Page 4 of Tick Tock, Boom!

I didn’t even feel myself move. One second, I was sitting, the next my fist was wrapped around Snake’s throat, and he was pinned to the wall, boots scraping for traction.

“Youeverspeak about Aiyana like that again,” I growled, pressing my forearm into his windpipe, “and I’ll break your fucking spine in two.”

His eyes bulged. He choked out a weak gurgle of a laugh, trying to play it cool. “Easy, brother…”

“She’s our Prez’s woman. She’s family. She’s earned more respect than you could ever understand.”

Aiyana had been with Bulldog through thick and thin. Ex-FBI, tough as nails, smart as hell. But she’d been sick lately, something she didn’t talk about. And even in her silence, even in her pale skin and haunted eyes, she still carried herself like a queen. When she’d walked into the clubhouse earlier, she tried to put on a brave face. But the filth around her, the things this club had become, it shook her. She’d disappeared within minutes. And no matter what kind of vile escriment was brought in here, she didn’t deservethatkind of disrespect.

I let Snake drop to the floor, gasping, face red and twisted with hate. Barrel didn’t say a word, just sipped his drink like he’d seen it coming.

“Club’s fallin’ apart,” I muttered, backing off and fixing my cut.

Barrel nodded. “And nobody’s stoppin’ it.”

We watched the room in silence. Rancid held court near the center, like some back-alley king. His crew laughed too loud. His recruits pushed boundaries too far.

And Bulldog?

Bulldog just looked tired.The kind of tired you don’t come back from. The kind that made me wonder if the torch was already passed and we’d all missed it.

And if we did…Who the hell would carry it now?

TICK TOCK

2010

A few weeks later, I walked into a fucking dungeon. A godforsaken place where I sure as hell didn’t belong, but fuck if it didn’t feel like I’d been summoned.

I was on a tip about some prick who owed the Bastards a chunk of change and thought he could vanish without one of us coming after him. Turns out, he’d been spending his nights at a place calledVelvet Chains.

It wasn’t your average bar. Not some piss-stained dive on the edge of the quarter. Nah, this place was deeper, darker. A BDSM dungeon disguised as decadence. Where people didn’t pretend to be normal, they let the filth inside them shine. I had to admit, I was envious. The confidence I lacked, they had in waves.

The place was decorated in red velvet and leather. The low lighting brought a dark ambiance where people felt safe in the shadows to act on their dirty deeds. The leather reeked of sweat, sin, and submission. It was the kind of place where the moans were real, the pain was pleasure, and the masks came off the second you stepped through the blacked-out doors.

Now I’d seen some shit in my time. War, betrayal, blood sprayed across tile floors…but this? This was something else.

The air was thick, like honey laced with gasoline. You could choke on the sex in the air. It gripped you by the throat, made your heart stutter and your cock twitch, and you weren’t even sure why.

I was supposed to be looking for the target. Find him, remind him who he owed, and maybe break a bone or two if he didn’t listen. Simple shit.

But then I saw her.

Perched on a velvet chaise looking like sin incarnate. A black leather collar wrapped around her throat, decorated with a single silver bell that jingled when she moved. She looked like she was someone’s favorite toy, and I wondered if she belonged to someone.

Long, dark hair spilled down her back, catching the light in waves. Her legs were crossed, smooth and lethal, wrapped in black lace. And her eyes…fuck me, those eyes. Big. Brown. Smoldering like sweet bourbon left too long in the sun. They were innocence dipped in fire.

She didn’t look at me at first. I didn’t need to. But I couldn’t look away. I couldn’t fucking think straight. There was a pull, so fucking deep I could feel it in my bones. It was if some part of me recognized her before my mind could catch up. There was something about her, something that reached into my chest and squeezed until I forgot how to breathe.

She shifted. Just enough for that bell to chime, her gaze lifting slowly, with purpose. And when her eyes found mine?

Fuuuuck, the world stopped.

No smile. No blush. Just raw, electric awareness that punched through the smoke and noise like a bullet to the chest.

She just held me there, pinned by those impossibly deep brown eyes. And I knew right then... I wasn’t walking out of Velvet Chains the same man who walked in.

I told myself I was still looking for my mark. My eyes kept sweeping the room, tracking movement, reading the shadows, but the truth was…I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.

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