Page 23 of Motorycle Daddies

Dart shakes his head, and Trap does the same, taking a step back with his hands in the air like he’s surrendering. “I don’t mean no harm by it, Prez, but really, we want to know she’s okay. You got her all night. And we need to talk.”

The three stand there, staring each other down like some kind of Western shoot-out is about to go down.

I can’t help it, I start laughing at them. Then I start snorting.

They all stop and look at me, each with a different expression. Dart looks curious, Trap looks at me me like I’ve lost it, and Grizzly looks like he could jump me right here and now.

That sobers me up real quick, and the laughter stops just as quickly as it started. “Sorry, it’s just…you guys sound and look so dumb. But you’re right about one thing, we need to talk.”

I scoot forward and pat each corner of the bed.

Grumbling but cooperative, each of them takes a seat while Grizzly comes back to his spot in the bed next to me, though fully dressed this time.

His hand rests really close to my side, and I kind of wish he would reach over and do that spine-tingling move he did last night where he used his fingertips to graze my skin. But I don’t think he’s going to do it in front of these two, given the mood they’re in.

“So, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” Dart asks, his hand reaching out to rub at my knee. He takes it back like he touched a hot potato fresh out of the oven when Grizzly stares at it like he might cut it off.

I’ve never had men fighting over me like this.

Maybe it’s because I’ve just never allowed myself to be in such a situation. I’ve been too busy all my life taking care of other people and being the good girl, being quiet and easy, since the rest of my life was the opposite. But I can see the allure of this kind of chaos.

“Okay, I guess. I just feel a little weird.”

Trap nods. “Anything you feel is valid. I can understand you might be feeling strange. How would someone normally feel in such a situation? Who the hell knows, because this kind of thing doesn’t happen to normal people.” He winks at me, and I think he’s trying to flirt, but it’s a little bit too early for me to read between the lines.

Yeah, this is definitely not a dream.

“Well, let’s get on with it, then. I know the two of you are here because you want to know what went down with Meredith here getting kidnapped. We want her side of the story. I think she deserves to hear our side too.” There’s that air of authority again from Grizzly, and it makes me scoot instinctively closer to him. It feels like they’re a wolf pack, and he’s the alpha, and nobody questions him no matter what he says or does.

“Well, you tell us whatever you feel like telling. I’ll be honest, I might get a little bit pissed, depending on what I hear anyone did to you. I was ready to fuck some shit up in there last night when I saw you up there and recognized you. It’s just not right, what they do. We were already there because we got tipped off, but the fact that they had you, another victim with personal ties to the MC…” Dart shakes his head, and I can tell he’s holding back any more anger so as to not scare me.

I look at Trap, and there’s a somberness about him. I think he feels the same.

“I guess I’m feeling a little survivor’s guilt, or something like that. Because I got away, but those other girls…”

“Okay, so from our side, you should know that we weren’t there for you, because we didn’t know. But I’m sure so glad we were there,” Grizzly says. I turn my body toward him, ready to listen to a story.

“Long story short, we have an informant who gave us information about someone else, someone in the Italian Mafia who has a deal with this Russian scum. Well, he told us about this auction that was happening, and we were supposed to use it to pretend like we were making amends. We wanted in so we could figure out how their operations worked. We thought we might rescue a girl, weren’t sure going in, but we knew we had to look real. We told him we were there to look for another club whore.”

Grizzly almost cringes when he says the word, as if it might offend me. I know enough about the MC to understand how it works. Club whore is just a title. A job. Honestly, most of the women here in the clubhouse are treated better than women in a corporate job. It doesn’t really offend me, except that I’m not one.

“I know what you mean, go on,” I say reassuringly.

Grizzly clenches his fists a few times and then relaxes. “Well, I had these two knuckleheads here going around and getting all the information they could, but seeing you on stage kind of interrupted all of it. We were determined to take you home. We bid on you and then we pushed them with a little bit of extra cash to get you out sooner. We didn’t think you should have to wait in there any longer and suffer.” Grizzly looks away, his body tensed up.

I’ve seen Grizzly angry only a handful of times. And I know he can be scary.

Hell, he could probably scare the devil right out of his pants.

Everything is quiet for a moment, and then Trap speaks up. “That’s really it. But what about you? How did you end up there? Did they tell you anything?”

I blink, trying to hear the questions and filter them through my groggy brain.

Dart seems to notice me struggling and puts his hand up. “How about we pause for just a second. Trap, I think this girl is in some clear need of coffee. How about we get some for everyone?”

Just as Trap and Dart are about to leave, my stomach burbles. Trap chuckles. “Maybe some food too. We’ll grab something from the bar and be right back.”

They leave the door open and give Grizzly a look as if to tell him not to shut the door on them again. I try to hide my smile as I watch them go.

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