Grit (King's Harlots #1)

  “Max,” I croaked, my voice hoarse. Rolling over onto my stomach, I lifted myself on shaky legs. “Max,” I called out again when a groan sounded from a few feet away.

  Holding onto the counter for leverage, I trudged over to a huddled body on the floor.

  “What…the…” Max wheezed.

  “Anything broken?” I asked between coughs.

  She shook her head. “Everything…fucking…hurts…though.”

  Helping her to her feet, we both turned to the entranceway of the club. A huge-ass hole replaced the door. The whole front wall was missing.

  My blood boiled, but I had to take control of the impending rage that threatened to consume me. I needed to get us out to safety and make sure that no one else was hurt.

  Max and I held onto each other, making our way into the parking lot.

  “Are you all right?” a deep voice asked, sending a flutter of desire racing through my body.

  Sitting Max on the picnic bench, I turned to the guy who had his hands on me not long before. His brows were furrowed like he was, in fact, concerned for my well-being. Yeah. Okay.

  “We’re fine,” I ground out through shaky breaths. I swallowed several times, my throat burning at the excessive movement.

  “Here.” He handed me a bottle of water.

  I shook my head, not needing his help.

  “I’ll have some.” Max reached out her hand.

  He nodded once, keeping his gaze locked with mine, and handed her the bottle. “Do you know what happened?”

  “Are your guys okay?” I asked, ignoring his question. Of course I knew what happened. It was an explosion. Duh. Did I know why? No.

  “Yeah. They’re fine. Coby was on the roof when it happened, but besides some minor cuts and bruises, everyone’s good to go.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. The club didn’t need any lawsuits. Although it wasn’t our fault, we didn’t need to take the chance.

  “My nails.” Max’s screech turned into a fit of coughing.

  “Girl, your nails are fine,” I said, patting her back.

  “I just got them done for the gallery opening. God, this sucks.” She glanced at me. “We will find out who did this, right?” Her eyes darkened. Never mess with Max and her nails. Or her hair. Other than that, she was a tomboy. Having five older brothers, she had to learn to stand up for herself. She could throw a punch harder than a man more than half her size and not break a nail.

  “Yes,” I sat beside her. “We will.”

  “Was there anyone else here?” That guy… He was still there? I almost forgot about him until his smooth-as-silk voice washed over me. God, it was worse than chocolate. The deep rumble that came from his chest, oozed sex, promising a night filled with pleasure.

  “No,” was all I said. Short and sweet. Right to the point. Yup. No need to give him any more information than what was required. None at all. God, I was losing it. And now talking to myself. Get it together, Jay.

  He cleared his throat.

  “What?” I snapped, whipping my head around, and that was when I saw them. Cuts and scrapes marked his handsome face. My fingers twitched. I found myself wanting to touch him. To see if he was hurt. To rub out the pain. Oh, dear God. What the hell was wrong with me?

  When he didn’t say anything and smirked with that sexy-as-hell smile of his, I knew right then that he was trying to piss me off.

  Well, have at it, big guy, ‘cause this girl isn’t going to break.

  Sirens sounded, red and blue lights filling the front entryway of the club.

  Shit. As much as we needed them, I knew the police would soon follow the fire truck, and I did not want to deal with the cops.

  “I called the girls and told them to meet us here,” Max said, coughing again.

  I nodded once and buried my head in my hands. So many thoughts raced through my mind. Who could have done this? Why would they even think of it? Who have we pissed off?

  “The ambulance is here.”

  I glanced up at another deep voice.

  Eyes so blue stared back at me before he held out his hand toward Max. “Did you need the ambulance?”

  “Sure.” Max giggled, sliding her fingers in his, and allowed him to pull her from the table. “I’m Maxine,” she told him as they walked away.

  My jaw dropped. Max never told anyone her full name. It took me months to get it out of her.

  Sex-on-a-stick sat beside me on the table, nudging me in the shoulder. “You should go see the medics as well.”

  “Why the hell would I do that?” Even though I hurt like hell, I was fine.

  “Because you’re in pain. You have cuts and scrapes, a bruise forming on your cheek but—” Much to my shock, he reached out and pinched my chin, tilting my head. His dark gaze bored into mine.

  “But what?” I breathed, furious with myself that he was having this effect on me. My heart raced. My palms became sweaty. And if I didn’t know any better, I would swear that he just purred.

  “You’re still beautiful,” he said, his voice low and husky. He leaned in, his mouth mere inches from mine.

  Kiss me. Oh, please God almighty, kiss me.

  I pulled away, shaking myself. Whoever that girl was that wanted him would not be allowed to come out and play. I wouldn’t allow it. He was dark and dangerous. He was no doubt every woman’s fantasy. Ripped, blue jeans. Tight, white t-shirt that hugged his broad chest, tightening over his hard muscles every time he breathed. Tight abs that dipped into his pants. He no doubt had that muscle in his hip too, the one that turned grown women into hormonal teenagers.

  An ache formed between my legs, and I had to fight back a groan of frustration. “You guys can go. I’ll pay for the damage to your equipment and the doctors’ bills.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “We’re here to do construction on your place. We’ll fix everything up.”

  “But I paid you to do the roof,” I reminded him.

  “So?”

  “What do you want? You practically attacked me—”

  “I did not fucking attack you,” he growled, cupping the back of my nape and giving it a light squeeze. “Anything you and I do will be because you want it. Not because you were forced. You got me?”

  My heart jumped at the underlying hint of desperation. “Yeah. I got you.”

  His hand loosened on my neck, his thumb brushing up and down over the smooth skin just under my ear. “Who are you, princess?”

  A shiver raced down my spine. As much as I should have told him to stop touching me, I couldn’t. His hold was calming; it soothed the racing nerves in my body. “What’s your name?”

  “What’s yours?” he countered, his fingers moving to the base of my throat.

  His hand was large, wrapping around my neck. He touched me. Caressed my skin. A wall I had built up so long ago broke—brick by brick, piece by piece. The longer he had his hands on me, the sooner I would fall to his undeniable desires.

  “Jay,” I replied, leaning into his touch. I was not a fan of how easy it was to talk to that guy. Stupid hot men and their panty-exploding smiles.

  “Jay?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “Jay what?”

  “Gold.”

  “Nice to meet you, Miss Gold,” he said, releasing me and sticking out his hand.

  My skin burned with the loss of his touch. I slid my hand in his, returning the handshake.

  “What’s Jay short for?”

  And that was my cue to leave. Rising from the table, I stretched, a sharp pain rippling down my spine. I winced and started coughing. Maybe seeing the medics would be a good idea after all. “Jay is just that. Jay. Nothing more. Nothing less,” I told him, backing away from where he was sitting on the picnic table.

  “Oh, I think it’s something more.” He followed me out into the middle of the parking lot, keeping his distance by a few feet.

  “Tell me your name, and I’ll tell you what Jay is short for,” I said, circling him.

  “No.” He took a ste
p toward me. “You should know, I own Rod’s Construction.”

  “Your buddy Asher never told me about you. I only deal with him.” I made a point of letting my gaze roam down his body. “You’re just an added bonus. So tell me, is Rod your name, then?”

  “No.”

  “Tell me.”

  “I enjoy this little game.” He feigned a yawn. “I’ll tell you when I’m ready.”

  “Sorry, baby. You can’t have it both ways.” I licked my lips for added effect.

  His nostrils flared, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

  At that point, a deep rumble sounded. It was a sound that you could hear from miles away. It let you know it was coming. By the time it was on you, it was too late. It vibrated into your heart, sliding into your soul. The engines ingrained their way into your being, becoming a part of you.

  Motorcycles drove up the laneway, pulling into the parking lot. They circled us, driving around me and the beautiful man standing a few feet away.

  I waited to see nervousness in his eyes at the loud dramatic effect of the bikes driving around us but he continued to stare at me. He kept his gaze locked with mine, holding me in place.

  The girls hollered, revving their engines and circled us one more time before parking their bikes. Even though a wall was blown out of our club, they wouldn’t let anything get them down. It made us strong. One. A unit. They liked to put on a show. More so when strangers were on their property. We didn’t have dicks so we had to come up with ways to be intimidating. If people knew how crazy women could get, we wouldn’t have that problem. I’d rather be taken hostage by a man than a woman.

  Tangent, Jay. Again. Stop.

  My jaw tightened. That guy. It was him. He did that to me. The air crackled and fizzled around us, washing over and through us. It still smelled of smoke, burning the hairs in my nose.

  “Trying to make me nervous?” the guy asked, closing the distance between us. He stood several inches over my 5’11. It was nice to feel like a woman and not like an Amazon. He peered over my head. “Motorcycle club?”

  I nodded, a wicked grin spreading on my face. “The best.” Grazing a hand down his chest, I wrapped my fingers around his belt buckle. “I know you’re teasing me. Trying to get me to play your little game. But, sweetheart, I own this fucking game.”

  “I’d watch what you say next, princess,” he leaned down to my ear. “Because I don’t care if there is a hole blown into your club. I will bend you over anywhere I see fit and fuck you so hard you’ll forget your name.”

  Ho-ly. Shit.

  Taking a deep breath, I released his belt and patted his chest. “Dream of me, big guy, and when you come, say my name.”

  “DREAM OF me, big guy, and when you come, say my name.”

  Fucking hell.

  Jay. I didn’t know her. I didn’t know a thing about the woman walking away from me but I knew by the time it was done between us, I would end up balls deep inside of her body.

  The black leather hugged her every curve, every inch of her frame.

  My blood stirred, the tiny hairs on my skin tingling. A cold draft washed over me at her no longer being near.

  A motorcycle club. I never knew a female MC existed. Under most circumstances, I was sure that people would give them shit, telling them women could not run an MC. They would need a man for guidance. Please. Jay was beautiful but I could see a hardness behind her gaze. All of the ladies that got off their bikes weren’t your typical bikers. They weren’t your average badass women. One was tiny, five-foot-nothing, hundred pounds soaking wet, but she gave off an air of knowledge. Her dark gaze slid to mine while she walked up to Jay standing at the ambulance. Something flashed in her eyes, a hint of something I couldn’t quite place.

  My stomach twisted.

  Asher walked toward me. “You see those fucking hotties over there?” he asked, pointing at the group of women behind him.

  “Yeah.” I nodded, but the one I was focused on was Jay.

  Her head snapped around, glaring at me over her shoulder.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. I was getting under her skin. It had been a couple of hours since I first saw her. I didn’t know how long the teasing could go on with the raging hard on I was trying so hard to control.

  “Careful with that one.” Asher clapped a hand on my shoulder. “She looks like she wants to gut you.”

  I grunted. “I know, brother.” Dale was stuck in the middle of the small group, chatting with Max. For whatever reason, they let him into their little huddle.

  Asher sat beside me just as Coby joined us.

  “Fuck!” Coby clenched and unclenched his hand. “I fucking hurt my arm. Do we know what the hell happened?”

  I shook my head.

  Coby grunted when his phone rang. “Yeah?” he barked. His eyes locked with mine, going hard and cold, his jaw tightening. “Yup.”

  “What’s up?” I asked when he hung up.

  “Boss is reeling us in.”

  ***

  Gunfire blazed around me as I crawled along the ground. Dirt and debris dug into my knees and elbows, scraping along my gear. My ears rang, my heart thumping hard against my ribcage. Adrenaline pumped through me, igniting my skin on fire. Small bursts of air left my lips as a sharp pain shot up my leg. Oh yeah. I had been shot. Being in the field for long periods of time, you learn to live with your injuries. That time around, we had been out for a month. Leaving Jay’s club unnoticed was hard when my body was telling me to go back to her, to dive into her heat and make her mine.

  We didn’t know what had caused the explosion. Not like the girls would tell us anyway, but I was damn determined to find out. The Alpha male in me roared when I thought something had happened to Jay, but I breathed a sigh of relief when she and Max walked out of the club unharmed.

  A shot in the distance pulled me from my thoughts. I would get out of there alive. My men would get out. To their loved ones. Their families. Their home. We would all get out. Alive.

  “Angel. Fuck.”

  An explosion went off twenty feet away from where I was laying. Shit. Any closer and I would have been blown to pieces, my body parts spread out on the ground for some scavenger to digest.

  “Angel.”

  I winced at the barked command. “Yell any louder and we’ll get fucking caught, dumbass,” I whisper-yelled.

  Dale glared at me and nodded in the direction we were headed.

  I followed his gaze, my stomach giving a flip at the sight. A group of men huddled together in the dusk of the evening. I counted five heads, all ranging from 5’11 to 6’3 and averaging at least 200 pounds a person. I could take one, but five? I was good but not that good. As fun as it would be, I needed all of my limbs intact for when we went home.

  “Angel.”

  I grinned. I lived for that kind of shit. Call me a masochist or a sadist or what-the-fuck-ever, but the calling to destroy those who wronged me and humanity flowed through my blood like molten lava.

  Dale chuckled. “Target has been spotted,” he said into his radio.

  “Copy that.”

  My body hummed, my skin buzzing from the exertion of holding back. I was ready. I needed it. We all needed it. Being out in a world we called our own personal hell every time we ended up in the field had to shed some light at some point. There had to be a reason for why we did what we did. And there it was. Our mark. Our victim. Our prey.

  The men standing before us were monsters. Sick and twisted of the worse kind. Their prey? Women. Some as young as twelve. Just girls. Where were their parents? Dead? Forced into selling their children to make ends meet? The oldest we knew about was twenty. Most of them were just girls, though. Not even past puberty yet. My chest tightened. It made me sick to my stomach knowing what those bastards did. Human trafficking was something that had gone on for years but not in my fucking country. But we were a small group. If we couldn’t stop it in the US, we could at least put an end to the shit in our town. Although we had set out
in that hellhole for other reasons, we came across the traffickers by accident. It was like we were meant to catch them. Vice-One had gone against orders and traveled through the wasteland in search of the fuckers who called themselves men. A true man wouldn’t sell women. A real man didn’t push his weight around just because he had a dick.

  “You ready?”

  I grunted in response at Dale’s question. “More than fucking ever.” I signaled to my right, knowing the rest of my brothers were off in the distance. Trusting that they would make their move. Deep in my gut, I knew they would respond without me having to give them the go-ahead.

  “This is my favorite part,” Dale said, like a kid at fucking Christmas.

  I shook my head. He no doubt had some screws loose, but I loved the guy nonetheless. Having grown up in a shitty-assed part of Detroit, moving to our small town was a Godsend for him.

  We watched as one of the guys in the huddle fell and then a second. The last three standing bustled out of there, frantic, and picked up the weapons from their dead counterparts.

  You won’t see us, fuckers, but we sure see you.

  “Was that Coby?” Dale asked, his eyes twinkling with mischief. Coby was the slickest, fastest sharpshooter I had ever seen. Lethal when he struck. You wouldn’t see him until it was too late.

  “Prob—”

  Cold metal touched the back of my neck. “You thought we didn’t see you.”

  Fuck me.

  “Stand up,” the deep voice barked in my ear.

  Not on your worthless piece of shit life, asshole. “I rather like it down here,” I grit out. My gaze flashed Dale’s way, and I noticed that I was alone. Shit.

  “Stand. Up,” the fucker repeated.

  I reached for the blade in my left pocket when a pop sounded. The guy standing over me fell to the ground, huddling in a pile of groaning agony.

  “Serves you right, fucker,” I snarled, unloading a couple into his chest. It wasn’t something I was proud of but knowing what those men were capable of, I regretted taking them out less and less.