Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Iris
Something’s wrong.
Kali answered a phone call and walked out of the boutique we’re shopping in. She’s pacing out front of the store.
Standing beside me, Cell stares at Kali with concern. Glad it’s not just me. Till pulls her phone from her back pocket, frowns at the screen, then makes eye contact with Cell and notches her chin at the exit.
Message received, loud and clear. We meet Kali out front, who pockets her phone, takes one look at me, sighs long and hard, and waves for us to follow her. Down the street to a brick alleyway, she checks the coast is clear before whispering, “We’ve got a job. Dark called.”
“Where?” Cell asks just as quietly.
Kali grips her crystal necklace. Concern etches her features. “He won’t say. But I’ve got half an hour to find as many sisters as possible who aren’t already on jobs to ride with me to the cabin.”
“Not it,” Cell announces, head shaking back and forth in a whole lot of hell no.
With the ghost of a smile, Kali rolls her eyes. “I know that.” Her attention swings to Till, who’s leaning against the brick wall of the alley. “Not you either.”
Till bobs her head as if she already expected she wouldn’t be included. “Call Sola,” the brunette suggests.
“I’ll do it,” I blurt out of nowhere, without even thinking about what any of this entails, but it can’t be much different from what I’ve done before.
Cell’s giant eyes round in horror, and she opens her mouth to argue, but I cut in before she gets a chance.
“In case you forgot, I’ve been doing this for more than half my life.”
“This is not the same thing.”
Ignoring my friend, I focus on Kali. “I’m in. Brief me. Get me up to speed.”
“But you want out,” Cell argues, and she’s not wrong. I do want out.
“I’ll get out after this,” I vow, but Cell, doing what she does best, doesn’t back down.
“Irissss.” My name leaves her lips in an unhappy hiss.
Refusing to let Cell decide for me, I focus on the woman in charge. “You need women. I’m a woman.”
“Sounds like a solid plan to me.” Till clasps her hands together. “But Sola needs to be invited.”
“Her men won’t allow it,” Cell argues, crossing both arms over her chest.
Ignoring Cell, Kali nods at Till. “I’ll call.”
Then that’s that.
The walk back to Kali’s Jeep is thick with tension. Cell’s pissed, Till’s unaffected, and Kali is in boss mode. When Kali drops them off out back of Dark Delicacies, and I hop into the front seat with her, she connects a call to Sola through Bluetooth.
“Sister?” Sola’s sweet voice answers, then there’s a giggle and hushed tones of her reprimanding what must be one of her men.
“We need privacy,” Kali explains, taking a left at a light.
“On it.” A door shuts, and when Sola speaks again, there’s a slight echo. “I’ve locked them out. You’ve got two minutes.”
“Something big’s going down. I don’t have all the details, but I’m on my way to find out. My gut says your expertise will be needed. Are you able to help?” Kali asks.
“I’ll see what I can do. Send me the details when you know more.”
“Will they let you help? I guess that’s the better question.”
“It’s complicated.”
Kali snorts. “It always is.”
“If you’re calling, I’ll make it work. Rot will… well, he’ll support me.”
“What about the others?”
“We have cells for that.”
Kali huffs a laugh. “Sola.”
“What? You asked.”
“Forget I called.”
“Not gonna happen. Just update me when you know more. I’ll work my magic in the meantime.”
“By magic…” Kali trails off.
“I’ll use my womanly appeal to wear them down.”
“You’re gonna make them cum.”
I cover my mouth to keep from laughing aloud.
“Of course. Duh.” Sola giggles.
There’s a loud bang. “Sweet Cheeks,” someone growls.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” Sola sings.
“Tell Kali goodbye,” the man orders.
“How did…” Sola trails off. “You’re listening on the cameras.”
“Open the door.”
“Only if you agree to…” There’s a girlish squeal, and the phone cuts out.
Turning down a country road, Kali chuckles. “That woman has her hands full.”
“Right? I can’t imagine being with one man, let alone three.”
Flashing me a smile, Kali hums in agreement, reaches into her skirt pocket, pulls out a small, red stone, and sets it on my knee.
“What’s that for?” Taking it into my hand so it doesn’t fall on the floor, I roll the smooth rock between my fingers.
“It’s Jasper, for strength. You’re gonna need it. Dark is gonna lose his mind when you show up with me. A word to the wise, don’t back down or let him talk you out of going.”
“You think he will?” I ask.
“He’s gonna be pissed.”
“Do you think this is a bad choice?” I ask, wanting to know if she thinks I’m making a big mistake, given I just moved here and everything is so fresh.
Kali side-eyes me. “Real talk?”
“Always.”
“I think you’re as right for this job, if it’s what I think it is, as I am.”
I rear my head back in surprise. “That’s…”
“The truth,” she fills in. “We may not know each other well. Yet anyhow. But I know a bit of your story, and I know mine.” Kali notches her chin at the crocheted purse on the floor next to my feet. “Reach in there, pull out that little baggy at the bottom, and tell me what’s in it.”
Following her instructions, I lift a small plastic zip-lock bag from the messy confines and inspect the crushed stems and roots. “This is wolfsbane, isn’t it?”
“Yep. And that is why we are gonna be good friends.” She flashes me a wide, friendly smile.
“How did you know…”
“Your plants. The datura, specifically. Nobody randomly chooses to grow those.”
“You’re observant.” Dee doesn’t even know about the unique plants I grow.
Kali snickers. “So are you.”
Hiding my smile, I hum. I’m observant when I need to be on my game, which has been most of my life. In the books I’ve read, they call it survival mode. I call it life.
“Have you used it?” she asks, referring to my plant, which is part of the nightshade family. Jimsonweed is what it’s better known as.
Not comfortable sharing that part of myself with anyone beyond Dee, I hum a noncommittal response and shrug. Even if Kali means well, I do not know her. Not really.
As children, we might not have gone to school, but we had books.
Our visits to the local library were once a month, and always such a treat.
Sitting in the corner of our bedroom, I curled up and read book after book.
Dad forbade us from reading fiction. So I learned about growing, canning, and all the things we needed to survive.
That’s where my love of plants blossomed. Pun intended.
Not prying any further, Kali turns on some music until we pull off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and ease into a small space between trees to conceal her truck. A few spaces down, there’s a van, and beyond that, a motorcycle tucked away from the road.
When she gets out, I follow her to a clearing where smoke billows from a firepit and a well-worn cabin, much smaller than the one I grew up in, sits along the edge.
Five tall, broad-backed men in leather vests stand around the fire, chatting. But as a twig snaps under Kali’s foot, everyone turns at once, and Dark’s face goes from neutral to downright grim when he spots me.
Hugging my arms around my middle, I shrink into myself.
Kali goes to Sunshine as I keep to the outskirts, not wanting to intrude. I’m an outsider here. Not one of them. That much is apparent from their welcoming exchanges with Kali and the wary gazes they set on me.
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
With her arms wrapped around her man, Kali announces, “Iris is gonna work with us on this. She’s perfect for the job.” Her eyes meet mine, and she winks before mouthing. Breathe.
In through my nose, I inhale an entire lungful of air and grip the crystal I forgot I still had in my fist.
Kali’s encouraging smile has me straightening my backbone, so when Dark finally approaches me with an air of being pissed off, I don’t cower. I channel the woman I’ve been all my life, the one who’s run jobs for her father and sister and is damn good at it.
I don’t fight Dark when he grips my upper arm and drags me into the forest, away from the others. He releases me against a tree, and then he’s there, caging me in, a whole foot taller, breathing heavy, eyes blazing.
“What. The. Fuck?” he hisses, tattooed arms flexing on either side of me, his palms flat on the massive tree.
Refusing to back down, I hold my head up high and stare right into his soul. “She needs help.”
“No. She doesn’t.”
Not in the mood to argue, I try a different tactic. “I’m doing this.”
“The fuck you are. You are done with that life, sweetheart. Done. That is why you moved.”
“What about you?” I challenge.
“What about me?”
I shove his stomach for him to back up, but the jerk doesn’t budge. “So it’s okay for you to go, but not me?”
“This is my club. I’m in it for life. They call. I go.”
“Well, I’m a grown woman, and Kali needs help. It just so happens that it’s for your club.”
“It’s not safe, and you don’t owe Kali anything.”
“Do you think any part of my life has been safe? And isn’t she the mother of your sons?”
“Iris. Don’t fuckin’ go there.”
“Why? You’re fine with me being friends with your ex-wife, but only on your terms? No, it doesn’t work that way.”
“Jesus Christ.”
I jam a finger into his chest, right where I stabbed him with the chopsticks, and he shudders, then groans. “You’re not my boss.”
Dark’s forehead drops to mine, and he runs a hand down the side of my arm to my hand, where he opens my palm and places it right there, on the hard outline between his legs. It’s perfect just like the rest of this man, even if he’s bein’ an asshole.
“You’re fuckin’ killin’ me, sweetheart,” Dark groans.
“Work with me, not against me.”
“Listen, I know you’re capable. Fuck. I know that. But I won’t be able to think straight with you there.”
“That’s a you problem,” I toss right back with a dose of venom.
Forcing me to rub my palm up and down his erection, my belly flutters as a low, needy groan vibrates in Dark’s throat. His molars grind together as his breath quickens, bathing my face in warm air. “You fuckin’ own me.”