Tess
There were pros and cons to living in a house that never slept. There were always enough people to blend in with, but there were always people around. I waited for Rachel to be pulled away by my mother before I tapped on the keyboard to bring up my schedule. I was curious to know if Jace had booked any more sessions with me. I hit the arrow to slide through the month, only to find I was booked at least five times a week, but not with Jace. Disappointment rippled through me, but it only proved I needed to get the hell out of here fast. At least Venna was still booked for the stage, which meant I was.
I heard my mother’s voice and had just enough time to click out and turn down the hallway. I pressed my back against the valet wall and listened to learn if they noticed I was there.
“Take her off the books,” my mother snapped. “She’s a train wreck. We don’t need another Mags.”
My heart sped up. I hadn’t heard my best friend’s name mentioned in this house for so long. I inched closer to the corner.
“Do I pay her for the week?”
“She almost cost me our biggest client. I should be taking her pay.” She slammed her hand down on the desk. “Clear out her room, toss her shit in a cab, and get her off my property within the next six hours, or you’ll be looking for another job.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rachel started to type away on the keyboard.
“Where’s Clark?” I turned myself carefully so I could just barely peek around the corner.
“Um,” Rachel clicked on the cameras and studied each one, “he’s in the pool with Summer and Angela.”
“Of course he is.” She snickered and stormed off.
Damn, I hate that woman.
“Girl, are you asking for trouble?” Rachel was typing again, but I knew she was speaking to me.
I shamefully came around the corner with a shrug.
“You’re lucky I saw you on the feed before your mother did. Why are you creepin’ around?”
I ran my hand through my hair and wondered how safe it was to share with Rachel. I’d known her almost my whole life, but that wouldn’t mean much in this house.
“Just wanted to know who was being canned.”
“Dezzy. She took too much coke before her client came and nearly overdosed during a BJ. Dude almost lost his twig.”
Shit.
Her dark eyes narrowed in on me. “Why are you really here? Don’t lie to me. No one would have come back after what happened to you last time.”
“Money.” That was a fucking lie, but I wasn’t going to go there.
“Umm hmm,” she muttered. “I heard you were tangled up in some biker gang. That true?”
“What do you know about it?”
“I know Clark had some real shit-looking cops here dressed in plain clothes. They flashed their badges to get in. Once they got inside, Clark nearly took their heads off for coming to the house. Something about you and a biker gang. Once they talked to him for a bit, though, he cooled off, and they went into the bar. Right as they were leaving, they handed him something that looked like a computer stick, you know, one of those USB thingies. Then he went right into his office.”
“You hear a lot for working the desk, Rach.”
“You be surprised what goes down in this house, Tessa.” She gave me a strange look and went back to typing.
“Good to know,” I whispered then headed upstairs, but instead of going to my room, I went to Clark’s office. Now that I knew he was given something, I needed to find it and deal with this shit. I wouldn’t last much longer.
His office was locked, but I had picked up a few tricks while living on the streets. I used my keycard that allowed access to the viewing rooms and wiggled it past his sorry excuse for a lock. It only took a couple tries to get it open. With a look over my shoulder, I slipped inside and gently closed the door behind me.
I never liked his office. It had white walls with white furniture. How fucking bland could you get? I headed for the file cabinet first and thumbed through the tabs, but nothing really stood out. I did pull my file and placed it aside while I opened the next drawer.
“Come on!” I flipped through everyone who ever worked here since the nineties. For someone who had such a modern office, he certainly had an old-school filing system.
My stomach jerked when I saw her name written in red pen across the tab.
Mags Hurtle.
I flipped it open and leafed through her paperwork. Her family’s info, her health report, details of her pregnancy with Lily, the asshole baby-daddy’s info. I stopped when I came to the police report. A lot of it was blacked out, which was odd but not surprising. I shifted to lean against the desk when a DVD dropped to the floor and slid under his bookshelf.
Fuck.
Just as I bent to grab it, Clark’s phone rang. I jumped, shoving the file back into place.
“Jesus.” I tried to calm my nerves as I fingered the DVD out from underneath the bookshelf. I jammed it into the back of my corset.
With a frustrated sigh, I moved to his desk again. It was a simple desk with no drawers, just a table with four legs. I clicked on the keyboard, and his Mac screen flickered on. I closed my eyes, wondering how the shit I was going to navigate through this. I was used to Microsoft technology.
After four failed attempts at the password, I turned off the screen and looked elsewhere. If they handed him something, the proof should be here. I checked inside the few little containers on the desktop for a small USB, but had no luck.
Dumb yourself down, Tess, and think like Clark.
Think.
Think.
Think.
I saw his Monet panting on the wall and wondered if maybe he was that much of a cliché to hide a safe behind it. The frame was about an inch from the wall. My fingers moved along the bottom and tugged, but nothing.
Hmm.
Then I spotted a display box for his beloved rocks on the table under his bar shelf. I was five feet from it when I heard the familiar footsteps. I scanned the room, desperate to find a place to hide. His shit furniture provided zero cover, so I slipped into house mode.
“Tess?” Clark stopped when he saw me sitting in his chair in front of his desk. “What?” He looked over his shoulder then closed the door behind him. “What are you doing here? How the hell did you get in?”
I crossed my legs, which typically drew his gaze to my upper thigh. I dragged my fingers from my stomach, lingered at my chest, across my collarbone, and up to my ear to play with my earring. Clark was incredibly predictable when it came to the female body, so I used what I had.
“I want to ask you to talk to my mother about my schedule.”
He pulled the chair next to me around so he could face me head on. Crap. I noticed I hadn’t moved my own folder that I had pulled.
Mother of fucking Christ, Tess!
“You know that would be easier said than done with our history.” His hand fell on mine, and I felt like my skin was on fire. The urge to pull away was overwhelming. “Have you spoken to her about it at all?”
I saw my opportunity and used it.
“Yes, I just tried, which is why I was in here.” I waved my hand around but made sure to stop at the file. “Why I ever thought she’d listen is beyond me.” I slowed my breathing to make my point. My free hand landed on his. “Clark, I can’t do this. It’s not who I am. I’ll dance, but to be a madam…I just can’t. Please.”
“Tessa,” he leaned closer, and I responded and leaned into him, “just let me have a taste, and I’ll see what I can do.”
Trigger’s face popped up in front of me, and I had to force myself not to pull away.
As Clark’s lips pressed to mine, so much resentment filled me I wondered at my ability to control myself. I thought hard about why I was here, forcing away the belief that it felt like cheating. God, I didn’t even know if I was really with Trigger.
“Clark,” I whispered and dropped my head.
“What?” He trapped my legs between his. “Just give in to me, Tessa.”
I jerked back and felt the fire lick through my veins. I shoved him away, jumped up, and darted to the door, but before I opened it, I turned to him as he stood.
“If you ever loved me at all, you will get me back on the stage, Clark.”
“I do love you, Tessa.”
“No.” I cut him off. “If you did, you would have let me go years ago, not played mind games with me, not hunted me down, and not destroyed lives along the way.”
His face dropped, and I could see he was conflicted but didn’t really get what I was saying.
“Tessa! What the hell?”
I slammed the door. Clark was so embedded under my skin it was hard on my emotions. He twisted them up and confused me. It was no wonder I was such a mess.
I heard footsteps and wondered if Rachel saw me on the camera and let my mother know I was here. I tried the door across the hall, but it was locked. Shit, I didn’t have time to pick it. I moved to the other, and thankfully, it opened. Closing the door to a small slit, I saw my mother swing open his door.
“Where is she?” she hissed at him. “Rachel said she saw her up here.”
“Calm down, calm down. She was here. She just wanted to discuss being put back on stage, and you know what, Felicia, I have to agree. It’s strange you’d even allow her to be a call girl. She’s your own daughter.”
“Please spare me your concern for little miss perfect. She’s been a pain in my ass since the day she was born. I’m just making her work in the house so she’ll leave. She’s like an alley cat. You feed it once, and you can’t get rid of it.”
“Wow,” Clark muttered. I wanted to take her head off but stayed where I was.
“Don’t make me remind you, Clark, I know your secrets too.” I heard her heels click on the wooden floor before she spoke again. “Ones that could destroy her.”
“We had a deal.”
“Yes, we did, and a deal works both ways, so keep your dick in your pants.”
***
Trigger
After sixteen hours, I slipped into off mode on the outside but gave in to the chaos happening inside. That was what they wanted, after all—for me to sweat. Thing was, there was no way they could pin that murder on me. There wasn’t enough time for one of us to have done it. It was just a waiting game on their turf.
The mirror that faced me rattled slightly, more than likely from a door being shut. I waited for a moment and slowly let my lips part into a smile. The same smile I used whenever Doyle brought up his sister. It rattled again before the door opened, and there stood Doyle and Sam.
Sam tapped his side, which signaled me they had to let me go since there was no evidence.
Doyle’s pissed-off face was the icing on the fucked-up cake. I stood and reached for my phone Sam held out before I towered over Doyle.
“The next time you think about arresting me and my men, you better have some goddamn good evidence. Now, move.”
His face twitched, and he cleared his throat and stepped aside so I could pass.
“Where are the guys?” I grunted at Sam as he raced to catch up.
“Waiting in the car. You were harder to get released.” He raised a hand and scrambled to get in front of me. I stopped and looked up from my phone. “Trigger, I need you to know this looks like a setup.”
“I know.”
He fixed his glasses and shifted his files from one hand to the other. Sam was a plump little man who looked like an inmate’s bitch. His clothes were wrinkled, and his face was always beet red. But he was smart and had my back, even at the times I didn’t think he had. Besides, he wouldn’t fuck me over. He knew what I was capable of, and he had a family to lose. I had made it a point to meet the wife and kids when we first hooked up.
“You want to share anything with me? I need to be kept in the loop.”
I rubbed my head. “My father is still alive.” I let that sink in. “And, apparently, he is determined to get me six feet under, or behind bars, at least.”
“Jesus Christ.”
“Not even close.” I stepped around him and scanned my text messages. Nothing else from Jace.
“Trigger, we need to discuss this.”
I tapped Jace’s contact info to start a call and turned to Sam. “We just did.”
Cooper was at the curb in his 1966 Lincoln Continental convertible. Way flashy for my taste, but the guys had picked up our bikes, so it would have to do.
I slipped into the front seat and motioned for him to leave.
Jace finally answered on the sixth ring. “You’re out?”
“You found Tess.”
“I did. She’s in Vegas.”
I glanced away from the side mirror and closed my eyes. At least she was okay.
“Trigger, you need to know something.”
“What?” Fucking spit it out.
“She is working as a prostitute.”
I glanced back at Brick, who apparently heard Jace. He muttered something and looked out the window.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, and that Clark guy is a real dick.”
“You met him?”
“He came in her room. He thought we were done.” I pushed away the murderous thought of the two of them in bed together. “He wasn’t happy. He wanted to see her after.”
“And besides that?”
He took a moment to answer, and I wasn’t sure why.
“Sad, man. She seemed just…sad. But you know Tess. She turned it to mad.”
I rested my elbow on the open window and covered my eyes with my free hand.
“I don’t wanna overstep here, but—”
I hung up and tossed my phone on the dash.
We all remained silent as I mulled over Jace’s words.
What the fuck is she doing? And who the fuck is she doing?
“Hey, Trigger.” Morgan stopped me before I went inside. He was visibly rocked by what went down. “I swear, man, I didn’t—”
“I know.” I moved around him and headed for my room. I needed a hot shower.
Cray and a few of his men stayed for dinner. Seven tables were pushed together, and Rail filled the guys in on what happened to the San Diego crew.
“I’ll pay for the family to stay at the Hilton,” Cray chimed in. He glanced at Moe, who shrugged. Moe barely felt much inside. I understood that and made sure he was directly under Cray in ranks. Unemotional people tended to screw up less.
“Yeah,” Moe said. “I’ll send someone to get them.”
“Did you find anything?” I knew the answer was no. I would have heard if Moe had gotten his hands on the Harmos family.
“Nah, skipped town.”
I nodded and nursed my beer. Morgan finally joined us but remained quiet. The whole situation played on him, and he needed to get over it.
This was all my father—what he did best. Fuck with people’s heads.
“Trigger?” Big Joe stood in the doorway with a box. “This just came for you.”
I flicked my head at Jace, and he jumped to get it. He set it in front of me and cut the tape along the top before he stepped back. Rising from my chair, I slowly opened it and pulled out Gator’s leather cut. I slammed it on the table and lifted out the rest of the cuts piece by piece.
Anger surged. The guys were waiting for me to explode, and I was about to let fly when I saw there was an envelope taped to the bottom of the box.
What the fuck was this?
I glanced at Gus before I ripped the paper and freed the note.
Eight down. Who is next?
You want this to stop?
Step into the ring.
“It’s a trap,” Brick hissed from behind me. “He knows you can’t resist the ring.”
Gus made a strange noise, and I looked over.
“What?”
He shook his head, but he still cleared his throat, which meant he was going to give me his two cents anyway. “It’s just what he wants.”
“Did I say I was going to?”
“No, but addicts slip, and he’s playin’ you.”
Fuck. I needed to be alone to work off some of the tension that was building. My fists were clenched tight, and I couldn’t relax my fingers.
“Get these cuts cleaned up, and we’ll give them to the families,” I barked at Jace, and he quickly gathered them up without a word.
The door swung open, and my newest prospect, Rich, looked around the room, his excitement obvious.
“Excuse me.” He blinked to find the right words for interrupting my fucking meeting. “Trigger, I saw some of them.”
“Who?” My entire body immediately came to high alert.
“Five men from your father’s army.”
With a quick glance at Brick, we all stood and grabbed our weapons and followed Rich out back to where we had parked our bikes.
We didn’t need a plan. We’d make one once we arrived and checked the place out.
“There.” Rich pointed at a group of men who looked like they were part of a kid’s birthday party being held at a park just outside the border of my territory on the Stripe Backs’ land.
“How many kids?” Brick checked his phone.
“Ah,” Rich craned his neck and looked around, “seven, no, ten. Ten kids in total. Including the baby on that chick’s tit.”
“You and Rail go around and draw them out. Brick and I will meet up behind.”
I motioned for Cooper to go and headed around the cars to the other side.
“Ready?” Brick and I stood on either side of the line of Stripe Back bikes and tipped them in toward each other, so it was harder to stand them up in a rush. It would buy us an extra ten seconds or so.
We rushed in the opposite direction to create a distraction that would pull the Stripe Backs away from us.
Just as we rounded the area near the restrooms, we saw Cooper nail one of my father’s men in the head with a rock. They jumped to their feet and started to chase them through the garden area and up to the road.
“What the fuck, Samuel!” One of the Stripe Back members had a kid by the collar. “I told you not to touch the bikes.”
“Poppy, I didn’t!”
I signaled for Brick to follow me. We stayed low and made our way through the path and up the hill where Cooper was getting his ass kicked, and Rail had one in a neck hold.
My knuckles were curled tight as stone, and my heart jump-started into high as I ran in and swung with all my might. One man flew into another, and they both went down, which gave me a few seconds to take out the fucker on Cooper’s back. I felt a blow to my shoulder and whirled to cave in the face of the first guy I could reach.
Pound.
Pound.
Pound.
My muscles screamed me on, and I reveled in each bone I broke. One by one, we took out each man, and every hit I took amped up my desire to kill.
“Where is Allen?” I heard Cooper shout at one of the men. “Where is he?”
The bastard laughed as blood drained from his mouth. “The Father is too protected, his army too big.” His heavy accent made his words hard to follow. “You don’t find him, he finds you.”
“You’re dead, anyway.”
“Sí, but I die knowing where Father is. You,” he poked Cooper’s chest, “do not.”
I stepped over and snapped his neck.
“He won’t talk.”
Cooper grabbed his legs and dragged the body to a nearby car. We had found it unlocked earlier and decided to fill the trunk with our gift.
I jumped back into the fight. Fuck, I needed this.
Rail’s guy was huge, so I took over. I got lost in the fight. He was almost my size, but his swing was shit. He lasted at least a few minutes on his feet before he went down like a fucking tree.
My chest heaved with a cocktail of thirst and fuel. I needed more, but they were dead. I glanced back at the party and saw the Stripe Backs were aware of our visit, so it was time to go.
“Snap a photo, cut their fingers, and send them to the church. No note, just leave a bag of coke with our symbol. Whether he’s still there or not, it’ll get back to him.”
“Wish I could see your old man’s face when he opens it.” Brick huffed and pulled out his phone. “Tess?” His tone was off. “Tess, hon, is that you?”
My legs were moving before my mind kicked in. He turned and caught my expression, and his face twisted with worry.
“You need to tell me what’s going on.”