“Whoo!” I cried, like a simpleton.
He cut the plastic ties with something. “I didn’t fuck you because I don’t have any rubbers. I want you to know I’m responsible.”
“Oh, that was just fine.” I felt drunk. My head wobbled on a lazy neck.
“You’re in subdrop,” he said, lifting the bandanna from my eyes. “Let me get you something sugary to drink. Come on, lambikins. Come back into the kitchen.”
And you know what? I didn’t even mind that I was pretty much a hundred percent nude as Levon marched me back to the kitchen. I draped myself around his powerful shoulders, plastering my nipple decorations to his warm back, as he leaned over a small fridge to withdraw a 7-Up.
He cracked it and handed it to me around his arm with a lopsided grin that was thoroughly adorable.
“You know what?” he said. “You’re a banging hot woman. The best part is, you don’t even know it.”
He was right. I didn’t know it. The way men had treated me my entire life, plying me with lies and betrayals, how would I know it?
“I want to,” I slurred. “I want to know it.”
CHAPTER NINE
LEVON
“Wait. These are pills. What’s Antabuse?”
Gideon told me, “That was all our nurse friend in Bullhead City had. Shumway will drink booze, right?”
I shrugged. “I suppose. Most of the fundies around here do.”
“Okay. It’s what they give alcoholics to prevent them from drinking. Some kind of severe reaction. Nurse said nausea, puking, dizziness.”
I was underwhelmed. I was hoping for something at least as serious as what he’d done to my dog. But I was a newbie at this outlaw stuff, and an outlaw was handing it to me, so that was what I’d do.
Gideon clapped a hand to my shoulder. “Just grind it up and have our bartender John put it in his next drink.”
“John’s in your back pocket?” I assumed John was an Elk, as we were currently standing behind their freshly painted club. Men carried in big tubs of ice and crabs, and an overwhelming wave of garlic emanated from the kitchen. It was already rockin’ in there. Apparently Elks knew how to party.
Gideon said, “John’s so far in our back pocket he’s practically up our ass.”
“All right.” I grinned. “I’d better get back to my date.”
“Yeah, what’s up with your good nurse?”
“I didn’t want to involve her in this Shumway business.”
“No. I mean are you hitting that? Be good to keep it all in the family like good Mormons.”
I had to chuckle at that. We were basically pushing up on two sisters. And now that I was wearing an Assassins leather cut with a PROSPECT patch over my left front pocket, we truly were brothers in arms.
This whole clusterfuck with the mayor and building inspector had inspired me to accept the Assassins’ offer. Since I wasn’t about to go crawling back to Liberty Temple with my tail between my legs, I was going to fight back. I’d taken their cut along with all the responsibilities, trust, and duty that implied. Since Dingo was now fully patched—a fully patched monster with an ego so big he couldn’t get through the door, if you asked me—when I wasn’t at my dojo I’d be serving beer and polishing tailpipes at The High Dive.
“Kiss and tell, brother. Kiss and tell.”
Gideon nodded with understanding. “I get that. In other words, you haven’t gotten a taste of that yet.”
My vanity must’ve taken control then. I blurted, “Oh, I’ve gotten a taste, all right. Listen. Is it true Skippy Cavanaugh’s out of there?”
Gideon nodded tersely. “Yeah. Sledge and I had to escort him off the premises at the business end of our pieces.”
“You know for sure he’s the snitch?”
“Yeah. Dingo left his laptop open on purpose and pretended to go to the bathroom. Skippy went over with a pad and started writing down what he’d left on his screen.”
“Nothing important, I gather.”
Gideon grinned. “Not unless you call purchasing chastity harnesses and enema kits important.”
The truth was, I didn’t know if I was “hitting that” with Oaklyn. The scene in The Chop Shop—my crossword puzzle clue name for my studio—had been completely impromptu. I’d never imagined that shuriken ninja stars could be used for nipple clamps. And once I got my face between her legs, I knew she was perfect for a bit of clit torture.