Owned by the Outlaw (14 page)

She picked up her bag and headed back over to where
Malice was kneeling in front of Dakota.

“Don’t tell Mommy,” Malice said, and winked at his
son. He stood and turned to face her. “I’ll call you when I know the exact time
I’ll be there to get him.”

She nodded, and there was this that uncomfortable
silence that stretched between them again. “I hope things can calm down between
us, Malice.”

“Buddy, why don’t you hope in Mommy’s car? She’ll
buckle you in.”

Dakota ran over to her car, but one of the prospects
was there to open the door for him.

“How is the rebuilding going?” She wanted to talk
about something safe and non-confrontational. She glanced at Dakota and Pierce,
who was helping him into the back of the car. Asking about how the construction
on the house for the women was going seemed like a good idea.

“Good. They started tearing everything down.
Leveling and getting the foundation down will happen in the next couple of
days.”

“You think it’ll be done by the end of the month?”
She hadn’t really “talked” to Malice, at least about things that didn’t concern
them or Dakota.

“Yeah.
We got the Grizzlies helping with building, and Lucien called up a few other
guys to help, so it won’t take long at all.”

She nodded and clasped her hands in front of her.
The sound of Dakota laughing broke up some of the sudden silence. “I’ve been
meaning to ask you, but didn’t know how to really go about doing it—”

“What does Lucien have planned for the women?
Especially since he is dumping a load of money into this without seeing much in
return?”

She swallowed, and then nodded.
“Yeah.
I know the club doesn’t do things for free, well, at least not to this
magnitude.”

He watched her with this calculating expression
before speaking. “Lucien isn’t going to force any of them to sell their pussy
for the club as payback if that is what you’re getting at. Just because that is
the main monetary revenue for The Brothers, we aren’t savages. Besides, the
club got a hefty amount when we picked up the girls in Denver as a sort of down
payment for helping out from their Denver contact. That will cover a lot of the
cost for the building.”

Molly nodded. “That’s good at least. I just was
wondering what his plans were when the women were healed and felt safe enough
to leave.”

“You know that’s club business.”

“Malice, I’m not some club whore that gets passed
around by you and the other members. I have known you and the guys for years,
earned your trust, and would have hoped that just because we are not together
anymore you would still confide in certain things with me, especially
concerning the welfare of these women that The Brothers asked
me
to look after.” She wasn’t his old
lady anymore, and even when she had been that didn’t mean she was privy to club
business. Molly didn’t even want to know the majority of the shit that went
down with the club, but this wasn’t about running guns or selling drugs, but
about the battered women in the cabin behind her. She wanted to make sure they
would be taken care of when she was back in Brighton. “I just want to make sure
that Lucien doesn’t expect anything from them that they won’t be able to give
him.” Lucien wasn’t an evil man, but he also put his club and any business
associated with the MC first. He had helped these women because he was a genuinely
decent man, but he also was forking over a lot of money to buy that property
and renovate the land. Molly wasn’t saying he’d force them into his little
selling pussy on the side business, but she did want to know what his
intentions were.

“Listen, it really isn’t my place to open my mouth,
but I will say that Lucien has been talking about speaking with you.”

That caught her off guard.
“About
what?”

Malice cleared his throat, but his gaze was
unwavering.
“Concerning the women.
He was going to
call you later, set something up for the next time you’re in Steel Corner, but
I’ll let him know you’re staying one more day. I think you should talk to him tonight
or at least tomorrow before you head out.”

Molly was a little unsure about what was going on,
or why Lucien wanted to talk to her. If he was just concerned about how the
women were doing he didn’t need to have a meeting with her. He could have
easily talked with his crew and gotten feedback from them since she updated the
ones that were at the house when she was there. No, this was something very
different, and although she knew she had nothing to fear from The Brothers of
Menace MC, Molly would be lying if she said she was not a little apprehensive.
Before she could say anything in response to that, Malice was speaking again.

“Listen, he’ll give you a call later and set
something up. But you and I,” he gestured between them, “we’re good, Molly.
I’ve just got my own shit to deal with, and it’s hard to keep it from
reflecting on how I act.” He held her gaze, and for a moment she watched this
dark mask cover his face. “But if he hurts you in any way, I don’t even care if
he yells at you for some shit, you fucking tell me right away, okay?”

Pushing away her hesitation over what Lucien could
possibly want to talk to her about, she smiled. She didn’t bother telling
Malice that if Stinger hurt her, she’d make sure to hurt
him
back. She didn’t know how much damage she could actually do to
a shifter biker, but she’d go down fighting. “I will, but it isn’t like that. Stinger
isn’t like that.”

“And you know this after, what, a week?”

Now it was her turn to clench her teeth.

“Never mind.
You’re an adult, and this is your life. I’ll call you later.” He lifted his
hand in a wave, but before she could reciprocate the act or say anything he was
striding to his SUV. She watched him leave, but didn’t think about Malice or
his hang-ups anymore. After getting Dakota buckled in, she got in her car and
headed back to the motel. It was hours before Malice would be back to pick up
Dakota, but that was okay because she’d use that time to spend with her son,
and to think about how far she really wanted to go with Stinger.

Chapter Nine

The barn was filled to capacity. There were more
guys wanting to watch violence than there had been before, but that was because
these underground fights weren’t just about shifters anymore, at least not for
the time being. Lucien’s guys were going to do a little bare-knuckle fighting,
too. They had recruited some thugs looking for some easy cash from Denver and a
few other surrounding cities in Colorado, and they would go up against Lucien’s
men. Although The Brothers were bad motherfuckers, the guys Sticks had called
in weren’t these scrawny drug peddling assholes on the street corners. They
were seasoned back alley fighters, big and mean, and ready to tear someone up.
This should be one hell of a night, but what Stinger was looking forward to was
getting into the center himself. His bear had been pacing, scratching and
clawing, and wanting to hurt something or someone since getting into it with
Malice at the motel room. It also hadn’t helped that the guys at the clubhouse
had gotten on him about the fact he was about to shift. The only way to tame
the beast and let out the violence churning inside of him was to exact his own
violence and destruction.

Two shifters took the center of the barn, both
without any clothing on, and their animals nearly ready to tear each other
apart. They shifted, and were now tiger against snow leopard. Teeth snapped,
claws tore into the other shifter’s body, and blood sprayed along the ground.
The crowd went wild, and money was being held in the air as some kind of
incentive for more pain. And then as if a cool draft filled the room, but one
only meant for Stinger to feel, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end,
and his flesh tightened. He turned around and stared at the front of the barn,
and stepping through the double doors was Malice leading three of Lucien’s men.
But Malice had his eyes trained right on Stinger, and this very sadistic smirk curved
his mouth. But he stopped before he reached the Grizzlies, and the rest of The
Brothers moved past him when he gestured them around. Malice grinned, and at
that moment his name fit the vibes coming off of him perfectly. They stared at
each other for what seemed like long minutes, and the more time Stinger spent
staring at the biker, the more pissed off he got. The images that slammed
through his head were ones of Malice touching Molly, kissing her, and wanting
what was no longer his. Stinger wanted to go over there right now and fight
Malice human-to-human. He didn’t need to shift to kick the guy’s ass, even if
his bear wanted out too damn badly. He wanted to do this man-to-man, wanted
Malice to feel his knuckles slamming into his body, and wanted him to hear the
words that Molly was his.

Stinger took a step forward, and then another, and
another, He stopped in front of the other man, stared him down, and curled his
upper lip in disgust. “We need to talk,” Stinger said when Malice was only a
few feet from him.

Malice lifted a dark eyebrow, and the scent of his
amusement filled Stinger’s nose.
“Talk?”
Malice looked
away, like he was trying to grapple with his own issues, and then looked at
Stinger again. “Man, I want to do more than just talk.” The amusement faded
from Malice, and he lifted his hands up and cracked his knuckles. “I’d like to
beat your ass just because, but I’m going to be the better man and walk away.”

“Because you’re a pussy?”
Stinger’s animal was the one that had spoken, and had gotten balls of steel
when he should have shut the fuck up and left things alone.

Malice had been turning to head back to the rear
rooms, but he stopped, and his whole body tensed. When he turned around the anger
that came from him made it clear that Malice had never wanted to let the fight
go. He had just kept it buried under the surface of his skin.

“I was going to take the high road because Molly
doesn’t need to see us fighting, but it is clear neither of us is sated.”

Stinger tried to force his bear down, but he was a
feral creature, and never had he wanted to taste blood as much as he wanted
Malice’s. “You want to fight over who has the right to claim Molly?” Stinger
hadn’t done shit like that since he was a kid, but this wasn’t about who had
the right to fuck her from this moment on. What Stinger wanted was something
more permanent, and if Malice was going to get in the way then they needed to
clear this shit up right now.

“No, I am done fighting over who can have Molly. I
just want to fight so I can beat your fucking ass. This isn’t high school,
Grizzly, and I am not afraid to go up against a shifter.” Malice grinned, but
it was far from humorous. “You want Molly, fine, she’s yours.”

Stinger inhaled deeply and could sense that Malice
was being honest, but that confused the fuck out of him. Stinger rolled his head
back and forth on his neck. He was itching to go a few rounds with the biker,
too.

Malice took a menacing step forward.

Stinger sensed Court and Dallas move up behind him,
but he held his hand up to stop them. “If you want a good old fashioned fight,
human, I am more than willing to deliver on it.” Stinger felt his nails
lengthen into claws and felt his incisors push down as his bear moved forward.
His body was getting bigger, his muscles more pronounced. He wasn’t going to
let his bear out, but he was going to let Malice know who and what he was up
against if he wanted this to progress.

Malice chuckled, but it was the least humor filled
sound Stinger had ever heard. “You think I’ll piss my pants because you’re whipping
your dick out?” He lifted his dark eyebrow again.
“Hardly.
I’ve dealt with motherfuckers like you before, shifters that think flashing
your inner animal is supposed to scare the shit out of people.” He slowly shook
his head, and a hard mask covered his face.

“You are one stupid bastard.” Stinger grinned, but he
knew it looked sadistic, too. “I’m done bullshitting about this. You want a
piece of me, and I want a piece of you.” He took a step forward until his chest
just about brushed along Malice’s.

“Boys, if you want to do this I’m not about to stop
you, but take it outside. No free shows here.” There was an easygoing attitude
in
Sticks’s
voice, the coordinator of these
underground fights, but he also wasn’t fucking around. He may be in business
with The Grizzlies, and now Lucien and his crew, but this was his show, and he
was running it.

“Stinger, come on, man. How about we get you in the
center with another bear? You can beat the shit out of him and not hold back
fighting a human,” Court, the voice of reason, said beside him.

Malice bared his teeth at Court and then looked at
Stinger. “If you’re too afraid to fight me like a
man
…”

Stinger pushed past him, feeling like fire licked
along his flesh as he stepped into the cool, fresh air. Harleys, trucks, and a
few POS cars were parked around the cleared out land. Stinger moved over to the
tree line where there was an opening a few feet from the barn. If this was
going to happen, so be it. He stepped into the clearing and turned to watch as
Malice, a few of The Brothers, and Court and Dallas followed suit. Malice
stopped a few feet from him. They both removed their cuts, and the instinct to
shift rode him hard. But he’d kick the shit out of this fucker with his bare
hands, and he’d make it known that he was strong enough to take care of and
protect Molly and everything that was under her care.