Chase was right. I stood back upright. “Well, Dimitri, I’m going to let these nice men talk to you now.” I gave him a dry, humorless smile, and I could see his face sinking as the realization set in that he was about to get his ass beat down by the two large men who’d roughed him up a little bit when they took him down the first time.
“Just make sure he can still talk when you’re done,” I told my guys before turning to leave.
Behind me, I heard Chase tell the Russian, “Dimitri, man, I’m sorry, but this is going to hurt you far worse than it will ever hurt me.”
Then I heard the first fist make contact with some part of Dimitri’s body, and the bear grunted against the pain. I wondered if the realization had occurred to him yet that he would become their punching bag before their session was over. I closed the door and headed upstairs to meet Julia.
She was waiting for me in tight jeans and a loose black tank top at one of the tables near the bar in the clubhouse section of HQ. She had her hair up in a ponytail instead of in a bun. Her legs were crossed, and she leaned forward just enough to give me a look down her top, showing off a little of her cleavage, reminding me of how delicious she looked naked. She looked like she fit in perfectly with the people around her, the ink-covered bikers and their slutty old ladies.
While ink was preferred, her bare, virgin skin looked so smooth and innocent. It just made her that much sexier to see the contrast between the inked old ladies and Julia’s pure, untouched skin. I wanted to run my hands all over her smooth skin, to see the ink on my hands cross over her bare, unmarked flesh.
We had the windows open to let in some of the cool morning air while a few of the guys lounged around by the TV or near the bar with their old ladies or the girls they’d picked up the night before. Ricky, our resident bartender, had prepared breakfast for the MC—omelets filled with ham, cheese, onions, peppers, and mushrooms, with bacon and toast on the side. Julia was finishing hers and drinking coffee when I came up.
“How’s he doing?” she asked when I sat down, knowing that I’d been downstairs talking to Dimitri. “You think he’s ready to talk?”
“How should I know?” I asked, laughing. “Remember, we don’t really understand each other or see eye to eye.”
“I’m sure having him tied to a chair in a room with a single light and no windows really helps in that department,” she poked at me.
I groaned. “Let’s not get into that again.”
Ricky appeared with a cup of coffee and an omelet while Julia explained her position again. I nodded my thanks, letting her talk.
“I still maintain it might be easier for me to get through to him if he feels safe with me. You know, right now, he’s still tied to that chair in that room whenever I go down to talk to him. He doesn’t even get a break when we talk.”
“Whose side are you on, exactly?” I asked. “Are you with me, or are you with Dimitri and Ivan? Is there something going on I should know about, Julia?”
She sat back and shot me an appalled look. “You know whose side I’m on,” she hissed. “It’s not like I’m sneaking down there and sleeping with him.”
I raised an eyebrow, unable to resist the opportunity. “Now, there’s an idea. I wonder if it would get him to talk.”
“You ass,” she responded playfully.
I chuckled, trying to keep the mood lighthearted, but I really had expected her to fall in line more after sleeping with me, at least more than she was.
“Well, look, while you’re eating, I think I’m going to go downstairs and check on him,” she said.
I reached out and touched her hand. Covering my mouth while I finished chewing, I protested, “No, he’s fine. Sit down. Let’s talk for a bit before you get started. He’ll be there no matter when you go down.”
She sat back down with a puzzled look on her face. “Wow, I certainly didn’t expect this,” she said, staring me right in the eye.
“What?”
“I expected you to be done with me after sex. I expected all that caring and closeness to turn out to be an act just to get me in bed. I figured things would be back to business as usual today,” she explained.
Juarez and Chase weren’t back from the basement yet, so no, things couldn’t go back to business as usual. Not while they were still working Dimitri over.
I grinned at my beautiful companion. “Now why would you think that?” I asked.
She blushed and shook her head. “I don’t know.” She turned her eyes away, but before she did, I saw something in them. I couldn’t read her mood yet, but I got the distinct feeling there was something she wasn’t telling me.