I tore through the hall with the callousness of a charging rhino. I threw a shoulder into the hotel guests that didn’t get the fuck out of my way fast enough.

With every footfall, my brain told me to stop. To let it play out as it should. I didn’t owe Star anything. She was nothing to me, just another disposable piece of ass that littered the breakdown lane of my road to hell.

Except… I knew her name.

Star.

It shined too brightly in my mind. Something loomed behind those defiant, hazel eyes that, as much as I pushed away, always pushed back. She was an infuriating pain in my ass, a persistent ache that was always on my mind. An itch in the back of my brain that I just couldn’t scratch.

And yeah, I couldn’t kid myself, she looked a hell of a lot like Maria. Personality-wise they were radically different. I buried that pain a long time ago.

Ride, Fight. Fuck. There was a beauty in that simplicity.

I was a bad man, I could accept that. These are the decisions I’ve made. The stones I’ve cast. No one had any expectations as to the kind of man I was—just a long dick and a smoking gun, and I was damn good at it.

No one better.

There’d always been a curtain of darkness draped over my soul, but with Star... I could feel pin pricks form in that black fabric. Star’s innocence and fiery defiance threatened to unravel me as I raced through those halls.

I had to get out there before Top or Star was completely fucked.

Before I knew it, the bar room door loomed ahead of me. I started to slow down. Running full-tilt, if I threw my shoulder into it, the damn door was likely to smash right off the hinges.

Fuck it. I sped up instead.

That door would be just one more thing I’d have to square up with Muse later. My lip curled at the thought of her selling Star out so fast. Muse and I had a lot to talk about.

I came in like a battering ram.

Cries of surprise rang out between everyone who was awake, and the thunderous clap of the door woke everyone who wasn’t. Guns snapped up at me from nearly every direction, but were quickly lowered when they realized I wasn’t a swat team storming the place. In all honesty, it’d been a pretty stupid decision to make, especially with tensions running so high. I was lucky no one shot me by accident.

I couldn’t help but smile at that.

I fucking loved to make an entrance.

The barroom had turned into a fucking armory. Our stash of reserve weapons were dumped unceremoniously across the bar. Shotguns, pistols, riffles, bats, knives. More tools of death were littered atop that shattered glass and booze-strewn mahogany slab than was locked up at the local police department.

Good.

If the uneasy tolerance between us and the pigs goes ass over teakettle, we were going to need every last piece of this hardware.

“Where’s Top?” Breathing heavily from the run I scanned the room, but didn’t see the big bald bastard anywhere. Was he still passed out?

“Entertaining our new friends.” Crutch cocked his head outside. He was the only one who didn’t look like old shit warmed over.

Fuck! I should’ve gotten here faster. I massaged a painful side-stitch out of my ribs from the abrupt jog and immediately made my way for the biker’s door. I needed to cut back on the cigarettes.

I had to get out there before the cops let slip that it was Star who called them. If Top had any reason to suspect her, he would walk back inside and break her in half. I’d come too far to let that happen.

“Top told us to wait inside!” Crutch called out after me, quickly loading his shotgun.

“He just doesn’t want guns outside.” I slowed enough to whistle to Tee, then tossed him my handgun.

Tee shot me an annoyed glare, because my piece was already sailing toward him when he looked up.

The cops would be looking for any reason to open up on us, so I had to make damn sure I wasn’t going out strapped. Part of me always fantasized about going out in hail of gunfire with the police.

But not today.

“—many of these bikes belong to the Steel Veins?” I caught the cops mid conversation with Top. It didn’t sound like they got to why they were here yet, which was good. I wouldn’t have to back peddle.

“Stop!” Another cop cried out, anxious at my sudden arrival. “Stay where you are!”

“Easy, easy. Just grabbing some aspirin outta my bike. That’s still legal, right?” I slowly walked up beside Top with my arms spread wide and shirt pulled up, so they could see I wasn’t carrying anything. It took a herculean effort to suppress the shit-eating grin at how nervous I made these boys in blue.

Four cops eyed me as I came to a stop next to my brother. Two of them were out of arm’s reach from us and the other two were further back, using their car doors as shields, just in case things got hairy. The two in the back had their guns drawn, but lowered. These boys might’ve been rookies, but they knew who we were and knew it was best not to fuck around.

Infamy made it even harder not to smile.

“I told everyone to stay inside,” Top said to me in a low voice.

“You know how I get if I haven’t had my coffee yet.” I shrugged. “Besides as your VP, I couldn’t let you have all the fun.”

“The fuck happened to your chest?” The cop closest to us asked. Fresh from training, he was so green I could swear grass was about to sprout from him any second.

“Cut myself shaving,” I stated matter-of-factly. I’d completely forgotten about that ragged little love scratch from Star. It was a long, but shallow gash that wouldn’t need stitches. If she hated me so much, she could’ve really carved me up with that knife, but she didn’t.

Why was that?

That lusty memory of her up against the wall caused an avalanche of others, like the way her skin felt as I dragged my fingers down her stomach, and the heat from her pussy scorching the back of my hand when I—

Not now. I cleared the whole, hot mess that was the Star from my mind. As much as I loved making cops squirm, I didn’t feel like explaining a raging erection.

“You shave your chest?” The suspicion was blatantly apparent.

“The ladies love it.” I buttoned up the shirt, and smirked.

“Why are you here?” Top interjected, quickly growing irritated.

“We received a distress call about an hour ago,” the cop answered. “I’ll tell you right now, once back up gets here, we will be walking through that bar. Are we going to have trouble with you or your thugs, or are you going to let us do our job?” The cop asked in as stern a voice as he could muster when talking to the unarmed giant.

It was a joy to watch the rookie’s by-the-numbers police work. Body shifted to the side, front hand out in a calming gesture while his back hand reached for his pistol. This kid was a delight.

“Not at all, officer.” Top put up his hands in disingenuous submission. I bet he didn’t even realize he was doing it. A lifetime of solving problems internally and generally being on the wrong side of the law made it inescapable for Top to obediently respond to cops without a passive sarcasm. The cops always sure as hell saw this too. They would be very, very careful when dealing with this outlaw. “Who was it that called?” Top repeated the question.

“Fuck you, that’s who called.” The cop’s confidence was immediately bolstered by the familiar wailing of more incoming sirens. “On the ground, both of you.”

“The fuck is Muse? Why isn’t she out here?” I asked Top, completely ignoring the cop’s order. He had a better chance of getting us to dance the Macarena.

“You know she doesn’t like to get her feet wet with these assholes.” Top was equally unfazed. If anything, he was a little exasperated by everything.

“You told her you’d handle it, didn’t you?” I shook my head.

Top was such a prideful sonofabitch.

“I said get on the fucking ground, shit-for-brains! Now!” The closest cop had his gun out and pointed at us. Like dominoes, the others followed suit.

“For Christ’s sake, Top…” I groaned, flashing my brother a look and crossing my arms. “Muse would’ve had them eating her out by now.”

Muse also would’ve had them give up more details on exactly who called them so I guess it was a good thing she’s wasn’t here.

Granted the likeliness of us getting our asses shot just skyrocketed.

Captain Jeffries’ souped-up police pickup screeched in. “Stand down, Tavares,” Captain Jeffries huffed. The fat mustached fuck swaggered out in his cowboy hat and boots like he was Wyatt Earp. “Got a call from Muse. False alarm.”

“But, Captain, its protocol to search—”

“What part of stand down did you not understand?”

“Yes, sir.” Tavares and the rest reluctantly lowered their guns.

“Now, I want all you boys to get on back outta here.” Jeffries made an exaggerated, baseball umpire’s thumb out to the side you’re-out-of-here gesture.

The painstakingly concealed shit-eating grin finally broke through my impassive façade when I saw the impotent frustration on their faces as they got back into their patrol cars.

Top waved with a wide grin, wiggling his fingers at them.

There was nothing quite like seeing cops walk off all tail between their legs.

Fuck them, we won.

“Top. Remy.” The formality drained away when the patrol cars were gone. Jeffries shook each of our hands.

“What happened, John?” Top cut right to the heart of it. “Who put in the call?”

“Had dispatch send me the recording on my way over. Nah, it was nothing. Just some whispers. Some girl probably got scared around all the big, bad bikers.” Jeffries took his hat off, wiped the sweat from his brow, and fanned himself before putting it back on. “I was on my way over to see Muse, anyhow.”

“The caller. Sound like a girl in her early twenties?” Top kept fishing.

Jeffries waved it off, looking customarily unconcerned with the whole ordeal. He’d mastered a can’t-be-bothered attitude that deflected a lot of sensitive questions. It obviously served him well in the department because we’d never heard a peep of Internal Affairs being brought in to investigate his unorthodox friendship with a vicious biker gang.

Clubs like ours thrived in small towns and desolate counties.

“Probably my fault,” I cut in before he could speak next just in case Top made him get more loose-lipped than usual. There was a mangled box of cigarettes in my pocket that I fished out. I patted my other pockets but couldn’t find my lighter. It must’ve fallen out during my run. “I grabbed some bitch’s ass this morning. Her boyfriend got in my face so I put him into the wall. Not a big deal, I let him go, but she did run back into the room. Maybe she called you.” I wanted to change the subject, but I couldn’t keep laying it on or it’d look like I was covering for something.

“That how you got that cut?” Top gave me his zippo. I offered him a cig, but he just shook his head.

“You’d be dragging a body outta here, that was the case.” I snorted a laugh, then lit up. Between puffs I added, “Just a little foreplay with one of Muse’s employees. Ah, fucking finally.” I exhaled a plume straight up, feeling better now that I had a little nicotine in me. I turned to the police captain and let my expression bleed the last of the mirth; it was replaced with a severity that he’d best avoid being on the wrong side of for long. “The real question is what the fuck do we pay you for, Jeffries? You gotta reign in your boys better. You almost had a fucking blood bath on your hands.”

“Hey, hey! Them boys are fresh out of the academy. It takes time to acclimate them to the sensitive nature of things out here.” Jeffries was clearly nervous, going so far as to saunter a step away from us during his explanation. “They’re just on edge after that gas station thing that went down outside of Kingfisher. Now I’m not sayin’ that was you, just…some folks have been hearing rumors and—”

“They killed Bren.” Top growled in a dangerous cocktail of grief and hangover that could make any hardened badass shudder. The rawness of the memory had Top. “Let’s call it self defense.”

“My—my condolences. Bren was a good boy.” Jeffries took off his hat again and let the statement breathe a moment before moving on to the reason he was already on his way here when he got the call. “But you gotta unnerstand that sorta self defense blows a lot of heat my way.”

“Where’s this going, John?” I asked, swallowing some smoke only to blow it into the fat captain’s face as we waited for the other shoe to drop.

“I swear, each batch of new boys comes out of the academy these days wants to be heroes like they see on the TV. So uh, things are a little tense right now and, well… I’m gonna need more money to keep the boys quiet. That’s all.”

And there it was.

The greedy fucking pig. Paying off the cops was the cost of doing business. Hell, we’d even integrated into the Steel Veins’ member dues. It’s just the way it was, but this greedy prick always came up with excuses for tax hikes, and we were getting real goddamn tired of it.

From the expression on Top’s face, it was easy to see he was in no mood for that shit today. “How’s Lily, John?” Top’s tone held the playfulness of a rattlesnake.

“Uh, my granddaughter?” Jeffries sudden confusion at the subject change started fall away. “She’s arright, I guess. I don’t—”

“Still goes to Prairie Elementary, right? She’s a real cutie, John.”

“Alright, Top.” The captain got the point. Inklings of fear started to shine behind his dull blue eyes.

“Lives with her mom on North Pracht Ave,” Top continued. “Fourth house down on the left.”

“I get it. There’s no need for—”

“Second floor. The room with the pink wallpaper and the Disney snowman nightlight.” Top could be a surgeon when he wanted to be. It was masterful to watch. Jeffries’ eyes opened so wide that given a strong breeze they might just roll from his skull. “You’ll get half what you’re used to from now on. You got a problem with that?”

“That—that’s f-fine,” Jeffries stammered, lowering his head. Given what just happened at the gas station, the captain had no idea if that threat was a bluff or not.

I’d never be a party to anything like that and I doubted Top would’ve either, but there were some Veins that wouldn’t bat an eye at killing a few kids. It was disgusting but there were a few guys like that scumbag Lorenzo or the national president’s sadistic son, Rio, who might even get off on it.

Top raised a brow at him. “Now how bout you do me, Lily and yourself a favor and get the fuck out of my sight.”

Before Top finished his sentence, Wyatt Earp there was already retreating backwards to his truck. He barely had his door shut before he pulled out of the parking lot.

Jeffries knew he’d just escaped with his life.

Served him right, pulling that shit after our brother was just killed. He’d just gotten extremely lucky. As amped up and pissed off as we all were all right now, our MC would’ve ripped his whole department to shreds.

Wouldn’t be the first time we’d had to kill a few cops.

“Remy, gas station girl will be dealt with by the time we leave here tomorrow morning. You hear me?” Top wasn’t bluffing with Jeffries, and he was not bluffing with me. For all his many faults, Top wasn’t a liar. If I didn’t kill her, he would.

I nodded gravely.

One more night. That’s all the time I had to figure out what the fuck I was going to do. I’d have to get real creative real fast if I wanted Star to see another sunrise.

“Good,” Top said, rubbing soreness from his neck and patting me on the back. “Deadeye and Rio are on their way up with the full club to pay their respects. We’re hosting them tonight. Let the boys know. We got a lot of work to do to clean up after last night’s shit show.”

The full club was on their way?

That was bad for Star. Really fucking bad.

Muse would send some of her girls to assist, but the majority of cleaning up after the fight last night would be on us. Muse was practically going to gift-wrap Star for Top. She didn’t want any lose ends hanging around either. It was bad for business.

I’d have to talk with her personally.

For as much as I’d have loved to find Star and finish what we started, I couldn’t shirk my responsibilities to the club. We all had our jobs to do. Everyone in…Everyone out. All Steel Veins patches were equal. After letting the boys know to pack in the guns and to start getting shit sorted for the event tonight, I left to go pay Muse a visit.

“It’s Remy.” I rapped on Muse’s office door.

“Come in, handsome.” Muse’s voice sounded relaxed, but not overly pleased.

The small office room looked tidy and sparse, save for a computer desk, filing cabinet and a small cappuccino maker above a mini fridge. The curtains were drawn, but the overhead lights were on. Muse reclined behind her desk wearing a tight, black blouse and grey skirt that had been hiked up to the point you could only call it a belt. Her panties were carefully folded on the desk in front of her and the face of one of her employees was busily buried in her pussy.

“A bad time?” I couldn’t help, but smile at the casualness of it all. I took a chair opposite them and watched as the curvy, fair featured European girl in the maid’s outfit energetically went to town kissing and licking Muse’s inner thighs.

“Nonsense, Remy-dear. It’s just some on the job training.” Muse smiled at me, lighting up a cigarette. She motioned me to come in. “However may I be of help?”

“We need to talk about your newest employee.”

“Our little caged bird, the beautiful shining Star. Stephanie told me you stopped her and offered to relay my message to Top yourself. Being that you’re here and not him, I’m guessing the news of that girl’s escape attempt never made it to his ears, hmm?” Muse dug her nails into the girl’s scalp and moved her head to where she wanted.

“I’m handling it,” I said, crossing my legs.

“I seem to hearing that a lot from the Daniels brothers lately.” Muse’s dark, cherry lips spread into a knowing smile. “You’re—Pardon me, sugar.” Muse looked down at her apparently unimpressive employee and sighed. “Sophia. Read my body language. You feel my hips? What are they saying to you? ‘Work the hood then my clit.’ I want the alphabet in French, honey. Not German.”

“It’s always inspiring to watch you work.” I pulled out my wallet and put three hundred dollars on her desk.

“Oh, sweetie.” Muse chuckled wafting smoke from her nostrils. “That’s not nearly enough for the bar’s repairs.”

“Top will be around later to give you money for that.”

“And this is?” Muse was too cleaver not to already know, but she wanted me to say it out loud.

“Discretion.”

“You’re playing a dangerous game, Remy. Top has been awfully good to us over the years. I couldn’t possibly betray his confidence,” she cooed to me. Then, she slapped the top of the girl’s head and scolded her in French. “What did I just say? Fais-le bien!”

I knew the money wasn’t going to be enough.

It never was for a woman like Muse who dealt in power. I’d have to improvise. I could threaten her, but I doubted that would work on her. I’d have to try a radically different approach.

I stood up and walked toward her.

At first, she was intrigued and curious, then quickly, she became concerned when I didn’t stop.

I grabbed a handful of the girl’s hair and pulled her face from Muse’s thighs. “Lock the door behind you,” I told the maid in no uncertain tones to fuck off. I had work to do.

The girl hesitated, then snatched a baggy of coke off Muse’s desk and ran off, closing the door behind her.

“Remy?” Muse started closing her legs.

I caught them, and pried them back open. I then lowered my head, all the while never wavering in eye contact.

Muse took excellent care of herself and had the body of a woman in her late twenties. I first, started in on her dark thighs. Teasing, I licked her taut muscles, then massaged the shaved area above her pussy with my palm, pushing into her, letting her feel the pressure. I exhaled hot breath over her clit, but didn’t move closer.

After a few minutes, her hips shifted slightly, opening more and more.

My tongue briefly kissed the top of her hood before pulling back altogether. I grabbed her legs and pulled them apart. I looked up at her with such indifference that I could’ve been reading the newspaper.

This wasn’t about sex.

This was dominance.

She moved in closer, but I held my distance, letting the open air nip at her tender flesh. I waited until her pussy yearned for my lips, then waited longer. All the while, my hands squeezed and dragged over her thighs, behind her knees, up to her hips.

Her cigarette burned, ignored in her hand as her almond eyes narrowed with lust and defiance.

I traced her labia then stopped, keeping my pace inconsistent. Soft, soft, harder, fast, soft, slow, stopped, slow. I licked iambic pentameter into her pussy as my tongue recited excerpts of my favorite literature. All the while, neither of us broke the stare. Her eyes began to gloss, but she still remained strong.

Could I make her come?

This was the twisted game.

With one arm, I pushed her lower stomach in while simultaneously cupping her ass and jerking it forward. Her pussy flowered for me like chocolate, strawberry roses. My tongue wore long, deep groves through her clit in time with the subtle gyrations of her hips. When I cut against that rhythm and pulled away, I felt her spasms. She was getting close, but Muse was a woman who was always in control—of herself and, especially of others.

Again, I brought her to the precipice just to pull back, not completely. I wanted her to still know I was there, ready to finish her off at the time I wanted. I didn’t know if this was true yet, but that’s what I wanted her to think.

Her hand found the back of my head, but was slapped away roughly. No. I was doing this, not her. I wasn’t her vibrator; she was subject to my whims.

I made it clear that I set the terms of her orgasm.

Now both sets of lips quivered at my touch, but still I wouldn’t take her all the way.

“Ow Shit!” The cigarette she’d been holding had smoldered down to the filter and singed her fingers. She flicked it away in a panic.

I stood up, wiped my chin and smirked at her. Muse just lost the game.

I didn’t make her come, but I could’ve.

“Fuck! Alright! Fucking let me finish!” Flustered and breathing heavily she snapped a hand over her cunt and pushed hard.

“Finish yourself off.” I’d already won. I wasn’t going to do it for her now.

“You are a cruel and horrible man.”

“You don’t know the half of it. News of the girl stays between us.”

“Fine.” Muse slipped two fingers between her lower lips and started curling them as she glared at me. “Now get out.”

On my way out, I grabbed the three hundred dollars I placed on her desk earlier. “To the victor…”

She softly growled, but said nothing.

I let the door swing wide on my way out of her office and left it like that.

She screamed for me to close it, but I didn’t bother turning back.

Muse frantically covered up as a customer approached the front desk which had a clear view into her office. The distraction meant she might not get the orgasm she’d been chasing for the better part of an hour.

Good. I smirked at the sound of her trying to explain herself to an incredibly surprised young couple. That’s what you get for serving Star up like an entrée at a banquet.

Even a fire-handler like Muse could occasionally be burned.

More importantly, that’s what you get when you fuck with me.