Wild Ways (26 page)

Mollie touched the G-patch at the back of her neck. “I’m going to sit with Brick and see if I can extract any more information from him.”

Julian wanted to reach for her hand but stopped himself.
Stay cool and calm
. It was good that Brick had proclaimed his love for Diana. Julian only hoped Brick didn’t say anything stupid that would undermine Mollie’s tenuous belief in love.

* * *

Mollie wandered back to the area that included a bed on the right and dresser on the left.
Brick lay on his back, the inflamed flesh on his chest covered in a layer of salve. He was staring at the ceiling but turned when she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Don’t try to sit up,” she said as he started to move his arms to brace himself. After he settled, she went on. “Thank you for your help. And for what you said about Di. Did you treat her well?”

“I treated her …” He seemed to have to take deep breaths to push out the words. “As good as I knew how to treat a woman. Dad … beat my mom. I had a helluva role model.”

“Did you hit Di?” Mollie had to work hard not to grind out those words.

“No.” Brick gulped, shook his head against the pillow. “Never. I just didn’t show her that I loved her.”

“She called, begging me to come get her. Was that after you left?”

“Yeah … no reason for her to do that before. She was happy with me.”

It was hard to imagine Di truly happy. Well, happy and sober. In truth, she chose men who would perpetuate drama in her life. That was why, Mollie realized, she chose men who needed fixing, because she would never let herself fall for them. Lost souls, boy-children, men fighting depression, no one who would elicit any true emotion. In being the fixer, she controlled everything.

But she controlled nothing where Julian was concerned, especially her feelings. As he had pointed out, he didn’t need fixing. Didn’t need anything. And without that wall, she’d fallen hard for him. The last thing he needed was her problems tangling up his life.

“You all right?”

Brick’s voice tugged her from her thoughts. “When we find Di, she’s going to be pretty messed up. She will not be the happy, flirty girl you fell for. She will be hurt, maybe physically, certainly spiritually. Not only from what she’s gone through, but also because you left and didn’t fight for her. Didn’t come back for her. Just like our father. Our mother.”

Brick’s mouth pulled into a frown. “I know.” Tears saturated his voice. “I let her
down. I promise I won’t ever again.”

That’s what Mollie was afraid of. She placed her hand on Brick’s arm. It was still hot. “Do you really love Di?”

“Yes. I’ll do anything to make it up to her.”

“Then leave her alone. That’s how you can never let her down again. Don’t prop her up and allow her to think you’ll be there. Don’t promise anything. Because people forget their promises. Or simply can’t keep them.” She squeezed his arm, the way her own heart felt squeezed. “Let her go, Brick. That’s how you show that you love her. Back away now so you don’t hurt her later.”

More of Julian’s words echoed, these much more personal:
My poor Mollie, so brave and yet so afraid to open her heart and trust
.

But didn’t it take more courage to back away from something you wanted badly to protect your heart?

Scotch stepped into Hidden Assets and spotted Damon toward the back, helping to stock the bar. He knew Damon on a casual basis but wasn’t a big fan of the guy. It was still early in the day, though much later than he’d wanted to arrive. Damn bike had broken down, and he’d had to call his guys to come with the parts truck.

“You’re Scotch, right?” Damon asked as he watched him approach.

“Yep. Meant to get here earlier, to help keep an eye on things.”

“Yeah, heard you’d brought some trouble to the club.”

Scotch swallowed his anger. “Wasn’t me, it was Brick. Now I’m trying to clean it up before it explodes in our faces. I take it there’s been no trouble?”

Damon stacked a full bottle of whiskey behind a half-empty one. “Nothing. Crimson moved the Ball to tonight, though, just in case.”

“I didn’t know that. Then again, I’m not attending.”

“Well, he’ll want you to help guard, I’m sure. Stay handy.”

Great. He wanted nothing to do with this orgy-fest, and now he was stuck playing guard duty like a newbie patch. “Whatever.” He leaned against the bar and turned toward the small stage where a blonde was doing acrobatics on the pole. “Are all the girls who are going here?”

“Nope, they’re at the clubhouse, getting prepared.” Damon grinned as he pulled a draft. “Hosed down, shaved, and dressed up.” He set the beer in front of Scotch.

“Thanks.” He took a long drink, his dry mouth grateful. “So that chick on the stage isn’t on the list then?”

“Nope. She’s not a mama. I hired her straight out. But we’re bare-bones tonight. I’ve got amateur hour tomorrow so I can recruit some new blood. I’m hoping the chick who busted in last night comes back. She was pretty good.”

Scotch’s red flag waved. “What chick was this?”

“Brunette, came in with her boyfriend. Never seen them before. She said her guy dared her to sneak in the back and hit the stage. Which, of course, annoyed the piss out of me, but I had to admit, she rocked it.”

“Dark hair? How long?”

Damon gestured to about the Reagan woman’s length. But she had light red hair. Of course, hair could be dyed. “What did the guy look like?”

“Latino, about my height, leaner build. You think this is the pair that’s been causing all the trouble?”

Alarm bells were going off. “Sneaking into the back room is something that crazy bitch would do in her search for her sister. Her sister who might be here. Let me talk to their server. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they paid with a card.”

A couple of minutes later, a hot blonde came over, and they were introduced. Candy didn’t have much trouble recalling the guy. “They paid with cash.”

“Did they say or do anything unusual?”

“Besides her going up onstage?” Candy laughed. “I wouldn’t have guessed in a million years she’d have done that. She seemed so demure. Not straitlaced exactly, not with a guy like that. But still, not the kind to take her top off on the stage.” Candy ran a long, pink nail down the ridge of her jaw as she seemed to search her memories. “He was a real good tipper. Called me beautiful, but not in a ‘So let’s do something about it’ way, know what I mean?”

“Anything else?” Scotch asked. “Try to remember, even if it’s not strange.”

“He did ask if we had any redheads, ’cause he had a thing for them. I told him I could request one of the girls to put on a red wig, but he wanted the real thing.”

“Bingo.” Scotch gave Damon a grim smile. “Birdy, the sister, is a redhead. They were fishing. Then the woman goes in the back to talk to the strippers.” He turned back to Candy. “What did you tell them about the redheads working here?”

She was starting to look worried. “That I’d seen one, but she wasn’t working tonight. I said she’d probably be on tomorrow.”

Scotch smiled. “Which means they’ll be back tonight. We need to axe them
before they cause any problems or my ass will be fried. Crimson thinks it’s my fault they’re here.”

Damon raised one sleek eyebrow. “Is it?”

“Hell, no. They sure didn’t follow me here. She knew your name, right?”

“Yeah, she did. Lied and said I’d sent her back there.” Damon stared at that curtain. “She was hanging with the girls.”

“I’m sure she was asking questions. The woman’s a hound dog. It’s the guy I’m most worried about, though. We want to take him out as fast as possible. He’s a badass. He had a friend with him after he took out two Kings, and between them they nearly killed two more. Trashed two bikes.”

“I didn’t see anyone else with them, but we should plan on him being here tonight.” Damon ran his fingers thoughtfully across his mouth. “This club used to be a speakeasy during Prohibition. It has a couple of hidden passageways that allow for keeping an eye out for the authorities. And a quick, quiet escape. Since you can eyeball these guys, you should tuck in and do guard duty. One’s down by the dumpster, and the other goes up to the roof. We’ll need one more guy to keep sentry.”

“A few of my brothers are on their way here now. They’re hungry for blood. We’ll cut these guys off at their knees and be done with it.” As they headed toward the curtain, Scotch glanced up at the girl twisting herself around the pole. “I say we use the sister as a prize at the Ball. Drug her up, and she won’t be any problem at all.”

Damon grinned. “She did look nice up there. She’d fetch a good price.”

“And she’s fresh.”

Damon cracked his knuckles, his fingers the size of sausages. “We’ll take care of them. For the fallen Kings.”

* * *

Risk had had harder assignments.
No pun intended
, he thought with an inner chuckle. He and Sax sat at a table a few yards away from the stage where a Lady Gaga look-alike
gyrated to “Applause.” His gaze slid over the rest of the club, which was only about half full. Other than the stage, the rest of the place was a cave, dark and shadowy. Not ideal for surveillance. They’d had to wait until the club was at least beginning to get busy so they would blend in better. The others were in position, had been for about two hours. No sign of women being transported so far.

“If it’s selection night, there should be a lot of strippers here,” Risk said.

“But there’s only been, what, three different women performing in the last hour,” Sax finished.

Had they missed the transport? Mollie said the dancer backstage mentioned selection
night
.

The server sashayed up a few minutes later to check their drinks.

“How come you’re not up there, darlin’?” Sax asked her in his honey-dripping voice. “You’re as good looking, or better, than any woman I’ve seen up onstage. And there sure haven’t been that many.”

She gave him an appreciative smile. “I don’t have a speck of rhythm. But thanks anyway. Need a refill, gentlemen?”

Risk tipped the bottle he’d half emptied in the toilet. “I’m good, thanks. If they’re shorthanded, rhythm or no, they should put you up there.”

“We’re not normally this short,” she said. “There’s a private event tonight. Come back tomorrow for amateur night. That’s always interesting.” She sauntered off.

“Hell,” they both muttered at the same time.

Risk texted Chase.
Event is happening tonight. The girls are already gone
.

* * *

Mollie, Chase, and Brick stared at the text.

Mollie’s mouth went dry. “No.”

“Is that normal, changing the night at the last minute?” Chase asked Brick.

He shrugged. “I’ve never been that involved. But there have been times when the
club’s planned some, ah, illegal activity, and if they get a whiff of law enforcement having wind of it, they’ve pushed up the date without much notice.”

Mollie took a deep breath, barely able to force out the words, “It’s time for Plan B.”

“Are you sure?” Chase asked, assessing her with vivid blue eyes.

She touched the patch at the back of her neck. “Absolutely.”

He radioed Rath and Julian with the change of plan and asked them to take positions closer to the building. After one more test of the GPS tracking system, she stepped out of the van and made her way to her car, which was parked farther down the road, the specially equipped cell phone in her pocket. Julian had her wallet, along with her grandfather’s contact info.

Next of kin
.

She couldn’t think about that, the same way she’d pushed it aside whenever she walked into any risky situation. She drove into Hidden Assets’ parking lot. Alone, though she reminded herself that she was not alone at all. She’d wanted a few minutes alone with Julian before this all went down, but it was probably better that they hadn’t had the chance. She would have put her arms around him, pressed up against his hard, strong body to absorb his strength and calm, and they would have ended up making love again.

Not because he’d awakened her libido, though he’d certainly done that. Sex had never been all that interesting before. Certainly not compelling. Until Julian. It was more than the physical act with him, though. It was connection, release. Sexual, spiritual bliss.

But a man like him would eventually get bored with a woman like her. What made her compelling to him was the roller-coaster ride they were on. Danger, mystery, sex. Mind-bending sex. At least for her. But for him, this was all in a day’s work. Maybe even the mind-bending sex part, too.

She carefully chose men who would not pull her in, and then
wham
. Julian had chosen her. She could not let herself get so drawn into him that his leaving would tear her apart. Already the thought of it ripped at the seams of her tattered heart.

She searched for any sign of the team as she made her way toward the entrance, a
glimmer of reflection, the silhouette of a head up on the roof. Her chest tightened painfully when she saw nothing. Trust. She had to trust that Julian and Rath were there. Trust. Damn, it came so hard.

She touched the cell phone at her hip the way she touched her Ruger. For security. Even now Chase could hear everything. And he—and Julian—could see where she was by watching the yellow dot on their screens.

She mentally chanted Di’s name as she approached the big bouncer, paid the cover, and went inside. Mollie scanned the club as she meandered to the bar. She couldn’t find Risk and Sax with her casual sweep. The two whom the bikers might recognize were situated outside. She imagined Julian and Rath in face paint and camos, sighting down the barrels of lethal weapons. In their SEAL days. So comfortable even now crouching in the dark with their weapons at the ready, no doubt.

A woman Mollie didn’t recall seeing the night before was dancing on the stage, allowing the handful of men nearby to tuck tips into her strings. Mollie’s heart soared at the thought of seeing Di tonight.

A few men made appreciative noises as Mollie passed on the way to the bar. She kept her gaze trained toward her target. “I’m looking for Damon,” she said when the guy came close to take her drink order.