Chapter 8

~Roxana~

 

“Rox! Are you listening to me?” my partner, Ralph Taylor, thunders at me as I scan the mammoth garage in my secluded mansion.

“No,” I answer curtly.

He stalks over to me and positions himself right in front of me, blocking my view of the vehicles. One black BMW, a sleek silver Dodge Charger, a navy blue Ferrari Fiorano and my Triumph motorcycle.

I glare up at him, not amused at his insistence on continuing with our tense conversation here.

I take in his black jeans and thin V-neck gray sweater that looks like it’s straining to contain what’s beneath it—those mammoth arms of his. To say Ralph is built would be a hell of an understatement. He’s like a linebacker. But he’s also got the brains to go with the brawn. People fear him, because of his size and the intense, stoic expression he always wears on his face. They mistake it for him being pissed, but really it’s him thinking and analyzing. Don’t get me wrong, he can be a scary beast of a man to anyone who crosses him—or our business—but to me he’s a teddy bear.

He always has been, ever since we grew up on the same street as kids. He has a decade on me and he’s always looked after me and had my back. Especially after all the hell that broke loose after my parents died when I was sixteen. He saved me from going into the system, foster care and all that crap. And now, years later, we’re inseparable. He’s my partner in crime. Crime? Well if racketeering is really considered that much of a crime? It’s not like we kill people for a living. We just…control them. Better than the other way around. Hell, I’ll never make any apologies for it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way, it’s that it’s survival of the fittest in this city. But we don’t go around threatening people. Unless we have to. It’s the opposite actually. They pay us. We protect them. Plain and simple.

His amber eyes flash at me. “You’re gonna give this guy everything on the Mavs?”

“It’s fine, Ralph.”

“Actively helping the VP of a rival club to the Mavs could end up putting us right smack damn in the middle of a war. We’ve always laid low when it comes to the Mavs passing through here, cuz it was never worth the backlash if we went up against them. You helping this VP is gonna look like you’re taking a stand against them. It’s gonna look like you’re taking Black Thorns’ side.”

“It’ll be fine. Calm down. I’ll give him the intel he wants and then he’ll go.”

“You think he’s just gonna listen to you?”

“Yeah, I do. He’s already agreed.”

He scrutinizes me for a moment. “What haven’t you told me here?”

“Excuse me?”

“This isn’t like you. Trusting Black Thorns, given your history with that club. So, why are you? This guy is under your skin, isn’t he?”

I scoff. “Please. He’s a biker, Skinner’s son and he messed with my car. And you think…what…I have some sort of soft spot for him after all that?”

A grin spreads over his face. “Good looking is he?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“So, he is then.”

That’s it! I‘m done with this infuriating conversation. “Yeah, he is. He’s also got a monster cock and he knows how to use it, too. Pity I kicked him off me during the best fuck of my life, because I found out he’s Skinner’s son. There! Is that what you wanted to hear?”

He bursts out laughing. “Holy shit.”

“Oh, shut up, dickhead.”

He rubs his hand over his shaved head. “I can’t believe it. You fucked a biker? You? With the deep-seated hatred you have for his kind? Wow, I guess months of not getting laid finally got to you, huh?”

“It was a momentary lapse in judgment. Get over it, Ralph. I have.”

“Has he?”

That gets my attention. “What?”

“You said you kicked him off you mid-fuck, right?”

“Yeah. What about it?”

“Guys, especially ones like him who are used to taking what they want, don’t stop once they’ve been given the green light, Rox. Hell, some of them don’t even wait for the green light to begin with.”

“What are you saying?”

“Perhaps this guy has more than just a hard-on for you.”

I screw up my face, disgusted at the suggestion. “Urgh. No, Ralph. No, he doesn’t. It was just a weird physical thing. Sexual tension that has since been diffused. It’s done with now.” Shit, there’s no way I’m telling him about the kiss, or what happened on Ax’s bike. That would just add fuel to the fire. Even though it’s clear to me that Ax just did that to manipulate me, so he could get one over on me. Like me? Yeah, right. No way in hell. And it’s the last thing I need, to get mixed up with him and his way of life. You don’t just hook up with a guy like him. You hook up with his entire club. Become their property. That’s all that women are to them. Property.

Disgusting. All of it. Them. And him.

Ralph coughs out, “Denial.”

I shove him out of my way and make my way over to my bike.

“Really? The Triumph? You sure that won’t be sending Ax the wrong message?” he teases.

I glare up at him, not amused at all. “He’s a biker. He wouldn’t dare to mess with a bike like this, thereby ensuring that he won’t mess with this mode of transportation. So, no more gas-siphoning issues.”

As I mount the bike, Ralph loses the spark of amusement in his eyes and regards me seriously. “Do you think he’s right about the Mavs planning to move in here? Or, you think it’s a power play on Black Thorns’ part so they can claim territory here?”

“He’s telling the truth. I have surveillance set up on the safe house I brought him to that night. He thinks it’s my home residence. If he’d come here to distract me, so the club could screw me over to take over our business dealings, he would’ve already reported my location to Trigger and they would’ve sent their boys around there and rifled through the place looking for information and stuff. We’ve dealt with them before. We know how they work. And, what those idiot Mavs prospects let slip is all the proof we need that Skinner is planning to move in here. He’s already trying to commandeer all the businesses we protect.”

“We need to play it safe, Rox.”

For now. I nod in agreement. “Position some of our guys at the city borders. If the Mavs are gonna come through here again, I want to know about it immediately. I want to know what they’re gonna do before they do it.”

“Will do. And you?”

“I’m gonna get the intel Ax wants and then he’ll leave. That’ll be one less thing to worry about. You’re right. I don’t want the Mavs thinking we’re working with Black Thorns and—” My phone buzzes in my pocket. “One sec,” I tell Ralph. I pull it out and answer, “James. What? When? Yeah, that’s where their VP is staying. The Sundown Motel. Shit. No, I’ve got this. Thanks.”

“What’s happened?” Ralph demands.

“Ax is in trouble.”

“What?”

“The Mavs are coming for him. Four of them. Shit, I need to get him out before they arrive.”

I gun the bike.

I’m speeding out of the garage in the next second before Ralph can even attempt to protest.