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  Hearing him say this about my brother hurts. It’s nothing I hadn’t already guessed, though. I raise my chin and refuse to look away. He knows I’m sizing him up and neather of us blink.

  Moon speaks for the first time. “What do you get out of this once the child’s out?”

  Dax leans back in his chair and relaxes his fist. His entire focus turns to Moon. “One way or another, the child is getting out even if I die doing it. When she’s safe,” he looks around the room and meets each person’s eyes before zeroing in on Moon again, “I’m killing Fox and taking over the DC.”

  “Fuck me,” Alex whispers. His fingers tighten on my thigh and I cover his hand. He immediately loosens his grip, turns his palm over, and interlaces our fingers. His gentleness calms me.

  “And your plan for doing that?” Moon asks. His eyes are so intent on Dax that another shiver passes through me. Moon represents his own version of gorgeous. A gorgeous killer and it’s written clearly in his expression. Alex hides the killer inside with a smile or laugh. Moon doesn’t bother.

  “Challenge first,” says Dax. “There are a few men in the group who joined due to similar circumstances as mine. Basically nowhere to go after prison. They don’t like what’s happening any more than I do. They also don’t give a fuck,” he glances at me and Mak. “Pardon my language.” He turns back to Moon. “About skin color or any of that shit. They want a brotherhood. The rest of the patches are trash. It’s time to throw the trash out and that means spilling blood. One way or another it’s going down.”

  Moon stares at Dax for so long, I begin to squirm. Dax holds Moon’s gaze without as much as a flinch until Moon speaks again. “Are you asking for my help?”

  Dax shrugs. “Fox is a dead man and I need to handle that myself. Once I’m in charge, I’d like to deal with you on a business level. Just understand that after you have Kiley, it’s not your war. It’s mine.”

  This time Moon leans over the table and his words are clipped. “Just so you understand… if you don’t kill Fox, I will.”

  “Sorry, Moon,” Alex says in a calm, deadly voice that lets everyone in the room know his dark side has come out to play. “My kill. I’ll give Dax the first shot. He’ll need the cred if he has any hope of controlling the DC.” Dax’s eyes remain steely. He exhales sharply like he’s been holding his breath.

  I’ve just listened to men talk about murder and I’m not horrified or running from the room. I want Fox dead too. It’s the only way I can be sure my niece is safe. The shy girl who just wanted to do a nerdy job and mostly hide away in a quiet corner speaks, “If no one here manages to kill the bastard, I will.”

  Mak laughs full out and breaks the tension. “She might be too much for you to handle, Gomez.”

  Alex smiles but it’s Dax who speaks and we’re reminded exactly why we’re here. “As I said, Fox will die. Before that happens, I promised a little girl a doll and I need to go buy one to keep her calm when the shit goes down.”

  I shouldn’t like him. Hell, any of these men. It doesn’t change the fact that I do. I also want in. I’ve just kicked the chicken shit side of me to the curb. A little blood sounds good right now.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Alex

  THE SHIT WILL GO down tomorrow, or, I look at the large clock on the wall, later today. Mak and Celina stayed in the conference room while Dax explained his plan. He drew a map of the house and gave specifics about Fox’s orders if anyone came for the child.

  There are two guards, one always with Kiley. In the room where they’re keeping her, there’s a floor to ceiling bookcase with a hidden safe behind it. The orders are to snap Kiley’s neck, stuff her in the safe, and get the hell out. Dax said there’s a small indent next to the safe for Kiley to hide. He will deliver the doll to her, take out the guard in the room, and settle Kiley behind the bookcase. His opinion is that the riskiest part is showing up with the doll and displaying attachment to the child. He thinks he can talk his way in and the house guard may join his side. He can’t be a hundred percent sure and that worries me.

  If all goes as planned, he will handle the guard stationed directly on Kiley so she’s safe. He wants us hanging back completely out of sight until he calls. I don’t like it. Too many things can go wrong. Dax said that as soon as he turns Kiley over, he’s heading to the clubhouse and throwing down a challenge. If he loses, we will take out Fox and his supporters. He says he won’t lose.

  Moon gave final approval at two in the morning and had Dax dropped at the emergency room to have his wrist examined. Dax didn’t like it but gave in. We have a lot riding on his word and that I don’t like. My gut says his word is solid. We’ll see. Our men delivered Dax’s dented bike to the hospital. It’s drivable, barely and won’t be easy to ride with a broken wrist. Dax says he’ll manage. It’s his left wrist that took the damage and thankfully he’s right-hand dominant. This won’t help his fight with Fox. If Dax survives releasing Kiley, his road will be a violent one for a while. We can’t interfere with the challenge. We can, however, send in men afterward and help with some housekeeping. Again, if Dax survives. If he doesn’t, it will be a massacre and no one left in Fox’s club will be left alive when I’m finished with them.

  Neither Moon nor I are in the trust game. If we’re fucked over or Kiley is harmed, Dax is a dead man too. He understands street law and the consequences. There’s a lot riding on him. Then, if we’re lucky and all goes as planned, we have the potential of dealing with an outlaw MC known for their skinhead rationale.

  I understand the prison dynamic, but that doesn’t mean I like it. Even with the men Dax feels are on his side, the roots of that type of bigotry run deep. Time will tell.

  Once the child is safe, we have an entirely different problem to put front and center. Victor Corbin is heading to Phoenix and will be here in two days. I haven’t heard from Manuel and he isn’t answering his phone. The situation in Antigua with Danita has most likely gone to shit and I have a team heading there to check it out.

  I lead a very sleepy Celina back to my room and settle her into bed. I leave her for a short time and check in with security. Cal and Jose are handling things in the control room tonight. It’s the quiet before the storm and my bed calls. I slide beneath the sheets and pull a sleeping Celina in close so her back is against my chest. Funny how I never wanted Kat in my bed and never invited her to sleep here. We always went to her place or a hotel. There’s something about Celina that gets to me. The sooner I fuck her out of my system the better. This is no life for her and her niece.

  Sleep comes with surprising ease. The images I’ve lived with for so long never come. Celina’s sweet scent is the last thing I remember before exhaustion drags me under.

  Her warmth wakes me later in the morning. We’ve shifted and she’s curled into my arms. My nose is buried in her neck with her hair over my face. My dick is hard and in the vicinity of where it needs to be. Her body tightens a bit as she wakes. I run my hand down her thigh and lift behind her knee so her leg is over mine. My other arm is beneath her neck and I slide it away and down until I grab her soft ass. With leverage on my side, I pull her closer and thrust until my cock is buried deep. She latches onto my hip, her nails digging in as I slide in and out. I continue breathing in her amazing scent and take an unhurried pace for several minutes. A low moan leaves her throat. I would swear that every ounce of blood in my body shoots straight to my cock.

  Why is she having this effect on me? I find her attractive, but there are other attractive women out there who never made me feel protective like this. Her head turns and she kisses my chest before running her tongue across my flesh. It’s the turning point from slow coupling to heavy fucking. I roll her beneath me and look into her sleepy eyes.

  I circle my fingers around her throat with my thumb on her pulse. Her nails dig into my back and her eyelids flutter. My hips buck and the sounds of our bodies coming together fills the room—the slap of my flesh slamming against hers in an avalanche of blazing hot
, fucking need. She wraps her legs around my hips and digs her heels into my ass as she sinks her nails deeper into my skin.

  I pull away slightly and her beautiful blue orbs zero in on my gaze. “Come undone for me, Celina. Fucking come. Now.” It’s somewhere between a command and a plea. I need her to lose herself on my cock as I pound into her warmth. I want to feel the shatter of her climax before mine takes over my senses.

  She moans and the moans turn to cries that fill my head with the sweet powerful sound. I thrust forward and hold myself still as cum shoots from my cock and claims the woman who is claiming me. Years of staying sheathed in condoms goes right out the window. Stupid, stupid, stupid, but so fucking unbelievable.

  I bury my face into the space between her neck and collarbone that smells so heavenly. My body covers her and she doesn’t complain. Or maybe I’m smothering her chest and she can’t breathe.

  “I could wake up like this every morning,” she whispers.

  At least I know she’s alive. I roll again so we’re where we started our morning dance. “I didn’t use protection,” I tell her because it needs to be said.

  She lets out a small giggle. “I’m clean and on the pill as per Elegant Escort rules, so it’s all riding on your past mating habits.”

  “Mating habits?” I ask with a smile.

  “Well, do we need to worry?” she mumbles against my chest.

  “No, my mating habits have been all about latex orgasms.” Her giggles turn to laughter and I realize I can easily become addicted to her laughing in the morning while she’s in my arms.

  When it fades, her tone grows serious. “I want to go with you to pick up Kiley… please.”

  Somehow I knew this was coming. I saw it in her eyes last night. The plan involves me and Rack with extra backup in the vicinity. Moon doesn’t need to be in the mix of things—that’s my job. He stays safe or as safe as possible, which he doesn’t like, but that’s the toll the boss takes. Moon being away when this particular shit goes down does not hurt his rep. When you run a crime organization like Moon’s, your reputation is everything. He can slide on this one with no backlash. If it all goes to shit, Moon will make a play, but it will be when he’s ready. Kiley is the biggest concern and next is Victor Corbin. Dax will have his hands full, but we won’t get involved unless he calls us in or dies.

  “It’s safer for you here. I know what I’m doing.”

  She bites down on the skin at my neck and I’m glad she can’t see me smile. “She’ll be so scared and she’s seen me before. Please, Alex.”

  I don’t have the heart to tell her that a child who lives in the environment Kiley does finds a way to cope. If not, she wouldn’t have survived this long. I’ve seen it one too many times in the families controlled by the Mexican cartels. Dead eyes. It’s the only way to describe the women and children who suffer such violence.

  I deeply inhale Celina’s scent and give in. “You do everything I say.”

  “Thank you.”

  Celina

  THE MAN INTRODUCED TO me as Rack isn’t happy I’m here. His eyes cut to me every few minutes. Because of the house’s location outside Peach City, we’re waiting ten minutes away. Dax is going in alone and someone will most likely die with my niece in the room. So why the hell are we doing this? My nerves are shot and all I can think about is that I should have called the police. If I’m wrong about Dax and Alex and Moon, it will cost my niece her life.

  I glance at Alex. He appears calm. Of course, he does. This is what he does for a living. I try to concentrate on the broad shoulders that fill out the T-shirt he’s wearing and his muscled arms that scream ripped without the slightest flex. It’s strange to see him dressed this casually. Throw in the sexy jeans with his sophisticated good looks and it makes no sense that he’s who he is. Shouldn’t someone this lethal look the part? They do in the movies. They’re ugly in the movies, or at least sinister looking. Even with dark glasses covering his chocolate eyes, he’s beautiful. The tinted windows of the car don’t keep all the sunlight out and a light beading of sweat is on his neck. Am I a horrible person because I want to lick it? I wish we were back in bed and not waiting for news that could destroy me. I’m selfish because I would rewind if I could.

  Alex is focused on what’s about to go down and I’m well aware he doesn’t want me here. I’m actually surprised he gave in so easily. I do my best to calm my racing heart. The waiting is killing me. We’ve been here for thirty minutes and it feels like hours. It’s hot because we’re sitting with the air turned down low in the back of one of Moon’s black Cadillacs. Alex has my sweaty hand in one of his and his cell phone in the other. Even in an expensive car, you can’t sit and run the engine with full air in a hundred and ten degrees for an unlimited time. So we make do while I think nasty thoughts about licking his sweat. It helps me cope.

  One of Alex’s men is on a motorcycle, loitering at a gas station around the corner from where they’re keeping Kiley. He’s there in case Kiley’s in serious trouble. Alex told me that more than just one man might give away that something’s going down.

  They do this for a living, is what keeps running through my head.

  The minutes tick by, and in order not to lean in and kiss Alex’s neck, I gaze out the window at the rolling low hills of the Arizona desert. At this time of year it feels more like hell than a place any sane person would live. If we’re lucky enough to have rain in the early spring or late fall, the desert blossoms and its beauty is evident. I missed the spring desert this year due to finals. It’s hard to believe that I left school only two months ago, I was a naïve college student. Now I’m in a dangerous position with my young niece in a worse position and I wish the man beside me would fuck me in the back seat of the car.

  Rolling waves of heat come off the desert floor and I can’t help thinking that the devil is looking for a place to hide out of the sun. I gaze at Alex and wonder if the devil has been beside me all this time. He turns his head and the corners of his lips tilt up. I have no doubt I would follow him to hell.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dax

  THE HARDEST PART WILL be getting past Skull with the doll. I think he’s as fed up as I am, but I can’t risk Kiley’s life to find out. I’m prepared to kill him even if I’d rather not.

  I stride up to the front door like I own the place. It’s a small two-bedroom home on the outskirts of Peach City. The town is mostly populated by anti-government, racist idiots with half of them living on government subsidies. I’ve never understood the philosophy. Fine, don’t support the establishment, but for God’s sake make your own way and don’t live under their thumb by taking handouts you didn’t earn. Each month I scrape together enough to pay my few bills and meet my obligations. Nothing like the money I made before I was an ex-con, but I get by and work hard.

  This entire area, with their white supremacy leanings, is the scum-hole of Arizona. Prison never changed my mind that the color of someone’s skin made them good or bad. Living with dickheads who think they’re better than their brown or black counterparts hasn’t changed my mind either. Hopefully, that part of my life will be behind me in a few days. That, or I’ll be dead.

  Savannah’s sweet smile flashes through my mind. I’m doing something she’d be proud of. It’s been a long time. I don’t actually believe in heaven or hell but there is a sense within me that in this vast universe there’s something more out there. Savannah died but her light never faded. She would have made a great mom. I pull up to the house, cut the engine, and take a deep breath. It’s time to save a little girl.

  I give two short knocks followed by three in quick succession. I know I’ve already been spotted because I saw the curtain pull to the side when I drove up. My wrist hurts like a bitch, but I can’t chance what pain meds might do to me mentally. I need all my wits about me. The brace is bad enough and the last thing I need is to show any kind of weakness. The fracture is hairline. It still leaves my wrist swollen like a motherfucker.

 
“Hey, Skull,” I say as soon as he opens the front door. The odor of stale beer, sweat, and filth trails outside. Skull is somewhere in his forties but looks older. This kind of living does it to you. His beard is gray and his head is either shaved or he’s naturally bald. I never asked.

  “What the fuck you doin’ here, Dagger?” Dagger is my club name. I don’t think any of them actually know my first or last name. I got the handle because of the knife I used to kill the man who killed my wife. I never said a word, but somehow the story was changed to a drunk-driving, illegal Mexican. The man was actually white and dressed in his golf clothes after playing eighteen holes. It came out at the trial that he enjoyed several shots of the hard stuff and half a dozen beers before he got behind the wheel. His family had money and they weren’t happy that I was found innocent of second degree murder and guilty of manslaughter, which held a lighter minimum sentence.

  I hold up the bag. “Promised the brat a doll. Had a couple days off and thought she might not give you guys too much shit if I dropped it off.”

  “Fuck man, Fox won’t like it.”

  “Well, fuck him. Did Oho tell you about the rough time we had with her yesterday? If the fucking doll keeps the brat quiet, it’s worth it.”

  Skull’s eyes remain suspicious. “Oho didn’t say shit, but that doesn’t surprise me. The kid never makes a peep when I’m here. It makes me nervous how quiet she is.” He glances over my shoulder and around the area before opening the door wider and letting me inside. “Hey, I’ll hit the can while you’re here. Cover for me after you hand over the doll.”