***Ronin***
“Fucking hell, she’d better be worth it and pull through when she’s tested, Prez. This was a close call, dammit.” My VP throws out his words for the very reason he’s called Bark. Always barking out his damn words.
I shove Lars Vorth off me. Bark isn’t joking about the close call. I push myself to my feet and check out the left side of my body, just below my ribs. Yeah, the fucker grazed me with a bullet. I twisted just in time so it didn’t end up in my gut. The two bullets I fired at him ended up in his heart.
“What would you have done differently, Bark?” I ask and tuck away my gun. We’re the only two standing in Lars’ office.
When we were in church we discussed attack plans. Something we always do; talk through each suggestion and sharpen every angle until we have one solid plan. Except this time we didn’t have one, we had two. And not so much a backup plan either. We basically went with my brothers going for the house and the guards, while Bark and I went for the drug lord himself. Bark had sent out two of our guys earlier to scout out that fucker’s place so we knew what we’d be getting ourselves into. That, and the details of a rough count of bodies the fucker had walking around.
“Nothing,” Bark tells me. “Absolutely nothing, shit went smooth. But I fucking hate it when I get blood all over my necklace.”
See? What did I tell ya? All bark when there’s nothing to yap about.
“Pussy.” I snort. “But yeah, my Old Lady is more than fucking worth it. She doesn’t judge or back down for anything, she’s right there with me every step of the fucking way. You know she never so much as mentioned my damn scars? Or looked at me differently because of it? Every bitch I’ve met has a mixture of disgust and fear when they look at me, but her? Not one fucking time. So believe me when I say you’d want one of those for yourself.”
He gives me a glare while he rubs his necklace. It was a below the belt remark, because I know he longs for an Old Lady. The necklace he’s fussing about? It’s a wedding ring he keeps safely hidden underneath his clothes. It belonged to his grandmother, special meanings and all. His shirt is soaked in blood so is his chest underneath, and the ring, everything is painted red. Bark likes his knives and up close fighting. So that’s his own damn fault if he’s covered in that shit.
“Come on. I have better stuff to do than stand around here. Let’s light this place up and head on back,” I tell Bark and walk out.
We all watch the large mansion that belonged to Lars Vorth being eaten by flames as we walk the half mile to where we stashed our bikes. It takes about two hours to drive back to the clubhouse. We’ve been gone for most of the night, and I’m not sure if my Old Lady will be awake or still sleeping. Depending if she’s a morning person or not.
It’s almost seven a.m. when I step foot inside the clubhouse. In the back, I spot my woman sitting at the bar with three whores surrounding her. A prospect is behind the bar, his eyes wide. What the hell are they discussing?
I’ve left Romeo behind. He was told to keep an eye on her when she got up, or if she needed anything. He’s standing close and I can see his hands are fisting at his sides. I take long strides and feel Bark right behind me.
“Oh, bitch, please. Say it again and put some more venom in there to strike your mark more thoroughly, will you? Or bite your fucking lip, because your aim is off. I don’t care if you’re a whore. I don’t judge or badmouth anyone for who, or what they are, or how the hell they look. But you? You’re a snake to badmouth the President’s Old Lady in her own clubhouse, that right there can only lead to self-destruction.” Anouk leans forward, into the whore’s face. “With these two standing there, ears all flapping…what exactly do you think is going to happen? Me running away crying because you think my ass is too big? Or you landing on that nasty ass of yours when you’re being thrown out? Or he might just kill you, whatever.”
The whore, Kat, gasps. “They would never.”
“Yes, they would,” the other whore, Lola, cuts Kat off in a sing-song voice.
Kat turns to face Lola. “Shut it. You were rambling about it too, sayin’ how we either need to ditch the pig, or become one ourselves. Because that’s clearly what’s needed for other parts of these hot bikers’ bodies, besides their dicks, to stand to attention.”
I’ve heard e-fucking-nough and I’m ready to snap a few heads when I hear Bark’s voice. “Romeo, grab the whores and throw them out on their ass. I want them gone, off the damn premises right the fuck now, or I will skin them alive and nail them to the wall for every other bitch to see what we do to people who threaten woman we respect around here.”
Pride hits my chest. That’s my VP, handling shit the way I like. Anouk turns at the hard sound of Bark’s voice and jumps up and heads straight for me. She presses herself flush against my body as I hiss through my teeth. She pulls back and sees my shirt and gasps at the blood she didn’t notice before she launched herself at me.
I drag her back against my body. “Not all mine, sweetness. Most of it is the dead guy’s who will never bother you again. The fucker did graze my left side though, just a little flesh wound, that’s all.”
I feel her damn nipples saluting me through our fabrics. She’s still wearing my shirt and although I love to see her in it, we need to head out and do some serious shopping. First though, I need to handle other stuff before we can get to that.
“I’m going to go shower, clean up that wound, have some coffee, and then we’ll head out to get you some new clothes and shit, yeah?”
She mumbles her agreement to my chest, but doesn’t let go.
“Come on, sweetness.” I reluctantly pull her away. “Make me a cup of coffee, and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
She presses her lips to mine. “Okay, I’ll be right here.”
“Damn right you’ll be.” I smack her ass and stalk to my room, a feeling of righteousness in my gut, knowing the future looks brighter than it ever has with her right there with me.