21. Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Sylvie
“We have a conference call with the MC president in fifteen minutes,” Fenn informed me the next morning as I watched the workers remove the casing around the charred funeral home door. Ezra had pulled some strings and paid a ton of money to have the door replaced on short notice, but right now, there was a gaping hole there.
Milo stood a few feet away, watching the workers suspiciously. We’d all gone home and gotten cleaned up, and Drakos would only leave after I swore to him Milo could become my shadow for the next week.
Before he left, Drakos leaned in and spoke softly in my ear so no one else could hear. “If you break your promise to me and try to ditch him again, no more orgasms for you for a month, no matter how much you beg.” Then he gently licked and bit my earlobe before walking away. Irritation and lust swirled through me as I watched him go. I had to admit, it was an effective threat.
Later that morning, Fenn handed me a double-shot latte from our favorite local coffee shop just off Pecos Road. He eyed Milo and took a sip of his drink. “Is this Drakos’s way of marking you? He knows we can afford our own bodyguard, right?”
“He wouldn’t leave until I agreed. It might take a while for everyone to calm down.”
“Are you armed?”
I pulled my jacket back so he could see my waistband holster with my favorite handgun tucked inside. “You’re as naggy as Drakos. I’ll be fine, and so far my luck is holding.”
He shrugged. “Being prepared is better than being lucky. Unless we’re talking about sex. Then a blow job will do just fine if you don’t have a condom.”
“God, you’re such a pig sometimes,” I griped, shoving his shoulder. He grinned and shoved me back.
Sin City Disaster worked all morning to clean up the mess, and they loaded up the last of the burned, skeletal motorcycle remains onto a flatbed trailer. If the MC were aiming to intimidate us, their plan backfired spectacularly.
A man in a bright yellow Sin City Disaster shirt approached me. “Are you sure that’s where you want these delivered to?” he asked again, thumbing toward the charred bikes.
“Yes, and don’t worry. They'll be expecting you. Call me if you have any problems, though.” I handed him a hundred-dollar bill as hazard pay.
He took it with a nod but rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. We’ll be back to pick up the air purifiers later.”
“It looks like a scene out of Mad Max ,” Callum nodded toward the flatbed as it pulled away. That was the whole idea. A little mental intimidation and humiliation, straight out of Machiavelli’s playbook. The cousins didn’t know, but I’d also called in an anonymous tip to a local TV station about the charred bikes being delivered that morning. I wasn’t above rubbing a little salt into their wounds.
Callum and Kilian took off, and the rest of us headed to Ezra’s office. Ezra’s face was grim. “Both of you need to keep your tempers in check and let the MC president do most of the talking. We’ll get more information that way.”
I nodded. “Ivan will be listening in. He should be able to tell us what they say afterward.”
A few minutes later, Billy Grolier, president of OutKast MC, answered after three rings. He had a gravelly, low voice and I pictured him stroking his long, gray-streaked beard as he sat in his grungy clubhouse. “Hello, Ezra. I wish we were talkin’ under better circumstances.”
“Good morning, Billy. So do I.” There was a bite in Ezra’s tone.
“This wasn’t sanctioned. You know LeBaron has a beef with y’all about his missing son, but this wasn’t an official act.”
My eyes narrowed dangerously, but Ezra put up a hand and continued. “Terrance LeBaron’s son, who is an official member of your MC, attacked and raped a fifteen-year-old girl who’s affiliated with the House of Spades. It was unprovoked, and he wore his cut when he attacked her. Then Terrance LeBaron and another one of your men came to the Palm Desert Oasis and assaulted my granddaughter .”
Ezra breathed through his nose a few times, trying to calm himself down. Maybe we should’ve told him to mind his temper. “So do you think it matters whether the attack was sanctioned or not?”
Billy grunted. “Ezra, we go way back. You buried my first wife, and we’ve been on friendly terms for years. But your granddaughter also blew up three of our motorcycles and shot one of our men. The other took shrapnel to his face, and those two are in jail on first-degree felony arson charges.”
“That’s fortunate.” Ice filled Ezra’s cultured voice.
A long, awkward silence ensued. “What do you mean?” Grolier asked carefully.
“It’s fortunate they’re still alive because if any of her cousins would have been here, your men would be dead instead of just facing felony arson charges. You attacked my place of business and my granddaughter’s home.”
“We’re taking disciplinary actions. It won't happen again,” Billy replied, though his tone didn't inspire much confidence.
I leaned forward, tired of his weak assurances. “Hello, Billy. This is Sylvie Spade. Fennick is here with us. Your men have been sniffing around the mortuary and the dispensaries in Henderson and Summerlin for months now.” My tone was as sharp as a scalpel. “Consider this your final warning. You put a leash on your members, or we'll do it for you.”
Ezra shot me a look, but his lip twitched. Fenn leaned back against the wall, arms folded. I was surprised he hadn’t cut in yet.
“Listen, little girl. Bitches shouldn’t be involved in club business. You need to butt out and shut the fuck up.”
Here was the old-school, asshole, misogynistic MC president I remembered. “Then lucky for me, this isn’t club business. But it sure as fuck is House of Spade’s business. A delivery is arriving at your compound about…” I checked the time on my phone. “Now. It’s club property, so don’t give the delivery person any grief.”
I heard him tell someone to go look for it. “If you hurt any more of my men, things are going to escalate, and no one wants that.”
Fenn peeled off the wall and leaned over Ezra’s cell phone. “Hello, Grolier, this is Fennick.”
I heard someone sigh in the background on the other end of the phone.
Fenn smirked and continued. “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I do want things to escalate. Because you either know what’s going on, or you’re so incompetent you don’t know what the fuck is happening with your own motorcycle club under your own goddamned nose. So which is it?”
Billy growled into the phone. “Watch it, boy. I respect your grandfather and uncles, but it’ll be a cold day in hell before I take any lip from you.” Then we heard a commotion on his end. “What the fuck do you mean?” I heard him ask someone. Then his breath got a little labored like he was walking somewhere. “What the fuck is this?” he yelled. “Fennick, what in God’s name did you send me? And there’s a TV crew out there! Fuck! Get them out of here.”
I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me. “It wasn’t Fennick, William. It was me—the bitchy little girl—who sent those back to you. And do you know who blew them up? Also me. Before you get too butthurt, just remember I could have targeted your men instead . ”
Billy growled. “You’re kickin’ a hornet’s nest, girl. You keep stirring my men up, and I might not be able to stop them.”
Fenn rolled his eyes. “You need to figure out who’s behind these attacks and end them . Don’t you wonder why Eightball would target a fifteen-year-old whose family works for the Spades? Or why your men tried to burn the funeral home down? You need to find out who’s using you before it’s too late.”
We could hear angry voices in the background, and he growled at us like a junkyard dog and then hung up.
“I already told you, I'm not leaving.” My hands were planted firmly on my hips as Drakos loomed over me in the apartment kitchen. We’d been arguing for a while. He wanted me to move back to his loft, and I was secretly tempted. The week I’d spent there had been so good, but I was scared of getting too used to it, and someone was gunning for the Spade family and the mortuary. I couldn’t just leave it unprotected to go live with Drakos. But God help me, I wanted to.
He'd shown up at my apartment after work to spell Milo off, and had been trying to persuade me to go back to his loft ever since. “Listen to me, it’s too dangerous for you to be here by yourself.”
“The mortuary isn’t just my job, it’s my home. It’s part of who I am,” I shot back, thumping my chest. “And I can handle a few stupid bikers.”
His nostrils flared. “You sent their burned-out bikes back on a flatbed trailer for the whole fucking City to see. It’s the same as waving a red flag at a charging bull. Are you trying to make yourself a target?”
My gaze slid away guiltily. “I’m trying to get them to figure out who’s responsible.”
“By antagonizing and embarrassing them? Goddamn it, you need to quit stirring shit up.”
“I’m not,” I lied.
He ran his hand through his hair. “Yes, you are. It’s not the lying that bothers me, it’s you insulting my intelligence. Alright, then I’m moving in with you .”
“It’s hard to insult something that doesn’t exist.” He folded his arms and raised his eyebrow, not stooping to take the bait.
I hunched my shoulders sheepishly. “Okay, that was a lie. Fine, you can stay in Luna’s old room. I need to get back to work.” I stomped back to the funeral home, annoyed that he’d called me a liar, even if he was right.
Still fuming, I entered the walk-in refrigerator in the prep room, the sterile chill wrapped around me like a morbid hug. The body on the gurney today was a single, middle-aged man who worked as a health insurance adjuster until he’d dropped dead from a brain aneurysm. He wasn’t an organ donor either. I wondered idly if Karma was evening the odds a little with this guy.
I yanked on my protective clothing, starting with my glittery pink rubber boots. They were a stark contrast to the industrial workroom and my steel worktable, and I loved them.
Hot frustration ran through me as I replayed our argument. Flashes of Drakos’s gorgeous, smirking face and the way his ass looked in those expensive suit pants also went through my mind. My pussy clenched and I growled in annoyance.
Snapping on my gloves with more force than necessary, I picked up my engraved scalpel when the door slammed open. Drakos’s presence filled the space and raised my temperature. He halted in front of me, his piercing blue eyes locked on mine, and then traveled down to where my glittery pink boots peeked out from under the plastic apron.
“What are you doing?” I hissed. “You aren’t licensed to be in here.” I glanced around as if a State regulator was going to jump out and catch us.
He smirked. “Somehow, I can’t work up a single fuck.”
I pointed the scalpel at him. “Come any closer, and I’ll help you work up a fuck.”
He slowly grinned. “Challenge accepted. I wasn’t done with our argument, and now I just want to fuck you in those sparkly pink boots.”
“God dammit, Lucifer. Go. Away.”
His gaze swept over me and lingered on my boots again. His hand snaked out, and he grabbed the scalpel out of my hand. “Careful,” I yelped. “It’s sharp!”
He smiled slowly as he hooked onto my apron ties, pulling me to him.
I reached up and grabbed his arms. “What are you doing?”
“Kissing you.” He buried his lips against my neck, then licked and bit my collarbone.
“There’s a dead body in the room,” I gasped.
“You taste so good,” he growled.
I turned my head to give him better access to my throat.
He spun me around and pushed my front up against the wall, his breath hot on my neck. “Put your hands on the wall and bend over,” he commanded, his tone harsh with need. Without realizing what I was doing, I placed my hands against the cold, sterile wall and bent over.
“I’m going to make you scream loud enough to wake the fucking dead." He slowly ran his hands around my ribcage to cup my swollen breasts.
“Are you making jokes right now?” I whisper-hissed.
He squeezed just enough to make me moan. Trailing his thumbs over the hardened nipples, he plucked and pinched them through my shirt until I pushed back and rubbed against his hard cock. Drakos yanked my leggings down over my ass and left them just above my boots. Then, he used his foot to push my legs further apart.
I panted as he leaned over me, murmuring against my ear. “It doesn’t matter where we are. I love the way your breath changes when I touch your body like this.”
Another soft moan slipped out. With deft fingers, he stripped my thong down to my thighs, exposing me to the cool air. I clenched my glove-covered hands against the wall, and my pussy spasmed as if searching for his length. He swatted my ass, and I yelped in surprise.
“You want this?” he murmured, rubbing where his hand had landed. I wiggled into his palm and he heated up my ass a little, then stopped.
“Use your words, Lollipop.”
“Yes,” I bit out.
“See? You can be honest sometimes.”
I started to straighten. “Satan, I swear—” my breath stuttered as he reached around and gave my pussy a sharp slap. “Oh, fuck!” I gasped as the sharp sting turned to sharper pleasure.
His other hand trailed up my hip and slid under my shirt until he found my bra and expertly unsnapped it. Then he reached around and pinched my nipples between his fingers again.
He worked me until I was a wet, hot mess, and then he let go of my breasts. I heard him undo his zipper and felt the head of his cock sliding through my wet heat. He pushed into me, working to get his thick length inside. When he bottomed out, my head hung down and I moaned long and high at the feeling of him deep inside me.
He started thrusting, and his hands gripped my hips, anchoring my body as he pounded into me. “Drakos, we can’t… ooh fuuuck. I can feel you hitting my tonsils,” I gasped out, my voice echoing in the sterile room, blending with wet slaps as he hammered at me.
He chuckled darkly and kept thrusting.
An orgasm started in my toes and shot its way up my legs. When he rubbed and pinched my clit, my head flew back and I cried out, coming long and hard on his cock.
“That’s it. Take it all, my sweet little cock whore. Make your greedy little pussy take every… last… drop.” He punctuated his words with three hard thrusts, then threw his head back and came inside me. Hot lust and endorphins knocked me speechless, and my mind went blurry.
Our heavy breaths filled the room for several moments, then Drakos straightened and pulled my torso up with him, hugging me from behind. He nestled his face in my tangled hair, and I felt him smile. “There’s a body lying less than twenty feet away, and I just fucked you against the wall like a damn teenager. You drive me insane .”
I winced when I remembered the dead health insurance claims adjuster lying on the slab behind us. I sheepishly looked over my shoulder, and startled when his open eyes seemed to focus on me.
Drakos put his chin on my shoulder and gazed at the body. “Is it just me, or does it look like that guy is staring right at us?”