alcohol, cheeks flushed. “Quiet?”
“Well, these tents are not sound proof and they’re all really close together. There are two couples here that I know for a fact are going to be getting—” I lean in closer “—it on ... later. So, how quiet can you be? Because, I imagine, with those big, handsome bikers in between your legs, it would be very hard to be quiet.”
Scarlett giggles and throws her hands over her mouth, making a few of the guys turn and look at her. She glances at Maverick, flushes, and then looks back to me and leans in close. “I never thought of that!”
“Well, you might want to. Those poor men having to listen to your moans of pleasure.”
“What’s so funny over there?” Malakai asks, bringing Amalie closer as she’s sitting between his
legs. Such a beautiful couple.
“Oh, Charlie was just checking that us girls know how to be quiet, you know, with the tents being so close.”
My mouth drops open. “Scarlett!”
Malakai chuckles. “Make a good point. Guess it’ll be a scream off between Scarlett and Amalie. Better up your game, brother,” he says to Maverick.
Maverick snorts. “No challenge. Not even close. My girl moans just lookin’ at me.”
Scarlett giggles, and I roll my eyes. “Oh, puh-lease!”
Maverick grins at me. “Don’t think it’s possible?”
I look at Scarlett, and she shrugs, blushing.
“He’s really that good?” I ask her.
She nods. “Oh, he’s that good.”
I grin. “Lucky woman.”
“Plenty more to go around here,” Malakai says, and I glare at him.
But I can’t help it, my eyes skitter to Koda, who is watching me with an expression on his face that I can’t quite make out. I don’t know if it’s lust, or disgust, or just pure confusion. Like he’s trying to figure out who I am.
“No, thanks,” I murmur, glancing back at Malakai.
He’s grinning at me.
Yeah.
Jerk.
“Why don’t you tell us somethin’ about yourself, Charlie?” Boston pipes up, inhaling a cigarette.
He doesn’t say much, and I glance at him, taking him in. Gorgeous, no doubt. But he is so incredibly quiet. It makes you wonder why. What made him that way? What’s he like beneath it all?
“There isn’t really much to tell,” I say, taking a big sip of my drink.
I know where this conversation will lead.
And that’s okay.
I’m ready to share with these men. Maybe it’s the alcohol, or maybe it’s purely the fact that I’m sick of being scared. I have to trust someone eventually. And maybe it will put them in danger, but in the end, they’re not going to stop until they find out my story, and they’re going to take my father on, no matter what. They’re better off having me on their side.
I have information they’ll never hear about.
Or find.
“A girl that’s got a million-dollar hit on her head, there’s somethin’ to tell,” Boston says, and his voice is gentle.