Hot as Hades (24 page)

“I don’t know what the hell you are talking about!” he denied. He pulled back his fist to punch her and she pressed the knife tighter against his sack.

“Do it. And I’ll pop your ball like a grape.”

Evidently, Rock thought better of it and let his arm relax again.

“Good boy,” she murmured. “You need to understand something. I’m not one of those poor girls you use and abuse. I am a fucking Marine and I’m not playing with you right now.” In her current frame of mind, she had no qualm about cutting off his balls, right here. Even if it brought the whole club out of the doors, guns pulled. It would be worth it to castrate this waste of space.

“Tell me what I want to know,” She growled. “Or I’m going to do a little surgery. Your choice.”

The rear door of the club slammed open, crashing against the brick wall, and Cowboy rushed over to them. “Holy fuck!” he ground out when he saw her kneeling in front of Rock, knife drawn. “This is exactly the kind of situation, I wanted to avoid. My brothers are headed here and we wanted to follow the dickhead home, snatch him up ninja style.”

 “How’s the girl?” Daisy asked. She never took her eyes off Rock.

He sighed. “I let her borrow my cell to call a friend for a ride and sent her to wait at the plaza across the street.”

 “Does this bitch belong to you?” Rock grated out.

Cowboy got in the guy’s face. “Damn, boy, if your brains were leather, you couldn’t saddle a flea. She’s got a knife to your balls, do what she says, while your nads are still attached.”

“Which brings me back to our earlier conversation. Tell. Me. Where. Rose. Is,” she bit out.

“Wildcat, we can’t do this here. We’re too exposed! Anyone could see us.”

Somewhere in her rational mind, she knew he was right, but at the moment she didn’t have the ability to stop. “I’m not letting him go!” she argued.

“I didn’t say you had to. I’m suggesting we change the venue, go somewhere a hell of a lot more private.”

“Fine,” she snapped.

“Thank God!” Cowboy brought the butt of his gun down across the back of Rock’s head and the biker slumped to the pavement, knocked out. “Lights out, shithead.”

“You okay?” he asked.

She stood up, body trembling and not from fear either, adrenaline rushed through her veins, making her jumpy. “I’m fine.”

 He snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Hey, are you here with me?”

She blinked, glancing from Rock’s unconscious form to him. “Yeah, I’m here.”

“We have to get him in your truck, fast, before we get some company.” She tucked the blade away as Cowboy knelt and fished Rock’s keys from his pocket. Then he grabbed the other man under the arms and dragged him across the pavement to the truck bed.

Daisy opened the tailgate.

“Help me with his feet and then I need your keys,” Cowboy said. On the count of three, they hoisted Rock’s heavy ass up and into the back, then closed the gate. She handed him her key ring.

“How much time do you have left on your shift?” he asked.

“An hour.”

“Okay. You are going to go inside, and finish up. That means laying low, no more Annie Oakley shit. Got it?”

“The hell I am! I’m going with you.”

He leaned against the truck. “Listen to me. Everyone saw you follow him out here, and they’re going to be questions eventually. If you leave early, you are going to be the first one they ask, so you need to pretend everything is fine. You understand what I’m trying to tell you? Don’t give them any reason to suspect you. After you’ve finished, you will meet me back at the hotel and we’ll get this sorted.”

She read between the lines of his statement. Rock probably wouldn’t be leaving their custody alive and the Raptors would eventually figure it out. She would be the first suspect if she acted shifty.

She shook her head. “I don’t give a shit about that right now. I want to know where my sister is, so let’s just go.” She tried to walk around him to the truck, but he grabbed her arm.

“You need to cool off. You are running on pure rage right now.”

She glared up at him. “Wouldn’t you be?”

 He jerked a thumb at the bed. “Yeah, I get it, but he’s unconscious. He isn’t saying shit to nobody for a couple of hours. You won’t be missing a damn thing.” He handed her his keys. “Can you drive my bike?”

She took the keys, reluctantly, and nodded. “I think so.”
Damn. He has a point.
Cowboy had hit him pretty hard. All she could do was sit and stare at Rock’s unconscious body until he surfaced again.

 “Good. I texted the club after you ran outside. Shep and Pretty Boy are headed over in a cage.” She remembered the term cage from her research. All bikers called other modes of transportation cages. “Pretty Boy will discreetly drive Rock’s bike out of here and we’ll put it someplace for safe keeping.  Then, when your shift is over, you are going to haul ass out of this place and never come back here.”

“Okay.”

 “We’re over the hump, Daisy, we already did the heavy lifting. Rock will tell us where your sister is, as well as the whorehouse. All we gotta do is make him talk. ”

“You don’t know that for sure,” she said.

 “Yes, I do.  And Daisy, even if the worst thing possible happens? It will be okay. You might think it will break you, but you’ll get through it.” The way he said that, made her think he’d been tested before. “I’ll see you back at the hotel.” With a quick kiss, Cowboy jumped in the truck and sped off.

She trudged back inside, wondering how she’d get through the last hour. As she walked by the office, she ran in to Junior.

And he looked pissed…

“What the hell were you doing with Rock?”  he growled.

Oh shit.

Chapter Nineteen

Junior ushered her into his office and locked the door behind him. “So?” he prompted.

Daisy willed herself to appear unconcerned and composed, though her heart hammered in her chest “I took the trash out,” she muttered. “Then, I had to get something out of my truck, but I didn’t see Rock,” she lied.

 He crossed his arms over his chest. “It took you twenty minutes to take out the trash? You missed your set on stage and I had to send another dancer in your place.”

“I—”

“Save it, I don’t believe you.”

Shit!
She gulped. “You don’t?”

“One of the waitresses said you hauled ass after Rock and the sweet young thing he’s screwing. I know
exactly
what you did.”

Oh God.
“You do?” she asked.

 He licked his lips. “You fucked him, didn’t you?” His eyes roamed down her body in a sleazy way that made her skin crawl. “Or maybe you fucked both of them?”

She sagged in relief. Thank God he hadn’t seen her help Cowboy load Rock into her truck.

 “No, I didn’t even see Rock or his girl,” she said quickly, trying to end this conversation. Wherever it was headed, it couldn’t be good. “And I’m sorry I missed my stage call, it won’t happen again.”

“I know it won’t,” Junior grunted. “If it does, I’ll fire your ass.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t.”

She was about to walk around him, but he grabbed her arm. “Where the fuck do you think you’re going? I didn’t say you could leave.”

“But I should be waiting tables.”

“That can wait,
this
can’t.” He pressed the palm of her hand against the erection poking through the denim and she wrenched her arm away. “Don’t be like that. I may not be as young as Rock, but I can fuck you better, longer.”

Yuck.
“For the last time, I didn’t screw him.”

“Good, I hate sloppy seconds.” He advanced on her again and she backed up towards his desk.

Wait a minute…

She thought about Rock waiting to be interrogated. Was there any reason to go through this shit anymore? Odds are, he knew the location of the brothel, and he definitely knew what happened to her sister. So she didn’t need to keep up the pretense any longer, right?

Junior can take this job and shove it…

“Guess what? I quit!” she said, marching around him.

He gripped her arm. “Fine by me, but I’m still gonna fuck you, you little cocktease.”

 “Step. Away. From. Me,” she bit out through clenched teeth.

He hauled her closer and she kicked him in the shin.

“You’re going to pay for that, bitch,” he promised.

Shit!
She wanted to just walk out the door, but what choice did she have? Daisy thought about pulling the knife on him, but if he bellowed for help, dozens of bikers would come busting in. No way could she fight her way out against those odds.

She spoke in a quiet, soothing voice. “Look, this is getting out of hand. Let me leave and we’ll call the whole thing off.”

He hesitated a minute and then blew out a breath.  “Fine. Get your ass out of my office.”

When she reached for the door handle, he gripped her around the waist from behind, lifting her into the air.

“Let me go!” she cried.

 “I swear to God, if you scream, bitch, I will fuck all your holes bloody. Then, I’ll let every biker in this place take a turn with you. Got me?”

The bastard would do it, too. “Yes,” she muttered.

He carried her towards his desk. “Now quit being such a bitch. I know you want this. You came on to me earlier.” He flopped her down on top of the wood leaving her ass in the air. Then tossed up the dress and shoved a hand between her thighs, prodding her sex through the fabric of her panties.

She was startled out of her bravado by the intimate touch.
 “No!” she moaned.

Junior didn’t listen. He yanked her panties down and the knife clattered to the ground at her feet.

Daisy froze. She had to play this very carefully.

 “You brought a switch blade to work? What kind of a crazy slut are you?” Glancing over her shoulder, she watched as he bent to reach for it, and then Daisy donkey kicked him in the balls.

With a curse, he bent over to clutch them, and she snagged the knife and quickly stuck it deep in his thick thigh.  Blood gushed from the wound, spattering them both. “What the fuck?!” he growled, reaching for her, but she seized the heavy old-fashioned phone from his desk and clunked him over the head.

Junior fell to the floor, unconscious.

Daisy shakily pulled her clothing back into place. She blew out a calming stream of air, trying to get her shit together. She couldn’t afford to freak out right now. She had to make her way out of here without anyone knowing what she’d just done. When she felt sufficiently calm, She coolly walked out the door, leaving Junior bleeding on the carpet.

Thankfully, no one stood between her and the back exit.

***

A half an hour later, she pulled up at the hotel. Daisy found Shepherd and Cowboy standing outside of a room on the backside of the property.  The Four Horsemen looked as grim as their namesakes.

She jumped off Cowboy’s Harley and hit the stand into place. It had been a bitch to drive, even though he’d make it look easy. She headed for the room the Horsemen guarded, but Cowboy stepped into her path and pulled her off to the side.

“Daisy, you’re bloody, what the fuck happened?” He pulled at her clothing, checking the skin beneath for wounds, but she knocked his hands away. “Tell me!” he growled.

“Junior, the club manager,” she said quietly. “That’s what happened. He came on to me and he had trouble taking no for an answer. We’ll talk about it later.”

“We’ll talk about it now! Did he—”

“No, he didn’t rape me,” she whispered, meeting his eyes to reassure him. “I’m absolutely fine.”

He touched a bloody streak on her dress. “And Junior?”

“He’ll be fine if he doesn’t bleed out. But it’s safe to say I can’t go back there.” She sucked in a breath. “The Raptors will be looking for me.”

 “I don’t give a shit about that. We can keep you safe.”

She nodded. “I need to talk to Rock.”

Cowboy shook his head. “No use going in there. Dickhead isn’t talking.”

She glanced at the closed door, locking down her jaw. “Don’t worry. I got this.”

“No. You don’t, Wildcat.” He tried to pull her into his arms, but she shoved him away. “We gotta make this fucker talk and it’s going to get real ugly. Real fast. I don’t want you in there when it does. You’ve had enough shit for one day.”

“This is my op,” she gritted out. “Rose is
my
sister and I’m going to find out what happened to her. For myself!”

“No, you aren’t,” Shepherd said, lighting a menthol, and sidling up to them.

“Eavesdropper,” she muttered.

The VP shrugged. “Do the Raptors know we were involved in
your op
?” he drawled.

“No, I kept you out of it. But they’ll be looking for me.”

He nodded. “They probably will but we got your back.”

“So let me go in there, get some information out of him. Military police, remember?”

Shepherd shook his head. “Yeah, but this is about more than just your vendetta. You are going to wait out here until we interrogate Rock, then after we’ve softened him up, it’s your turn with him.”

To hell with that!
She’d waited long enough for answers. She tried to reach the door again, but Cowboy snatched her up in his arms.

He placed his hands on either side of her face, forced her to look him in the eye. “We called in a specialist.”

“I can make him talk!”

“No, you can’t. Hero types like you don’t get involved with this kind of shit.”

She certainly didn’t feel like a hero at this moment. Her thoughts were perilously bloody. “I have to do this. It’s my fault she is gone. I have to make it right.”

Cowboy kissed her forehead. “You can’t make it right by doing something wrong. Let us do the dirty work.”

She broke away from him and leaned back against the wall, crossed her arms over his chest. “Fine.”

A few minutes later, Duke pulled up on his Harley, and grabbed a black leather case from his saddlebags. He joined the group and nodded to Shepherd. “I got what we need.”