“Because,” I state. “I don’t want a girlfriend.”
“What makes you think that’s what she wants? She wants to kill you, Hella. I think you’re safe from a grade A clinger,” Meadow assures me.
I smirk, my eyes hooded and my cock rock hard at the thought of what kind of games Melissa could play. “Maybe. But maybe that’s where the excitement is. I’d fuck her black and blue up against a brick wall whether she had a knife in her hand ready to shank me or not.”
“Brother, you are fucking sick,” Beast laughs from beside me.
“Don’t I know it,” I reply, my eyes still locked on Meadow. She shifts uncomfortably and I scoff under my breath. There’s a reason why I like girls with fire; innocent ones like Meadow would never be able to handle me.
“May I recommend a therapist?” she teases, her eyes twinkling with hidden mischief.
Maybe there’s more to the little lost girl than meets the eye.
“Nah, babe. I’d put your therapist in a padded room.”
I swing my chair around to face the front doors when I see Shelby walk through, her shoulders squared, her jaw taut, and her eyes locked on her prey like a lioness stalking towards Beast.
“Beast?” Shelby whispers after Beast made a point to pointedly ignore her presence.
“What, Shelby? You’ve met my old lady, you can leave now,” Beast states matter-of-factly, his hands running through Meadow’s hair. Ruthless. The man is ruthless with his love towards this chick. I’m proud of him, can’t deny the fact that there’s no one that deserves love more than Beast. Not even me. No fucking way in hell me.
“I need to talk to you, Beast. It’s about Layla.”
That gets my attention.
“What? I gave you this job because I thought you were woman enough to handle all the whores.”
“I am, Beast,” she hisses.
I smirk at her claws coming out, my eyes running over her body. I’m second-guessing kicking her away from my dick, because I have numerous times.
“Watch your fucking tone and remember who you’re talking to,” he answers, clenching his jaw with eyebrows raised.
I roll my eyes, downing my beer. That’s the thing with Beast; he can be too fucking serious.
“What is it? And why should I care about Layla?” he asks.
“You want to do this here and now?” she answers loudly.
He shrugs. “Spit it out.”
Shelby crosses her arms in front of her. “She killed a client.”
Beast’s bottle pauses short of his mouth. “Come again?”
I sit forward, pulling my lip into my mouth, excitement pulsing through me.
Jada chuckles. “This should be good.”
Meadow shoots back another shot.
“He tried to go back-door. She said no. He tried again, so she stabbed his dick with a pair of scissors. Asha walked in after she’d done it. He was spitting how much shit they were going to be in and how he was going to burn the entire place down…” She pauses, clearing her throat. “So they both ended him.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Beast whispers, bringing his bottle down. “Where are they now?”
“In my car outside. The body is still in the room and I don’t know about you, but that’s above my pay bracket.”
I rub my hands in glee, pushing off the bar and pointing outside. “Let’s go.”
I start to walk towards Shelby’s red Camaro that’s parked to the side of the barn.
I pull open the passenger door and laugh. “What’s going on, little murderers?”
Layla and her sister Asha stumble out of the car.
Layla wipes the tears off her cheek and looks to Beast. “Beast, I’m so sorry.”
“What happened, Layla?” he interrogates, pushing his hands into his pockets.
I lean against the door, my index finger rubbing across my upper lip in an attempt at hiding my smirk. Layla’s arms wrap around her torso and Asha scans Meadow up and down.
“I told him I didn’t do anal and he didn’t take no for an answer. After my third ‘no’, he forced me down onto the bed and tried to bind my wrists together. I managed to free my wrist and take hold of the scissors on the nightstand—he’d used them to chop up his weed earlier. And… I don’t know, it just happened.”
I grin, looking at Layla. “Marry me?”
She rolls her eyes. “The answer is still no, Hella.”
I drop my lip and pout before smirking and slapping her ass. “I’ll ask you every time.”
Interrupting Meadow and Layla’s instant bonding experience, I raise my eyebrows, shoving my hands into my pockets. “Who was it anyway?”
She leans her back onto Shelby’s car. “It was one of the boys from Blood Razor MC, Beast.”
“Fuck!” I yell, walking up to her and pushing my body against hers. She falls against the car and I push my groin into her, my hands wrapping around the back of her neck before jolting her face up to mine. “Do you know how much shit you’ve just caused?”
She swallows, narrowing her eyes on me. “I said that I was sorry, Hella.”
I chuckle a sadistic laugh, brushing my lips over hers. “I thought you liked to be thrown around, baby. What? Didn’t feel the same because it wasn’t with a Devil?”
She snatches her head out of my grasp, and I keep my eyes locked on hers. She squirms under my gaze and my jaw clenches. “I’ll get Ripper.”
She’s just caused another fucking war that we don’t need. The Blood Razors were always smooth sailing for us, but now, this will land us in the shithouse with them, which is unfortunate because they’re the closest thing we have besides the Sinful Souls who live within distance of us. The plus side is that Tiny, their president, has a hard cock for Asha and always has. But that ain’t gonna mean jack shit up against him losing a brother. Something’s gotta give there.
Melissa
The effect from the vodka is surging through me when Bullet pulls me under his arm. I look at him, his chin and jaw covered in a thick beard. At first, it had me confused about his age, but when you look into his eyes, you can see he’s no older than thirty-five. I’m also too drunk to think and too horny to care. All this push and pull between Hella and me has left me pissed off and unsatisfied. My hormones are confused with what I want to do with him. Fucking a dead corpse isn’t really my thing, but I’d consider it if it was Hella, just to have one last laugh over him. Jesus, I scold myself. What the fuck has happened to me? I need to get back to my bakery and go on a major alcohol cleanse. But for now, my survival instinct has kicked in and it’s reaching for more alcohol.
Meadow and Jada walk up to me, Meadow placing her hand on my arm. “Hi. Hey, we need to head off. I’m taking a couple of girls back.”
I look to Bullet before glancing back at Meadow.
“You Beast’s old lady?” he asks, head cocked and running his hand through his long beard.
Meadow clears her throat. “Yes.” She smiles at him before looking back at me. “You coming?”
Bullet smiles at me, showing his pearly whites. I wonder what he looks like without the beard. Not that I mind it. In fact, aside from Hannibal, he’s one of the only guys I’ve seen who actually pulls it off.
Jada rolls her eyes. “Come on, Bullet. You coming or what? Don’t beat around the bush. I have a kid to get home to.”
I raise my eyebrows at him suggestively, and he shrugs.
“Melissa…” Meadow warns.
I ignore her. “He’s coming.” Fuck this shit. I did not just cop almost three weeks of Hella’s bullshit to not get laid the whole time. I have some serious sexual tension to let out and it’s all thanks to him.
We walk outside and the cold air whips over my skin, momentarily sobering me, and if that didn’t do the trick, Hella’s death glare from across the parking lot—while he has another slut’s body in his hand—does the trick. His jaw flexes before he pushes off the car—and the girl—to stalk over to us, heading straight for me. “Hella—“
His hand grips around Bullet’s collar as he shoves him back.
“Bro, what are you doing?” Bullet protests, pushing his hands off his collar.
“The only Devil that has and is entering that fortress—is me!” he declares, his tongue running across his bottom lip while pushing his chest against Bullet.
“Whoa, hang the fuck on here a minute,” I cut in, interrupting the epic piss down Hella is starting. “You’ve dipped your dick around the whole fucking time I’ve been here, Hella. Fuck you. Come on, Bullet.” I grip onto Bullet’s arm only for him to remain stoic.
Bullet stands still, feet lodged into the ground. He looks at Beast before shaking his head.
“Nah, babe, maybe some other time.” He turns around and walks back into the barn. I pause, my mouth remaining open. I can feel the burning gazes of everyone peering at me.
“Hella!” I shove him in the chest, swallowing down any tears that are about to surface.
“Well, at least they’re actually talking now,” Jada mutters from behind me.
“You are such a fucking piece of shit! I came all the way here because you wanted me safe, and then when I get here, you sleep with every slut walking!” I turn toward the two girls standing against the red Camaro. “No offense.”
Offense intended. I may be a bitch, but I’m a polite bitch.
For the most part.
Okay, I try.
I continue. “I even saw you getting your motherfucking dick sucked, Hella. So screw you!” His eyes drop to a deathly glare, the corner of his sexy, stupid mouth curling in disgust. I want to spit in his face. Running off adrenaline and some serious sex depravity, I step up to him, my finger jamming into his chest. “And I will fuck who I want.”
His hand whips up to my finger. He pulls my body against his. His thick shaft presses against my stomach and I bite back a snarl.
“No, you fucking won’t,” he growls, matter-of-factly.
Yanking my hand out of his grasp, I begin walking to Meadow’s car. “We’ll see about that, Hella. You may control who I sleep with here, but out there,” I point to the road, “you have nothing on me.”
“Keep thinking that, baby,” he yells with a laugh from behind me.
I flip him off before walking towards Meadow’s car. After realizing I’m way too sober for this shit, I walk back to the bar, ready to drown my sorrows deeper.
Hella
After Meadow took the girls back to her place, I followed Melissa back into the clubhouse.
“You gonna handle that situation?” Ripper nudges his head toward Melissa, who has probably poured enough alcohol into her body to create its own brewery.
Beast raises his brows at me in question. I exhale, pushing off the chair. “Yeah, you better,” Beast yells from his spot. “It’s your fucking fault to begin with,” he adds before returning to Ripper to talk about cleaning up the dead body that Layla gave them.
I flip him off and walk towards the bar. Melissa shuffles off the stool and taps Nyx on the shoulder. I narrow my eyes at him. The stupid fucker hasn’t really been sticking to his word about staying away from her, but I’ve eased up on him a bit. He’s a good kid and she needs someone to talk shit with while she’s here. With Meadow always with Beast and Jada at work, she’s had no one.
She turns around and walks straight into my chest. Her eyes travel up my body and she sighs. “Well, this is a complete case of déjà vu,” she slurs, her white blonde hair now pulled up into a messy knot on the top of her head. She pushes off my chest, her hands floppy and her eyes barely staying open. “Get outta my way, Hella,” she says with no fight in her voice. The fire she usually has had been replaced with weak tiredness. She begins to walk away from me toward the door.
My hand flies out, gripping her arm. “Melissa, I’ll take you home.”
She attempts to turn around, but loses her balance. I step in instinctively, catching her with her back to my front and my arms wrapped around her waist. My stomach squeezes and I clear my throat, my hands sliding into hers. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”
She slurs off something, her eyes shutting, and in a second her body falls limp before almost dropping to the ground. “Whoa!” I bend down and scoop up her legs with my other hand, cradling her against my chest. My eyes close briefly, my jaw clenching. “Fuck.”
Beast and Ripper walk up to me. “I’ll drive the van. We’ll take her home.”
I nod, swallowing past whatever the fuck has decided to rise up my throat. “Yeah, good idea.”
We push through the front door of the north house where Meadow and Melissa have been staying. Meadow jumps off the sofa defensively when she sees me carrying Melissa up the stairs. I ignore her. There are only two bedrooms in this house and I know by the clothes that are strewn across the floor and the single bed that this one is Melissa’s. I walk in and peel the covers off before placing her in. I consider changing her clothes, but figure she’d probably lose her shit if she knew I had done that. Then I think about how fucking hot she is when she’s mad and second-guess myself. Shrugging, I place the covers back over her after deciding I like my dick exactly where it is and not having it chewed off by the crazy blonde.
She stirs and I still. “No, no,” she mutters, her head shoving from side to side. “Please, please don’t touch me,” she continues.
Every single hair on my skin stands to an electrifying height. What the fuck is she talking about?
“Please, Eddy, no!” she pleads, and I swear to God I’m a hair way away from losing my shit and shaking her to wake up. “Cheers, geek,” she murmurs before drifting back into her deep sleep.
My fingers loosen from the grip I had on her blanket and I bring my fist to my mouth, biting down. Pacing up and down the side of the bed, I think about what I should do. I pause, looking back at her peaceful form, and I know I can’t wake her.
“Fuck it,” I mutter, walking out of her bedroom. I’ll get whatever I need to out of her one way or another—if I decide to make her issues my own, that is.
I walk down the stairs, my mind still replaying what just happened.
“She’s asleep,” I say, reaching the living room.
“She alright?” Meadow asks.
“Yeah.” I clear my throat.
“I might take her home tomorrow. I don’t think she’s in any threat.”
I nod. “Yeah, I think that might be best.”
“Sudden change of heart?” she baits me.
My eyes meet hers, a smile on my face. “Heart was never in this equation. More like, sudden change of cock.”
“Alright.” Layla pulls herself up from the couch. “Come on, you. Time to take me home.” She walks over to me, gripping onto my arm, and my body tenses.
The fuck? My body has never tensed around Layla.
Layla pulls away and walks back to Meadow, pulling her in for a hug. “Thank you so much for tonight.”
“No problem.”
I escort both girls back outside before they jump into the van. Pushing in the clutch, Layla looks toward me from the passenger seat. “You need calming down tonight? I could go for a round,” she adds with a smile, pushing in her seatbelt.
I chuckle before shaking my head, my eyes looking out toward the shadows of the night. “Nah, babe. I’m good.” She looks at me, shocked. I’ve never turned down Layla. The girl can fuck with a capital F. But her hand on my arm so soon after I had Melissa in my arms felt off to me, and I need to pull myself together. There’s no way I can bring Melissa into this fucked-up life. I’ve done enough shit to her, but there’s a lot of things that I am, and good is not one of them.
The next day, we’re piling up supplies, ready for our plan of action against The Army. Kurr is the commanding chief and not to be underestimated. Lucky for us, we know where the C4 explosions are kept, so we’ve pulled together a plan by letting Kurr believe that they caught us trying to take them down. Beast will then bargain with them to let us go in exchange for him staying with them. Be
ast is who Kurr wants, always has been. Everyone else was replaceable except for Beast. I know he wouldn’t kill me because I was a better asset to him in The Army than I was dead; there was a reason why he found me all those years ago. So if this plan falls through as planned, we can begin step two and pull the fuckers down for good. Their operation seems out of this world to folk who didn’t know about it before, but there’s a lot about our corrupted government that civilians don’t know about, this much I can guarantee.
I throw the last of the bags into the back of the van and dish my ringing phone out of my pocket.
“Yo.”
“Be careful,” Jada whispers through the phone. “I mean it, Brax. Garret needs you. I need you.”
I smile, shutting the door. “Put the kid on the phone.”
“He’s busy.”
“What do you mean ‘busy’? Put him on.”
“Him and Melissa are playing COD.”
My jaw clenches with how close this girl is getting to people I care about. “Just put him on, Jada.”
She sighs before yelling out to him.
He answers. “‘Sup?”
“Little man,” I tell him. “Watch out for your mama when I’m gone.”
“Yes, sir!”
“You remember the plan if anything happens to me?”
“Cash is buried 5X, 2Y, take mom and go.”
He repeats the coordinates I set out for him. I’ve had this plan of action ready for him and Jada since he was a baby.
“You got that, kid. Can you do something extra for me?”
“Yeah…?” he answers suspiciously.
“If Melissa is there, make sure she gets home too, okay?”
“But you’re coming back, right?” he asks.
I smile. “Of course. Can’t get rid of me that easy. See you later, kid.”
“Later, Uncle Brax.”
Shutting my phone, we walk into the clubhouse for a final round-up. When I walk into the boardroom, Beast is on the phone. He sees me and raises his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” he mutters, watching me. “Yeah, seems fair. Need me to sort that out with Asha?” he adds, tilting his head. “She knows, and she wants to go instead of Layla, so I don’t think you have much convincing to do. She’ll do anything for her sister, Tiny.” He listens for a moment. “Alright, let me know if you need any help,” he says before hanging up his phone.