I sat alone in a large comfortable chair, lost in thought. I had spent the last two days in the company of the Hellhounds as Cain worked with the other members, trying to sort out the Bulls problem. I still kept my distance, but they didn’t seem like the murdering type.

 

Yesterday, while Cain worked the phones, one of the club girls, Cherie, discovered that I left New Orleans with little more than the clothes I had on my back and had organized a shopping trip. Myself, Cherie, Toni and Eva had gone shopping under the watchful eyes of a pair of the Hellhounds.

 

I found it humorous that the three women ordered the men around, giving them packages to tote, and they meekly complied. Not what I expected from big, bad, bikers. When I asked about it, Toni giggled and whispered into my ear that the men knew they would be well rewarded later that night if they pleased them today.

 

“Alex, mind if I join you?” Cherie asked, pulling me back to the present.

 

I waved at a matching chair.

 

“I thought I would talk to you a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”

 

“Not at all. What do you want to talk about?”

 

“You and Cain.”

 

“What about us?”

 

“I just wanted talk to the woman that managed to snag Cain. Anyone that can do that is someone I want to get to know.”

 

“Oh? Why?”

 

“Because, Alex, I never thought he would take an old lady. He was too much the ladies’ man. Having you show up explains a lot.”

 

“How so?” I asked, leaning in slightly, curious now.

 

“He’s changed. He used to have a club girl, or someone else he picked up, every night. But over the last couple of months…I thought he had gotten tired of us and was getting it from somewhere else. I guess he was, but not like I thought. How did you do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Get him to make you his old lady. I tried to get him to make me his…hell, all of us tried at one time or another, but we couldn’t do it. What’s your secret?”

 

I couldn’t explain why, but I felt inordinately pleased with myself. If she only knew, but I wasn’t going to tell her the real reason. “I can’t say. It was his idea,” I said with a shrug, keeping it close enough to the truth that it wasn’t an actual lie.

 

Cherie gave me a long appraising look. “Well, if you decide you want to let a sister know your secret, look me up first. Cain may be off the market, but there are a couple of others around that I wouldn’t mind being their old lady.”

 

“What can you tell me about Cain?” I asked, deciding if she was going to dish out news, I wanted to hear it all.

 

“Nothing much to tell that you probably don’t already know. Great in bed. Sweet when he wants to be. Charming as hell. He used to spread it around, but not since you. I know he has made this club a lot of money.” She smiled. “One of the perks of being a club girl for the Hellhounds. They take care of you.”

 

“You like being a club girl?”

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but what does a club girl do?”

 

She grinned at me. “Probably not what you think. I have a job. I work at Hermès, but I like to hang out here. The parties are fun and the perks are nice.”

 

“Perks?”

 

“Yeah. The guys don’t mind spending money on you and once you are known as a Hellhounds girl, just mentioning it is enough to make most guys stop hassling you.” Cherie leaned in a little closer. “And those that don’t….well, a phone call is all it takes. The Hellhounds, they take care of their own. Then there is the sex. Some of the guys know how to please a woman. You got the best.”

 

“And you’re not expected to…” I began, not sure how to ask what I wanted to know. I had to admit, the Hellhounds weren’t exactly the way I thought a motorcycle club would be.

 

“Put out?” she asked with a grin.

 

“Well, yes, to be blunt.”

 

Cherie thought about it a moment. “In a way we are. But most of the time, we are not coerced. The guys respect us and know that it is a lot more fun if we are willing and engaged. And when they don’t take no for an answer, you just have to suck it up. I guess if we just flat refused, they wouldn’t make us, but you won’t be a club girl for very long if you did that very often. It’s a give and take relationship and you know that going in.”

 

“Give and take?”

 

She snickered and looked around conspiratorially. “Yeah. We give them some pussy and they take care of us.”

 

I couldn’t help but giggle. “But since I’m Cain’s old lady?”

 

“Then you are strictly off limits.”

 

“And Cain?” I asked.

 

“Cain less so.”

 

“How does that work?”

 

“If Cain were to ask for…my favors… then I could decide if I wanted to or not. I could refuse because you are his old lady and that would be okay. Or I could go, and then it becomes his problem if you get pissed off. But I’m no longer allowed to try to seduce him because I want him for the night.”

 

“And if I wanted to pull one of the other guys?”

 

“They won’t go for it. Not until they checked with Cain first.”

 

“So I’m protected is what you are saying?”

 

“That’s what I’m saying.”

 

I thought about it. “If Cain were to ask you to go to bed with him now, would you?”

 

“Would it matter?”

 

I wanted to say it wouldn’t, but I knew that would be a lie. “Yes. Probably.”

 

“Then I wouldn’t.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I wouldn’t want someone else doing that to me. What goes around comes around, you know?”

 

I smiled at Cherie. “Thank you. What about the other girls?”

 

“Most feel the same way. A few you have to watch out for, especially with Cain because he’s so yummy.”

 

I giggled again at her comment. “But I don’t have anything to worry about so long as Cain doesn’t start it?”

 

“No. We girls, we police ourselves. If anyone were to try to put the moves on Cain without you knowing about it, we would kick her ass out on the street. That’s the kind of stuff that ruins it for everyone. We have it pretty good here and we don’t want someone shitting in our nest.”

 

I thought about all that Cherie has said and what I had observed over the last two days. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but the Hellhounds aren’t like I imagined at all.”

 

“What did you think we were like? Go on, I would love to know. Most of my friends are into bikers and know the score. I would like to hear an honest opinion from someone on the outside.”

 

“Well… I thought there would be a lot of fighting, orgies, drugs, drinking…and maybe killing of people. Especially with the 1% patch that everyone wears.”

 

Cherie grinned at me. “You didn’t have a very high opinion of us. And now?”

 

“Well, there is some drinking, but I worked in a bar so I have seen that before. The rest, not so much. Everyone seems so…normal.”

 

Her grin grew even wider. “Because we are. The Hounds aren’t into the drugs like some of the clubs are. Orgies would be cool. I would like to try one sometime, but none of that either. As far as killing people? That stuff doesn’t happen nearly as often as it does on television.”

 

“But Cain said you lost three guys just the other day.”

 

Cherie’s grin disappeared like someone flipped a switch. “Those fucking Bulls. I hope they get what’s coming to them. All the clubs in Dallas get along, except for the Bulls. They are always starting shit and screwing it up for everyone else, and they seem to especially have it in for the Hounds. There is some long time bad blood between our two clubs.”

 

“Over what?”

 

“I don’t know. Nobody knows. But they are always trying to fuck us, but this is the first time they have killed anyone…the bastards.”

 

“So this war, whatever, with the Bulls is out of the ordinary?”

 

“Yeah. I have been in the club for almost eight years, and this is the first time anything like this has happened. Most of the time it is like a high school fight. There is some pushing and shoving, and some name calling, and then it’s over. But not this time. They bloodied us, and I hope the Hounds cut their nuts off.”

 

I was taken aback by the vehemence in Cherie’s voice. “Do you mean that?”

 

“Hell yes. These guys here are my friends. They were good to me, and now they are dead for no reason other than the patch on their leathers. We didn’t do shit to the Bulls. I would pull the trigger myself on every fucking Bull I could find.”

 

I was still trying to get my mind around what Cherie said when Cain approached. He looked like he was in a foul mood. “Are you okay?” I asked as I stood.

 

“Yes,” he snarled. “Well, no. My fucking arm is killing me and the Bulls…those bastards are going to have to be dealt with.”

 

“What’s happened?” Cherie asked, also standing up.

 

“They told New Jersey that we had gone bad and the reason for the sweetheart deal we offered them was because we were setting them up with the feds to take a fall.”

 

“They wouldn’t believe that, would they?” Cherie asked.

 

“They don’t know what to believe, and I don’t blame them. I need to go home and think. There has to be something we can do to straighten this shit out, but I’m fucked if I know what it is.”

 

I stepped in close and kissed him warmly. This was the first time I had kissed him since we had arrived in Dallas. At home he had respected my space and at the clubhouse, he had always kissed me. “Come on. I’ll take you home and maybe we can figure something out.” He looked at me in surprise and I smiled at him.

 

“Okay. I need a break anyway.” As we turned to go I could see Cherie’s face, a mixture of one part envy and three parts resignation.

 

***

 

“What was that all about?” he asked as we climbed into his truck.

 

“Just reinforcing my claim and making sure everyone knows it.”

 

Cain started the vehicle and put it into gear. “I’m surprised you even care.”

 

“I don’t know what I think anymore. The Hounds are not like I expected. But then, just before you came out, Cherie was telling me how she wanted to kill all the Bulls herself. It’s stuff like that that worries me.”

 

“That’s just talk. Haven’t you ever said you were so mad at someone you could kill them?”

 

“Well, yes, but that’s different.”

 

“It is? Why?”

 

“Because I wouldn’t actually do it.”

 

“And you think Cherie would?”

 

“I don’t know. She sounded like she might.”

 

“If someone were to kill your grandparents, do you think you might be willing to kill the person that did it?”

 

I thought about it a moment and I realized that I would. “Maybe.”

 

“That’s the way we feel. The Bulls killed three members of our family. We can’t let that slide. But we haven’t gone out and killed anyone over it.”

 

“But you will?”

 

“It depends. If the Bulls give up their killers, then no.”

 

“What do you mean, ‘give up their killers’?”

 

“If they take care of the killers themselves, if they do the dirty work, then it ends there.”

 

“In other words, if they kill the killers, then you won’t hit back at them?”

 

“That’s right. It’s how wars are prevented.”

 

“Did they do that?”

 

“Not yet. It’s a hard thing to kill a brother. We’re giving them some space. But they are going to have to step up, and soon, or we’ll take care of it ourselves.”

 

“And the rest?”

 

“The rest is just business. I’m sure they are screwing us, and New Jersey, over. I just can’t figure out how. Once I do, though, then I will fuck them good.”

 

“Then why are they attacking you?”

 

“I don’t know. It’s like they want this war. I can’t figure it out. It has to be related, somehow, but I can’t find the connection.”

 

We rode in silence for a time. “Come back to New Orleans with me! Please! Leave all this behind. Cain, I want to be with you, but I can’t live like this!”

 

He took my hand. “I can’t. Not now. I have to see this through.”

 

“Why?” I cried and gave my eyes a vicious swipe with palm of my hand.

 

“Because, Alex, the Bulls made two plays on you already. They have killed three of my brothers. If I don’t deal with this, we will never be safe. We need the protection of the club, now more than ever. But I promise you, I will leave the Hounds if that is what it takes to be with you, as soon as it is safe to do so. I’m just asking for the time to get us set for the future.”

 

“But what about the baby?”

 

“That’s all I have been thinking about! The safety of you and the baby. But I’m thinking long term, beyond the current crises. I need to get us a safety net, something to catch us until we can get on our feet again. Alex, I’m trying to do this for you, for all of us.”

 

“But I’m afraid of what might happen.”

 

He squeezed my hand. “You have the whole club watching out for you now. You’re safe. Every one of the guys would give their life for yours just like I would give my life for any of theirs. We take care of each other and you’re part of the family now.”

 

As we rode along I thought about how I had been treated. The club was tense, but they had still been welcoming. The girls especially had gone out of their way to be warm and welcoming, and had helped make me feel comfortable in the club. I thought about our shopping trip and how the Hounds had been our shadows as we wandered through the stores, the women without a care in the world. They had trusted the men to watch over and protect them from harm. The more I thought about the shopping trip, the more I realized that the two men had created a bubble around us, walking in front of and behind us, not letting anyone get in too close. I hadn’t picked up on it before, but, thinking back, I realized how they were always scanning the area. At the time I had thought they were bored and were just looking around, but I now realized they were watching.

 

“What happens if the Bulls don’t give up the killers?”

 

“Then, if we can find out who it was, we’ll kill them.”

 

“And if you can’t?”

 

“Then we kill three of theirs.”

 

I pouted, not liking the sound of that.

 

“I know. It’s a nasty business,” he said softly. “I hope we don’t have to go there. But we may have to. If we don’t handle this, the other clubs will see us as weak and we will have even more trouble.”

 

“Will you do the killing?”

 

“I don’t know. Probably not. If I am asked, I will go, but the three that were killed? They had some brothers they were really close to. They will probably want to handle it.”

 

I had to ask. “If it were me?”

 

His face went hard and he refused to look at me. “I would kill them all. I would be the fucking angel of death.” He stopped the truck in the parking lot of his apartment and switched it off, but didn’t open the door, allowing me to decide if the conversation was over.

 

“You’ll leave the Hounds when this is all over?”

 

“If that is what it takes, yes.”

 

I unbuckled my belt and leaned over, reaching out for him as my lower lip quivered. He met me halfway and held me, kissing my face with butterfly kisses. We sat in the very awkward embrace until I began to hurt, but, even then, I didn’t want to release him. I was so confused. I wanted him, and I began to understand the attraction of being in the Hounds, but I couldn’t forget what they had done to my parents. Or had they? None of those I met had struck me as the type to kill on a whim. None seemed to relish the coming conflict with the Bulls. Maybe I was just overreacting again. Maybe the Hellhounds were just as Cain said.

 

I finally broke the embrace and Cain gasped as he sat up.

 

“What?”

 

“My side,” he hissed as he opened his jacket. I saw a spot of blood where he had been shot. “Shit,” he muttered.

 

“Why didn’t you say something?” I cried.

 

“Because I wanted to hold you as long as you would let me.”

 

I don’t know why, but that touched me. “Come on…let’s go see what you did. Dumbass.”

 

***

 

“Not so bad,” I said as I placed an adhesive bandage over the wound. He had popped a stitch, which had caused a little bleeding, but it didn’t appear to be anything serious. “Next time, say something.”

 

He lowered his arm over my head, his other arm coming around my back. “I didn’t have anything to say. I already had everything I wanted.”

 

“What was that?”

 

“You, in my arms.”

 

I leaned into his chest. “Can we start over? Can we go back to the beginning and try again. Pretend the last couple of months haven’t happened?”

 

“No. I don’t want to give up even one memory of you.”

 

I whimpered. “Can you forgive me then?”

 

“Nothing to forgive. I’m sorry I dragged you into this. You had every right to be concerned. I’m glad you were worried over the baby. But now that you’ve seen the club, will you trust me?”

 

“Yes. I trust you.”

 

I expected him to pull my lips to his, but when he didn’t move, I looked up at him. He was smiling down at me and moved to offer me his lips, but he gave me the choice to kiss him or not. I stretched up and closed the remaining distance.

 

As we stood in the bathroom, Cain naked to the waist, my desire for him surged. I knew I had misjudged him from the beginning. He was a good man. All the Hounds appeared to be good men. To have Cherie tell me so plainly how the club interacted made me feel more comfortable with them. They had a certain... honor... about them.

 

I stepped back from the kiss and took his hand. “Are you able to perform tonight?” I asked as I continued to walk backwards, pulling him along.

 

“Does this mean I don’t have to sleep on the couch again tonight?” he teased as he followed along in my wake.

 

I felt guilty that I had let him do that for the last few nights. “So long as you don’t disappoint me,” I teased.

 

He took two quick steps forward and pinned the back of my legs to the edge of the bed. “I will never disappoint you,” he said, the seriousness of his eyes making it clear that he wasn’t answering my teasing come-on.

 

“No,” I said as began unbuckle his pants. “I don’t believe you will.”

 

He let me pull his pants down, his breathing speeding up. I nudged him back a half step to give me room to kneel before him. He was already impressively hard as I kissed the head of his cock with slow, delicate, touches of my lips. He stood perfectly still, allowing me to play, and play I did as I licked down his shaft, moaning and cooing, trying to drive him wild.

 

As I kissed my way from his balls back to the tip of his manhood, I began to prepare myself. As I reached the top I plunged him as deep into my mouth as I could. While not huge, he was almost too big for me to take all the way. I fought my way down the rest of the way and held myself there for as long as I could, looking out from under my eyebrows as I did. His head was thrown back, his face a mask of ecstasy as his hand found the back of my head and held me. I pushed back against his hand and he let me pull back, but I wanted to see that look again, and as soon as I had my breath, I plunged down on him once more, watching him.

 

“Fuck…” he growled as I worked him down the last little bit, the word like a match to gunpowder.

 

My desires roared and I could feel an orgasm lurking even though he hadn’t even touched me yet.

 

“Fuck… I’m going to come,” he growled and I quickly pulled back.

 

“Don’t you fucking dare come,” I snarled back. I stood up and began to undress as he stepped out of his pants. I removed my shirt and bra, then took his penis into my hands and stroked it slowly as we kissed, our tongues engaged in an intimate dance.

 

As he leaned into the kiss, I could sense he was still teetering on the edge of orgasm so I eased off on the pressure. “Don’t you come,” I warned again as I continued to caresses his cock, my hand slick with his lubricant.

 

“Stop,” he begged softly.

 

I smiled as I continued to slide my hand along his length, before stopping and removing my pants. The moment I was undressed I stepped in close again and, holding his lips to mine, stroked him hard and fast.

 

He grunted once and thrust his hips into my hand and I decided he had enough. I stepped back and eased myself onto the bed, pulling him along by his cock. The irony of leading him around by his manhood wasn’t lost on me, but I didn’t care. As he joined me on the bed, I released him and rolled onto my side.

 

“Like last time,” I murmured as I moved my leg.

 

He straddled my thigh and I draped my upper leg across his and clamped down as he entered me. I twisted around so I could see his face as he began to thrust. “Hard. Ram it into me hard.”

 

He moved, slowly at first, and as I watched he closed his eyes and bared his teeth. “Ah! I can’t!” he gasped as he twisted and hunched over slightly. “Fuck.”

 

“What?”

 

“I can’t…it hurts too much. I thought I could, but I can’t.”

 

We gently disentangled ourselves and he lay down on the bed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I said. I felt terrible that he had hurt himself trying to make love to me.

 

“I wanted to. I still want to. But I need another day or two. I’m sorry.”

 

“Shhh…” I whispered as I kissed him softly on the lips. “It’s okay. Can you just hold me?” He wrapped me up loosely. It wasn’t the snug embrace he normally gave me, but it would do. “Can we try again in a couple of days?”

 

He kissed me on the shoulder. “Yes. I will always want you, Alex.”

 

I didn’t know if he meant it, but his words made me smile. I backed into him a little tighter and he moved his arm so the sore spot wasn’t resting on anything as he held me. I took a couple of deep, contented breaths, enjoying the feel of being in his arms again, until I slipped in a deep and restful sleep.