“It’s all essential to my daily life,” she assured Christian, keeping up pretenses when he leaned around Ozzie’s back to blink at her haul. Punching in her security code, she went to her text messages and felt her heart freeze into a solid block of ice.
Isn’t he one of yours? the message read, followed by a crime-scene photo of Marcel Monroe lying in a dirty alley somewhere, his dark eyes unblinking on either side of a gruesome, wet-looking bullet hole. Her mind flashed back to the crime-scene photos of her father’s murder. And the gin sloshing around in her stomach threatened to reverse directions.
Terror grabbed hold of her with sharp teeth and shook her savagely. She must have made some sort of noise, because Ozzie asked, “You okay?”
She turned to him, a million thoughts spiraling through her head. Had Marcel fallen victim to the life of an Apostle, taken out by a rival gang member? Or had someone discovered he had talked to her today and decided to end him before he could give her more? Could that someone have been one of the Black Knights? Could it have been…Ozzie?
She searched for the truth in Ozzie’s eyes but reminded herself that he wasn’t the man she had thought he was. He was a lying criminal asshole. There wasn’t one true thing about him.
“I…uh…” She had to swallow. Her voice sounded like she’d taken sandpaper to her vocal cords, and her heart was a lead fist pounding against her ribs. “I need to hit the ladies’ room.”
And get the hell out of Dodge.
Because if they’d killed Marcel, they wouldn’t hesitate to kill her too. Was that why Ozzie had texted her to meet him here for drinks? Because he planned to take her out back and put a bullet between her eyes?
A part of her, the part that had fallen for all his bullshit, didn’t want to believe it. That part of her hurt to believe it. But the rest of her was screaming one and only one word: Run!
Chapter 2
Full situational awareness…
It was a phrase the Navy SEALs used to describe an operator’s ability to focus on a million things at once and quickly come to conclusions about who or what in his environment posed a potential problem. As far as Ozzie could figure, his environment posed three potential problems.
The first was Janie. She was gearing up to make another pass at him. He could see it in her come-and-get-me-big-boy stare. And what the hell was Gloria thinking? That he was some toy to be passed around? Sure, he deserved an ass-kicking for not immediately recognizing her. But in his defense, they’d only had sex once. And besides being a brunette back then, she’d also been about twenty pounds heavier. And just to be clear, she was the one who never called him back.
Pretty much the story of my life, he thought, quickly followed by, Damn you, self-pity!
His second problem was Samantha. Something was off with her. He hadn’t noticed it at first, but then he’d detected the edge in her voice, the slight trembling of her lips. Both subtle tells had increased exponentially after she read that text message. Not good. The woman was like one of those damned truffle pigs when it came to sniffing out trouble, and the thought of her pretty neck on someone’s chopping block had anger burning low in his belly and fear crawling up his spine like a poisonous spider.
And then there was problema número tres, otherwise known as the big, burly biker who had shouldered his way into the bar. He was wearing the colors of the Basilisk MC, one of Chicago’s true-blue motorcycle clubs, and the expression on his face said he hadn’t come in for a drink. He was searching for someone. His eyes were barely visible between his shaggy hairline and the dark beard that grew up over his cheeks, but they zeroed in on Samantha’s back as she made her way down the long hall leading to the restrooms, making it seem that he’d found his quarry.
Ozzie’s heart rate spiked, the feeling as familiar as breathing. The blood rushing through the injured muscles of his thigh caused them to twitch, and the resulting pain was also now as familiar as breathing. He tried to take comfort in that. Pain meant life. He should be grateful to still be alive. He was grateful to still be alive. Even if it appeared that his life wasn’t going to be anything like what he had planned or hoped.
“Heads up,” he murmured casually.
“I see him.” Christian took a slow sip of his beer as they watched the biker skirt around tables until he stopped at the high-top closest to the mouth of the hallway.
“Hard to tell what he’s packing beneath his cut,” Ozzie observed. Cut was the term bikers used to describe the jackets that sported their colors and patches. Those colors and patches not only told the world which MC the rider was affiliated with but also who the rider was within the MC and the various things the rider had done for the MC. According to this dude’s patches, he was the sergeant at arms, the enforcer for the Basilisks, and he’d killed for his club. More than once.
Well, piss, shit, and suck a potato dick.
“Judging by the size of that bulge,” Christian speculated, his accent thickened with adrenaline as he nonchalantly unhooked his heels from the brass footrail and prepared to make a move, “I should think it’s either a small sidearm or a bloody big knife.”
“Trouble brewing?” Delilah asked beneath her breath, coming over to them and pretending to wipe down the bar. “First time I’ve ever had a Basilisk in my place.”
“You still got that sawed-off back there?” Ozzie asked. One of the many things they all appreciated about Delilah was the shotgun with the aftermarket shortened barrel she was known to keep behind the bar.
A faint smile curved her lips. “Wouldn’t leave home without it.”
“Good,” he told her. “If shit goes sideways, I want you to grab that scatter gun and duck down behind the bar.”
“But—” she started, only to have Christian cut her off.
“Oy. Shut your gobs. Here comes Samantha.” When Christian got really worked up, a little Cockney slipped into his highbrow London speech.
But Samantha wasn’t coming. Oh no. She was running. Running out the door leading to the alley like the place was burning down behind her.
Ozzie’s pounding heart jumped into his throat when the Basilisks’ sergeant at arms slid from his chair at the high-top and bolted after her, reaching into the back of his waistband for the weapon he’d stored there. Reaction time for men in Ozzie and Christian’s business was faster than the speed of thought, so a split second later, they were off their stools, weapons out, and barreling across the room.
Samantha!
Ozzie wasn’t sure if he screamed her name aloud, or if that was just his soul crying out in terror.
“Stop!” he yelled, blasting through the back door and sighting down the barrel of his Beretta 92FS at the Basilisk’s beefy back. The biker had an eight-inch hunting knife fisted in his hand, and he was closing the distance to Samantha.