“What in the fuck happened?” Hennessy was finally able to gasp out.
Jackal frowned at Penni. She sensed his hesitation to admit her involvement.
“It was my fault,” she confessed. “A biker asked me to dance, but to be fair, it wasn’t all my fault.”
Jackal stared at her as if she had lost her mind. “Yes, it was. If you had just kept walking—”
“Was I just supposed to let him beat you up? If I hadn’t tapped on Hennessy’s back, he would have—” A startled scream escaped Penni as Hennessy lunged at her.
“So help me God, I’m going to strangle her with her own tongue.”
“Jackal, lock her in the bathroom until Hennessy and I talk. It’ll give him time to cool down.”
Before she could object, she found herself pushed into the bathroom. Penni considered banging on the door then changed her mind. She didn’t want to talk to them, either. The assholes were blaming her! They were the ones who had kidnaped her!
She slid down the closed door, sitting on the bathroom floor. Her hands mimicked a series of snapping motions that she had seen Jackal use on anyone who had come too close during the fight.
Bravely, she yelled out, “My brother would have whipped all their asses!”
A fist pounded on the door at her outburst.
Tilting her head to the side, she tried to listen to what was going on in the other room. The sound of shuffling had her rising to lock the door. Then Penni lifted her chin to rest on her bent knees.
“Big brother, where are you when I need you?”
11
Jackal pushed his plate away. “So now I’m getting the silent treatment?”
Hennessy had found a hole-in-the-wall café to feed them lunch.
Penni’s silence was unexpectedly pissing him off. Other than her lips tightening, she didn’t respond.
Hennessy mocked him from the next table, lifting his coffee cup to salute him.
He should fucking get on his bike and leave Ice to deal with the mess Penni had created. After all, Hennessy had boasted last night that he didn’t need his or the Predators’ help. So fuck it!
The waitress laid the check in front of him. Snatching it up, he was about to slide out of the booth when Penni looked up from her untouched plate.
“I’m sorry I screwed up.” Her subdued apology was a fireball to his nuts.
“It’s okay. We’ll find Striker.”
What the hell? What crap had just come out of his mouth? It would be a fucking miracle if Striker were still in town.
“I’ll do whatever you tell me to do from now on. No more screw-ups, I promise.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Even he had trouble swallowing that load of bullshit, but if it took that miserable expression off her face, then it would be worth the muted “pussy-whipped” that Hennessy mumbled as he stood.
“We’re going to walk around town. You’re going to keep your eyes open and your mouth closed. There’s going to be a poker run then a wet short contest. If that doesn’t make you horny, they’re having a tattoo contest. The groupies get to count them. They collected money from them to buy a limited edition Gold Desert Eagle. Any man who has a dick will be there tonight, and so will we.”
“Free pussy and guns. That’s asking for trouble.” Penni’s anxious features had the men coming to a stop outside the café.
“You worried we can’t protect you?”
Her expression cleared at Hennessy’s wounded pride. “No.”
“I didn’t doubt you could. You all proved that last night.”
Jackal smiled, taking the compliment the way it was intended. The massive fight in the bar hadn’t left him with a hair out of place. That was more than one of Hennessy’s men couldn’t say the same.
They walked back to the hotel to their bikes. Penni’s searching the crowd as they began walking down the street had Jackal thinking she was finally taking the predicament she was in seriously. She at last had realized that finding Striker was a matter of life and death.
Hennessy chose two men to ride on the poker run as they remained in the hotel parking lot. Jackal knew he was hoping they would hear of someone who had a large supply of coke for sale. It wasn’t likely they would catch a break, but the longer Striker held on to the cache of drugs, the greater his chances of having them stolen or a cheese sniffer ratting him out.
Jackal was proud of Penni for sitting on the seat of his bike as the men stood there, talking with other clubs staying in the hotel. He could see the influence he’d had on her when she didn’t interrupt the conversations, despite the crude language they were using as women began mingling with the bikers.
It wasn’t the first rally he had gone to. With as experienced as he was, he was able to recognize which women were there for a good time or to fish for a new back to hang on to. The bikers at this rally were mostly there for fun and games, but if trouble showed up, they were ready for that, too.
“She yours?” One biker talking to Cruz nodded to Penni sitting sedately behind him.
“Yeah,” Jackal answered, waiting for a smart-ass comment from Penni. He wanted to kiss her when she remained silent. He didn’t count the snort he heard at his back. No one but him heard it.
“Lucky man.”
“I tell her that all the time.” Jackal knew he was egging her on, but he couldn’t help himself. Part of Penni’s attraction to him was her unwillingness to take any shit from him, unlike the whores who were beginning to outnumber the bikers.
“I lost my woman on the way here. She wouldn’t stop whining about missing the kids, so I dropped her off at a truck stop.”
“Mine knows better.” Jackal turned to see her about to break her vow of behaving.
Taking her hand so she could stand, Jackal sat down on the motorcycle seat. Breaking the taboo in his own code, he sat her down in front of him, his arm snaking around her waist, flattening his palms across her tummy.
“A smart man would patch her.”
“Jackal likes to keep his options open.” Penni circled her hands around his wrists yet didn’t twist away from his touch.
“Options are good.” A woman wearing a dress that was meant to be a beach cover-up smiled at him seductively. She wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Jackal could easily see her breasts and the naked pussy that was within easy reach.
Jackal felt Penni tense, and he lowered his chin to her shoulder.
“A man doesn’t need options when he has Penni. She’s a handful.” He tightened his arms around her. “She doesn’t need a patch; Penni knows who she belongs to.”
“What about them?” The biker nodded to the large group of bikers gathered around the parking lot.
“I can protect what’s mine.” Jackal stared at the biker who was measuring him up before his greedy gaze traveled down Penni’s body to where Jackal’s hands possessively rested on her belly. “We gonna have a problem?”
The biker got his message, shaking his head. “No problem. Like I said, you’re a lucky man.” He stepped away, unfortunately not taking the whore with him.
“My name’s Misty.”
“Jackal.”
“My name is Penni.”
Misty ignored her, her fingers tracing down the sleeve of his leather jacket. “I’ve heard of the Predators.” She dropped her hand down to his thigh. “Let’s go for a ride.”
Jackal pushed her hand away. “No.”
She pouted. “We could have a good time.”
“Fuck off.”
Her face fell. “Could have been fun.”
Jackal didn’t watch as she disappeared.
“Don’t let me stop you from having fun.”
“I am having fun; can’t you tell?”
Her infectious giggle had him smiling down at her.
“Smiling isn’t your best feature,” she commented.
“Max says that all time, but I tell him he’s just jealous.”
“I don’t think Casey would agree.”
Seein
g Penni loosen up had him wanting to carry her into the hotel and lock the door. Jackal would rather be fucking her than forced to sit next to her while Hennessy and the Road Kingz tried to find out if anyone was hustling in large amounts of coke. Jackal thought they stood a better chance of getting arrested from an undercover cop.
The bikers became more boisterous as the day dragged on. When it began to get dark, Jackal walked with Penni into the park where a stage had been set up. There were at least thirty women waiting for the wet short contest.
“Want to join in?” He joked at her wide-eyed stare. Jackal knew it wasn’t the mostly shirtless male bikers crowding around the stage that had her attention. The women even made him look.
He ran a hand across the back of his neck. Jesus, it looked like a tit-fest.
“I thought it was a wet ‘short’ contest.”
“It is. That’s why they can’t wear anything else.”
“I didn’t know a thong is considered a pair of shorts.” Penni stared at him accusingly.
Jackal held his hands up. “Hey, it wasn’t my idea.”
“Most of those women look drunk. You’re gonna watch, though, aren’t you?”
He turned his head to where the women were waiting for their turn. “Damn straight.”
Laughing, he dodged the fist that was aimed at his shoulder.
“Don’t worry; none of them can hold a candle to you.”
She quit hitting him. “Like you’re ever going to see my boobs.”
Jackal watched her cross her arms in front of her chest.
“Afraid you can’t measure up to the competition?”
“Good things come in tiny packages,” she said stiffly.
“Yes, they do. Don’t worry; I saw the picture Casey sent Max. Believe me; you have more than enough for me. If you were up there, you would win my vote.” Jackal’s attempt to placate Penni backfired when Hennessy looked her over critically.
“He’s right; you should do it.”
“Not in a million years.” Penni glared at Hennessy with a mask of resolution.
“You would be able to see up there. You could spot Striker and tell Jackal where he is.”
“No!”
“We’re never going to be able to spot him in this crowd.”
Jackal had to admit Hennessy was right.
“Penni …?” He stared back at her, letting her have the chance to let the truth sink in. She was going to have to do it.
“I’m not going to take off my top and show my breasts to hundreds of people! I don’t even have on shorts.”
“You’re wearing a thong,” Jackal reminded her.
“I’m not going out there in a damn thong!” She began walking away from them. The Road Kingz closed their ranks around her, not letting her go anywhere.
With remorse, he saw her angry eyes flick toward his. She expected him to put a stop to Hennessy’s order.
“Most of the men here are so drunk they won’t remember …” Jackal realized he wasn’t helping. “I’ll make sure no one touches you.”
“Don’t do me any favors.” She turned to face Hennessy. “Any of you assholes have a knife?”
Did she seriously expect him to give her a weapon she could use against them?
“As much as I want to use it on you, I want to cut off my jeans,” she explained.
Hennessy didn’t trust her, but he took out his knife.
Jackal took out his own knife. “I’ll do it.”
Bending down, he began cutting away the legs of her jeans. When he would have stopped at the middle of her thigh, she demanded, “Higher.” When Jackal would have stopped at the middle of her thigh, Penni pointed the top of her leg.
“No.”
“Either you do, or I get Hennessy to do it.”
Jackal tightened his jaw. The son of a bitch would do it, and if Hennessy touched where she was indicating, they would have to call the cops.
After cutting her jeans to the tops of her thighs, he stepped back. Swallowing, he watched her fold the top of her jeans down then tuck the frayed ends of her makeshift shorts.
Everyone in the audience would be able to see the intimate flesh she was exposing. There wasn’t a hair on her pussy visible. Fuck me.
As if reading his thoughts, Penni turned her back on him. He followed stiffly as she got in the long line of women waiting their turn.
“You didn’t have to cut them that short,” he said hoarsely.
“I always say go big or go home.” She turned her cold eyes on him. “I’m going home.”
12
“Back up, sister; I need more room.”
Yes, she did.
Penni took a step back as the woman danced to “Bad to the Bone” that was spilling out of the speakers,
Penni found herself eye level with a large pair of breasts that were so perky she was amazed they weren’t slapping her in the face.
“You think she’ll be offended if I ask her the name of who did her breasts?” She elbowed Jackal in his gut when he didn’t answer.
“Huh?”
“Never mind.” If she ever got home again, she would never have to see him again.
The line was creeping closer with five women in front of her.
“Sweetie, you’re going to have to take that shirt off.” The woman in front of her stared back at her as if she wouldn’t be caught dead in the purple sweatshirt she was wearing.
“I’m cold.”
The women standing nearby were nodding their heads with big smiles.
“That’s kinda the point.” She snickered. “The cold makes your nipples bigger. Wait until they pour the cold water on them.”
“Obviously, the organizers haven’t heard of hypothermia,” Penni said snidely.
“You’re kidding, right? Most of the men here can’t even spell hypothermia.”
Penni smiled. She liked a woman who could be as salty as her. “My name is Penni.”
“I’m Mandy.”
She winced at the response that came out as a breathy voice, a cross between a sex kitten and a sixteen-year-old.
The line was down to four. The water from the stage sprayed on her trembling legs.
“Sweetie, if you move, it’ll warm you up.”
“Hell, it’d warm me up, too.”
If the man didn’t shut up and put his eyes back in his head, she was going to plant her elbow in his crotch instead of his stomach.
The line was down to three. The music switched over to “What Do You Want from Me.” The woman at the front of the stage was dancing, her nude body swaying to the music, her voluptuous form hiding the thong within her folds of flesh.
Why the hell am I doing this? Penni jammed her hands into her sweatshirt pockets. There were enough people around her that someone should come to her aid if she screamed for help. Dammit, she was agile enough that she could take a leap off the stage and disappear into the crowd.
“Don’t do it.” Jackal’s low warning had Penni hesitating. “Hennessy would have you out of here in a second.”
There were at least two dozen people standing on the stage and at least three hundred in the audience. Penni debated yelling out for help.
The line was down to two. It was now or never.
She took a step to the side, preparing herself to start screaming bloody murder. She was prepared to take her chances with Hennessy’s fury rather than flaunt her pint-sized boobs.
“Trust me.” He knew she wasn’t going to do it. “You’ll let loose a powder keg. How do you think this will go if a fight breaks out with so many people around? Remember what it was like last night? Most of the clubs are packing and drunk. By the time the cops broke up the fight, almost all of them would leave in body bags, including us.”
Dammit, he was right. She was going to have to do it.
Penni didn’t care if the Road Kingz were hurt; they had put themselves in this position. The Predators, on the other hand, were there to try to help her. Penni wouldn’t be able to look Grace in
the face if anything happened to Ice. She had enough on her plate dealing with her mother’s sickness. Grace didn’t need her husband getting killed.
The line was down to one. The DJ started “Motorcycle Mama,” nodding to Misty that it was her turn.
“Good luck, sweetie.”
Penni forced herself not stare at Misty’s breasts as she wished her good luck.
“You’re next.” Jackal’s quiet reminder was unnecessary.
“No shit, Sherlock.” Penni clenched her hands into fists as she watched Misty strut to the front of the stage.
“You need to take off your top.”
“If you say one more word, I’ll take your knife away and stab you.”
Jackal shut up.
The DJ started “Highway to Hell” as Misty began to walk to the rear of the stage where all the women were dancing in a line, giving the men in the audience a chance to choose who was going to be the winner.
Penni turned to see if she could let any other woman go, but the line was empty. She was the last one.
I’m going to have to do it, Penni kept telling herself as she lifted the bottom of the sweatshirt over her head. Goose bumps broke out over her body as she shivered. Maybe it was getting dark enough that the men wouldn’t be able to see her that well.
Someone at the edge of the stage flicked on a switch, surrounding the stage in blazing lights.
“That’s about right.”
“What did you say?” Jackal stepped back when she took a step toward him.
Penni looked down at her pretty dusty rose bra and unclipped it, tugging off the fragile material and handing it to Jackal.
“I want that back. It cost me a freaking fortune.”
She looked at the biker waiting with the water hose then at the women on stage, shorts plastered to their body. Reaching into her jean pocket, she pulled out her cell phone, handing it to Jackal.
He was smart enough not to open his mouth, simply shoving it into his jacket pocket with her bra.
Penni bravely walked toward the stage. When she got back to Queen City, she was going to make Henry give the women strippers a raise. It was worse than she thought, but it was easier than she imagined.