Chapter Eighteen
Roman
I sit and listen to the things he said to her and what he called her. The first whore pissed me off, the fifth time made my mind up.
“You up for a round of golf?” I ask Leo, pacing the floor, feeling a different kind of anger than I’d felt for Hollis. This is murderous, the kind used to kill in a blind rage without seeing faces or concerning yourself with humanity.
“Always. Everybody needed?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Tell me when I get there?” He laughs, sounding almost excited.
“Definitely.” I add a few more requests before hanging up and turning back to Hollis.
She’s laid back down, but her now worried eyes are on me. “What are you going to do?”
I lean down, placing my hand on her reddened cheek. “Don’t you worry about it, baby.”
She covers my hand with hers. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
I wink at her. “Who, me? And besides, that’s the pot making a request from the kettle, isn’t it?” I get a smile from her and it warms my heart.
“Speaking of,” she pushes up to a sitting position. “Can’t get away from the office until next week, huh?” She narrows her eyes at me. And just like that, she’s turned this around on me.
I try to look innocent but fail miserably, so I just shrug my shoulders. She playfully slaps my chest and rolls her eyes. “Oh no, mister, you’re not getting off that easy.”
“My lie didn’t put anybody, mainly you, in danger. Yours, on the other hand, did.” It seems so simple to me, but she’s looking at me like I have three heads.
“A lie is a lie is a lie, Roman,” she declares, pushing away from me and getting off the bed. “You men think you can set a double standard for us, but you can’t. They all carry the same weight.” She crosses her arms over her chest and begins to tap her bare foot on the ratty carpet, looking at me expectantly.
I know what she’s waiting for, and I’m not getting out of here until I concede. But for some reason, I feel the need to argue my point. “No, I don’t believe they do.” I hear an audible scoff.
“Of course you don’t,” she mutters.
I stand from the bed, getting aggravated at her again. “Listen, Hollis, I don’t wanna get into this.” I point at her scar, knowing I’m crossing a line, but I’m trying to drive home a point. “You, more than anyone, know the different weight a lie carries.” Her hand flies up to cover her cheek. “So you mean to tell me that me saying I have to work and can’t get away has the same consequences as the lie you told when you got that?” I walk to the door, needing to separate myself from her. We’re both being childish, and I need to leave before things are said we can’t come back from. Yes, what I’d just said was low, but it had just the right amount of impact I needed to get my point across.
I turn to her when I reach the door. “I didn’t think so. I’m going to go downstairs and get you some water and a couple of aspirins. You’re going to need them.” She nods but stays silent. Unable to tear myself away, I walk back to her and wrap my arms around her. She sinks into me as I run my hand up and down her back, letting her release the events of the day. “I love you, Hollis. You’re my world, and when you put yourself in danger, I lose it a little.” I tilt her head back, bringing her watery eyes up to mine. “Okay, don’t do it again, please?”
She pinches her lips together into a thin line and nods her acceptance. I lean in and kiss her. “I’ll be right back, baby.”
I close the door on the conversation that took a wrong turn about five minutes ago, but other than ripping what’s left of her heart out, I’m not sure how to get how bad she’d fucked up today across.
~~~~~~
Hollis
I spin around, catching my reflection in the mirror setting on the dresser. Roman’s right, I am a mess. Dark black streaks of mascara run down my face, and my eyes are red and puffy.
I go into the en-suite bathroom, shocked to find it somewhat clean because I don’t ever remember Cruz being a neat freak. I retrieve a cloth from the neat pile on the shelf over the toilet and run it under cold water. I lift my head and begin to clean the remnants of the day away. I lightly drift the cloth over my scar. Roman’s words stung but rang true. He’s right, there are different weights to a lie, and the ones I tell are tons heavier than the one he’d told me. He hadn’t hurt anyone, but mine had sent him into a panic and quite possibly put me on the radar of a man who’s already paid once to make me disappear.
I’m not letting either of them make a victim of me, but sometimes a person just has to realize what they’ve done holds more consequences than the self-serving act they’re covering up with the lie. I drop the cloth and let my fingers trace over the scar again, and I will never regret doing what I did to get it. A slight knock on the door brings me back into the main bedroom, just in time to see Roman peek his head in. He smiles when he sees me and my heart melts. I’ll never get enough of this man. He’s every dream I wanted, and he’s here, and he’s all mine.
He pushes the door closed with his foot and holds a glass of water in one hand, clothes draped over an arm, and two pills laying in the palm of his other. He stops, gauging my mood, so I smile at him, taking the pills from his hand and pop them into my mouth. He hands me the water and I throw my head back, washing them down, and then he offers me the clothes and I hold them up.
“You’re actually going to let me wear a ‘Property of the Hells Bastards’ T-shirt?” I ask, eyeing him skeptically over the tee.
He doesn’t look happy. “I kinda have to. It was the one he offered to me.” His big hand comes up and rubs the back of his neck. “And now I think he did that shit on purpose, asswipe.” I can’t help but laugh at him as I throw the clothes on the bed. Peeling the carefully planned sundress over my head, I feel his calloused hands on mine, stopping me. His eyes are hooded and they burn with lust. “This one’s my favorite.” He takes the hem of the material between his thumb and index finger.
I give him a coy smile. “I know.”
A low growl rumbles up his thick throat. “You little minx.” He charges me, making me squeal as he lifts me up and tosses me onto the bed. He falls to his knees between my legs, grasping my knees and dragging me to the edge of the mattress so that my legs drape comfortably over his shoulders.
He pushes my dress up my thighs and buries his nose in my sex, drifting it up my panties. “So fucking sweet.” He reaches up rips them from my hips. He looks up my body and holds them to his nose before shoving them into his pocket. “Don’t want to leave these behind. Cruz might get very wrong ideas about you.” His head once again dips, and this time I feel as he drags his tongue up through my folds, giving my clit a flick.
“Ohhh,” I moan, burying my fingers into his thick blond hair.
He pushes my legs apart and tilts his head, then I feel his lips drift up the inner thigh of my right leg, then up the left. I buck my hips, trying to direct him back to where I want him. I want his hot mouth on my pussy, pleasuring me like I know he can. He jerks his head back, giving my pussy a swift slap with the palm of his hand. “Oh!” This time I say it in shock, my body jerking with the jolt of pleasure it sends through every nerve ending it contains. He stands, picking me up under my arms and tosses me on the bed and falls over me, his head going right back between my legs.
“Greedy.” He lowers his head again, rocking his mouth back and forth, getting to the swollen little bud waiting for him, and with one more flick of his tongue, he has my body under the control of his mouth. He rubs two fingers up through my folds, teasing my opening, just before he pushes them in.
My hands fly out to my sides, gripping the quilt on the bed as I lift my hips so that his mouth is right where I want it to be. “Shit, Roman…damn it.” My toes curl and I squeeze my knees tight to the sides of his head. He curls his fingers perfectly, right where he hits my spot and begins to move them in circles as his tongue strokes my clit. I press my heels down into his shoulder blades, rocking my hips back and forth, fucking his face when he pulls away again, giving my sensitive pussy another hard slap.
“Ah!” The shockwave of pleasure rushes through my body, caused by the slight bite of pain from the slap. “Roman,” I plead as I roll hips, begging for his mouth again. I feel his mouth fingers, and it’s all I need to ignite like a wildfire in a drought. My body explodes around his fingers and in his mouth.
He doesn’t stop, and I’m trying to back away from his mouth as the aftershocks of my orgasm roll through my body. “Roman, Roman,” I beg breathlessly. “Stop, please.”
He finally removes his mouth from me and sits back on his haunches. I look down my body at him. “Damn,” I sigh.
He lifts his eyebrows and smiles. “MmHmm.” He pushes back up to his knees as he rips the button of his jeans open. “Now,” he says as he takes both of my legs, hooking them at the knees with his elbows, “I’m going to remind you who you do belong to.” He pulls me back to him, lining his hard cock up with my opening. With one hard thrust, he shoves into me and I gasp loudly.
“Roman!” He fucks me hard and uses his thumb to coax my orgasm back to life. He pushes my body and it jerks away from his with the force of each thrust. Using his hold on me, he drags me back onto him. My body once again comes undone and I scream my release, not caring there if there’s anybody who can hear me.
He pumps hard into me three more times, then follows me over the steep cliff he’s perched us both on. His big body slumps down on mine, my legs still draped over his arms now pushed up to my shoulders. He gives his hips two more twists, his body rubbing against my very sensitive clit. “Roman!” I gasp for air. He lifts up and looks down at me, very satisfied with himself.
“Do you have any doubt?” He kisses me.
“Never did,” I mumble my answer against his lips.
He gives me another sweet smile and quick kiss. “Good.” He backs his hips away from me, and I feel empty once he does. He offers me his hand. “Let’s clean up.”
~~~~~~
Roman
“Here.” I hand her the T-shirt and roll my eyes as she smiles at me, smoothing her hands down the front.
She holds her arms out to her sides. “What do you think?”
I thrust the shorts at her. “It burns my eyes.”
She giggles as she bends down, slipping her feet in the leg holes of the shorts. When she stands, I pull her to me, lifting her up so that she wraps her legs around me and carry her to the bed. She buries her fingers in my hair. “Be careful.” I tilt my head to one side at her. “Don’t look at me like that, you know what I mean.” She gives my hair a tug.
I toss her onto the bed and she bounces twice, giggling. Falling, I catch myself above her, and lean in to kiss her. “You hang out here and I’ll be back in a little while. I want to get this over with so you can plan to marry me.”
“Sounds good to me,” she says, kissing me back. I pull the blanket up over her and she tucks it under her chin. I turn and look at her one last time before I open the door to leave. “I love you, Roman,” she calls out, making me smile.
“Love you back.” I close the door behind me and take a deep breath. It could’ve gone a little better, but it also could’ve been a lot worse, had it been any other woman.
~~~~~~
I step through the double mahogany doors that lead into the opulent clubhouse of the golf course. It’s occupied with several members and a few staff. The extravagance of the members still sickens me, even though I grew up in this atmosphere. The older I get, I find it harder to stomach.
“We can’t do this in front of all these people.” Eno comes up to stand beside me, eyeing all the people in the room.
“I know, get rid of them,” I say letting him step in front of me. He raises his fingers up to his mouth, letting out the loudest whistle I’ve ever heard, and it does what it’s meant to do. All activity around us stops and everyone’s attention is on us. I hold up my hands, stepping farther into the room. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman.” All the eyes have locked on my tattoos and they reflect a bit of shock and a humorous amount of horror. “If you could please give us the room?” I stifle my laughter, trying to stay on point, gesturing to the five men standing behind me. “We’ll be throwing an impromptu private party this afternoon and your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.” The room is filled with hushed gasps and quiet whispers, but none of the patrons make a move to leave.
Leo steps through, clapping his big hands, getting the attention of our audience once again. “The quicker the better, people. Come on, let’s go, get your asses out of here.” He gestures with his thick arm and big hand at the doorway we’d just walked through.
A little old lady stops in front of me and begins to poke a boney finger into my chest, taking me off guard. “I’ll be contacting the mayor about this.”
I just smile at her. “I would expect nothing less, ma’am.” We’d made an effort to look like we’d been playing golf from the neatly pressed polo shirts we’re wearing to the khakis that are squeezing my junk.
She jerks her head around and walks out of the room, eyeing all the boys as she goes, like she’s taking notes for a line up later.
I dismiss the staff, giving us the room. “How long do you think it’ll take for him to get here?” Dalton slumps down into one of the antique leather chairs lining the room.
“It shouldn’t take long. This is his crown jewel, and having all his rich friends kicked out on their asses won’t make him happy.” Eno nods at the bar and smiles at Matty. “What kind of booze you think they have back there?” Eno and Matty walk over to the bar going behind it and begin taking down the bottles from the top shelve.
“Pour me something expensive.” Cowboy goes to a table and takes a seat. He looks over at me with his brow furrowed, and his lips pinched into a thin line. “So, you think he’ll come?”
“I know he will.” I settle myself into the chair across the table from him. Leo kicks the chair out beside me, falling down into it just as Matt and Eno bring glasses over and set them in front of us, pouring us each ample amounts of Blanton’s.
“So I have an idea for your bachelor party,” Dalton says as he takes his glass. “Oh, wow. That’s some good shit.” He tilts the glass back and eyes the amber liquid in it.
I look at him. “No bachelor party. I don’t need you assholes getting me divorced before I even get married,” I grumble, but hide my smile with the glass as I take a drink of some of the best bourbon I’ve ever put in my mouth.
“Man, come on.” Dalton sinks down into the only empty chair left at the table.
“No, Dalton, just forget it.” I reach out and pour us all another round.
“So you’re marrying the whore?” His voice cuts through our little party, and his words bring us up short. We all turn our heads at the same time to find the mayor standing just inside the door with a smug look on his face. “No wonder she didn’t want my money.” Leo slowly stands and we all follow his lead. He and I cross, stopping in front of him, as Cowboy and Dalton stop on either side, while Matty and Eno walk around behind him, completely encircling him. The door clicking has him turning around to see that Eno closed the double doors leading out into reception of the country club.
I hold up my finger in his face. “This is your one and only warning, Campbell. You refer to Hollis as a whore again, and you will regret it, understand?” I warn, my brothers nodding their agreement.
Our little show of power doesn’t affect this man in the least. He’s calm as he steps through Leo and me, turning to face us all. “I don’t appreciate you coming into my house and mistreating my friends.” He spins around. Spotting the bourbon on the table, he gestures to it with his hand. “Or drinking my liquor. Your father would be very disappointed with your behavior here today.”
“I stopped giving a shit what my father thought a long time ago.”
“Obviously,” his hand moves from the table to point at my arms. “Tattoos are not allowed to be visible on the golf course.”
“We’re not on the fucking golf course, asshole,” Leo growls through gritted teeth.
He laughs, turning around and whistles. “Why don’t one of you boys get me a glass so that I can drink some of my bourbon you’re helping yourselves too?” He arrogantly walks to one of the chairs we’d been occupying and drops into it, looking at us expectantly.
“Eat shit and die, motherfucker,” Leo barks out, but I backhand his arm, nodding for him to put his rage on hold for a moment.
I gesture with my head. “Eno, get him a glass.” I take the seat across from the mayor and my brothers sit around me. Eno slams a tumbler down in front of him, taking the bottle we’d been passing around, pouring it full. “Thank you, son.” He smiles as he reaches for the glass.
“Choke on it, shithead,” Eno says before pulling a chair from another table and joining us.
Campbell smiles over at Eno, unaffected by his comment. “Thank you.”
We all fall silent for a beat, us staring at him, and him looking like an asshole bastard in his expensive three-piece suit.
“So, why are you really here? To warn me off her, threaten me that if I do anything, you’ll what? Kill me?” He tilts his head along with his glass at me. “You boys don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“We found you. I think we’re quite aware of who you are.” I lean into the table, resting my forearms on the surface.
“And you think coming here with all this muscle,” he huffs, using the hand he’s holding his glass with to point around the table at all of us, “is going to intimidate me?” He reaches into his lapel and we all tense as he pulls out a lighter and a cigar. “Easy boys, just a smoke.” He shows us his hand. We watch him as he casually clips the end of the stogy, then lights it with a butane lighter. He moves his hand through the smoke he’d just blown out. “So, what are you here for, Roman?” He levels his eyes at me. “If you know what kind of man I am, you know I don’t respond well to threats.”
I sit back in the chair, taking my glass with me and slowly sip the liquid. The tension radiating off each man in this room is so thick, someone would choke if they were to walk in right now.
“I don’t issue threats, I make promises.” Leo grunts beside me, making me look at him out of the corner of my eye to see him smiling.
The arrogant ass laughs as he takes a toke of his cigar. “And what kind of promises are you making today?”
“The kind along the lines that if anything ever happens to Hollis, I will find and end you.” My voice is even and my hand is steady because it’s taking all I have right now not to beat this man in the fucking face until his head resembles a hollowed-out pumpkin.
“Son, that woman is a bleep on my radar.” He leans forward onto the table, his big body making it tip in his direction. “She meant nothing to me then, and she sure as hell doesn’t mean a fucking thing to me now.”
I catch movement out of the corner of my eye before I hear a heavy wooden chair hit the floor. Leo’s on his feet, and then so is the mayor. Leo lifts him up with a hand around his throat. “She fucking means something to us.” I jump to my feet and watch as the once smug, arrogant mayor paws at the thick fingers that are tight around his throat. “And I am one to issue a fucking threat. You touch her or pay someone else to do it to keep your hands clean, Roman will be the least of your fucking worries. You’ll spend the rest of your useless life looking over your shoulder for me.”
Cowboy grabs Leo’s arm. “Let him go, man.” Leo, still seething with anger, slowly releases his grip from around the mayor’s throat and takes a step back from him.
Campbell coughs a few times, rubbing his neck as he turns to me and smiles. “You need to keep your dog on a leash, Jefferys.” His voice is raspy.
“Hey!” Cowboy screams, just as he catches Leo’s arm before he can throw a punch. I look over at Leo and make the motion with my hands for him to calm down. I can wholly understand how he feels, but violence doesn’t work on men like Keaton Campbell, it only ignites their wrath that they deliver later. Leo knows this, but when it comes to Avery and the girls, he has a harder time controlling his anger than the rest of us.
The mayor laughs again as he takes his seat and pours himself another shot of bourbon. Taking a drink, he gestures with his head for all of us to take our seats. “Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted by,” he tilts his head in Leo’s direction, who’s still being held by Cowboy.
I pour Leo another glass and push it to him. His chest is heaving as he takes the glass and throws back the liquid before falling heavily into his chair.
Cowboy turns his baseball cap around and leans down, getting in the mayor’s face. “He isn’t a dog, and he’s the least of your worries. Be very careful what you say about her from now on because next time, he won’t be the one with his hands around your throat, and nobody will stop me.” His voice is even and cold. Cowboy turns, slapping Leo on the shoulder as he walks back around to his chair next to me.
The mayor straightens his tie and takes a minute to collect himself, eyeing the big man across the table from him before looking at me. He taps the ashes into the ashtray sitting beside him on the table, his mask firmly back in place as he opens his mouth to speak. “I did my homework too, and found several interesting things out about you boys. You seem to be the type I would like to have on my payroll. It could prove to be very lucrative for us all.”
The files he’d found on us paint a very gory and graphic portrait of the things we’ve done as a criminal element in the MC and drug world. Him being interested in us only reaffirms my belief that there are things the mayor does that aren’t printed in the Sunday bulletin of the church he and his wife attend.
I glance over to Leo, who’s still seething with anger, but I tilt my head before turning to Cowboy, who studies my face and nods. I turn back to the mayor. “We’ll consider it.” We have, on more than one occasion, made similar deals with men like the mayor, but none of them have chilled my blood more or made me as sick to my stomach as this one.
“I was under the impression Mr. Tucker was the one who called all the shots. He is the president of the MC after all.” He gestures with his hand toward Leo.
I smile. “Well, at the moment, he wants to rip out your throat and watch you choke to death on your own blood, so being Vice, I’m speaking on all of our behalves.”
He laughs. “So let me get this straight, you came here to threaten me to stay away from her, but you’re willing to go behind her back and work with me?” He shakes his head a few times, letting out a long, drawn-out whistle.
I shrug nonchalantly. “What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her, and we all like to make money as much as our women love to spend it.” I pad the lie just a little bit more. But Hollis will know, and I’ll make her see how important it is to keep a man like Campbell close, making him think we’re just as, if not more, dirty than he is. I lean into the table. “But, the warning about her—,” He holds up his hand, cutting me off.
“Is understood.” He taps out his cigar and stands. “I think we’re done here, gentleman.” He offers me his hand, and I just look at it. “I look forward to your phone call.” When he sees I’m not going to shake it, he reaches into his lapel, taking out another business card and throws it on the table in front of me. “Just in case you lost the last one. Call the cell.” He walks over, opens the double doors and leaves us.
We watch him go, and when I turn back, all the eyes in the room are on me. “Are you fucking seriously considering that shit?” Matt leans his hands, palms down, on the bar he’s standing behind.
Leo sighs as he leans in, resting his forearms on his knees, rubbing his hands roughly over his face. “Think about it for a minute, guys. This could give us the in we’ll need to find out all his dirty little secrets, and really get Hollis some closure by locking his sorry ass up.” He stands. “But this isn’t a discussion we should be having here. It can wait till we’re back in the safety of our own four walls, and we know there aren’t unseen ears listening.” His eyes dart around the room.
“He’s right. Let’s get the hell out of here. I need to get Hollis home.” I wave at the desk clerk as we walk back through the snack bar and out the front doors, hoping like hell I don’t ever have to come back to this fucking place ever again.
I’d hoped to close this chapter of her life today, but instead I opened the fucking door and invited him in, giving him access he doesn’t need.