Mad Delights (12 page)

“Oh, my God,” she breathed.

“I can feel your heat. It’s burning right through this piece of cloth.”

He jerked his hand out of her pants and fell to his knees in front of her, hurrying to unbuckle and unzip her jeans. She panted as she watched him, knowing she should tell him to stop, but unable to do so. He yanked her pants and panties down, helping her step out of one side before throwing that leg over his shoulder.

“Ah, honey,” he murmured with awe in his voice. “You’re so smooth. That’s fucking hot as hell.”

Using two fingers, he spread her labia and sank his tongue into her pussy. It wasn’t exactly the same type of fuck as a hard cock, but his finger thrust inside her, joining his tongue to cross over her G-spot, and she ground her pelvis into his face. She’d always been so easy to arouse, found it so easy to have multiple orgasms, but when his tongue, finger and mouth danced over all her erogenous zones at once, her body erupted in a glorious climax that caught her completely by surprise at its intensity.

“Dax!”

Pleasure weakened her knees. He lowered her leg and kissed his way up her body until he stood upright. She leaned into him, her body flushed with pleasure. His hard cock pressed into her stomach and already desire began pooling inside her again.

“Who are you?” he asked softly in her ear. “How can you get weapons?”

Chloe stiffened. Slowly, she pulled away from him. The darkness obscured his features, especially his eyes, and she wished she could see him, see what he was thinking.

“Did you give me an orgasm in hopes of getting me to talk?” she asked.

“It might have crossed my mind,” he said. “But once I had you on my tongue I couldn’t stop and all thoughts of seduction fled my mind. Truth be told, it was you who seduced me with your flavor.”

He bent his head and kissed her, letting her sample her own musk upon his lips. But her heart ached knowing that not only did he not trust her, but that he had planned to use her own pleasure against her.

She pushed him away and quickly redressed herself. “Well, I must say, out of all the methods of extracting information you could’ve taken, I’m glad you went for this one. It was much more pleasant.”

“I want you, Chloe,” he said. “I’m willing to consider your offer. If you tell us exactly who we’re getting into bed with.”

She sighed and capitulated, mainly because she did want them in her bed. And if honesty would get both men there faster, so be it. “My grandfather.”

He cocked his head. “The rich guy who bought you the Mercedes? Just who is your grandfather?”

“Hiro Matsumoto.”

“Am I supposed to know that name?”

She shrugged. “Have you heard of the Japanese Yakuza?”

“Yes,” he said warily. “Of course.”

“My grandfather is
oyabun
to the Matsumoto-kai Yakuza group in Los Angeles,” she said. “Basically, he runs one of the largest drug and gun cartels on the West Coast.”

“Holy shit,” he muttered.

Chapter Twelve

Chloe watched the sun crest the eastern skyline. Tiredness dragged her eyelids down and she chugged the liquid caffeine in her coffee cup as if it was a life buoy. She hoped she wouldn’t fall asleep during a procedure because it wouldn’t be kosher at all to do a head dive into a body cavity.

Men were moving around as the day started. She’d have to leave soon and sniffed herself to make sure she wasn’t offensive. Luckily, the hospital provided shower stalls so at least she could clean up there and wear a fresh pair of scrubs home.

Finishing off her coffee, she then headed back inside to say goodbye to Romeo. Some of the members were leaving to hunt for whoever was after the club, so she had to take advantage of the open gate. Personally, she thought it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack for the bad guys, but she knew the need for affirmative action. When Kaiya had been abducted, she flew to Wyoming to look for her personally.

Inside the clubhouse, Petunia and Trix were in the kitchen banging around, and the smell of bacon filled the air. She smiled at the women and headed up the stairs, not bothering to knock as she entered Romeo’s room.

He sat on the side of the bed, his dark hair sticking up in all directions. Beard stubble graced his cheeks and jaw. She took a minute to appreciate him in all his nakedness.

“How’s your arm?” she asked.

He grunted.

“Awesome,” she replied brightly. “Do you need another shot of morphine?”

“Nah,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “I need my wits about me today.”

“You can’t ride your bike.”

“I know. I’ll borrow Sioux’s truck.”

She dug inside her black bag for her keys, phone and wallet and slipped them into her pockets. “I have to get to work. Will you promise to take care of yourself?”

He grunted again. She smiled and leaned over to kiss him. For a moment, he kissed her back, and a thousand butterflies danced in her belly.

“Okay,” she murmured as she pulled back. “See ya later?”

He nodded, staring at her with a mixture of surprise, hunger and cautiousness. She waved her fingers farewell and left the room. As she retraced her steps, Dax filtered through her mind. She wondered if she’d see him and looked around, but she didn’t find him. Part of her was disappointed. Part of her was relieved. He’d left her so abruptly after her little revelation that her head still spun.

The gate opened, and she drove out, watching in her rearview mirror as the compound was shut up tight again. She was glad the women and children would be safe from the assholes targeting the club. She hadn’t gone too far when the feeling of being watched came over her. It wasn’t anything outright and was more of a subtle realization, but she checked all her mirrors and saw nothing. Still, the feeling persisted all the way past the charred ruins of the Whiskey Lick Her, through the small town, and into the hospital parking lot. When she exited her car, she took a moment to look around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

She hurried through a shower and changed into scrubs, covering her hair and feet before heading to the nurses’ station to see the board. She’d been put into two orthopedic cases, a hip replacement and pinning a broken arm. Bair Memorial was the only hospital with a trauma center for a hundred miles, so they received a variety of cases.

The morning was busy. Chloe didn’t particularly enjoy working in ortho because she had to wear a lead vest under her sterile surgical gown. A lot of X-rays had to be taken to make sure the new hardware and screws lined up with bone. After the surgery, she was tired and hungry so she cleaned up her case, wiped down the back table and bed with disinfectant solution and smiled at the cleaning crew. They would be the ones responsible for making sure all the blood was mopped up. Chloe pushed her cart to the elevator and into sterile processing. Then she headed to lunch.

She got her food and went to grab a soda when she literally bumped into Susan. The nurse had come back in a limited capacity, charting and doing minimal work. Now, she stared at Chloe with terror-filled eyes.

Chloe sighed. “So… Perhaps I overreacted a little when you asked if I was crazy.”

Susan was frozen. She didn’t even blink.

Now it just gets awkward.
“All I’m saying is that maybe you should be a little more empathetic to others’ problems. Keep opinions to yourself. Otherwise, hope your tongue will be okay.”

Chloe turned and walked away—quickly. Just as she swung around, she saw a woman near the exit. Dark skin. Beautiful face. The same woman from last night at the Whiskey Lick Her. Once again, an evil smile curved her lips. Chloe took a step in her direction and the woman hurried out of the exit. She set her tray aside and followed, but by the time she’d reached the hallway, the woman had disappeared. Unsettled, Chloe made a beeline back to her tray of food, although she wasn’t hungry anymore.

* * * *

Romeo had stared after her as Chloe had left his room, a ball of energy that he wasn’t sure how to approach. Or capture. Did he
want
to capture her? Dax appeared with a mug of coffee in each hand. He held one out and Romeo took it, grateful to sip the hot brew.

“I found out Chloe’s supplier,” Dax said.

Romeo waited, instinctively knowing that this would change everything. “How’d you do that?”

“I gave her an orgasm.”

Romeo had taken another drink of coffee and managed not to choke at Dax’s calm statement.

“I didn’t fuck her. I used my mouth.”

“O…kay.”

“I figured we have to be honest with each other if we’re going to have a relationship with her.”

Romeo carefully set his cup on the nightstand. No way did he want to be holding scalding coffee as they talked about being in a ménage relationship. “Wait. I just met the chick. Who said we want a relationship with her?”

Dax pursed his lips, and that’s when Romeo knew there was something he was missing. And that he might not like that missing something. He folded his arms and waited.

“She’s Yakuza.”

Romeo blinked. “Come again?”

“Her grandfather is head of some branch of the Japanese mafia. So we get in bed with her, uh, yeah, we’re in a relationship. Probably for life.”

Somehow, without even having sex, he’d fallen into a three-way relationship. For a second, Romeo’s brother, Branch, floated through his mind and he made a mental note to call him for advice. And following on the heels of that thought was the realization that he had no business thinking about a relationship when someone was threatening his club and killing his Brothers.

“That doesn’t matter right now,” he said. “I can’t really concentrate on her offer when there’s a threat breathing down our necks. Babyface, Drifter, Candy Box. The girls. I don’t know who’s targeting us, but I won’t back down from their offense.”

“Good,” Dax said with a nod.

“Everything came into crystal clarity last night, Dax. More than likely from the morphine, but I realized somewhere along the line what I want for this club.”

“And what’s that?”

Romeo stood, suddenly so full of nervous energy he couldn’t sit still. He swung his arms around, gesturing in the air. “There are clubs in Omaha, in Kansas City, but
we
are here in Bair. There isn’t anyone around with our geographic accessibility. I mean, sure, those clubs could do runs up and down Interstate 80 but we’re
here
. Does that make sense?”

Dax shook his head no.

Romeo waved it away. “Never mind. The Men of Hell have the means to be great. Not just a small group of bikers running meth, but a club that lets others know not to fuck with us.”

“Are you sure we want to get on the ATF and FBI radars?” Dax asked. “We’re small time, easily dismissed, but if we make a play for a larger piece of the pie, we’re going to have a lot of people breathing down our necks, and that includes the other one percenters who may not be happy with our expansion plans.”

Romeo shook his head. “I want every bastard out there who thinks the Men of Hell can be taken down one by one to know that we are fierce motherfuckers who won’t hesitate to kill to protect.”

“And just how do you intend for that to happen? We need contacts, money… Actual product.”

“I know.” Romeo frowned, thinking fast. “Maybe we do need a relationship after all. Chloe’s connections are convenient.”

“Just think about this, Rome. Be very sure this is the path you want to take.”

Romeo searched Dax’s impassive face. “You not on board?”

Slowly, Dax shook his head. “That’s not what I said. You’re my president and my best friend. I will support you no matter what.”

Romeo held up his fist and Dax bumped it with his.

“But… Maybe I should tell you the rest of Chloe’s story,” Dax said.

Chapter Thirteen

The second surgery Chloe was scheduled to assist in went smoothly and she finished early. Chloe clocked out, showered then dressed in a clean pair of scrubs before heading out for the day. As she approached her car, she again got the weird sense of being watched. She halted by her Mercedes to look around.

The parking lot was half empty, but she noticed someone sitting in a dark SUV, observing her. Chloe took off her sunglasses and saw that it was the woman again. Unease solidified into outright suspicion, but just as she took a few steps in her direction, ready to hash out why the bitch was tailing her, the SUV started up and took off. Chloe watched it leave, more than aware of the irony of having a stalker.

As she turned back to her car, she thought of the Whiskey Lick Her. Preliminary speculation had been a gas line leak, but what if…? Shit, what if the woman was somehow responsible? Hadn’t she read somewhere that an arsonist usually came back to the fire scene to see their handiwork? So what if this person was following Chloe around because she was waiting for something to happen?

Chloe looked at her car. Was there a bomb on it somewhere, ready to detonate if she started it? Or had she seen
The Pelican Brief
one too many times?

Still, paranoid or not, Chloe suddenly had no desire to ever start her engine. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and dialed Romeo.

“Yeah?” he greeted.

“It’s Chloe,” she said. “Can you come to the hospital and pick me up?”

“Why?”

“I just need a ride. Can you or should I contact a cab? Do they even
have
cabs here in Bair?”

He sighed. “No. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Great! I’m in the parking lot.”

He disconnected without another word. She walked away and for twenty minutes, she simply stared at her vehicle. She felt vulnerable. Stressed. Slightly anxious. All because of the woman, and Chloe did not like this self-reflection one little bit.

Romeo pulled the truck he had borrowed next to her and she hopped into the passenger seat.

“What happened?” Romeo asked. “What’s wrong with your car?”

“I don’t trust it,” she said.

“Is something wrong with the engine?”

She shook her head. “Last night there was a woman in the crowd, not a speck of soot on her, and she wore this proud-mommy grin,” Chloe said. “This morning I felt like I was being followed even though I never saw a tail. Then I noticed the same woman in the cafeteria and I swore she was in an SUV, watching me after work. When I tried to approach it, she sped off, but suddenly I got this feeling like I shouldn’t start the Mercedes.”