Exquisite Karma (Iron Horse MC Book 4) (10 page)

It took me another twenty minutes to get everyone out the door, and by the time I secured the house it was past midnight.

I took the stairs to my bedroom, passing the kick-ass chandelier Sarah had found for our foyer. The giant slivers of red, blue, and yellow crystals looked cool, but somehow dangerous, like shards of razor-sharp glass would. The iron railing was smooth beneath my hand as I climbed the steps, more than eager for the treasure awaiting me in my bed.

A low amber light burned from a nightlight across the room, giving me enough illumination to see by so I didn’t trip over anything in the dark. Not that I would; Sarah was almost a neat freak and would often pick up my shit before I could get to it. Still, I tried to not be a slob and took a moment to strip down and throw my shit in the hamper, then brush my teeth before I came to bed. The minty taste in my mouth reminded me of that cooling, then warming gel I’d used on Sarah a few weeks ago. That made me take a detour into our closet to grab it before I finally got to our massive bed.

Sarah was sprawled out in the middle, awake and watching me.

“Hey, beautiful.” I smiled as I tossed the tube onto the table next to the bed before sliding beneath the covers with her. “You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

Her lower lip trembled and tears filled her eyes. For the first time I noticed how puffy her face was from crying and how she clung to me. I couldn’t see anything physically wrong with her, but worry filled me nonetheless. “Babe? You hurt?”

“No…” She sucked in a breath and buried her face against my neck. “Just a long day.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“
No
.”

She said that word with such vehemence, I rolled her onto her back so I could see her face more clearly. “Who upset you? I’ll fuckin’ kill ’em.”

For some reason that made her burst out into semi-hysterical laughter and I
really
grew worried.

“Oh, Carlos,” she finally sighed once she’d calmed down then studied me with a solemn expression. “Everything okay with you? I know tomorrow is that big thing I’m not supposed to know about.”

“You sure you’re okay? Doctor appointment go all right?”

She stroked my cheek, then nodded. “Perfectly healthy. Just a little stressed out.”

I took her hand and kissed her knuckles, the skin smooth and perfect beneath my lips. “It’ll get better, I promise. Few weeks, you’ll have a break from school and I’m takin’ you to the island. You’ve been amazing and I have no idea what I would’a done without you. I love you, babe, so much. Never gonna let you go, ever. Me and you, Sarah.”

She instantly softened and tears filled her eyes as she whispered, “You mean the world to me.”

I took her wrist where she had my name tattooed and placed a gentle kiss there, licking softly at the sensitive skin until she started to squirm against me. She was so responsive to me and I gloried in how easily I turned her on. It gave me a sense of power that went straight to my dick and pushed me to wring orgasm after orgasm out of her. Just the thought of her pussy squeezing down on my dick while she climaxed had me eager to bury myself in her, but first I had to have a taste.

Giving her a grin that made her pupils dilate further, I grabbed the tube of gel and scooted under the blankets, where it was dark and the air was saturated with our combined scent. She helped me shimmy her out of her shorts and panties before eagerly spreading her legs wide. Always so impatient for me, always so desperate. I could smell her sweetness before I tasted it, her slick arousal already wetting the bare lips of her sex. I gave her a few strokes of my tongue and she arched her back, silently asking for more. I squirted some of the gel onto my finger then spread it over her labia and clit before rimming the entrance to her body.

Her harsh cry had me flipping back the blanket enough to look up at her passion-dazed face, so soft with need and desire. Christ, she was beautiful enough to bring me to my knees over and over again. The fact that she was mine still sent a thrill through me, and I blew gently on her sex, my fingertip tingling from the gel. Her pussy visibly clenched and I chuckled before taking another lick of her sex, my tongue and lips buzzing from the gel. I gently parted her lips, then gave her hip a sharp slap when she squirmed.

“Still.”

“Yes,
Papi
.”

Her sweet voice had my balls drawing up tight and I pressed my dick against the mattress, needing something to soothe the ache while I ate her pretty little pink cunt. I pushed my tongue into her, fucking her with it while she began to tremor and arch her neck. Needing to be inside of her, I rubbed her clit with my thumb while tongue fucking her, loving how she was soaking my face with her wetness. Sliding into her was going to feel soooo fuckin’ good.

Without removing my thumb from her clit, I rose onto my knees between her wide-spread legs.

“Play with your clit for me, sweetheart.”

She immediately took over so I could lift her hips up and set her butt against my thighs. Her legs draped over my hips, giving me a clear view of the tip of my dick pressing against her, the piercing shining for a moment before being hidden inside her hot sex. Sliding into her pleasured me inside and out, my heart filling my chest until I had to close my eyes against the intensity of my love for her. She flexed her internal muscles and I moaned then began to move, slowly, deep inside. Our gazes met and I stared into her eyes while I made love to her, sharing this amazing experience and loving that she got off on me as much as I got off on her.

Leaning forward, I grasped her pink nipples and pinched them.

“Too hard,
Papi
,” Sarah gasped with a wince.

Normally she liked it a lot rougher, but I had used the nipple clamps on her a couple days ago so maybe she was still sore. Mindful of her sensitivity, I stroked those tight pink nubs gently and was rewarded by Sarah grinding her hips against me in a move that made me see stars. Shit, my girl could fuck.

Plucking at her nipples, I rode her hard and deep, the need to come filling me while Sarah began to climax beneath me. I grit my teeth and held back, continuing my punishing pace as she gasped and twisted, pulling her hand away from her clit. Leaning down, I sucked her nipple into my mouth and she plunged her hands into my hair, responding once again to my thrusts.

“It’s so good, Carlos, so good,” she gasped.

Releasing her nipple, I grabbed her hands and held them over her head while I thrust, our bodies pressed tightly together while I licked and bit at her neck.

Once again she began to tighten around me, and I whispered encouragements to her to come again, to get my dick all nice and wet.

Thank fuck she did, because I was pretty sure I was going to black out if I didn’t bust a nut soon. The moment her eyes began to roll back in her head, I let go, my shout loud enough to be heard by the neighbors down the hill. No doubt my brothers standing guard outside had heard it, but it wouldn’t be the first or last time. I didn’t give one rotten fuck who heard me making Sarah scream my name.

I collapsed on top of her, needing a moment to gather my strength before I could roll off to the side. As soon as I could catch my breath, I reached into the drawer next to the bed and pulled out the baby wipes. Sarah didn’t bother to try to fight me anymore as I cleaned up the evidence of our passion. At first she’d been a little disturbed by my need to care for her after sex, but now she understood it was just a part of who I was.

I would always, always take care of my girl.

The first indication we had that the world was about to go to hell was the frantic phone call from Scarlet. She’d been over visiting with June, my brother Tink’s wife, helping her get the kids ready for school, when someone had shot the shit out of their house in a drive-by. Considering they lived outside of Austin in a really nice and safe community, there was no way this had been a random crime. June had gotten grazed on the biceps, but other than that was all right. Thankfully none of the kids got injured, but everyone was flipping out.

I’d ordered all the women and children to stay on lockdown in the clubhouse until this shit was over.

It would be a hell of a lot easier for me to protect my people if I knew who the fuck I was fighting against. So far no one had claimed responsibility for the beatings, murders, fires, and deaths, which pissed me off. Not being able to put a face to my enemy had me operating in the dark, and I fuckin’ hated it.

Though it tore me apart, I had to admit it was looking more and more likely that we had a traitor in the clubhouse. The thought of one of my brothers trying to destroy us like this was like a wound to my heart, and I hoped like fuck I was wrong. Tink was supposed to go on the run, but I pulled him off so he could stay with his kids while his wife was recovering. He still would have gone, Tink was about as loyal to the club as they come, but his family needed him and his head wouldn’t be focused on the run.

Now it was just after ten p.m. and I was leaving my office at the clubhouse, intent on finding Sarah. She’d tried to talk to me about something important earlier, but we’d been interrupted time and time again until she gave up and told me we’d talk about it later.

Soon I’d be leaving with a handpicked group of my brothers to transport the cargo, and before I took off, I needed her love. The shooting incident had shaken us all and the sound of voices filled the clubhouse, instead of the usual party. All the sweet butts were gone and we’d cleaned up a couple areas for the kids to hang out in. Up on the third floor it was quiet, and I nodded to Dragon standing guard at the top of the stairs before continuing on to my room.

After a quick knock—with Sarah as tense as she was, I didn’t want to surprise her—I came into our bedroom and found her sitting in the middle of the bed wearing a silky white nightie, which had an almost virginal look to it, and a worried expression as she hugged her knees.

“Everything okay? How’s June? Does she need help with the kids?”

Shrugging off my cut, then my shirt, I crawled across the bed to her and gathered her warm softness against me, forcing her stiff body to relax into mine. “Everything’s good. June’s been discharged and Scarlet and Birdie are helpin’ Tink out with the kids.”

“Okay, good.” She chewed on her thumb in an uncharacteristic display of nerves.

“Sarah? You wanted to talk about something?”

Her gaze darted to mine, then away, and she clasped her hands together. “Oh, yeah.”

I waited for her to say something, but she was so nervous she began to tremble. Starting to get seriously worried, I sat up. “Babe, what’s going on?”

“Well…y-you know how I went to the doctor yesterday?”

Jesus, she was about to shake to pieces and the fear in her eyes terrified me. “
Mi Corazón
, are you sick? Is that what all the throwing up’s been about? Oh Jesus, tell me you’re okay.”

She took a deep breath and let it out in this weird, almost giggly sound that totally threw me off. “No, no I’m not sick. Well, I am, but not in a bad way.”

“What the hell are you talk—”

Before I could finish my statement, there was a hard banging on my door followed by a frantic Dragon yelling, “Beach—Beach open up! We got a huge fuckin’ problem.”

I leapt off the bed and ran over to the door with Sarah at my heels. When I opened it, an ashen Dragon stumbled in, with Sledge not far behind. Both men were wide-eyed with shock, and I knew whatever was going on, it was
really
bad.

Flipping on the lights so I could see them better, I barked out, “What?”

Rubbing his bald head, Sledge growled out, “The warehouse where we were storing the stuff was hit. All the guards are dead and the trucks are gone.”

A ringing filled my head as I tried to comprehend what had happened, and how badly it put everyone and everything I loved in danger.
“How?”

His gaze turned to Sarah, and with a blank face, Sledge said, “We got video of them; no one we recognize, except for one—Billie. She distracted the guards long enough for them to get ambushed.”

Sarah made a terrible moaning sound—and I turned just in time to catch her as she fainted.

Sarah

The rotten taste in my mouth woke me up and I stared up at the ceiling, wondering why I felt like shit warmed over—so weak and tired I could barely keep my eyes open.

The last time I felt this way was after I’d accidentally OD’d on heroin when I was sixteen.

That was a long time ago and even as out of it as I was, I knew I didn’t do drugs anymore.

At least not the kind that could leave me feeling more than half dead.

Then it came to me in a nauseating flash.

I wasn’t hung over after a drug binge, I was pregnant.

As soon as that thought burst across my consciousness like a blazing rocket, I clutched my stomach and rolled out of bed, jerking to a halt when I noticed Hustler, Vance, and Smoke all watching me with dead eyes from the other side of the room, blocking the door. Confused, I frowned at them then looked around to see if anyone else was here. The lights were on all the way and I had no idea what time it was, but the world outside the bedroom windows was still dark except for the glow of security lights.

A disgusting sweat broke out over my skin and I gagged as a hot, greasy wave of sickness raced through me.

Clasping my hand to my mouth, I darted into the bathroom before any of them could say a word, sliding on my knees to the toilet just in time to puke up what little food I’d managed to eat earlier. Bitter acid burned my throat, coated my mouth, and I wanted to cry out at how terrible it felt. This wasn’t just throwing up; my morning sickness had me dry heaving to the point I was afraid I was going to start throwing up blood. The doctor had written me a prescription for some anti-nausea pills, but I hadn’t had a chance to fill it yet.

As I heaved, my stomach cramped hard and I cried, worried I was harming the tiny little life I was now in charge of keeping safe.

A firm hand landed on the back of my neck and for a moment I hoped it was Beach, but as the memories of the last few hours began to surface behind my morning—fuck, all-day sickness, I couldn’t help the sobs that poured from me.

I must have looked a sight, draped over a toilet full of puke, snot and tears dripping down my face while I moaned as the agony of my mother’s betrayal raced through me, burning away any love I might have had for that woman, once and for all.

The man’s hand left my sweaty neck and a familiar woman’s voice said, “Sarah, honey, sit up. You need to calm down before you pass out again. Just breathe with me. Deep breath in…let it out. Now do it again.”

I had to clutch my abs as I did as ordered, blinking my tear-swollen eyes to see Scarlet watching me with a very worried, sad, and angry expression. Her hair was pulled back into a tight braid and she wasn’t wearing any makeup, leaving her looking strangely young and innocent. They must have woken her up to come deal with me, or maybe she was already awake. She looked as if she’d been crying, and being Thorn’s old lady, she probably knew what had happened.

“I’m—I’m so sorry!” I bawled while she handed me a cool, wet washcloth to clean myself with. “I didn’t know, I would have stopped her, I swear it.”

Her eyes softened and she squatted before me, her voice low as she whispered, “I believe you, but a lot of the brothers aren’t so sure. There’s talk that this was all a big scam from the start, that you’ve been planning to rip this club off from the beginning. How long you been settin’ this up with your mom, huh?”

“What?” I gasped as I held the towel to my chest. “That’s not true. How can you even say that to me?”

His gaze was dark and serious, not a trace of my loving man looking back at me in those cold deep blue eyes. “Look, you need to stay in the room right now. The sentiment downstairs isn’t very happy. Beach is dealing with the Russians and the Israelis, trying to buy us some time to find Billie and our shit. Do you have any idea where she might be?”

“No.” I swallowed hard, my eyes once again filling with tears. “I didn’t know anything about her bullshit, I swear. The only time I saw her was at my house that first night. I wanted nothing to do with her, and I let her know on no uncertain terms that I wanted her out of my life. I tried to tell Beach but…” Guilt swamped me and I closed my eyes. “I should have tried harder.”

“Did you…did you know she’d do something like this?”

I hung my head in shame. “No, I never thought she’d go this far. Are they sure it was her? I mean, my mom has no morals at all, but I can’t see her pulling off something this big, or even helping to plan it.”

“Billie distracted one of the guys guarding the outside then a team covered from head to toe in tactical gear moved in. I watched the tape with Thorn, just to make sure it was her. I didn’t want to believe it. She’s been nothing but nice to me, to all of us, and honestly I was wondering why you were being such a bitch to her by not even acknowledging her existence. Last time I saw her at Hustler’s store, she actually teared up when I asked her if she’d had a chance to talk to you yet. I felt so bad for her, crying because you wouldn’t have anything to do with her.”

“That manipulative bitch can cry at the drop of a dime.” I took a deep breath, deciding to just lay it all out. “The last time I saw my mother, she stole my grandmother’s heirloom jewelry from me and pawned it for drugs. The time before that, she cut me with a knife on my arm because I was trying to help her detox and keeping her from her drugs. And that doesn’t even touch on the first sixteen years of my life being raised by a selfish, remorseless, mentally disturbed drug addict who basically stole me from my dad. For as long as I can remember, my mother has lied to me about what would happen if he ever caught us. Terrible things, like he’d kill her and make me his work slave out on his farm, where I’d be beaten daily.”

Scarlet sat back on her heels, her jaw slack as she stared at me. “That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, but she’s done worse. This is also the woman that hooked me up with a thirty-year-old married mobster when I was fifteen, just so she could get a free hookup for good coke. She got me a fake ID and everything, taught me how to dress and act, and got me into the hottest clubs in Reno, where she proceeded to make sure Morrie knew I was available.” I let out a bitter laugh as the cruel memories washed over me. “So yeah, maybe you understand now why I wanted nothing to do with her.”

“Oh, Sarah.” Scarlet brushed my hair off my sweaty forehead. “I’m so sorry.”

God, she was such a nice woman. She had every right in the world to be furious with me for my mom’s actions, but her face was filled with love and sympathy. I didn’t deserve a friend as good as her. A sweet soul in a dark world. I had to protect her from the shit my mom had rained down on us.

A sense of purpose began to fill me, pushing away the crippling despair.

“This is my fault. I should never have allowed Beach to take care of her. I should have fought harder, but I was weak, and now I have to pay the price.” I drew in a deep, hitching breath. “I’ll find her.”

Standing, I moved over to the sink and brushed my teeth while Scarlet watched me with a worried gaze, wringing her hands together so tight her knuckles turned white. “Honey, we’re not allowed to leave the clubhouse. We’re all on lockdown. They got this place surrounded by men and you’re safer here than anywhere on Earth.”

I shook my head, the determination setting in even as a tiny, unfamiliar part of me worried that I was putting the baby inside of me at risk. I was about three months pregnant, and I had a hint of a bump going on, but my long torso hid it nicely. Since I’ve been on birth control for years without an issue, it never occurred to me that I should be worried about the potential consequences of fucking the hell out of Beach every chance I got. Guess when you consider how much sex we have, we were bound to get lucky—or unlucky—eventually, since no birth control was one hundred percent. That little pudge that I thought was the result of too many fudge brownie ice cream shakes was instead a new life coming into existence inside me.

Holy shit, I’m going to be a mother.

A shiver of fear had me gripping my hands into fists as I lowered my head and fought the anxiety that tried to take hold.

No—I can’t think about that right now. I have to focus. There’s no other choice. They will never find her without me, and if I don’t get the Israelis and Russians their stuff back, there is a chance my baby will never even be born.

The very thought sent a feral rage through me the likes of which I’ve never experienced, the thought of someone denying my child their first breath. I looked at myself in the mirror and promised that I would be a better mother than my own.

Tears filled my eyes, and fear pierced my heart, but I decided on my course of actions.

“Scarlet, I have to do this.” She started to protest but I held my hand out, my expression starting to harden as I rebuilt the walls around my shattered emotions. “It’s the only way, and you’re not going to stop me, or talk me out of it. You know me, you know what I’m capable of, and you know I’m not fucking around. Stay out of my way so I can get this done.”

I pushed past Scarlet and walked back into the room where the men were still watching me with open distrust. Ignoring them, I pawed through my drawers until I found the clothes I wanted, then went to the closet and grabbed the bag holding my guns and my bug-out backpack before slinging them on the bed. Turning to look at Smoke, I read the confusion on his face before he closed his expression down again.

The distrust in his dark eyes hurt me and I tried to keep myself from letting it show. “I need to go to wherever my mother was staying.”

“What,” Hustler asked with a faint sneer in his voice, “you never been there before?”

I jerked on my jeans, sliding them on under my nightgown that I’d worn special for my man, my back to them. “That’s right.”

“Bullshit,” Vance said. “Your mother said you visited with her.”

“Bullshit,” I spat back at him as I glanced over my shoulder, done with his crap. He didn’t like me and the feeling was mutual. “She’d tell you whatever you need to hear in order to manipulate you.”

His eyes narrowed. “Like mother like daughter.”

I was about to let him have it when Smoke held up his hand. “Enough. Sarah, you can’t leave. End of story.”

Ignoring him, I stepped into the bathroom long enough to change my shirt, then came back out and began to pull guns out of my bag. “Don’t make me fight you on this. I’m going to her apartment. I know how she thinks, what her habits are, and I might be able to find something.”

“We’ve already searched the place.” Vance glared at me with so much hatred I was taken aback for a moment. “Tore the fucker apart.”

“And you found dick, right?”

“We didn’t find much,” Smoke admitted with a frustrated grit to his voice. “Maybe you can see somethin’ we didn’t, but Sarah, the place is trashed.”

“Why do you wanna go so bad? You wanna destroy some evidence? Your ass belongs here, in the clubhouse on lockdown, where we can keep an eye on you,” Vance spat out.

“Look, asshole, I had nothing to do with any of this. I love Beach, I love this club, and I would never do anything to endanger it. My mother is poison, and while I regret allowing her to stay, I truly thought she was trying to get clean and sober.” I began to load bullets into the clip for my Sig Sauer 9mm. “You don’t have a choice; if we don’t find her, we’re all dead. Hell, probably everyone we love as well. So stop being a dick and help me.”

Running a hand through his hair, Smoke took out his phone. “Fuck, you’re right. We don’t got a lot of options. You really think you can find something there? We already searched the place and couldn’t find shit—and we
looked
.”

“I sure as fuck hope so.”

“That’s a bad idea,” Vance argued. “She could get hurt and Beach will kill us
all
at high tide. Or maybe she’ll lead you into an ambush.”

For a moment I wondered what the hell he was talking about with the whole “high tide” thing, then dismissed it and began to load myself up with knives and weapons.

“Anyone that tries to hurt me is going to be in for a big fucking surprise.”

I casually flicked a knife past Vance’s head, where it embedded itself in the wall with a hollow thunk, startling a yelp out of him.

Vance’s lip curled as he took a step towards me, but he stopped when Hustler let out a low chuckle while Scarlet said, “Honey, I don’t think it’s a good idea. There are people out there right now trying to hunt down any Iron Horse members they can. The men whose stuff got taken are very unhappy, and very powerful. They could flip out and order hits on all of us, but especially you. It’s no secret how much you mean to Beach, and if they want to hurt him, killing you would do it.”