Chapter 6 #2
“Hold on,” I say over the engine as I start it up. Marie quickly puts her arms loosely around my waist, and I yank her closer until her tits are pressed tightly against me. “Good girl.”
My lips curl into a smile as she shivers, adding her sweet scent to the air as I hit the gas and roar out of the alley. Her arms tighten around me, and I attempt to judge how long it’ll take for her to tell me what hospital I’m taking her to.
“The hospital is two streets over,” Marie finally yelps once I’ve been driving aimlessly for five minutes. “It’s Mercy Hospital.”
“Got it,” I say, following the signs. “Where am I dropping you off?”
“Emergency services,” she replies tensely.
We’re calling it a little close, so I stop fucking around and roar up the street to the entrance.
“I’ll be calling in my date in two days,” I say, taking the helmet as she hands it to me. “Ah, fuck!”
I have to catch the helmet in my other hand as she attacks my wrist with her stun gun.
“Thanks for the ride,” she says in return, putting away the weapon and striding inside.
My girl is a goddamned menace. Adjusting my erection, I can’t help my sadistic grin as I put on my helmet.
“You can ride me anytime,” I mutter, driving back to the place I’m renting for now. I may need to look into something more permanent soon.
I haven’t had a permanent residence in over fifteen years, ever since I became a prospect for the club. I rose through the ranks to where I am today, and never thought I’d see the day where things would change.
Marie Madden has me tied up in knots. Speaking of her last name, I have something else I need to do. Changing direction, I head out to see a contact in the city. It’s important to have people with an ear to the ground in as many places as possible, and Bentley Rivers is my contact in Minneapolis.
I bet he’s just getting out of classes too…
“I didn’t know you were in town,” Bentley says when he sees me, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it as he walks toward me.
“Just got in recently,” I say vaguely, watching how he ignores everything around him to focus on me.
Bentley seems to straddle the world between preppy students and crime.
“What do you need?” he asks, jerking his head in the direction of the parking lot.
Knowing he doesn’t want to draw too much attention, I walk with him in that direction.
“I need a name and possibly a place of business,” I say, cutting to the chase. “Do you know who Marie Madden is?”
“Ah, why are you asking about her?” Bentley asks. “As far as I know, she’s still in Chicago. That’s also if we’re talking about the same person.”
“She’s an omega with bright red hair, green eyes, and a nurse,” I rattle off dutifully. “You know her, don’t you?”
“She’s a decent person,” he says. “Her brother has always been hard on her, but she works her ass off. I met her a few times when I went to school in Chicago.”
“I need her brother’s name,” I say.
“Storm, man,” Bentley groans. “That’s too close to my family’s business. You know I keep things separate from them.”
“I do,” I say. “Marie is not in Chicago, and she’s hiding from her brother. I want to know why.”
“Fuck,” he says, taking a drag of his cigarette. He doesn’t smoke often, typically to take the edge off. The kid doesn’t do drugs, so I suppose this isn’t a terrible vice to have. “Why do you want that information and how do you know her?”
“She’s my scent match,” I say. His raised brow tells me he’s going to tell me what I want to know. I don’t talk about personal shit with him, so for me to divulge this much, it shows him that I’m for real.
“Alright then,” Bentley says. “How did you two even cross paths?”
“She had some car trouble,” I lie. “The club and I helped her out.”
“How altruistic of you,” he drawls. “What are you even going to do with a scent match like that? Marie isn’t the kind of girl that’s easily swayed by criminals.”
“Why not?” I ask, wanting to hear it from him. I know that his brother is in the mafia, but I don’t know what he specifically does.
“You know,” Bentley grumbles. “When you’re around them for a large period of your life, you’re more likely to be over their shit. Especially with how her brother treats her.”
“See! This makes me want to kill him,” I complain. “What’s one redeeming thing about him?”
“He’s my brother’s best friend and pack mate,” he sighs. Oh fuck. “They also share an omega so there’s that. She’d probably miss the fucker.”
“Well this is getting messier by the second,” I grunt. “She moved all the way here from Chicago and she’s staying in some shelter.”
“Shh,” Bentley warns. “Omega’s Haven, it’s important in this city. My older sister runs it with her best friend. Don’t blow up what they’re building.”
“Why is everything so incestuous here?” I ask, making him choke on his own saliva.
Shaking his head, he puts out his cigarette on a concrete pole and throws it out.
“Maybe cool it on the incest,” he says under his breath.
“The Irish mafia runs shit in this city, and anyone with criminal ties who comes here needs permission to stay here. Since the Knotted Anarchists typically don’t put down roots, you all have been able to fly under the radar. Stirring shit up will change that.”
“The warning is noted,” I murmur. “I promise to attempt to behave. I’m pissed because Marie seems scared of her brother and she said that she’s staying at the shelter to avoid him.”
“Tommy has a lot of opinions,” Bentley says. “She’s his baby sister, and he seems to think that means she needs her life managed. If he had anything to say about it, she’d be a virgin and single forever.”
Oh my god. Please tell me that she’s not a virgin.
“She’s not, is she?” I ask, my voice as horrified as I am.
“You don’t know yet?” he chuckles. At my glare, he shrugs.
“To be fair, I don’t know anything else about her sex life other than that.
They run a gym and a club in the city. The Underground will be opening around nine tonight, and that’s probably the best time to catch him.
There’s also a few fights planned for it. ”
“He called an underground fighting ring club…The Underground?” I snort.
“As ridiculous as it is, they’ve been very successful. Are you going to check it out?” he asks.
“Yeah I am. I need to find out more about Marie, and she’s been very closed mouthed,” I say. “Why?”
“I’m one of their bartenders,” he says. “I fill in as they need me to and it’s extra money while I’m in school.”
At the reminder, I pull five one hundred bills from my wallet and hand it to him discreetly.
“Thanks,” he says, putting it away in his pocket. “Tommy is a tall, wide shouldered alpha. He usually has his blonde hair up in a top knot. I doubt he’ll be happy to know you’re dating his sister.”
“He isn’t going to scare me away, but I do want to know what he did to make her hide,” I growl, ready to go for a long ride before I head to the apartment to shower and get ready.
“Family isn’t simple,” Bentley sighs. “It’s ugly, complicated, and secretive. I’m still working on my relationship with my sister. It’s hard to know what to say to a girl who I thought was dead, ya know?”
With that, Bentley walks to his own bike to head out for the day, making me wonder what the hell the Midwest does to its omegas.