I was good at what I had to do in life to survive. From the second my old man knocked me out the first time and I woke up in a pool of blood, I knew I had to find a way to survive on my own. I learned how to hide, how to fight, how to make a living no matter what. Anything that got in my way was eliminated. Shit, being with the MC was more or less me settling down because I knew there were two choices: prison or death.
I hung in the back room of the place, debating my next move. That was unlike me. I always took charge - swing first, ask later. But not with this woman. Christ, if Duke ended up dying because of my indecision, using my cock to think, I’d never hear the end of it. That was the kind of stuff Cash did, not me.
That’s why I was on the frontline of this.
Then she came into the room and poured the poison into Duke’s drink. I thought maybe she’d have a change of heart and do the right thing. When she finished pouring the poison, she walked to a drain and bent over, tossing the vial.
Again… who the fuck was this woman?
My hand went to my gun and my eyes went to her ass. So nice and round, no pockets on the back of the black pants so it was all ass pointing at me. I started to take the gun out of the holster when another idea came to me.
Shit, Trev was going to freak the fuck out.
I was going to freak the fuck out.
This woman - this goddamn stranger - was going to end up getting me killed.
**
“What are you drinking, darling?”
My hand was on her wrist and she turned her head to look at me. I felt her wrist shaking and I hoped she wasn’t crazy enough to try and throw the drink at me. Depending on the poison it could blind me or kill me.
Her eyes went wide, that brown and amber color still showing.
I growled and squeezed her wrist tighter.
“You,” she whispered as though she knew who I was.
“Better put that down,” I said.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Why?”
“I have to give it to someone.”
I made a move and slipped behind her, pinning her against the table. My cock was pressed against her back. My other hand slid around her body and touched her soft belly. My fingertips were begging for me to climb up her shirt and play with those tits of hers.
I put my mouth near her ear. “I know what you’re going to do. You don’t want to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Darling, if you want to play a guessing game, you can guess how I’m going to have no choice but to kill you. Or you can play my game and walk out of here alive.”
“What’s your game?” she asked.
Her entire body was trembling. The vibrations were driving me damn mad.
“My game is called tell Trent the truth,” I said. “What’s your name, darling?”
“Harlee.”
“Like the ride?”
“Like me,” she said. “That’s my name.”
The name fit her for some reason.
My hand pulled at her stomach tighter. “Now, I don’t want to hurt you. I’m here to kill you, darling.”
Her body started to go limp. Her hand opened and the glass hit the table and spilled. I pulled at her and turned, getting us out of the way of the mess. She was woozy and her knees gave way as I lifted her up to carry her. I put her on another table and she was then eye to eye with me.
“Don’t kill me,” she said. “I was told…”
“Don’t go ratting too fast,” I said. “I’ll ask the questions and you give me the answers. Got it?”
She nodded.
“Now, Harlee,” I said, just wanting to say her name, “Tell me who you’re here to kill.”
“I don’t do this for a living. Okay? I’m not a killer person…”
“A killer person,” I said.
I felt myself wanting to smile.
Goddammit, Trent, pull it together.
“Tell me his name.”
“Duke,” she said.
I nodded. “Do you like baseball?”
“Not really.”
“Good,” I said. I slipped a hand to her back again and pulled her close to me. She hesitated, and rightfully so. This chick was about to meet the monster. I just hadn’t decided which one. The monster inside me or the monster in my pants. “I fucking hate baseball. And I don’t do strikes or outs. I do life and death. So I’ll ask just once - do you want to leave here alive?”
“Yes,” she said. “Please, yes. I’ll do anything.”
I grinned. “Careful with that, darling. Don’t sell yourself too much. I’ll take what I want anyway. So here’s what we do now. You’re going-”
I was cut off by the sound of a gunshot.
All I could think about was one thing - Duke.
**
I grabbed her by the hand and pulled her toward the door. I opened it and looked out to the floor to see what was actually going on. Sure enough, there was Duke, standing up, looking ready to kill someone. I couldn’t figure out what the gunshot noise was though.
“You fucking took them!” Duke bellowed.
“Whoa, whoa,” someone said. “Let’s all take a breath. Get the outlaw some new chips…”
“Shit,” I whispered. I looked back at Harlee. “This is going to get bad.”
Before Harlee could speak, Duke turned and threw a left punch. He hit the guy so hard, the guy went up into the air and crashed to the floor, already out cold. He then flipped the entire poker table and that started nothing short of a damn riot.
I had to go get Duke out of there before he blacked out and did something bad.