Grit (King's Harlots #1)

  “I have a client that is a hard-assed bitch. She needs a job. Husband was a douche. Left her penniless. This might be good for her; even if she doesn’t join the club, she could bartend.” Brogan shrugged.

  “Call her up and invite her over,” I told Brogan. “We need some hard women in this place.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Max pouted, inspecting her perfect manicure.

  I laughed, rolling my eyes. “You spend more time getting manicures and your hair done than on your bike. That I bought you.”

  “Whatevs. I spend plenty of time on my bike.” Her cheeks reddened. “Um, I mean…”

  “And just who are you spending time on your bike with?” I questioned, poking her in the ribs.

  She squealed, slapping my hands away. “Stop. We need to get our shit in order.”

  Always the vice. But I couldn’t figure out anything that was going on if Meeka didn’t open up. She was a vault, sealed tight, and nothing would slip out unless I forced her. I could be sadistic but I wouldn’t do that to my sister.

  “Do we know anything on the explosion?” Brogan asked, lighting up a smoke.

  “I have our boys in New York looking in on things for us, but other than that, no one is saying shit.” And I knew it was because we were women. Hard fuckers like bikers didn’t talk to us because we had pussies. It was starting to get under my skin.

  “It’s been a month,” Max huffed. “Why don’t we ask Rod’s Construction? Those guys could have seen something we haven’t.”

  Lying down on the grass, I stretched my leg above my head, working out the kinks in my body. “Have at it, but I’m not talking to them.”

  “Aww and why not, princess?”

  I frowned, my body betraying me and tingling in all the right places. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked Angel as he hovered over me.

  “Working on that big-ass hole in your club.” His eyes followed my leg as I pulled it up and over my head, my foot resting beside my ear. “Fuck,” he breathed. “You never told me you were flexible.”

  “That’s because all you did was fuck me from behind.” And hell if I didn’t enjoy it.

  He knelt at my head, wrapping his long fingers around my ankle and keeping it in place by my ear. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.” He waited a couple of seconds before letting go of my ankle.

  I repeated my movements with my other leg while he held it above my head for me. “Nope. Not complaining. But next time you should treat a lady like a lady. What if I prefer missionary?”

  He chuckled.

  God, that sound. Deep and husky. It vibrated through my bones, making my girly bits squeal with undying pleasure.

  “If you wanted me to fuck you like a lady, you wouldn’t have let me eat your pussy in the bathroom at the gallery,” he said, his voice smug.

  “True.” I laughed and sat up.

  A throat cleared, interrupting our little banter.

  My gaze landed on my sisters staring at me in awe. Their mouths parted, their eyes glancing back and forth between Angel and me.

  Shit. I forgot they were still there. “Um, so, this is Angel.” My cheeks heated. I never blushed. Ever. Angel did that to me. He unraveled what I had worked so hard to build. He broke down pieces of me, remolding it into what he wanted and craved. Just after one damn time together.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Brogan said, her brows narrowing. “If you hurt her, I’ll cut you into tiny pieces and feed you to my dog.”

  Max giggled. “I already threatened him but that was good.” They high-fived, and I couldn’t help but shake my head.

  Meeka didn’t say anything. She stared at Angel for a brief second before heading back into the club.

  I watched her go, wondering what the hell was going on with my sister.

  “I didn’t think I could make you blush,” Angel whispered in my ear. His hand brushed along mine before wrapping around my wrist.

  “Are you proud of yourself?” I asked, my breath coming out husky.

  “A little bit.”

  Rolling my eyes, I elbowed him in the ribs—a hard laugh left his lips.

  Sitting close to him, allowing him into my world with my sisters, was comfortable. It was nice. I had grown up with just my dad after my bitch of a mother left us high and dry. My family had been there for me but I found myself wanting to open up to Angel. To spend time with him. To just shoot the shit. And that scared me. More than anything I had ever done in my life. The fear of losing control because of one, mind-blowing, sex-filled night should have terrified me but instead it excited me in a way I needed to embrace. Angel made me feel alive. I didn’t know what that said for us but for once, I didn’t look at tomorrow.

  I WATCHED her. I couldn’t help it as I sat inches from her warm, slender body. I knew nothing about the woman chatting with her friends. Her voice firm, full of authority. She barked instructions, not caring in the least if she came off as a bitch. I grunted. She would get along with Vega.

  Jay’s gaze slid to mine, her eyebrows raising in question.

  “Carry on,” I said, waving my hand in front of me.

  “So—” she turned back around “—as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted.”

  I bit back a laugh. Testing the waters, I laid down, resting my head in her lap.

  “Um…what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she snapped, her eyes heating with fire.

  “Your meeting bores me.” I feigned a yawn.

  “My meeting bores you? Well, you shouldn’t fucking be listening in on my meetings, Angel. This is club business. Just because we fucked—”

  In a quick move, I sat up and cupped her chin. Her eyes widened, but that encouraged me further. “Listen, little girl,” I growled, my words coming out smooth and deep. “Just because you feel the need to boss everyone else around, doesn’t mean you can do the same to me.”

  “I’m the president of—”

  “I don’t care who the fuck you are.”

  “Girls, give us a minute,” Jay said quickly.

  “But—”

  “Now,” she snapped.

  After some shuffles and a couple of complaints later, we were alone. “Oh, Jay.” I tilted her head. “It bothers you that I can make you do things you never did before. It seems to me—” I trailed a finger up her bare arm, watching the skin pucker with goose bumps “—like you’re losing control. But you enjoy it, don’t you? Being in control day in and day out is tiring. Let me take that from you, baby.”

  “Never,” she breathed, her pupils dilating.

  “You’re lying.” My hand slid to the back of her neck.

  “How do you know that?”

  “Your eyes tell your story, Jay. You don’t know how to act around me. You open yourself up, and that scares you.”

  “I don’t want it to,” she whispered.

  Ding, ding, ding!

  Lying back down, I rested my head in her lap. “Tell me, Jay,” I said, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles. “What do you want out of this?”

  “I want… I want you to leave me alone.”

  “Nope. Not gonna happen. What else?”

  She huffed, her deep-jade eyes not moving from mine. “I want to know what’s going on in my club.”

  “We’ll find out.”

  “We?”

  “You need all the help you can get.” I nipped her inner wrist. “Don’t even bother arguing.”

  “Angel—”

  “Go on a date with me,” I blurted.

  “Excuse me?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “One date. If you don’t have a good time, I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Why? What’s in it for you?” She reached out to touch my face but stopped, pulling her hand back.

  I smiled and sat up, my gaze landing on the men I called my brothers. We were working hard on fixing the hole in the club, but little did Jay know we had been trying to find out who did it since it happened. We may have been Speci
al Operations, but we had connections.

  “Why does something have to be in it for me? Can’t I just want to go on a date with you?” I turned toward her, wrapping my hand around her wrist. Her gaze slid to the small touch, her cheeks reddening.

  “I know how men work,” she muttered.

  “But you don’t know how I work. Get used to me being around, Jay, because I’m not going anywhere.”

  “We fucked,” Jay said, pulling out of my touch. “Nothing more.”

  “One date,” I repeated. “I want to learn more about the woman that invades my dreams.”

  Her breath caught. “Fine. One date.” She held up her hand when I went to speak. “But I can leave at any time.”

  “That won’t happen, but you have a deal.” I cupped her cheek, placing a soft kiss on her mouth.

  Jay shivered, but she didn’t pull away.

  I was impressed at her control. I knew she wanted to throw a fit. Demand why I wouldn’t leave her alone. She could have me thrown out. Although her sisters were smaller than me, I had no doubt they could give me a run for my money.

  “I need to deal with this club shit,” she muttered, her warm breath caressing my lips.

  “What can I do to help?” Besides making you feel better and keeping you stress free. I didn’t know why, but I felt the need to keep her safe. Something had sparked between us whether she wanted to admit it or not.

  Jay pulled from my grasp and took the elastic out of her long red hair. “Just because I agreed to a date doesn’t mean I want your help, Angel,” she said, all the while running her fingers through her thick locks.

  She was going to make it harder than I thought. “I’m referring to the hole in your club. I’m getting it fixed for you, and I want to help catch the person who did this.”

  Jay scoffed, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. “Yeah.” She tapped my arm lightly. “You’re cute, but don’t even bother. I got this.”

  “Watch the attitude, woman,” I snarled. “Or I’ll fuck that sass out of you.”

  “I don’t need you or anyone,” she threw at me, her eyes narrowing to hard slits. “Everyone leaves me anyway,” she whispered.

  My breath hitched at those words. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Jay shook her head and rose to her feet. “Forget what I said. It’s been fun, Angel. I’ll pay you, and you can leave. Don’t worry about fixing the hole. I’ll get someone else to do it.”

  Like fuck. “Jay, you are not paying me.”

  “Max,” she said, ignoring me. “Grab the girls and meet me inside,” Jay told her best friend as the tiny thing walked up to her.

  “Everything okay?” Max asked, her gaze moving back and forth between us.

  “Yup.” Jay nodded. “I’ll be there in a few.”

  Max gave a curt nod and whistled, rounding the rest of the sisters up before heading back into the clubhouse.

  What Jay and I had, although short-lived, would not be over. She was hard assed and stubborn as hell but I knew she was attracted to me. Whether she wanted to admit to it or not, she didn’t want us to be over any more than I did.

  ***

  (Jay)

  Before Angel approached me, I knew he was standing inches away from me. His spicy scent hit me hard. Leather. Sex. Male. All things I loved in a man, and it almost forced me to my knees. Whatever we had had just begun, but I had to end it before my heart got ripped out of my chest once again. I couldn’t deal. The one person I could depend on was me, and that was it.

  “I will prove to you that we work well together.” Angel’s words whispered across my skin.

  “You don’t know me. I don’t know you. Why are you making this more difficult than it has to be?”

  A deep chuckle sounded from behind me. “Oh, little girl. You want to play this game? Fine.”

  My eyes widened. “Excuse me?” I asked, turning around to face the man who didn’t give up. So why was he giving up?

  “I said, fine.” He shrugged. “No date. I’ll leave you alone. But I’m still fixing up your club.”

  “Angel—”

  “No.” He held up a hand. “It’s on me. My boys would be happy to do it.” And with that, he walked away, whistling to himself.

  “No fight?” I called out.

  “Nope.” He winked, a wicked grin spread on his face.

  Shit.

  I watched as Angel strolled up to meet the guys as they hopped out of a black SUV. They greeted each other. Deep, rumbling laughter sounded, piercing me in the heart.

  Angel nodded toward me, shaking his head as his brother whispered something in his ear.

  My skin vibrated.

  “Jay, you ready?” Max asked, approaching me.

  “Yup.” I linked arms with her, but my mind wandered back to the man standing a few feet away.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yup,” I repeated. I loved Max, but there was no way I could tell her…whatever that was. A piece of me was bothered that Angel had given up so fast. It messed with my head, and I didn’t know why I cared.

  “Good, cause I have some, uh…not so good news.” Max fluffed her hair which I had come to know was her way of avoiding the inevitable. Her nervous gesture made my heart skip a beat.

  “What now?” I snapped, pausing.

  “Your dad and his boys are on their way.”

  MOTHERFUCKING GREAT. That was all I needed. “Awesome. Why don’t we invite the whole town? It’s not like we have anything important to talk about. Nope. Nothing at all. Just the huge-ass hole in the wall. Or the fact that someone blew the shit out of our club when you and I were in it. But no. My dad and his crew stop by because we’re just sitting on our thumbs doing nothing.” What could I say? I was losing it.

  “I think you need a vacation.” Max linked her arm in mine, leading me to the office.

  “No, what I need is for people to trust me,” I muttered. I knew something was wrong. A piece of me was off. Had I had enough? The men I had to deal with day in and day out felt women had no right. If a woman had any type of authoritative bone in their body, she was considered a joke. I knew it was coming. I held the upmost respect for my father but with his boys breathing down his neck, he had to show rank. And I ended up being the victim. The back of my neck burned, the tiny hairs standing up on end. Glancing over my shoulder, my gaze locked with Angel’s. His face held no emotion but much like myself, his eyes told all. Concern. Want. Need. God, the man was consuming my every waking thought.

  “Do you know what they want?” I asked Max once we reached the office. I sat in my chair at the head of the table, fingering the wooden gavel in front of me.

  “No, but I can’t imagine it’s good.” Max scowled, but when the other girls strolled into the room, her expression changed from pissed off to happy in a split second. It was why I loved her. She never wanted to worry anyone. With Meeka being the timid one of our crew, Max found that she had to protect her. Meeka’s dark eyes hid a story that none of us knew the words to.

  “It’s never good when they show up.” If my dad came by himself, it was fine. But with the guys…? Fuck my life.

  “Dante’s Kings are here,” Brogan pointed out, stepping away from the window she was perched at. Everyone was on edge.

  My blood rippled, soaring through my body like molten lava. My heart pounded. My palms were sweaty. I didn’t get nervous often but my dad’s crew, although they were family, terrified even me.

  A deep rumble of engines vibrated through me. The walls of the clubhouse shook from the impact of the sound. Bracing myself, I took a breath and leaned back in my seat.

  Without me having to ask, Max greeted them. She was the friendly one of my sisters. She had a mouth on her like a sailor but could bring any man to his knees just by a pout from her full lips.

  “Didn’t feel like greeting your old man?” The deep voice caressed my ears, holding an edge of annoyance.

  “You always know where to find me.” I turned my chair around to face hi
m, my breath catching at the sight before me. Four men. Large. Rough around the edges. Tattooed and scarred. They all stared down at me like I was a piece of shit they stepped in. It was a fucked up moment because I trusted these men with my life but when it came to MC business, the little ladies should be left out of it.

  “Do you know why we’re here?” My dad moved to the opposite end of the large table, sitting across from me. He motioned to his crew, indicating for them to sit while my girls stood behind me.

  My jaw clenched, my hands curling into fists in my lap, but like always, there was nothing I could do. “To drive me fucking insane,” I muttered.

  A deep rumble of laughter sounded around the table.

  “Now why would we want to do that?”

  That voice. Tyler Bone, or T-Bone as he was known, strolled into the room. The vice president of Dante’s Kings smirked, his grey eyes piercing through the heart he had shattered so long ago.

  “To get under my skin,” I retorted, watching the man who had destroyed my innocence years before.

  His eyes twinkled. He clapped a hand on my dad’s shoulder, leaning down to whisper something in his ear.

  “Tell me what was so important you had to show up here unannounced,” I demanded, my patience wearing thinner than a sheet of ice.

  My dad looked around the table before his gaze landed on me. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Of course.” I crossed my arms under my chest, leaning back in my chair. “Not like you have a choice, though. I am fucking awesome.”

  An eruption of laughter exploded through the room, my racing nerves simmering a touch.

  “That’s my girl.” My dad’s face hardened. “But we have some business to deal with.”

  And there it was. “Every week you come in here, expecting me to change my mind and shut down my club. You were the one who convinced me to start the King’s Harlots in the first place. But the last couple of months, something changed. What happened, Daddy?” A hot tingle raced down my spine. The more I spoke, the angrier I became. “Did you put this idea into his head, T?” I asked my ex. “Are you feeling threatened? A bunch of ladies making you feel like the pussy you are?” Bodies shifted. Gasps sounded. Glares were passed my way. Did I care? No. Would they do anything about it? No. I knew I could get away with what I said, and that made me happier than it should have.