“Yeah. Bye, Beast. I really enjoyed talking with you and meeting you. You know. Just… everything.”
He does laugh a little this time, and why wouldn’t he? I sound loony. I just feel guilty that Jan’s been talking about him the way she has and that I’m using it to my advantage. I wish I could tell him all about Jan, but I can’t.
“Talk to you at dinner, Beth.”
“Yeah, sure, okay,” I tell him, opening the door to Skull’s room and needing to get away before I break down and tell him everything I’m planning.
I grab my backpack and sit on the bed, trying to calm my nerves. I only had two days with Skull as his, but they were the best two days I’ve ever had in my life. The weeks I spent meeting Skull at the coffee shop and then here at his club are memories I shall take with me to survive the rest of my life.
I get off the bed and crack Skull’s door and wait. When I hear Beast’s moans of pleasures, I sneak into the large hall bathroom. Jan said she’d have Marker, one of the new prospects who was in charge of monitoring the back of the building, wait for me and get me out of here. I wonder if Skull knows how shitty some of the people he keeps in his compound are.
It takes some prying and a lot of cursing, but I manage to get the bathroom window open and shimmy out of it. My plan was to hold onto the ledge and then jump down, but my hands slip and I fall to the ground with a hard thump. It jars me and knocks the breath out of my lungs. I have to sit on the ground for a couple of minutes before I can continue. I stand up and find my legs weak, though I think it has more to do with nerves than from falling. I look up and there’s a large man wearing a black leather cut just like Skull’s. The only exception is there’s no name or designation on it. It’s blank.
“You Skull’s whore?”
I wince. I want to argue, but I bite my tongue. Is it so far from the truth, really? Do I even care? Truth is, I would give myself to Skull over and over if I had the chance. It wouldn’t even be a question.
“I’m Beth,” I tell him.
“Whatever, follow me. I’m getting your ass out of here before one of the other men can catch me. You get caught, you never saw me. Got it?”
“Got it.”
I take a breath and follow him. It takes all I have not to look back or run back to Skull’s room and wait for him.
“Colin,” I acknowledge, sitting across from him.
He doesn’t say anything. His cold steel eyes look me over. Everything about this motherfucker sets off alarm bells in my head.
“You have five minutes,” he says, and my hands shake from the need to end the motherfucker.
“I need to know why you and Matthew called an end to our truce.”
“We had no truce. You were merely inconsequential,” he says, leaning back in his chair.
“Fuck that. Matthew and I brokered a truce and it’s been pretty fucking effective the last few years. Then you and the Saints decide to come into my territory and make a fucking declaration of war. I demand to know why,” I tell him, my voice hard. I’m not toying with the asshole. I don’t care who he is.
“Matthew’s not in charge anymore, chico,” he says, the slur rolling off his tongue… a tongue I make a vow to cut off someday soon. Very soon.
“Does Matthew know he’s not in charge?”
“My brother does not concern you. You’re running out of time.”
“And you did not answer my question satisfactorily. If you want war, believe me asshole, I can give it to you. I would rather not see the shedding of blood if it is not necessary.”
“Are you afraid?” the cocky bastard asks, taking a drink from his glass. There’s an empty glass in front of me and an aged bottle of scotch, but I don’t trust the motherfucker not to have it drugged, so I ignore it.
“Not in the least. Enough of the song and dance, Colin. We both know you wouldn’t strike without a reason, however fucked up it is. So tell me, what the fuck does this come down to? Or, we can both get the fuck out of here and war can begin. I got warm pussy waiting for me at home. I much prefer that to looking at you.”
His lips curl in distaste. My fist clenches under the table so no one can see it. I keep my face impassive.
“Beth.”
He says my woman’s name and my insides freeze. My brain doesn’t comprehend it at first. How does he know her name? Why is he bringing her up? What the fuck is going on?
“Excuse me?” I ask, feeling my way in the fucking dark and vowing to have a word with Beth when I get back. I planned on learning her secrets… but fuck me sideways, not like this.
“You think you can touch my property? You bought yourself a world of trouble, and the only blood that will be spilled… is yours. And that is a promise. This meeting is done.”
“Your property?” I ask, my voice laced in ice.
“Mine,” he states, and it takes all I have not to tear him apart with my bare hands.
“Does she know that? Because I don’t remember her saying your name when she was begging for my cock.”