Page 5 of Pound

“Fuck. Can’t a man get a blow job in peace?” Heavy breathing that sounded like a snorting bull caused him to open his eyes. Granite had his hand on Trip’s chest. Holding him back from beating Pound’s ass. It wasn’t the strength of Granite’s arm that did it, but rather the power of his patch.

“What the fuck, man? You claim my sister without her knowledge or my okay, and within an hour, you’re getting your dick sucked?” Trip huffed some more. Which he had every right to do. “Prez?”

Pound downed more whiskey and waited for Granite to dress him down. Yet another thing that didn’t come. Instead, Granite’s voice was soft. “Drink all you want, but don’t do something in your grief that you’ll regret later.”

The what the fuck look in Trip’s eyes matched his own. Truth be told, the only reason he’d motioned to Molly in the first place was to punish himself. Either by doing something that would cost him any chance with Meri or get him the ass whooping he deserved. But he was denied both.

2

MERI

Being ripped out of the closet by a man the size of a Buick was the single most terrifying moment in her life. Her brother’s vice president’s soothing voice still sounded in her ears as it happened. It made her not feel so alone.

Jake had never been in the picture. He’d bolted before the twins were even born. But he was their father, and that’s why she’d let him in for Christmas. Of course, he was only there for a purpose. Never for the kids, and that broke her heart.

He'd been nervous and begging for money.

Alarm bells had gone off in her head when he’d shown up without gifts and called her a selfish cunt for not opening up her purse. She’d been just a few seconds from kicking him out of her house when a couple of Iron Travelers knocked on her door and took him away.

She’d felt guilty about not stopping them in the moment, but now she wished she’d told him to fuck all the way off when he’d called. But while she was tough as nails with everyone else, Jake was her weakness because half his DNA was also half of her children’s DNA.

Maybe if she’d had just quit trying, she wouldn’t have found herself dragged through her house by scary men. They shoved her to her knees in front of a man who she assumed was the boss. He was dressed in a tailored suit that would cost her a month’s salary at least. He reached out a finger and caressed her cheek. “My, my, aren’t you pretty? Jake has good taste, just not good sense.”

“What… what do you want?”

“Only my due, dear. Only my due.” The man was attractive, extremely so. But he had a vicious edge to him. Not like the guys in her brother’s club. They had that air of danger too, but it was different. Metered maybe. She’d never felt unsafe or scared around them. Not the way she did now. This man looked like he enjoyed other people’s pain. Got off on it. She wasn’t stupid, she knew her brother’s club did things that most average citizens would find disturbing, but they didn’t do it for fun.

“Tell me, sweet Meri, where is your beautiful daughter?” The way he said it lit a fire in her maternal soul. She stood and lunged for him, punching him in the chest. She was going for the windpipe, but he moved too fast. One of the Buicks grabbed her from behind. The man in the suit had murder in his eyes. He grabbed her jaw so tight she felt it in her teeth. He demanded her undivided attention and fear. He could have the former and he could choke on it, but she wouldn’t grant him the latter.

“That was not very nice, Meri. I have to say I am disappointed. We have treated you well, have we not? Yet, you attack me. As payment for your disrespect, how about I take your son too?”

At the mention of both her kids, she paled. Jake had told these men everything about their lives.

“Where can I find my property?”

That vile man calling her kids his property made her sick to her stomach. She remembered Trip telling her, “We are scarier than anything out there. Just remember that, Meri. The club is your family now too, and we take care of our own.”

“They’re visiting their uncle at his clubhouse. He’s a Desert Phantom.” She raised her chin, as much as she could anyway, until he let go of it.

When he did let go, he seemed to casually inspect his nails. “Ah, yes, the secretary, right?” He didn’t sound scared, he sounded bored. Meri had been accused, more than once, of being mouthy, so she let her mouth run before her brain caught up. With the adrenaline coursing through her body, she couldn’t remember anyone in the club except the last person she’d spoken to.

“And the vice president, Pound. I’m his ol’ lady.” That grabbed Designer Suit’s attention. His eyes widened and his mouth parted before he schooled his emotions.

Trip had filled her in on the hierarchy of the club and ol’ ladies and hang-arounds and prospects and just a bit about club life. Plus, she was observant.

Trip had also explained how they and others viewed the Phantoms’ families. Not all of what he told her was glowing, but he never wanted her to feel left out of his life and she was anal about making a misstep, so she learned what she could.

“Is that so?” He walked around her like he was inspecting a package. “You don’t look like biker trash, but I guess that’s the appeal. Enjoy some premium pussy at home while slumming it with the whores and strippers at the club for free. It’s a win-win. Pound’s a smart man.”

He leaned in close behind her and whispered. “Tell me, does he do all the dirty stuff with you that he does with the club whores or is it just missionary and vanilla at home?” He didn’t expect an answer, so she didn’t give him one. He strode back in front of her with an eyebrow raised when it hit her. Shit, she needed to react like what he said bothered her.

Meri lunged again. “He would never do—” When Designer Suit easily stopped her, she realized her hands were bound at her back. She’d been so preoccupied with their little back and forth, not trying to show fear, one of the Buicks must’ve done it.

“Never, huh? You must be new to the club life or ridiculously naive if you believe that.” He raised two fingers and made a slight motion that meant nothing to her. Apparently, it meant something to the men behind her because she felt a gun in her ribs as she was pulled tightly against a wall of muscle. “Their vice president must have some perverted kink to keep you this far from his club life.” He looked around her home as she was forced toward the door. His voice pitched low as if talking to himself rather than anyone in the room. “Smart man. Wish I had thought to keep my Lizzy far away from my… associations. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to take her out.”

Mari gasped at the last, pulling Designer Suit’s attention from his impromptu confession. A glance at the clock on the key table told her she needed to cooperate. She knew it was getting time for the kid’s bus to arrive, but she didn’t realize how close.

Meri quit resisting. “Is this a kidnapping or a gossip circle? Can we get on with it? The sooner we do, the sooner the Phantoms can come and end you.”

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