Chapter Twenty-Two.

Krista Oh G.o.d, he wanted to do it on the little table. The table where I had f.u.c.ked Clint less than an hour ago.

"Not punishment." He held out his hand. "I need to know it was me."

"It's s.h.i.tty for you to ask," I whispered. I couldn't help myself-I placed my hand in his.

His fingers curled around mine, warm and strong. "I know. But I need to know that you came for me, not for him. I need to feel you."

s.h.i.t, he knew. He saw the whole thing and knew what I had been doing. A stupid wh.o.r.e fantasizing about her knight in shining armor while another guy was doing her.

"I did come for you," I admitted. "It was you the whole time."

I needed this too, on the stupid f.u.c.king table. I needed to feel him, the real him, inside me. I sat on the table, the cold edge biting my a.s.s. Spreading my legs, I waited for him to come to me.

He did.

He leaned over and kissed me, dragging my legs around him. I clutched him to me. This was what I wanted. I wanted him and me, no distractions. This was when it was best between us, when the outside world stayed the h.e.l.l away.

"You are so beautiful," he murmured as he kissed my neck.

Leaning in, he touched my breast, lifting it and letting it rest in his hand. Then he took my nipple between his fingers and squeezed. I cried out as pleasure sparked through my body.

"Colt, I want you now."

He pulled a condom out of his back pocket. He'd been prepared.

I turned the little foil packet over and studied it. I insisted on condoms with every trick. No exceptions.

"No condom." I looked up into his eyes. "I don't want you to feel like they do."

He kissed me again and I dropped the condom to the floor. He held my gaze as he guided himself in. It was skin on skin, the slightly sticky feeling of a man without a condom. There was nothing between us.

"You're so wet for me." He grinned and slid his d.i.c.k out until just the tip teased inside of me. "Is it lube?"

I shook my head. "I don't need lube with you." I closed my eyes and thought of us at my apartment. "Never with you."

He grabbed my a.s.s and pulled me to him, seating himself fully inside. We paused for a minute and I listened to his heart fluttering rapidly in his chest. Or was it mine? He pulled out and then sank himself in again.

I arched my back. It felt too good to stay still. Soon we had found our rhythm and my body ran quickly up to the edge of abandon.

"You're mine, Krista." Our gazes locked. "Do you understand that?"

G.o.d help me, that's what I wanted to hear. Between those words and his d.i.c.k, I felt my o.r.g.a.s.m rise and explode. He growled and I felt the hot liquid as he poured himself into me.

As he slowed, we panted in each other's arms. Slipping his hands under my b.u.t.t, he lifted me to him and walked to the bed.

It was a twin bed, so it was a little rough getting ourselves arranged. I ended up sprawled on his chest, listening to his heart.

"How did it happen?" he asked. "Sleeping with men for money."

Like I needed clarification about what he meant. I just shrugged.

"I started stripping. The cash was good, so I was able to leave Robby." I ran my fingers over his chest. That had been a fun time in my life. Becky was still young enough that she didn't really know what was going on. I had been able to move out and get a place for the two of us. Robby was off on a bender and left us alone.

"I had this regular, I would dance for him every night." I felt Colt stiffen and I smiled. For all of his bulls.h.i.t, he was jealous. "I thought he was in love with me. One night, one thing led to another and I gave him a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b. When he tried to pay me, I refused the money. He just laughed and said, 'You're a wh.o.r.e.'"

I wiped my wet cheeks. "Anyway, he paid Janice on his way out instead and I never saw him again. The next guy was easier. I just closed my eyes, pretended it wasn't happening. I do that a lot." I traced a pattern on his nipple. I didn't really want to talk about my past, so I changed the subject. "Why are you here?"

"Why am I in your bed or why am I in Tacoma?" he asked.

I knew I shouldn't ask questions. The club was into all kinds of s.h.i.t and I really didn't want to know. Plausible deniability if the cops ever came through. The boys didn't share and I didn't ask. Until now.

"Both."

His chest lifted and then dropped as he sighed. "I'm in your bed because I can't not be."

His heartbeat thumped under my ear. I knew the feeling. The idea of not being with him was just not right. Alien. We'd only been together a short time, but when I went home last night, I was looking for his boots by the door. Becky had wanted to know when he was coming over for dinner. In just a short amount of time, he had become a part of my life.

"I'm here in Tacoma because I made a mistake a while back and now my club needs to know if they can still trust me."

"So, have you proven yourself yet?" I asked.

"Not yet." He eased away from me and got dressed. "I've got a habit of trusting the wrong woman."

The door clicked shut as he left. He didn't slam it, just let it close, leaving me wondering if I was the wrong woman.

Chapter Twenty-Three.

Colt Yesterday afternoon's encounter with Krista had proved just how pathetic I was around her. I was glad that no one else had seen my f.u.c.ked-up attempt to erase the memory of her with another guy. Today I was gonna focus on finding the skimmer and put all this s.h.i.t with Krista out of my head.

I met up with Tate for breakfast at his favorite spot near the clubhouse to tell him my idea. "We need to store the money for a while. If someone from the club is skimming, they'll start sniffing around it. We hand out some bulls.h.i.t story about the casino needing to wait before they can do the wash and then we'll see who starts asking about it. Let the traitor come to us."

The waitress poured Tate some more coffee. We ate steak and eggs while he thought about my plan.

"Tell me more," he said finally.

"We could store it in a warehouse with security cameras," I explained. "It would be easier to control the access than if it was stashed at the club. See who stops by. We could record it to show the guys. Nice and clean."

Tate rubbed his chin. "I know a guy, he fixes the slots at the casino. He's got a warehouse on the other side of the bay. We could store the stuff there." He finished off his eggs. "All right. Let's talk suspects."

"We got nothing concrete on Bear. No witnesses, no intel. All we know is that he has the opportunity." I took a drag on my coffee. "Could it be anyone else?" I poked at my eggs, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

Tate raised an eyebrow. "You got any ideas? I'm all ears."

f.u.c.k. The steak was churning in my stomach. "Krista?"

Tate leveled a long look at me. "Look, I didn't party with the guys the other night, but I know what goes on in my club. Just because you had blinders on doesn't mean that she's a bad person." Tate drained the last of his coffee. "But I understand, you gotta investigate any possibility. She's good at keeping the club's secrets and has been a model employee up until now."

We both stared into our coffee. She hadn't been honest about one thing; there could be other things she wasn't telling me. I could have been sleeping with the skimmer. f.u.c.k. My gut told me no, she didn't do it. But I had to be open to all possibilities.

I picked at my steak. We were going to catch the f.u.c.ker that was stealing money from the Kings, they were going to patch over to the Horde, I was going to head back to Cali, and my life was going to get back to f.u.c.king normal.

Then yesterday happened. The look on her face when she came, I knew she was thinking of me-with another guy's d.i.c.k. I had to erase that, make her mine. But she wasn't, because I didn't want her. Right? I'd forgotten. f.u.c.k.

I finished my coffee and got back to business. "I can figure out the security cameras. There will be a p.a.w.n shop or something around here that has some for sale."

Tate nodded. "You'll need a van. It's easier to wash the money when it's in singles, so it's way too much for your saddlebags. I'll get Skeeter to help you. He's my sergeant at arms and the only one I really trust."

Adding another person to this operation would complicate things, but it had its advantages. "Another brother on our side will be good. It'll be easier for the rest of the club to accept the fact that one of their brothers is skimming from the club."

Having Skeeter tag along was a good move. I had to make these guys willing to patch over, which was my ultimate goal. Then I could pack up and get the h.e.l.l out of Tacoma.

I met Skeeter at the Kings' parking lot around two in the afternoon. "Hey."

He and I shook hands and stared at each other. Skeeter shook his head. "Tate filled me in, man. Some heavy s.h.i.t. I didn't think Bear would do something like that. I don't like him-he's a f.u.c.king a.s.shole. But I always thought he was an honest a.s.shole."

s.h.i.t. I wasn't sure what Tate told him, but this wasn't good. This operation needed to be more neutral, not a G.o.dd.a.m.n lynch mob to oust Bear from the club.

"We don't know that it's Bear." Time for damage control. "We just need to see who it is. No judgments yet. At least not until we catch this motherf.u.c.ker on camera."

Skeeter nodded. "All right, let's go move some money."

There were six boxes locked in the chapel. I grabbed one and nearly dropped it. "What the h.e.l.l is in this? I thought it was just cash."

He grinned. "Well, that's on the bottom. The top is books."

I pulled open one of the boxes and saw a row of novels.

"We keep it in old books," Skeeter explained. "That way no can tell at first glance that it's cash."

I closed the box. "Okay, whatever, let's just get this loaded."

It didn't take long to load up the van and hit the road. The warehouse Tate had arranged was twenty minutes out.

"So, uh, hey. Sorry about the other night, man. I didn't realize there was something going on between you two."

f.u.c.k. Skeeter was a good guy, but I wished he'd shut his G.o.dd.a.m.n hole. I shrugged. "Yeah, well, it's done. You like the Seattle Seahawks?"

I couldn't give a s.h.i.t about the G.o.dd.a.m.n Seahawks, but I hoped Skeeter did.

"So the thing about Krista is that she's not like other wh.o.r.es." He needed to shut the f.u.c.k up. If he was gonna keep talking, I wanted him to squirm.

"Do you mean she doesn't f.u.c.k guys for money? Because I'm pretty sure she's f.u.c.ked you and you paid her."

We drove for a mile in blissful silence. I thought that would be the end of it. But Skeeter, the Dr. Phil of the biker world, had more to say.

"Look, yeah. I've f.u.c.ked her for money. A lot. She's a good lay. Is that what you wanna hear? I'm trying to apologize, a.s.shole. Make s.h.i.t right. Just let me f.u.c.kin' do that, okay?"

I was gonna shoot Tate for teaming me up with this guy. We were moving a load of G.o.dd.a.m.n counterfeit bills and he wanted to talk about my relationship problems.

"Fine. Say it, but make it fast."

"She's a good person. She's never tried to convince any of us that she was in love or tried to get more money out of us. She doesn't steal or lie. I don't know what happened to make you think that she wasn't a wh.o.r.e, but it wasn't her doing. That's what happened, right? You didn't know she was a wh.o.r.e? Krista would never deceive someone like that. She's always been fair. That's why she's lasted so long. Over a year, and she's been great. It's like having my kid sister at the clubhouse."

"You don't f.u.c.k your kid sister," I growled.

He stopped talking. Pretty f.u.c.king smart considering I was gonna punch him if he continued. I also wanted to punch myself.

Two days ago, I would have agreed that she was a good person. I still agreed that she was a good mom, fun to be with, certainly a good lay. But now she was a wh.o.r.e. It didn't f.u.c.king matter to me if she had been with ten guys or ten thousand-she used men. That was the problem. No matter what Skeeter said, Krista was a wh.o.r.e and that meant she looked at every man in a room as an opportunity. Maybe even me.

We made it to the warehouse in silence, but as he parked the van, he started back up again. "f.u.c.k you. I don't know what went on between the two of you, but you hurt her last night. We all f.u.c.king saw it. Krista cried into every G.o.dd.a.m.n whiskey she poured and then you rubbed it in her face before you took that s.l.u.t upstairs. Something went wrong between the two of you, but handle that s.h.i.t like a man. She may be a wh.o.r.e, but she doesn't deserve what you did to her. I don't want to see that s.h.i.t again. You got it?"

He turned and got out of the van. No way was I going to let that go.

I jumped out and caught up with him. "Are you threatening me?"

Skeeter stopped walking and looked at me. He was young, but I could see that his face was hard-he'd seen some s.h.i.t. We sized each other up right there in the dirt parking area outside the little warehouse.

He nodded. "Yeah. I am. Don't make her cry like that again."

"Why? You don't want her to get your b.a.l.l.s wet as she's thinking of me?"

That image caught me off guard. Krista crying as she gave someone else a b.l.o.w. .j.o.b because I had been an a.s.shole to her. G.o.d, I was a f.u.c.king a.s.shole. I'd been so d.a.m.n focused on my own feelings, I hadn't thought about hers.

Skeeter's left hook also caught me off guard. Blood trickled down my chin from the punch. It was on. I hit him with my right. Two more punches for each of us before I slammed into his chest with my shoulder.

We rolled in the dirt, punching each other. Pretty soon I stopped fighting back. It was good just to feel the pain. It was my own way of doing penance for hurting Krista. I let Skeeter beat the s.h.i.t out of me.

Finally he pulled his punch and sat on my chest. "Is that enough Hail Marys for you?"

I nodded and he rolled off. We both lay covered in dirt, bruises and blood. He was right, though. She didn't deserve what I had done. I was the f.u.c.king a.s.shole.

Skeeter turned his head and looked at me. "If you wanna have something real with her, go ahead. No one is gonna stand in your way. If you wanna pay her, well, that's her choice. But keep it fair. Don't hurt her just because you didn't know the score. She doesn't deserve that and I'm not gonna let it happen."

Raindrops splattered on my face. G.o.dd.a.m.n Washington State.

Skeeter held his hands up to the sky and yelled, "Sweet Mary's benediction!"