Page 43 of Biker's Prisoner: Property of Bucky

“They’re both fine. Getting along well.”

“I don’t hear muffled screaming in the background,” Tamiya says. “So for now, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.”

I know Gideon is in the background listening. He doesn’t like his women talking to men on the phone without supervision. Always had that jealous streak to him after the whole Tylee situation that happened all those years back.

“What did you find?”

Tamiya can’t tell I’m nervous, but the emotions are overwhelming. I felt nothing as I dug all those holes for Darlene’s body parts. I told myself that was work. Nothing worse than what I saw during my tour of duty. Bodies getting blown up by IEDs, severed limbs arcing through the air, and our own brothers getting shot right between the eyes, causing brain matter to splatter everywhere.

Hearing something I don’t like about Zayna would be… impossible.

“Do you know how she got to Vegas?”

“No.”

“Okay. It looks like she was picked up in a similar scheme to Vickie, the girl living with Owen Shaw.”

I don’t have all the details, but I assume she’s from the same batch of women Tanner and Quin had gone to pick up before they met me at the trailer. So Zayna came from the same place as Owen’s girl…

“What sort of scheme?”

“Romance scam turned financial. When she got to Vegas, the man working with Hakeem took everything from her and forced her to work at… a sketchy club out there.”

Hakeem was the man in charge of all the bullshit going down in Las Vegas. Now that he’s dead, the club has been trying to make his businesses profitable again. Once they got the slotmachines working, they were able to pay off his debts within a month.

My stomach turns. She was a hooker? My tongue feels dry. I have to suppress the dark urge to go out there without thinking and demand knowledge of every man who ever touched her. The jealousy forms a bitter knot in the base of my stomach.

A vision flashes before me. A knife pressed against Darlene’s neck. Spit flying out of my mouth as I call her a hundred names.

All I ask is loyalty. Fidelity... I know logically Zayna isn’t mine and something that happened before me isn’t her fault but just the thought of another man touching her brings up a whole new kind of sickness in me. My thoughts must be loud, even if I say nothing.

“Ruger?” Tamiya says. “You are too quiet over there…”

Tamiya, noisier than a boiling kettle, naturally hates contemplative silence. But how the hell does she expect me to find out who I need to kill?

“Her job at the club?” My voice stays casual despite the burning in my stomach that works its way up my chest like taking a shot of strong whiskey in reverse.

“Just a bottle girl,” Tamiya says. “She wasn’t there long. That’s the part we need to have a serious talk about. What happened before…”

Zayna. Romance scam. Financial scam. She doesn’t seem like the type to fall for a scam. She seems sharp. Maybe a little too sharp… I don’t know.

“Okay. What happened?”

“She was involved in one of the biggest sexual assault cases in Massachussetts.”

“Zayna?”

Tamiya’s energy shifts. Her voice gets heavy and I question if I should listen to this.

“Her students broke into her apartment, raped her and filmed it.”

“I have to go.”

“Ruger, NO!” Tamiya says, using the tone I use to talk to Zeus. I was in the Army. That shit works on me like a charm. My back stiffens up unconsciously in bed. Adrenaline rushes through me. At the news. Tamiya’s stiff command. All the emotions and desires rushing through me.

Tamiya continues, exhaling impatiently so I know she is totally done with my ass, “Cops came. They went to court and everything but… they were prep school kids. The judge was related to Brooks Astor and they got off with probation and apology letters.”

“She left Massachusetts?”

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