Tied Read online

  Hadn’t I?

  “There you are.” Hazel’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I looked up with a grin. “Done perving on the guests?”

  I turned to the room in front of me where a woman was slowly sliding a strap-on cock the size of my forearm into a smallish dude with a ball gag in his mouth. The look in his eyes was pure ecstasy.

  It wasn’t my thing but I watched for a few seconds longer than I wanted, just to fuck with Hazel, then I turned back to her. “Now I am. What’s up?”

  “Ford has a message for you.” She handed me a slip of paper, and I shoved it in my pocket. “What?”

  “Just tell me what it says.” I liked Hazel. Hell, I liked all the girlfriends and soon-to-be wives of the Reckless Bastards, but damn they were a nosy bunch.

  “Fine,” she rolled her eyes. “Hen hasn’t left Opey yet. She just moved to a cheaper place to stay even though the twins offered to discount her room.”

  So much for avoiding making the decision for me. “And?”

  “What the fuck do you mean, and?” she growled and pushed at my shoulder. “Go get her. Give her whatever help she needs. This is what you guys do.”

  “I liked you better when you were shy and quiet.”

  “Yeah? Well I liked you better when you were willing to help a person in need.” She winked and stuck her tongue out, Hazel speak for no hard feelings, and sauntered off to boost our booze sales.

  I wondered if Hazel would change her tune if she knew what kind of help Hennessy needed. Marriage. It was a big fucking commitment, one my old man hadn’t been able to honor the first time around. It was meant to be a forever kind of thing, which is why I shied away from it. Well, that and spending more than a decade at war. It had never really been in my plans.

  But this marriage would be for a good cause, helping a woman in need. Because if I did this, it would be for Hennessy, not her piece of shit father. Whether she knew it or not, Homer was as good as dead, and if she didn’t marry Eugene, so was she.

  And it wasn’t like being married to her would be a hardship. I didn’t know her, but that would change over time, and she was hot as fuck, so slipping inside her tight cunt might actually be a bonus. Just thinking about what I knew would be plump pussy lips had my cock growing hard, but my dick couldn’t make this decision for me.

  But my mind wouldn’t let me think about Hennessy being tied to a fucking senior citizen and a mobster to boot. I couldn’t let that be her fate. Oh, hell no! I wouldn’t.

  By the time I made my way upstairs to the back room, I thought I’d made a decision about Hennessy. A stacked redhead getting double-stuffed had my cock and my mind swinging the other way.

  When a gunshot sounded in the main room, I took off at a full sprint, gun in my hand as I braced for action. All thoughts of sexy redheads and marriage proposals forgotten.

  Chapter Seven

  Hennessy

  I took one final look out the window of the small suite at the old Victorian B&B, just to be sure Cruz wasn’t sitting outside nervously waiting for a sign to come in. He wasn’t out there, and I didn’t actually think he would be. I gave him two days when I could only afford to give him twenty-four hours. He hadn’t reached out to me at all, so I was calling it quits.

  Stepping away from the window, I gave the room a final sweep to make sure I hadn’t left behind any traces of my stay here. I made my way down the narrow wooden stairway to the large welcome desk where Mary sat, or maybe it was Elizabeth. The women were twins, but despite their advanced age, they did nothing to highlight their differences.

  “Oh Hennessy, dear, you’re not leaving are you?”

  I nodded at the maternal way both women spoke, like they were everyone’s moms.

  “I am.”

  Her silver brows knitted in disappointment. “I hope the shooting at the club didn’t scare you off, because you don’t need to worry about it. Those boys have everything well in hand.”

  “Shooting? I didn’t hear about a shooting.”

  I’d also spent most of the past two days in my room, planning. Plotting. Imagining what my new life would be like a few weeks from now.

  “You haven’t?” Her eyes lit with glee, and I knew this was Elizabeth. Mary loved to gossip, but she didn’t have the same level of excitement as her sister.

  “Well let me tell you,” she said and settled back into her seat, hands folded on the desk in front of her.

  The kitchen door swung open and Mary appeared, a frown on her face when she took in my bag on the floor beside me.

  “You’re leaving. Is it because of the shooting?”

  “No,” I assured her. “I was only here for a short visit.”

  “Oh good,” Mary said and leaned against the desk on her forearm, the same gleam in her eyes.

  “Such a sad story. One of the club members managed to get a gun inside because, get this, he was upset that his girlfriend was there with another man!”

  Okay so maybe I couldn’t tell the twins apart as well as I thought I could.

  Elizabeth, I think, smacked her lips together.

  “I heard she was his ex-girlfriend and used his membership to sneak her side piece inside.”

  Side piece? Did old people use that phrase?

  “Sounds dangerous,” I said, happy that hadn’t gone down while I was there. Maybe it was a good thing Cruz hadn’t bothered to give me an answer. It sounded like his life was too exciting for me anyway.

  “Dangerous? People can be mean and reckless, that much is certain, but those boys, they’re good men. They seem a little rough around the edges, I know,” she put a hand to her chest.

  “But they sure are a handsome bunch. Why, if Elizabeth and I were a decade younger…” Mary began. She shook her head as a vibrant blush stained her cheeks.

  “But they look after this whole town. When some hoodlums messed up Big Mac’s place, those boys stepped in and took care of the problem.”

  Elizabeth nodded. “They just stepped in and handled it. They didn’t offer up any details, and they never take advantage of the fact, either. Helped Edna Mae get all set up when they startled the poor dear half to death and she ended up in the hospital.”

  “They take care of us,” Mary insisted.

  “Then you ladies and this town are very lucky.” I said.

  I didn’t bother speculating that some of that trouble probably wouldn’t have ended up in town if it wasn’t for those nice boys because the women wouldn’t hear it anyway. And if they cleaned up their messes, they were better than most men. That thought led to thoughts of the other man I was trying really hard not to think about, so I pushed them down deeper and pulled out my phone.

  “We are. When they first moved here, I wasn’t so sure about a bunch of bikers,” Elizabeth insisted and slid the pay machine my way, surprising me that the old girls were so high tech with their pay options.

  “But then we found out they all served their country honorably, and we knew they were good men. We don’t go to the club mind you, but it’s discreet.”

  So they did know what went on over there. It was another odd fact about this quirky town that made me smile. “Maybe you should go over there. It takes all kinds, I hear.”

  Both women giggled. “You’re joking.”

  “I’m not. If you’re curious, what’ll it hurt? The guys will make sure nothing happens you don’t want, right?”

  That was enough of a distraction that I could let my mind wander while Elizabeth re-entered the transaction, half distracted as Mary mused on what it must be like inside The Barn Door.

  The phone buzzed in my hand and I looked down at the screen.

  Can’t wait to see you on your big day! Xoxo Dad

  My big day? Of all the selfish, fucked up things he could have texted me. My big fucking day? The nerve of him, like I was eagerly waiting to marry my high school sweetheart or some guy that was my true love. Not some random fucking old gangster dude just because Dad doesn’t know when to stop gambling. I wa
s so furious, my body vibrated with anger.

  The clap of loud thunder came so suddenly; I wasn’t sure if it was my heartbeat or the thunder. Lightning quickly followed, and I didn’t need to be a lifelong Texan to know that meant the storm was close. Then the sky opened up and proved my unspoken point.

  “Dammit,” I said. Just when I was ready, if reluctant, to move on to Plan B, the universe stepped in to screw me once again.

  Mary smiled and bent to pick up my bag. “Looks like you’re bunking with us for at least one more day. We’ll even give you the bad weather discount.” She winked and wrapped her free arm around my shoulder.

  “Can you give me a small room with a view of the back? The tree is really magnificent at night.” The backyard also opened up to a fairly unkempt piece of land that looked wooded. Easy to hide just in case Eugene’s thugs were closer than I knew.

  “Sure thing. We used to neck out under that tree in our younger days, if you can believe it. That George Walker was such a hottie in high school.”

  Elizabeth replied, “I told you to stay away from him! He was mine!”

  “Oh, hell, girl, you wouldn’t even put out until—”

  “—Okay, ladies, where’s this room?”

  Both women fell into a fit of giggles that I could still hear even after I was in my new room with the door closed behind me. They were nice women who didn’t deserve any kind of trouble, so I promised to stay in my room and out of trouble until the storm passed.

  Chapter Eight

  Cruz

  “What the goddamn fuck?” Gunnar looked around the room at each and every one of us, his blue eyes cutting a hole right through us. Rightly so, I mean the shit hit the fan while we were in charge, but holy shit was the Prez pissed.

  “Well? Anyone have any fucking answers or something other than fucking excuses?” Gunnar shook his head, raking a hand over the short crop of hair that had recently started growing in. If he rubbed it any more, he’d rub it right off.

  “We don’t pat down our members, Boss.” I didn’t mean the words to come out so harsh, but it was the truth. All eyes swung to me, probably wondering why the hell I was stupid enough to say anything that would draw a target on my back.

  “And where exactly where you?” Gunnar was in the mood to fight. I got that and goddammit, so was I.

  I shrugged and walked him through my night leading up to the shooting.

  “Doing a circuit downstairs to make sure no one was in trouble. Came up and swept the back room first, like usual. I was just heading to the main room when the shots sounded.”

  It wasn’t an excuse but it’s what happened. End of story.

  “That’s not fuckin’ good enough, Cruz!”

  His voice was like a lion’s roar in his living room that was somehow smaller with all of us in it.

  He turned his attention around the room like a periscope on a submarine until he found his next target. “Wheeler, got anything to say?”

  The VP shrugged, taking Gunnar’s anger in his stride.

  “What do you want me to say Gunnar? The guy was a full blown member. He had every right to come in here, and like Cruz said, we don’t pat down our members.”

  Guests were always searched but never our members.

  “Now we know,” Holden began, his deep, smooth voice cutting through the rising chatter of the MC. “Couples should have their own memberships or some shit, I don’t know. But I think Wheeler is right. The guy had every right to be here and so did she. It’s a fucking sex club, for fucks sake. Should we do psych evals as part of the screening process now?”

  Gunnar glared, proof that his silence didn’t mean he was no longer pissed off. He was, and I would be too in his shoes. But this was one of those shit happens kind of situations.

  “No, we shouldn’t,” he said. “Fuck we couldn’t do that even if we wanted to, but we have to do something. We can’t have people offing themselves in our fucking club. Death has a way of killing boners.”

  “Not to mention the reminder that no matter how good the pussy is; women always bring trouble.” Slayer’s bitter words belied his smile and everyone laughed at the sentiment.

  “We need to do something to get people’s minds off this shit. Some flashy kinky shit that no one will want to miss out on.” The idea was coming to me, slowly, but it was coming all the same.

  Saint snorted. “Of course, Cruz’s solution is to throw a party.”

  I flipped him off. “They do this shit all the time in Hollywood and politics. Distract them with something shiny and kinky. A fuck fest or some shit. Think about it.”

  Some of the guys argued with me just for the sake of arguing, like Slayer. But Holden hated having anything to do with the club.

  “We need to get back on track. Not do extra shit that will bring in more strangers.”

  Wheeler let out a loud laugh. “It’s a sex club man. People come for all the strange they can find. When you want to fuck the same woman, you get into a relationship, not a sex club.”

  He stared at Holden, daring him to disagree.

  “Yeah, well, maybe that’s the damn problem.”

  “Or its your old man attitude,” I tossed in, because it was guaranteed to piss him off. “No one is saying you have to get your ass up in a cage and show off, Mah-Dick, so settle down. Unless that’s an option,” I said, turning to Gunnar with hopeful eyes.

  “Fuck off.” Holden flipped me off and all of us, but Holden erupted in laughter.

  “Maybe later,” I told him, but I was determined to get this meeting back on track. I wanted to track down Hennessy to see if she was still in town, even though I kind of hoped she’d already left Opey. Found some other solution to her problem and relieved me of the burden. And if I let these assholes go on and on, we’d be here all night. “But for now,” I said, “we should consider a big flashy distraction.”

  Gunnar nodded, slowly coming on board with the plan.

  “Good idea, Cruz. You run point, but I want all fucking hands on deck. Even you, Holden. Make sure this fucking suicide mess is a distant memory. Shit for the old folks in town to gossip about and that’s it.”

  His searing blue gaze landed on each of us, waiting for a verbal acknowledgment of his orders. Once Gunnar got it, the meeting was finally fucking over.

  I stood and waited for the guys to filter out of the living room from my spot behind the sofa, grinding my jaw in my effort to keep my words to myself.

  “Somethin’ you want to say, Cruz?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.” When Gunnar was in the mood to be a stubborn son of a bitch, there was no reasoning with him. Wheeler could get through to him when he needed to, but that was it.

  “Say it. Go on.” He was daring me. Taunting me because he was still pissed. I could still hear the rest of the MC outside, and though I wanted nothing more than a fight, I didn’t want any club bullshit right now.

  But he wouldn’t let it go. He said, “Just fuckin’ say it, man.”

  So I let him have it. “You’re being an asshole. You were the one who vetoed metal detectors, even the subtle ones those rich fucks would barely even notice. Now you’re pissed that a fucking cowboy made it into the club with a gun! This is Texas, Gunnar. Every motherfucker in town has a piece. Even little ol’ Edna Mae. This shit wasn’t surprising, and it was nobody’s fault but the idiot who killed himself.”

  The words rushed out of me until I was breathless and panting.

  He held up a finger.

  “One fucking day. That’s all I wanted was one fucking day with my woman without any interruptions. I guess it’s my bad for thinking y’all could handle it.”

  “It was fucking handled the only way it could be!”

  Everyone had made it home safely. The cops arrived discreetly and it was all handled as quietly as it could in a town the size of a postage stamp.

  “This is a small town so obviously word got out, but we handled it no differently than you would have—or could have.”

&nbs
p; “One fucking day,” he growled and got in my face. I knew he was looking for a fight, but too bad for the Prez. I wasn’t in a fucking mood to back down.

  “Should have thought of that before you had a kid. Another kid.” It was a low blow, but I didn’t care. Now we had two kids to worry about keeping safe whenever someone’s past crept up and put us all at risk. So far, the Reckless Bastards had to deal with a never-ending stream of shit, which I signed up for, but not for this babysitting bullshit.

  “What did you say to me?” He stepped to me, and I bumped him with my chest and made my way outside, hoping the fresh air would cool one of us down.

  “You heard me.”

  “Say it again.”

  “Don’t need to, ‘cause you heard me. You can be pissed off all you want, but don’t give us shit for doing everything we can with the limits you put on us.”

  The first punch wasn’t surprising because Gunnar telegraphed the hell out of his hits. But I let the jab land so I’d have a good damn reason for the fist that landed on him. I smiled and my knuckles scraped against his jaw.

  He growled out, “Fuck,” looking surprised.

  We went back and forth, trading punches when I gave him a hard push, sending him down into the dirt. Gunnar got up and wore his twisted smile, and I knew we were doing this shit. He charged forward until his shoulder landed in my gut, and we both fell to the ground.

  He hit me. I hit him back. It was a man’s fight. A release of frustration. A split lip. A bruised rib. A jab. An uppercut. A backhand. A knuckle graze to the jaw. We were brutal with our fists, and it felt good. Really fucking good.

  “Ready to give up?”

  Gunnar grinned and spit out some blood. “Yeah, right.”

  He charged and got me good with a fist to my side, and I lifted my leg, smashing my shin against him. We both fell down on something too hard and too high to be the dirt. A horn sounded and we both jerked up lightning quick and stared into big, green wary eyes.