Chapter 4
four
COLE
“I don’t care where they’ve gone to ground.
I want Teddy’s head on a fucking spike before the sun comes up,” I growled at Gage, who was standing at the bar surrounded by broken glass, swigging scotch straight from the bottle.
I’d known it was a risk to do business with the Vultures’ biggest supplier, but had been naive enough to think they wouldn’t declare war on us for it.
After all, Hutch was the one deciding to step back. Apparently, I’d been wrong.
“Fucking A, but realistically, they knew what they were starting when they came in here. Ask me, the problems with business lately all come back to them. Teddy doesn’t do shit without his father’s approval.”
“Leonard wouldn’t dare.”
“He didn’t. That’s why he had Teddy do it,” Gage retorted.
“The real question is what he was trying to achieve here. Shoot up the bar and damage our business, send a message not to work with Hutch… or actually try and kill you,” Maddox’s slow growl said what we were all thinking.
“Whichever it was, he’ll pay for it,” I muttered. “Check that everyone is ok and get cleanup organized. The cops might come by, but they don’t get inside.”
“You want us to point at the Iron Vultures for this? Wrap Teddy up in questioning for a while?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want him on the cops’ radar. Less trouble when he goes missing.”
“Got it, chief,” Gage announced and walked away, the bottle still in his hand.
Maddox was looking around with a pained expression. He hated disruptions to the calm and orderly life of running the bar and shop, that went somewhat to balancing our chaotic work life. Most of all, he didn’t like seeing people he cared about get hurt.
The next half hour passed in a blur of helping lift damaged tables and checking on the bar’s patrons.
I was heading to the kitchen to grab the first-aid kit when a loud bang from the hall caught my attention.
“Hey! Is someone going to let me out of here?” an indignant voice demanded.
Oh, right. The girl.
The one I’d dumped into that room and locked inside, just in case things went sideways and Teddy’s men somehow managed to inflict significant damage in the clubhouse.
At least she’d be safe behind a locked door.
Then I remembered how she’d kicked and scratched in my arms as I’d hauled her to safety, and I realized I might have underestimated how well she’d hold her own in a fight.
I had a deep bite mark on my palm that told me she’d be just fine.
I went to the door, tucking the first-aid kit under my arm, and unlocked it. I’d barely taken the key out of the lock before it flew open.
She stared up at me, her eyes wide. She had a scratch on her cheek, and her red lipstick was smudged in places.
Her clothes were disheveled, as was her hair.
She looked, in short, fucking hot all roughed up, like she’d been up to something else entirely, locked in this little bedroom I had hidden away at the bar.
My bedroom.
“You good?” I asked her after a long moment passed where we simply stared at each other.
Her brow scrunched. “Good? You shoved me in here, during a shoot-out, and then forgot to let me out. How would I be good?”
I pushed into the room and she backed up dramatically, nearly tripping over her feet in an effort not to touch me. Interesting. It seemed like Teddy’s little visit might have cured this girl of any romantic notions she’d been holding about MC life.
“It wasn’t safe. I think the words you’re looking for are, ‘Thank you, Cole, for risking your life to make sure I was safe.’”
She scoffed. “Like you’d risk your life for me. I’m no one to you—”
“Exactly,” I said, tossing the first-aid kit on the bed. “You’re not a Hound, you’re not an old lady, you’re not family of any of my brothers, so you don’t belong here.”
She watched me as I opened the first-aid kit and rifled through.
“Every single patron of this bar has accepted the risk of being here, and living this life. You hadn’t. Therefore, you needed to be protected.”
She considered my words, then tilted her head to the side, watching me curiously.
“And if I was a girlfriend of a Hound… what then?”
I pulled wound spray from the kit and shook it. “Then you’d need to be protected by your man, of course. Hold your hands out.”
She obeyed without questioning, her mind still turning over my words. I sprayed her hands liberally, and she gasped, her eyes shifting to her cuts.
“Ow!” She tried to tug them away, and I dragged them back.
“Don’t pretend to be a wimp now,” I said sternly. “I’ve got teeth marks on my palm that prove you’re no pushover.”
She bit her lip and grimaced as I finished cleaning the cuts on her hands.
“Good girl,” I murmured as she let me smooth some antiseptic cream over the worst of the cuts.
“Excuse me?” she returned, sounding offended.
“I said you’re being a good girl, though I have a feeling it’s not something you do often.”
She blinked at me, taken aback. I was surprised at myself. What the hell was I saying? Was I… flirting? It had been so fucking long.
I let her hands drop and was about to turn away when she grabbed my wrist. I stilled, suddenly alert, my nerves still rattled after the attack.
“I would say sorry about the bite, but I didn’t know it was you, so I would do the same thing again,” she murmured, turning my palm over to look at her handiwork.
“If that’s what you call an apology, I’d hate to hear your insults.”
“Whatever. Instead of a fake apology, I’ll just fix it for you,” she reached for the wound spray on the bed and went to work.
She wrinkled her nose as she sprayed the disinfectant directly into the cut.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
I shook my head, enjoying the way her slender neck looked when bent over my hand. She really was beautiful, and she definitely didn’t belong here.
“Ok, ok, tough guy, sure it doesn’t,” she muttered and gave me a small smile as though she didn’t believe me.
“Why are you here?” I found myself asking.
Her smile dropped. “I—you put me in here, remember?”
“Why are you here, at this bar, alone, tonight?”
She opened her mouth, and for a moment, I thought she might actually answer.
Maybe she’d have a good reason, and I could stop being suspicious of her.
Maybe I could let her come around, and for once, be interested in someone at the bar.
Maybe I could let myself be distracted by something goddamn good for once.
But then her teeth clicked shut and she stared mulishly at me. She wasn’t going to talk.
I sighed. “I knew being a good girl wasn’t in your nature, Belle.”
Her eyebrow went up at the name. “How do you know my name?”
Fuck. Any power I had was rapidly disappearing in this conversation. Time to get her out of here.
“You got a car here?”
She nodded.
“Good. Use it.”
Someone knocked on the door as I took a step away from this mysterious little temptation.
I’d been momentarily insane to think that fooling around, when I was under the pressure that I was, was a good idea.
Fucking deluded… and the reason for that lapse in judgment was standing before me, all big beautiful eyes and pouty lips, smelling like expensive perfume on skin used to only the best. She was a rich girl pretending to slum it, and I could trick myself into thinking that I wouldn’t care about being her walk on the wild side, a token fuck, a bucket list item, before she went back to country clubs and sororities…
but honestly, maybe I would. She was my little brother’s friend, for Christ’s sake.
Regardless, I couldn’t afford the distraction.
“Boss, you got a second?” Ronnie asked from the doorway.
“I’m coming,” I told her. I looked at Belle, if that was even her name. “Get out of here, and think carefully before coming back. Like I said, it’s members only, and tonight should have given you a glimpse into why.”
I left the room and walked down the hall toward the bar. Belle dogged my steps.
“And if I find someone to invite me?” she asked.
I shook my head. “You won’t.” After the way I’d protected her tonight, no one would dream of approaching her again. She was now marked as my territory.
“You don’t know that. Maybe Finn—”
I stopped abruptly, and she walked into my back. “Enough,” I growled at her, my patience slipping.
My hand closed around her arm, and I led her toward the door. Talk of Finn always set me off, and the thought that someone might use him to get their own way made me furious.
Outside, half the bikes were gone. Off to chase the Iron Vultures. I’d join them as soon as I was sure things at the bar were under control.
“If you’re smart, you won’t come back here,” I said, marching her across the lot.
There was a white sports car parked in the far corner that looked out of place and proved my initial instincts right.
Rich girl looking for a big, bad biker to rough her up a little.
As I marched her through the lot, I saw Errol’s bike pulling in.
After all this time, my dad’s best friend was still balls deep in Hounds business.
Some of the older members would prefer if he was Pres over me, but that wasn’t an option.
My father had never wanted Errol to be head of the club, and while he’d never made many good decisions in his life, that one made sense.
Errol was callous about risk. He lacked the loyalty that would have made him part of my inner circle.
I walked past him as he pulled up, tugging Belle after me.
She needed to get the hell out of here before she got even more involved in Hounds business.
“And if I’m not smart?” she challenged. God, the girl had been shot at, locked up, cut, scared, but now she was fully recovered, it seemed.
I gave her a smirk. “Then don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Is that a threat?”
We’d reached her car. I took her keys from her purse and opened the door, then crowded her into the space until she sat down. She protested, but I leaned over her, my face passing so close to hers, I could feel her warm breath on my lips, and she went quiet.
I grabbed the seat belt and slowly buckled her in. “It’s a promise. You don’t belong here. I don’t want you to get hurt. Now, go.”
I leaned back and shut the door.
She stared up at me through the window for a moment, and then sighed. I could see her shoulders drop. Then she looked down, starting her car.
She was going. Finally. I’d make sure she got home safe.
She’d nearly been hurt at my establishment.
That made her my responsibility. One of the Hounds was lingering by his bike.
I jerked my head toward Belle’s car, pulling out.
The Hound nodded, before climbing onto his ride.
He’d follow behind her, and make sure she got where she was going.
I turned on my heel and headed back toward the bar and my bike, gravel crunching loudly underfoot.