Page 42

“ H ow long you in town for, Tommy?” I take a swig of my beer as I eye the mobster, but also my boys. The night is just getting started, even though it seems like we’ve been out all night.

Viv’s fight ended just before eight. By the time I let the mother chapter know what was going on and got our brother taken to a morgue that will do him right for his funeral, it was just after eleven. That was about an hour ago.

One thing you can guarantee about bikers: No matter where in the world we are, we don’t really get going till closer to midnight.

Call it the witching hour or whatever, but Hounds are night owls.

Well, to be fair, not all of us party every night.

Sure, the young ones and those new to the life do.

But some of us—and yeah, myself included—only hang late a few times a week.

Just whatever we’re feeling in the moment, really.

“How long are you?” I didn’t expect the non-reply, much less to have the question thrown back at me.

“Wait, what?” Viv moves on my lap quickly, and I wince because of course I have a chub from her sitting on me. Every time she wiggles a little, my dick increases in size. But the twist she just did? Not a fun wiggle.

I grunt in pain. Tommy chuckles. Asshole.

“You’re not staying?” This from Mack with a raised eyebrow.

I grab my beer and use it to cover me while I look around to see if anyone close heard. No one seems to be paying attention, but I’m not about to let anything slip out that might make people act differently.

“I’m not from here. Main boss told me to come. If he wants me somewhere else, I go. That’s how it works.”

Not really, but I hope they don’t know that. Or at least drop the topic. I give Tommy a pointed look, and despite the small smile, at least he nods once in surrender.

“I’ll stay till this is sorted and I can guarantee my fighters are safe,” he finally answers. “Now tell me, is this against Menace only, or are others being targeted?”

I lean forward, resting one forearm on the table, bringing Viv closer to the table as the other two lean in too. This isn’t a secret, but I’m not airing stuff for any of the vamps or guests a brother brought in to hear.

“What we’ve found so far is that Viv’s the only one with a stalker. My guys asked around tonight, and no one else has had anything like what she’s been getting.”

“Mack said it was pictures. Was it more?” Tommy eyes his man before looking back at me.

I’m not sure how those two are connected, but there’s got to be a story there. I highly doubt the tale starts with a mafia kingpin and an underground fight liaison walking into a bar. Something tells me they have a history that might go back years.

“The pictures were the first thing we noticed. Had our guys do some checking on them, but nothing came back initially. No fingerprints or shadow in the background we could focus on. But what we found was that a date was on every picture, starting three months back. Each picture had one, but one date was missing: the one of Viv’s last fight. ”

Tommy nods, as if understanding it all so quickly. And maybe he does. The guy has to be smart to work in the mafia. Even if he wasn’t the brother of the head of the family, I doubt he’d have his own little carved-out piece of the pie, so to speak, if he wasn’t at least able to get some shit done.

“Anything special about that night?” Tommy looks at Mack, who sits back in his chair and rubs a hand over his mouth as he thinks.

“Last fight was with Dozer. Our girl had an escort for the night, some rich prick who liked to have courtside seats. But other than a few extra minutes shaking hands at the end of her win, I don’t recall anything out of the ordinary.”

I grunt. “Getting drugged is that common for you?” I say into my beer before taking a swig.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Both Tommy and Mack speak at once, and I pull my drink down and look at the confusion and anger on their faces before I turn to Viv. Who’s conveniently looking up at the ceiling tile and drinking her beer. All of it. The whole sixteen ounces.

“Shit.” I set my beer on the table with enough force that a bit sloshes over the side onto my hand. I shake it off and look back at the two men. “Viv didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Mack growls like any of us bikers would upon hearing news like this about our old ladies. Or a family member. “Viv, what the fuck is he talking about? You got drugged and didn’t tell me? ”

With a roll of her eyes, she puts her empty drink down and gives Mack a look that I’ve seen on Ruby when she’s addressing her dad. One she’s used on some of the brothers as well. Even me. It’s a look you don’t want to be on the other end of.

Not that Mack seems to care, as he just glares harder at her.

“I told you I got sick.”

“Sick and drugged are not the same,” he grits out.

She tilts her head and tilts her hand from side to side. “Kind of are. Both make you throw up. You get dizzy when you stand. You even require extra rest to get it out of your system.” She ticks her reasonings off on her fingers as she goes.

“I’m going to strangle you,” he mutters, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Viv points at Tommy. “You hear that? He’s threatening me. I demand a new trainer.”

Tommy rolls his eyes and his head as he picks up his drink and sips at it. “Now, now, let’s not overreact.”

“Overreact? She was drugged!” Mack yells loud enough for a few tables of brothers to look over.

“And she’s fine, as you can see. Maybe you should be less concerned that your fighter was drugged and more so with the fact that she chose to keep it to herself.” He turns on Mack with an eyebrow raised. “Maybe I should be more concerned about her lack of trust in you to let you know.”

“It wasn’t a trust thing.” Viv speaks up and pulls the attention away from Mack, who seems to have lost a bit of his anger at Tommy’s words.

“I trust Mack with my life. He knows that. I just didn’t see a need to share when nothing happened.

” She holds her hand up to stop Mack before he can do anything more than open his mouth.

“Like he said, there was nothing off with the fight. I wore the fluffy pink dress to match the theme and got the extra pay from the escort. Did the fight in heels—which, I’ve gotta say, I know we fight for basically any dollar amount, but if you keep having me do it in heels, I’m going to request that daily foot massages be added to my fitness routine. ”

“Noted.” Tommy smirks with a dip of his chin.

“We did the handshake thing with the fans and got back in the limo. That’s when he handed me a closed water bottle.

He insisted I should hydrate, and since it was sealed, I agreed.

After a few sips, things went wackadoo, and the next thing I knew, he was trying to get his tongue down my throat and locate my boobs in all the fluff of the dress.

Guy thought he was so smart, but more like a dumbass.

You don’t drug a fighter. We don’t go down easy, and we always go swinging. ”

I squeeze Viv’s hip and breathe through my nose to keep my temper at bay. Her words make me want to take the boat out, find the asshole who we dropped in the river, and beat the shit out of him some more. I don’t care that he’s already dead. He needs to suffer more, even in death.

Arms circle my neck, and she presses a kiss to my temple. “Relax, big guy.”

I take a deep breath, breathing in her scent, which is a mix of my shampoo and her uniqueness, and close my eyes for a second while I just hold her in my arms. She’s here, and that’s all that matters.

No need to think about what would have happened if she didn’t fight back or if the guys and I weren’t there when she pushed him out of the limo.

The driver said he wasn’t going to do anything, but what if he was?

What if he saw an opportunity with her being drugged, and it could have gone worse?

So many things could have happened, but her being in my arms is the best scenario and the one I need to focus on.

Opening my eyes, I see so many people staring at me. And smirking.

“What?” I glare but pull Viv closer so her side rests on my chest and her head can lean against mine.

“Nothing.” Lucky grins. He and Mickey somehow made it to our table, and I’m already annoyed by them.

“Get me another beer,” I order, and like the good brother he is, he does it.

It helps that I’m the president. Even if it’s a temporary thing, the title has weight, and he and I both know that if he refuses even something as bullshit as this, it’ll tip the scales of power we have in this place off-kilter.

“Bottle with the top on,” I yell across the club, knowing damn well it’s the safest bet.

He might play along, but I wouldn’t put it past him to mess with my beer to get back at me.

Prospects get ordered around. Club brothers don’t unless they’re on the president’s shit list. And while Lucky can be annoying, he’s one of the best guys I’ve got around here.

Might even be official officer material one day.

Right now I just have him, Rooster, and Mickey in higher roles, but nothing on the books.

Bane is also up there, though only for his experience with the club.

“How do you know Tommy?” Viv runs her fingers through my hair, pulling me back to her. The others seem occupied in their own conversation, but I know they can hear us.

Especially when Tommy answers her question for me. “My sister’s the old lady of one of the officers down south. I met Domino at the wedding.”

“Bikers have weddings?” She smirks, and I shake my head.

“Nah, we just toss our women over our shoulders and call them ours.” I jumble her on my knees as I bounce them and tickle her sides, making her squeal with laughter before she settles and I accept an unopened bottle of beer from Lucky.

“Thanks, man.” I cheers him as I twist off the top and take a drink before telling Viv the truth. “Some guys get married, some don’t. Same as everyone else. But his sister, Brooklyn, isn’t the type for the white wedding.”

“Much to our mother’s and older brothers’ wishes, I might add,” Tommy chuckles.

“So, if it wasn’t a wedding, then what was it?” she asks Tommy .

“More like a homecoming claiming thing. Bass, her old man, had just gotten back from watching me kick some major Russian mafia ass, and my sister decided she couldn’t find anyone better and said ‘you’re stuck with me.’”

I tilt my head. “I remember it differently.”

Tommy gives me a bored look. “Of course you do. But trust me, I know my twin. That’s what she meant, even if the words were mixed up.”

I shake my head. “No, not about the claiming. I think I recall the Hounds saving you East Coast mafia boys.”

“Please. A Hound can’t find his way out of a single-door bedroom, much less get out of Russia alive. Trust me, it was all me.”

I shake my head, but at least I’m smiling and not wanting to punch a dead guy in the nuts. I say the night is progressing well for me.

“Tell me, Menace—I mean Viv. Sorry, it’s going to take me a minute to get used to calling you that,” Tommy says with a shake of his head in wonderment.

She waves him off. “Call me Menace. I’m fine with it. It’s a name most people know me by anyway, so it’s something I’m used to.”

“Works for me. So, what’re you working on now? Got anything new?”

“You buy her stuff?” Lucky asks.

“Sure, it’s good. Even gifted a few to my brothers. You should see if she’d be willing to do something with the Hounds logo. Bet it would look good in welded metal.”

The boys and I all nod at Tommy’s words, and I catch the hint of a blush rising up her neck.

I lean in and lick it before getting close to her ear. “Your blush is the same shade as your pussy.”

I grin as her blush spreads and she wiggles just enough to make me groan into her ear for only her to hear.

She turns her head, and my lips brush against her cheek. I peck her lips and nibble on the bottom one before pecking it again.

“Want to get out of here?”

“You got somewhere in mind?” I tease .

Now it’s her turn to lean close to my ear and whisper, “Take me to bed or lose me forever.” Then she grabs my face and licks halfway up my cheek.

“Yuck,” I say as I wipe her slobber off my face with my shoulder. She laughs at me, and I like her enough to smile with her.

“Can’t say no to a girl who quotes Top Gun . Give me a second to talk to Rooster.” She nods, and I stand, lifting her for a beat before letting her feet touch the ground. I give her a kiss on the cheek as I go. “Be right back.”

She sinks down in the chair, grabs my beer, and kicks her feet up on the table. “I’ll be waiting.”

I smirk at my luck and head to the bar. “Yo, prospect.” The kid behind the bar comes over instantly. I like that in a prospect. “Where’s Rooster?”

“Out front last I heard.”

I rap my knuckles on the bar top and head out. I look back only once at Viv and wink when I see her watching me. She gives me an eyebrow wiggle, and I smile. Damn, that girl is something else. A real menace.

Grim and Rooster are next to one of the two benches we have out front for the smokers. They’re close enough to the building to be covered under our awning, and the standing patio heaters keep the chill away.

“Want one?” Grim holds out a pack of cigarettes, but I pass.

Need to tell Mama Bear. She’ll be pleased.

“About to head up for the night,” I say. “Wanted to make sure we’ re good.”

“Already got the boys on double rotations in groups of three. We’ve got eyes on Viv’s place, her friend’s, and even Mack’s.” Rooster nods at his own assessment.

Grim chuckles at that. “Dude’s going to be pissed when he finds out.”

“Rather him be mad and think we’re under the impression that he can’t protect himself than have him dead and Viv dealing with it.” My comment has Grim sobering up and nodding in agreement.

I look at Rooster. “Tommy’s going to be sticking around. Offer him a room, even though I’m sure he already has a villa somewhere around here or at least something for him and his men. Let the boys know he gets let into the club, but only the ground floor.”

He nods at my words.

“The guy might be linked to some big, bad mafia kings back home, and he might be known here, too, but this is still Hounds territory and my house. The courtesy only gets him access, not easy access.”

“Damn straight,” Rooster mutters, and this time, I don’t give a shit if Grim is smiling. It’s the truth. The Hounds of the Reaper might not have the same history of fear that the mafia does, but we damn well know how to strike fear in the hearts of those who come against us.

I would say ask them, but we’ve buried every single one of them.

Well, someone else buried them. I just blew them up.