4. Lamb

Chapter Four

LAMB

“ I t’s over, boys.” Wolf slammed the gavel on the table with a resounding bang .

Cheers lit up around the room, chairs falling back as the men stood with pride and joy, exchanging fierce handshakes and powerful smacks on the shoulder. Church became a parade as the burly men formed into a mosh pit of leather and sweat.

I stepped into the corner, careful not to let one of the elephants tread on my feet. “Next time, let’s announce news like this in the clubroom where there’s more space.”

“Let them be.” Wolf chuckled, his shoulders relaxed for the first time in a long while. He leaned back in his chair, setting the gavel gently back on its pedestal. “The war is yet from finished, but a long battle is over; they deserve to celebrate.”

“I knew we’d get those fuckers!” Polo, the old and wild man, yelled from somewhere hidden in the crowd. There was no chance I’d see him through the giants that now ran the club. The older generation had withered, not just in mind but in height.

“The Black Jacks are nothing compared to us!” someone else, a younger voice, shouted.

I rolled my eyes, looking across at my president. The huge man’s head came close to my shoulder. “This room was built for active members, at most. Every member is beyond capacity.”

An arm jerked around my neck, and I was soon pulled close into a warm, stiff chest. “We did it, brother!” Jax yelled right into my ear drum. “Nothing like taking a bullet for you guys, but I don’t think I’ll be doing it again anytime soon.”

A saccharine smile pulled at my lips. I didn’t fight his grasp but turned my gaze to meet his. “Do you want to bet on that?”

Jax’s joy simmered into caution. His eyes darkened as he quickly registered the situation he was in, and the exact brother he was holding onto. Even so, he held me a moment longer than any other brother would have done. But, unsurprisingly, he did eventually slip his arm away from my neck and back to his side. “I think I’ll pass …” Jax meekly mumbled.

His muteness lasted until he caught sight of a different brother. Once again, the hyperactive man-child was bouncing off into the crowd, leaving me safely next to Wolf’s impenetrable, humorless fortress before any other brother got a little too excited and grabbed onto someone they shouldn’t. Even seated, Wolf was the size of a body shield in front of me.

My shield gave me a sympathetic smile before taking in a deep breath.

“Shut up!” Wolf bellowed, and like a switch, silence rained down on the room.

They all turned, frozen in motion, to their president.

The towering man looked over each one. “Party starts in an hour.” Chuckling at the sight, he rose out of his chair.

Whoops and hollers blasted through the room, and with a spring in their steps, the men piled out with raucous energy that would only grow and grow into the night.

I watched as the dense crowd trickled out until just myself and my president were left in the room. “I should—”

Wolf’s meaty paw dropped onto my shoulder, toppling me to one side. I recovered and gave the thing a curious stare before I moved up to my president’s face. His lips were pressed into a fierce, thin line between the scraggly salt and pepper bush on his face, but his eyes were clear. “Stay for the party,” Wolf said. It was a command, not a suggestion.

I reached for my phone in my pocket, the square plastic pressing against my chest. I shook Wolf’s hand from my shoulder, brushing away the thick creases he left in my leather cut. “I was planning to,” I lied, turning on my heel and walking out the door before Wolf could say anything more.

I disliked being told what to do, and Wolf knew it.

“ I want to leave.” I sighed, taking a long draw of water. I stared at it glumly, wishing for a lightly aged whiskey or a full-bodied wine. But I would be riding back the second I was allowed to leave, and nothing would stop that.

“Hey!”

Which meant no precious alcohol to absolve me of my torture. Instead, I stood behind the bar, watching people get trashed and laid.

“Hey!”

Three hours was more than enough.

“Hey! Blondie!”

I turned my head.

I was unsurprised to see two generous tits pressed into the varnish of the bar, nipples dark chocolate against deep honeyed skin. I didn’t let my gaze linger, moving up to her face, meeting endless black eyes. They were glazed and unfocused, running up and down my length with a languid gaze.

“Finally,” she slurred, shifting herself further onto the bar, her ass now propped up into the air for all to see, tits making their way over the other side of the bar, dangling free, nipples pert and pointing down to the floor. “What does it take for a girl to get attention around here?”

“You’re in the right place.” I moved closer, smelling the sickly sweet taste of hard spirits on her lips. They were glossy and pouty, her tongue darting between them. “Just the wrong direction.”

“Oh.” The girl’s eyes flickered with clarity for just a moment. “You’re gay?”

I heard a burst of laughter farther down the bar but didn’t deign Jax a laugh, not even as his laughter grew into hysterics.

“Not exactly.” I shrugged, reaching my hand to grasp her chin. Her skin was soft, as the residue of makeup transferred onto my skin. I leaned forward, watching her fall enticingly into my lull, lips parting, eyes widening. “You’re just not my type.”

Soured at my words, the girl jerked her face from my hold. Her heels clapped against the wooden floor, her tits bouncing at the motion before turning and stomping off back into the crowd.

“Wow,” Ronnie, Jax’s old lady, didn’t wait a moment before chiming in. “Did you really have to say it that way?”

“Leave him.” Jax giggled, his laughter still shaking his chest. One arm dangled limply over his old lady’s shoulder, the other wiping tears from his eyes. “He’s a stone-cold heartbreaker, that one. No sympathy for the old, the weak, or the beautiful.”

I didn’t correct him.

Ronnie just frowned, tucking her long hair behind her shoulder. She looked down into her own glass of orange juice.

“Do you think I did the wrong thing?”

Ronnie’s green eyes jumped to mine, surprise widening them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jax roll his eyes.

“Not exactly.” Ronnie shrugged. “Just think you could’ve gone about it differently, is all.”

“If the end result is the same, does it matter?”

Ronnie’s brows knitted, not in thought but in reflection as she stared long and hard in my direction. Even Jax paused to give me a second look.

“I guess not, but …”

“Tell you what”—I moved closer, leaning an arm on the bar—“I’ll make it up to you.”

“Oh shit,” Jax groaned. “This can’t be good.”

Ronnie registered Jax’s reaction, giving me a skeptical side-eye. Curiosity got the better of her in the end. “How?”

“I’ll let you know a secret.”

“What’s it going to cost me?”

“You’re sharp. I like it.” I smiled, glancing toward Jax, who puffed his chest out with pride. “He needs someone like you.”

“ Hey !” Jax snapped.

“Never mind him.” Ronnie smacked her hand against Jax’s chest. Then she leaned forward over the bar, her space invading mine. “Name your price.”

“What’s to say there is one?”

“You don’t strike me as the charitable type.” Ronnie smirked, the gesture wrinkling her nose.

“You’re right; I’m not.” I shrugged, liking her more with every word out of her mouth. “But let’s say you’ve earned this one.”

“Fine.” Ronnie squinted, not sounding convinced, but also not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I leaned forward, my mouth coming to the corner of her ear. I heard her breath hitch and felt the slight warmth glow from her cheeks. “She wasn’t after me.”

A frown puzzled Ronnie’s soft warm face. Then she turned to Jax, who sipped easy on a beer, eyes obliviously scanning the room, a pout on his lips. At the realization, her easy smile cooled.

“Prove it.” A smug smirk took over her face as she dropped back onto her stool as if she had caught him out.

“What makes you think I can’t?”

“You going to go over there and make that girl admit she was coming after someone while their girlfriend is right next to him?”

“You still have lots to learn about club life, huh?” I nodded, casting a glance at Jax. Ronnie followed, and Jax shrugged sheepishly.

“It’s a free life.” He took a swig. “Not everyone plays by the same rules.”

“Still, it was you she spoke to.” Her finger outstretched at my chest. “She was giving you the fuck-me eyes and everything.”

Jax stood to attention at that. “And what are the fuck-me eyes, babe?” Jax purred, leaning close enough to his old lady he could lick her tanned skin. “How about you show me?”

Ronnie grunted, shoving a palm over Jax’s face and pushing him away. “You’re disgusting.” The pink blush running over her cheeks told a different story.

“How sure are you? That you think she was after me?” I drew her attention back.

“Pretty sure …” Ronnie folded her arms over her chest, pushing her small breasts up over the peak of her shirt.

“Want to bet on it?”

Jax’s face paled. “Babe!” He dropped his beer on the counter before clasping her waist. She spun with a yelp on the bar stool until she faced Jax. He looked wild and harried, the words sputtering out of his mouth. “Don’t do it,” he begged. “Whatever you do, don’t make a bet with him!”

“What? Why?” Ronnie, panicked by the reaction, glanced back and forth between me and Jax.

I stayed my hand, waiting patiently.

“You never want to owe Lamb a favor. You don’t know how he’ll make you repay it. It could be as simple as driving his truck or burying a body. You basically owe him your soul.”

“That’s a little dramatic.” I rolled my eyes, sighing at the pathetic man. Perhaps his favors had lost a little of their value.

“You are such a sore loser!” Ronnie cackled, and I knew Jax had lost his plea.

More whining tumbled out of his mouth, but she had already turned her head back to him. “You’re on. “I’m more curious how you’re going to prove it, though.”

“Keep your eyes on me,” I purred, folding my polishing cloth thrice and setting it on the bar.

I circled through the exit, coming into the fresh waters as flittering eyes turned my way. Many club girls let their tongue wander their lips in flirtatious desire. But I wasn’t playing with them tonight.

I speared through the dense crowd, weaving my way easily past the half-naked women, drunk men, and those somewhere in-between. I found her again easily, the dark-skinned girl gyrating in the center of the dance floor, a collection of drooling onlookers staring as her tits sashayed to the beat of her hips.

Lost in the music, she didn’t notice me until my hands slid around the soft curves of her hips and my chest pressed into her back. Big brown eyes swept up my face, and the smirking pout vanished into a sharp frown. Her body never missed a beat.

“What can I do for you, asshole?” she snipped.

“It’s the opposite, actually.” I smirked, enjoying the game. I leaned close into her ear, the loud beat of the music smothering our voices. “I’ve come for your number.”

“That’s gonna be a hard no,” she sneered, whipping her head back and forth, her long brown hair smacking me in the chin. “Try some manners first.”

“It’s not for me.” I pressed my hands firmer against her hips, her soft, doughy skin dimpling beneath their touch as I spun her generous hips toward the bar, her eyes finding the couple now staring wide-eyed back at us. “It’s for that one.”

“They’re interested?” she gasped, her mood doing a fast one-eighty. “I thought they were taken?”

I smirked, releasing her and reaching into my pocket for a small square business card. I handed her a pen and a card. “Can I get that number now?”

“Should’ve said so sooner.” The girl laughed, snatched the pen from my hand, and once she managed to pry her eyes away from the bar, she scratched several digits onto the note. Before handing it over, she turned and looked straight to the bar before pressing her big lips into the card and lingering there as her eyes batted at her target.

I watched Ronnie’s face flare red with rage and Jax shrink into his shoulders.

It almost made it worth staying behind. Almost.

With a flourished turn, the girl flicked the card back to me, and her hand whipped out to smack me firmly on the ass. “Hurry up, messenger boy.”

“I like you.” I laughed, already seeing a future where she gave my brothers hell. She wasn’t old lady material, but she had enough fire to make it as a club girl and not get burned.

“Everyone likes me.” She smirked. “Shame you can’t say the same.”

“Your name?”

“Eva.”

“Stick around, Eva.” I waved the card at her. “Might find some other things you’d like here.”

Eva glanced at the bar, her saccharine smile showing the devil inside. “I’m sure I will.”

With the parting words, I let the sea of men and women swarm back around the topless girl as she spun back into the center of their avid attention.

Sauntering back to the bar, I avoided a couple of women beelining toward me and ducked out of their reach before they could get their claws into me and slid back into position down the far end of the bar.

Ronnie’s face was a beautiful shade of red as I pinched the card between two fingers and offered it out. Only benign curiosity filled Jax’s face as he innocently reached for the card. Flames fueled Ronnie’s pretty green eyes, and I snatched it.

“Nuh-uh.” I wagged a finger at him. “This isn’t yours.”

I turned toward Ronnie, the card dancing between my fingertips. “For you.”

It took a few seconds for both Ronnie and Jax to catch up, but the moment it did, the tides quickly changed. Shock changed into a beautiful shade of bright pink on Ronnie’s cheeks as the green anger jumped into Jax’s chest.

“Hey!” Jax snapped, jumping to his feet. “How dare someone hit on my old lady!”

Ronnie reached out and tentatively took the card from my grasp, looking at the little piece of paper like it might bite her. It wouldn’t. But Eva would.

“Don’t take it!” Jax hissed, snatching it out of her hand and shredding it into tiny pieces until it looked like a hamster had built a nest on our bar.

Ronnie ignored his meltdown, her eyes still wide on me. “But I thought it was Jax she was—”

I shook my head. “I just said she wasn’t interested in me. I never said who she was interested in.”

All sorts of interesting emotions crossed Ronnie Marsh’s face, some I was sure Jax wouldn’t mind exploring if he took even a moment to process his old lady’s reaction. But as much as he was observant with animals, Jax was short-sighted regarding his own woman. Always had been.

With that thought in mind, I figured I might as well add the final nail to the coffin. With a smirk, I leaned across the bar, protecting my shirt from the tacky surface, and whispered into her ear, “They do say pregnant women glow, after all.”

Ronnie’s neck snapped back from mine. Her eyes were wide, and the pink blush had disappeared. Her hand smacked over her mouth with such speed that you’d have thought she’d spilled the secret herself.

She hadn’t. Not verbally, at least. It’s just that there was no use hiding secrets from me. I always found out. Always .

“What is it?” Jax demanded, almost falling off his stool as he leaned into her space. “What did he say?”

“I’ll call you about that favor sometime.” I bid her farewell, leaving a badgering Jax and a Ronnie stunned into silence.

S leep tugged at my mind. As much as my brothers liked to joke that I was a robot, I had little strength to repel my biological needs, as and when they came. I got tired, hungry, and horny just like the rest of them.

My wheels cruised down the quiet suburban street, a couple of lights flicking on with the rumble of my engine. Three a.m. was not a strange time for me to be out riding, but if people were bothered, they had little courage to say it to me. Not even an anonymous letter through the door.

The white picket fences blurred by, with their carefully manicured lawns and meticulously tended flower patches.

My house, much like any other house on the street, came into view, and I turned my bike onto its tarmac driveway. I kicked down the stand and cut off the engine, the residential reprieve was loud in the absence of my bike. Not a single car, or pedal bike, traveled the lone wide road. A cricket chirped somewhere in the grass, but otherwise, the night was empty.

I slipped a hand into my riding saddle, pulling out the whiskey I’d longed for back at the bar, and enjoyed the softness of the autumn night breeze before unlocking my door and slipping inside.

The trek through the living room and toward the basement door had a tingle running through me. Excitement, perhaps? Trepidation? I’d longed all day to leave the compound and return to the prize waiting for me beneath the foundation.

By now, she’d be begging for a drink. If my grasp on her alcohol dependency was accurate, which it would be, then eight hours without a drink would make her—

I stopped.

My hand grasped gently around the basement doorknob. I glanced toward the keypad flat on the side of the wall. The little green lock light that would glow in low light was dark.

The lock was disengaged.

I didn’t remember opening the door or rushing down the stairs. All I could remember was the empty cell and the unlocked metal gate.

Ash had escaped.