TORTURE ME_ The Bandits MC(145)

“Guys, I’ve got other business to tend to tonight,” I told them as I got up from the bar.



Angelo eyed me, and the others booed me.



“Man, I knew you two were fucking,” Chase teased. “It’s obvious when you look at each other.”



If Angelo’s eyebrow could have arched any harder, it would have folded in half.



“Guys, look, it’s complicated,” I told them, standing in the middle of them with my hands up.



“Oh shit. Gage, you’re not falling for her, are you?” Juarez joined in.



I took a deep breath and leveled my tipsy eyes on him. “Of course not, dumbass. She’s just a piece of ass,” I lied. “No, what I mean by complicated is I’m trying to keep it as under wraps as I can, you know? She’s working for us with Dimitri. She got the intel on the mayor for us. She knows Russian.”



“Okay. The job’s done, Gage. Just cut her loose,” Angelo chimed in. “Or, if you are feeling like this is something more permanent, bring her in, kid. Bring her in with us. Let her come down and have a few drinks.”



That was the best idea I’d heard all day. “You know what, Angelo, I just might do that,” I told him.



They all laughed.



“I’ll get her something special mixed up,” Ricky said, already grabbing a few bottles and a shaker.



I couldn’t fight back the stupid grin that was spreading across my face. “Alright, guys, let me go get her. Now, I don’t know if I’m going to be able to convince her to come down and drink with us, but I’m going to try. If I’m not back in fifteen, don’t come looking for me.” I turned from the group and started towards the stairs to the third floor.





Chapter 24





When I found my private room on the third floor empty, I didn’t panic. I figured she was downstairs trying to get more information out of Dimitri. I laughed to myself. She tried to act like she was against what we were doing, but her dedication to the cause betrayed her. She felt responsible for Dimitri, for what happened to him, and for what we found out from him. She felt a duty to continue her work, and regardless of what she said or what she wanted me to think, that spoke volumes about how she felt about me.



I smiled the whole way down to the basement. I paused at the steel door. I wanted to go right in and grab her. I wanted to take her away from our prisoner and tell him to kiss my ass while I took her upstairs for drinks with the guys. At the same time, I wanted to wait, to give her time to get what information she could out of him. Maybe he would tell her another name we could expect to find on Ivan’s yacht.



I leaned against the wall and waited. I couldn’t stop thinking about the opportunity ahead of us. More so than the opportunity facing the MC, I was excited about the prospect of being able to pursue Julia romantically.



“Man, what is it about that woman?” I asked myself out loud. “I can’t stop thinking about her.”



I looked at the door. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but it felt like a lot. I wanted to know what was going on in there. My thoughts of her kept running through my head, but they were beginning to turn sour. I had suspected her of working with Dimitri at one point. I had honestly thought that she was hiding information he’d given her from me. Maybe she had been. Maybe he’d been slowly giving her information about the deal going down on Ivan’s yacht, and she had been waiting to tell me. That certainly would have been understandable.



“Fuck it,” I said as I pushed myself off the wall. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to go in and find out what was taking so damn long in that room.



I opened the door and started to walk in, giving my eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light. I didn’t hear anyone talking, and as my eyes adjusted, I didn’t see anyone sitting in the room.



“What the fuck?” I ran over to his chair and saw that the ropes had been cut. She had been working with him.



Suddenly, the growing sense of intoxication that had been clouding my mind faded back. I saw everything in high definition. She had helped him escape. She’d told me he asked her to help him get out of here. I should have known that he would keep trying.



I hurried upstairs to greet the disappointed faces of the other guys sitting at the bar.



“Couldn’t convince her to come down, huh?” Juarez joked.



I didn’t say anything but kept walking until I reached the bar.



“What’s wrong?” Angelo asked when he saw my face.



“She’s gone.”



“You’re fucking kidding me,” Ricky said.