“It’s better to leave women out of the business aspect of the club. Women are for fuckin’, and that’s about it.”
“Whatever, we’ll take it up at church next week. You goin’ on the run?”
“When?”
“A few brothers are leavin’ in a couple of days. I’m thinkin’ of goin’, but I don’t want to leave Kylie alone. She’s had some lovesick fuck hangin’ ’round the house too much. I think I’ll have to set him straight.”
“Kylie’s a good girl. She knows what’s up.”
“I don’t want no boys ’round her. She’s too young.”
A few weeks before, Kylie had turned eighteen and was in her senior year at George Washington High School.
“She’s not that young anymore. Next spring, she’ll be outta high school,” Hawk said.
As Banger cleared his throat, he glared at Hawk. “She’s too young to think about getting serious with any boy. This isn’t open for discussion.”
Smiling, Hawk threw his hands up in defeat, knowing that when it came to Kylie, no one could tell Banger anything. Sometimes, Hawk felt sorry for the constraints Banger put around Kylie’s life, and when she’d come over to his place to use his computers, she did a lot of complaining about her dad. Hawk could understand some of her issues, but he told her all the time how lucky she was to have a dad who cared about her. She’d had a great mother, too; Grace doted on Kylie, and when she died, Banger did a damn good job playing Mom and Dad, even though it had been tough. Just recently, Kylie shared her desire to leave, and she swore Hawk to secrecy. Although, she didn’t have to worry about him telling Banger her plans; he knew the president would go ballistic because Banger never wanted her to leave his safe haven.
“I would like for Kylie to learn how to cook better. I loved the spaghetti sauce that lawyer made. Shit, she knows how to cook. You think you could arrange to have her teach Kylie how to make tomato sauce?”
“My case is over, and I don’t think I’ll be seeing her again. No reason to, you know?”
Pushing his stool away from the bar, Banger stood up, patted Hawk on the back, and smiled. “Like I said—when you talk to her, see if she can help Kylie with some cooking.”
Grunting, Hawk swiveled back around, laying his elbows on the bar. Staring at the beer bottle in his hand, images of Cara bent over her desk, pussy and ass ready, flitted in his mind. He needed to see her again. Fucking her was better than he had imagined, and he was sure he had just melted the tip of the iceberg. Pretending their fucking didn’t mean anything was a crock of shit, and she knew it. As he stroked her pussy, he felt her body shake from desire, and when they held each other’s gazes, an intimate connection passed between them, something he’d never experienced before with a woman. There was no way he was going to stay away from her, but he’d give her some time. Before long, she’d be yearning for his lips on her tits and his cock in her pussy.
He could wait. She was worth it.
* * *
When Cara got to the office, Asher met her at the door and whispered, “Very mean-looking badass in your office.”
Cara’s heart leapt; Hawk had come to see her. As her insides quivered, a huge smile broke out over her face.
Noticing her expression, Asher jumped to rein her in. “No, it’s not Hawk. It’s another biker, and he doesn’t look friendly.”
Curious, Cara walked into her office and saw a lanky man sitting on one of her leather chairs. Dressed in blue jeans, black boots, and a leather cut with a 1% patch, his uneven brown hair fell around his shoulders in layers. As he blew a smoke ring in her direction, his dull brown eyes raked over her body.
“This is a non-smoking building,” she said.
“Good to know,” he said as he continued to blow smoke in her direction.
Ignoring him, Cara asked, “May I help you?”
“Not really. I’ve come here to help you.”
Staring at him, she raised her eyebrows.
“I hear that lovely nose of yours keeps getting into places where it doesn’t belong.”
“Who are you? I have a ton of work and a client coming in soon, so what do you want?”
“I’m Viper, president of the Deadly Demons Nomads.” He extended his hand to Cara. Not taking it, she went behind her desk and sat in her chair.
“And why are you here? Do you have a problem?”
“I do. I have a pesky amateur who is playing cop and making all sorts of unnecessary noise. My brothers tell me to slice her throat, but I’m not an animal, you know, sweetheart?” His words shimmied up and down her spine. Telling him to get the fuck out of her office didn’t seem like the best approach at the moment, though.
“Again, what do you want from me?” Her voice sounded much stronger than she felt. As Viper opened his cut, her eyes took in the hunting knife he carried in a sheath around his waist.
“I need some advice on how to handle a meddling bitch.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m seeking your counsel.”
“I handle criminals, not barbarians, so you’ve come to the wrong law office. Sorry.” She turned toward her file cabinet and took out a thick file. “I’m very busy, so I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Viper’s eyes narrowed into slits of steel, his jaw pulsed, and his hands formed into fists. On his feet and coming toward her, every nerve in her body went into high-alert as her heart banged against her chest. When he stood next to her desk, his crooked teeth bared, she willed her body not to shake and her voice not to tremble.
“If you’d like me to recommend anyone to help you, I could,” she said sweetly.
Grabbing her arm, he jerked her up and shook her like a rag doll. “Listen, bitch, this is a one-time deal. Next time, while I enjoy every inch of your slut-ass body, you’ll be begging me to kill you. My form of enjoyment is pain, and I’m an expert at inflicting it, got it?” Viper squeezed her upper arm, but she refused to flinch. He was so close she could smell the tobacco on his breath.
Staring at him, Cara grasped the edge of her desk, her knuckles whitening. “You don’t scare me,” she lied.
“I’m not trying to scare you, bitch. You’re too pretty not to stay pretty.” Viper ran his index finger along her jaw then pulled her into him and twisted her nipple. Gasping in pain, Cara tried to shove his hand away, but he pulled her hair, making tears roll down her face from the corners of her eyes. Slamming his mouth on hers, he forced his tongue into her mouth despite her resistance. As she twisted her head sideways, he bit down hard on her bottom lip and drew blood, then pinched her nipples again and hissed, “That’s a fuckin’ preview of what I plan on doing to you. Remember that, sweetheart.”
Viper threw her against her chair, and Cara lost her balance and fell. Crying out when he kicked her hard on her thigh with his steel-toed boot, he ground his cigarette butt next to her on the carpet. “Just so you know, I fuckin’ love the smell of burning flesh. Play it smart, bitch.”
Viper stormed out, shoving Asher aside as he came running into Cara’s office. He looked horrified when he saw Cara on the floor with blood dripping down her chin, a nasty red mark on her thigh. “Are you all right?” He went over to help her up.
Cara was fuming as she took the Kleenex Asher offered her and wiped her mouth. He’d bit her pretty damn hard. “What a fucking asshole!” She rubbed her swelling thigh.
“Why did he come here? Do you know him? Does this have something to do with your biker client?”
“He came here to threaten me to back off on finding the answers to the recent killings. I’ve never seen him before, and he’s from another club Hawk has nothing to do with.”
“Cara, you know I’ve never questioned anything you’ve done in the office, even though we’ve had some questionable people come through these doors, but I have to tell you to stop dealing with these bikers. They are dangerous, and they don’t fool around. He could’ve killed you!”
“No, killing me would’ve been too messy. I now know I’m on the right path, and that the Deadly Demons Nomads are involved, but they’re not doing the killings. They’re working with or for someone who is.”
“Why would they do that?”
“I can guarantee they’re getting something for their efforts. That slime bag wouldn’t do anything for free.”
“You have to promise me that you’re going to stop right now. This isn’t make-believe. This guy and his gang are serious. He will kill you.”
“I have no doubts about that. Don’t worry; I don’t intend to be a martyr. I’ll call Jim at CBI and tell him about my not-so-friendly encounter with this Viper jerk.”
“You should tell your biker about this. He’ll make sure you don’t get hurt.”
Cara laughed dryly. “Hawk? He doesn’t give a shit. His case is over, and he’s history.”
“He’s not history. I’ve seen the way he acts around you and looks at you. I’ll bet he’s not ready to throw in the towel. You need to tell him what happened. You need his help.”