“Exactly. Men with power that big need to be taken down by someone bigger. You cause a war for them, and we step back and let the big dogs destroy him. Keeps our name clear. Gets you safe. But we need someone who we can trust. Someone close to him. Someone willing to do some pretty dirty work. You know anyone, anyone at all, that might do that?”
She thinks on it, and almost immediately, she says, “Yes.”
It’s so quick, for a moment everyone is stunned. Quiet. Even a little confused. She didn’t have to think long, seconds barely, and she had someone. Does Shanks really have that little loyalty? Benefits us if he does.
“There is a man who is very close to him that I think would do it. I knew him quite well, though he doesn’t say much. He’s been loyal to my father for a long time, since I was a child, but I used to watch him. He’d just stare at him, like he wanted to tear his head off. I could never figure out exactly why he stayed; my guess was always that my father had something over him. Something big. Something that made him stay. It’s a risk, because I could be wrong, but I am almost certain he hates my father more than me.”
“Any chance you can find him?” Malakai asks.
“Yeah.” She nods. “He’s lived in the same place since I was younger; last time I knew, he was still there. He may have moved, but I have his name. I don’t think he’d be hard to find.”
“Let’s get his name and get to work then,” Maverick says, standing.
“One second,” I mutter. “Sounds to me like this man won’t take too kindly to people just showing up and asking questions. We need to take Charlie, too. If he knows her, it’ll be the only chance we have of gettin’ him on our side. Can’t just roll in without her.”
“He’s right,” Charlie says, her voice hard. “As much as I hate to admit it. You’re going to need me. And you’re going to want to leave the club out as much as possible. I think whoever comes, we keep it minimal. Just in case.”
Malakai looks between Charlie and me, sighs, and then nods. “Yeah, you’re right. Koda, Charlie, you can come with me to find him. Let’s see if we can get his exact location before we take Charlie out of hiding first.”
“And,” Scarlett pipes up, “I think we should disguise her, just in case.”
Girl is onto something. We don’t want Charlie being recognized and taken down before we have the one, and probably only chance, at getting this ended.
“You sort that out then,” Malakai says. “Charlie, what’s his name?”
“His name is Slater Knight.”
Bad sounding motherfucker.
Charlie gives out the last known address for him, and Boston and Mason are sent off to see if they can sight him after Charlie gives them a description.
“He sounds hot.” Scarlett giggles, and Maverick shoots her a glance that makes her cheeks flush. “What?” she protests. “He does.”
“He is,” Charlie says, her eyes zeroing in on me, and her glare getting heavier. “In fact, I think he’ll be even hotter now.”
Anger bubbles in my chest, but I don’t let it show.
I know what she’s doing.
She knows what she’s doing.
But I’m not going to bite.
Even though it’s fucking working.
“Well,” I mutter, standing up, “let’s get this shit done so I can get the fuck out of here and away from all of this.”
I don’t miss Charlie’s face flash, and then she snaps, “Nobody is making you stay, Dakoda. I’m very sure anyone else in the club will happily take over the role in protecting me if it’s too hard for you.”
I ignore her and walk off, fists clenched.
Fuck me.
This fucking sucks.
I should never have put my cock in her.
Because now I can’t get her out of my head.
And worse.
My heart.
-16-
NOW – CHARLIE
I sit on an old wooden post surrounding a paddock at Scarlett’s ranch. I hate admitting it, more than anything, but I’m hurt, gutted even, at what I heard Koda telling Maverick this morning. That I’m just pussy. Nothing special. Last night, I felt something, deep inside me. I felt, for the first time in forever, a warmth and affection for another person outside of my mother.
He got in.
And then he crushed me.
I’ve been a lot of things in my life but hearing someone I gave a tiny piece of myself to calling me just pussy hurt.
I fight back the tears because I’m horrified by them. I rarely cry, rarely. In fact, I honestly can’t remember the last time I did. So, the fact that I’m letting some asshole make me feel any less is frustrating me and making me angrier and angrier by the second. I didn’t deserve that, especially not from him.
“Hey.”
I take a shaky breath and look to my left to see Scarlett climbing onto the railing beside me. She leans over, tucking her arms on so she doesn’t fall back, and stares right at me. Those intuitive brown eyes digging right into my pain and stirring it around. She knows something is wrong. She’s far too clued on not to.
“What happened between you and Koda?”
I hate what happens next.
I hate that I feel so hurt that my eyes burn and my lips shake.
I don’t cry, I refuse to fucking cry, but it takes a lot to fight it off.
“We had sex, last night ... twice.”
Her mouth drops open, and she puts a hand up. “Whoa, wait, what?”
“It kind of just ... happened. I don’t know. But it was incredible, Scarlett. I felt something, something I haven’t felt in such a long time. It was real. We talked. He opened up about his brother. We connected on a level I’ve never connected with another person, and then this morning I heard him telling Maverick I was just pussy. Nothing special.”
For a moment, Scarlett doesn’t say anything, and a million thoughts flitter through my mind. Like, is she thinking it’s my own fault for sleeping with him, when I knew he was hard? I mean, she would be right. I did know he was hard, and broken, and twisty, and everything I probably shouldn’t have slept with. I know all of this, very well. But even though all of that, his words still hurt. A whole lot. Because I didn’t truly expect it from him.
“I swear ...” Scarlett’s voice is angry, shaking from the frustration. “I’m going to go in there and rip his balls off. Then I’m going to rip Maverick’s balls off for not doing it when he said that.”
I smile through the burning that has now moved to my nostrils. “Maverick was good about it, I heard him sticking up for me.”
“He should have done more, he should have knocked Koda fair on his ass. I’m so angry. How dare he? Who the hell does he think he is? If he wants just pussy, he could get it from anywhere and he damn well knows it. He chose you, and he has the ...” She clenches her fists. “Nerve. The nerve! To say something like that.”
“It’s okay. I’m just shocked, I guess. I didn’t realize it meant so little. But maybe that’s my own fault, maybe I shouldn’t have thought it was anything more than it was. Maybe I’m to blame.”
She spins around and stares at me. “Do not let me hear you say that again. Koda has a big stick up his ass. I don’t think he remembers how to be a decent human being anymore. We’ve all had a past, but he’s letting his control who he is now and everything he is going to be. He is making that choice, and it’s a bad one.”
She’s right about that, I can’t argue.
Everyone has something in their past that bothers them. Everyone. The problem is, it either guides your path and makes you a better person, or it puts cracks in it, and makes you trip your way along. Koda has chosen to trip, when really, he could stop, stare at the mess, and choose another path. I had a hard life, too. But I refuse to let it define me.
But Koda lives with a deep guilt, something he seems unable to let go of.
“Now I’m going to be stuck with him, alone out here, until you guys come back again.”
Scarlett purses her lips. ?
??I could see if Maverick might let me stay. I mean, there is a bunch of stuff I could be doing on this ranch. I’m going back on tour in a few months, once we’re finished with this album, so it would be nice to have some time out, ride my horses, things like that.”
“I can’t ask you to do that. Besides, Maverick would miss you too much, and we both know they can’t risk being seen coming in and out all the time.”
She sighs. “Yeah, I know. And there is no chance I’ll get him away from the club at this point.”
I reach over and tap her hand. “Thank you, honestly, but you don’t want to get caught up in this. I have to just get over it and deal. Hopefully, with a plan in place, I won’t be stuck here with him much longer. There are two cabins. I’ll stay in one and avoid him as much as I can.”
She nods, holding my eyes. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. So ... I do have something else to ask ...”
“You want to know about Mason, right?”
Her eyes bug out and she puts up a hand. “Whoa, hold up. Mason? What has Mason got to do with this?”
Oh, boy.
I thought that might have been where she was going, and it wasn’t. So I just put my foot right in it.
“Ah, nothing. What were you going to ask?”
“No way, sister! Speak! What has Mason got to do with this?”
I bite my bottom lip and stare at her, then I just shake my head and blurt, “It just kind of happened. Last night, with me and him, and ...” I clear my throat. “Koda.”
Her mouth drops open, and then she throws her head back and squeals. “Oh, my god! You had a threesome with Mason and Koda?”
I shrug and give her a sheepish look. “In my defense, I was half drunk, and it’s been so long since I’ve been with a man. And Mason and I ... It started, and then Koda came in and before I knew it, there were two of them, and we were ... I’m not a slut! I swear to god. That’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like that in my life.”
Scarlett grins. “Honey, chill out. No judgement here. My god, if anything I’m jealous. Two gorgeous men, all over you, those big hard bodies. Any woman would be envious of you right now.”
I blink and then hold her eyes. “You don’t think I’m a slut?”
“Absolutely not!”
I exhale. “Anyway, Koda and I ... After Mason went to sleep, it happened again. On the swing chair outside. It was so intense ...”
“Ew, gross, I sat on that today.” I laugh and she grins at me. “Seriously, I’m happy for you. With everything going on right now, I’m glad you had a moment to just enjoy yourself and forget everything going on around you.”
She’s right about that.
I did forget about it.
And it was damn nice.
“Yeah, you’re right ...”
“You have to give me details, though, because I swear, I have wondered so many times what it would be like to be wrapped up between two men.”
I grin at her and then roll my eyes. “It wasn’t ... I don’t know. Details are hard.”
She raises her brows. “They are not. Did you fuck both of them?”
I snort. “No, Koda got this big macho thing going on and told Mason he could do everything else but he couldn’t fuck me.”
Her eyes get so wide I laugh at the expression now planted on her face. “Are you serious! Oh, my god.”
“What?” I keep laughing, shaking my head.
“Men do not do things like that if they don’t have reason to. I thought maybe Koda was being a jerk, because he can simply be like that, but now I’m starting to think maybe he has other reasons for being a dick to you.”
“Like what?” I question. “Because I heard what I heard, and I’m telling you, he didn’t sound like he was simply ‘saying’ it because he didn’t want Maverick to know he had some underlying feelings for me.”
“Honey,” Scarlett says, “if you were just pussy, he would have let Mason have all of you. The fact that he didn’t means he had a reason not to.”
“Maybe he didn’t want to be there after Mason had been there ...” I point out, and then scrunch my nose up, because that sounds really bad.
Scarlett snorts. “Then he would have simply insisted on going first. Tell me, when he said it, was it all broody sounding, like a little protective, or was it casual and easy going, like I’m having this vagina and I’m just greedy.”
If I’m being completely honest, it was definitely said in the broody, protective way. He wasn’t backing down, and he wasn’t allowing Mason to argue. He simply wasn’t going to let Mason have sex with me.
“Well, it was definitely broody sounding, but that doesn’t mean anything ...”
Scarlett smiles. “It does. Trust me, it does.”
I shake my head. “This is one of those scenarios where my friend tells me the guy likes me, but he really doesn’t, and I make a fool out of myself thinking he does, only to find out he really, really doesn’t ...”
She laughs. “It is not one of those scenarios. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pissed at Koda for saying what he said this morning, but everyone has noticed there is something there when he looks at you. I’m not honestly sure what it is, but him being bossy and not allowing another man to sleep with you only confirms it. You know, you could just test it out ...”
I raise my brows. “How so?”
“I don’t know. Flirt with Mason, ask Malakai right in front of Koda if Mason can stay for protection too, see if he has any reaction. Men are complicated, and yet they say we’re the complicated species. If he’s going to act like he doesn’t care, and play his little game, then, honey, you play yours, too.”
“That’s kind of childish,” I point out. “But I like it!”
She grins. “Me too. But, first ... do you care about him?”
Nobody has directly asked me that. Hell, I haven’t even directly asked myself that. I don’t know Koda that well, that’s the honest to god truth. And the time I’ve spent with him, he’s driven me crazy most of the time. But yes, there is something there, maybe it is as simple as an understanding, two souls that get each other, but I feel safe around him, I feel like he gets me, and mostly, last night, I felt a deep-rooted grip when I was with him, one that begged me to keep trying because I might just find what I need.
“I’m honestly not sure what it is I feel for him, I haven’t spent much time getting to know him, but if I’m being honest, then yes, I do feel something. I’m drawn to him in a way I’ve never been drawn to anyone before.”
Scarlett smiles. “I know that feeling. And I also know it can be daunting when it happens with a stranger. Maverick was a stranger to me, but I felt something when I was around him. Trust your gut, it won’t lead you wrong.” She pats my hand, then grins. “In the meantime, don’t let that man get away with treating you the way he did. You play right back, honey.”
Oh.
I intend to.
Koda can play hard.
But me? I can play harder.
~*~*~*~
THEN – CHARLIE
“Please. Please, don’t leave me here.”
I stare at the woman, chained up and on her knees before me. My hands are shaking, my knees are about to buckle, and everything inside me is screaming to help her, to save her, to get her out of here. I glance behind me at the door. I’m still doing my father’s dirty work, even now I’m seventeen, even now I’m old enough to be able to run.
I’d tried, a few times.
He found me, and he made me wish I was never born.
Just like he promised he would.
Running isn’t an option. Right now, I don’t know what my options are except to keep doing what I’m told until one day I can find a way out. It’ll take brains, and a lot of work but, eventually, I’ll find it. And I’ll use it. And I’ll watch him burn.
“I can’t help you,” I say softly to the girl.
I didn’t mean to find her. I went to the toilet when my boyfriend, who is actually someone my father set me up wit
h to keep his filthy show running, came to a large mansion to visit a man that works for my father, but who he is sure is double crossing him. Because of that, he wants us to find what we can. This particular man is my boyfriend’s uncle, so coming into the house wasn’t a hard task.
Neither was me sneaking off while Clay, my boyfriend, is looking over information with his uncle.
I know the house fairly well; I’ve been here a couple of times. Clay has no idea I’m snooping for my father, he has no idea my father suspects his uncle, I simply told him my stomach was upset and I needed the bathroom. He won’t check on me. You have to give a shit about someone to check on them. Clay doesn’t give a shit about me. He uses me for sex, and for power. He wants in with my father, and my father thinks he has great potential, so it was basically a forced match.
I rarely go against my father—I wouldn’t dare.
It’s not worth it.
Still, Clay has no clue my father is already using his connection with him to dig deep into his family. He thinks getting in with my father would be the best thing in the world. He’d be so incredibly wrong. It would be the worst thing that could ever happen. After all, my father couldn’t give two shits about him, not really. He’ll use him, of course, hell he’ll probably even let him in, but Clay will never know how involved my father really is.
Like the fact his daughter is snooping through his uncle’s house, trying to find some information to prove he’s double crossing my father. The two of them have been working together for a while, probably two years, another reason Clay has a foot in the door. But lately things have been going wrong, very wrong, and my father suspects Clay’s uncle is behind it. Of course, Clay’s uncle has no idea my father suspects him.
The idiot.
After snooping through the basic areas and finding nothing, I found a door in the master bedroom that led down to a basement. It was a big risk coming down here, because let’s face it, I could have walked into anything. I expected it to be locked, but it wasn’t. It is, however, very well hidden. Anyone not looking wouldn’t know this was here.
And inside the basement, I found a girl, chained up on the ground to big chains connecting to a wall. The stench down here is out of this world. She’s covered in her own urine and god knows what else. She’s naked and has nothing more than a pot on the ground and a worn-out mattress on the floor. Judging by the marks on her body, she’s been used for sex. Fingerprint marks, not beatings.