Page 15 of Cocked Hammer

“I guess you will have to figure that one out, huh?” she mumbled, and I had no clue what she was talking about.

“Guess so,” I mindlessly muttered an answer to her, pulling out and reaching for my underwear and pants, but I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her. I wanted to slap a leather vest on her with a property patch on her back to stake my claim. If I had any doubt about it before, I sure as shit didn’t now. I loved this woman.

10

Lina

Although it was never something I planned for my life, falling for Sledgehammer was really never something I questioned. Until now, that was. I told myself I didn’t acknowledge it because what was happening between us needed no explanation. Thus far, I refused to let myself explore what exactly the overwhelming feelings I had for him meant. I was defective and didn’t deserve him, so it was fucking pointless to entertain the idea. Despite my worthiness, I wanted him in every facet I could have him.

“What are you looking at, Sugar?” Sledgehammer breathed without opening his eyes.

Gnawing on the inside of my cheek, I paused before I answered him, “You.” The meaning behind the nickname he gave me took me back to the first time we were together. My cheeks flushed, and a shy smile pulled at my lips.

He rolled onto his side, his elbow bent, and rested his chin on his cupped hand. His fingertips tapped against his temples. “I’m a lost cause in here, Lina.”

“Ira, I think we’ve both established we aren’t good people. I’m going to argue that you aren’t a bad person, and you’ll do the same. Remember, we don’t care what other people say about us as long as we are good to each other?” I hedged, firing one fact after another. The deepest desire I had was that one day, he would see himself as I did. I didn’t care what illegal shit laid in front of or behind him. Both my past and my future were flawed, and I didn’t pretend that someday my life would be perfect. Instead, I accepted my life and all of the fault lines worn into my skin. Before Sledgehammer came into my life, I wanted it to end. I cursed the sun every morning when my eyes opened and prayed for death to find me in my slumber.

“You’re right.”

“Of course, I am,” I squeaked, snuggling into him like nothing else in the world mattered.

He didn’t know all the chapters of my life leading up to the one where we met, but I did not know his either. As long as we sat unbelievably still, maybe the earth would forget it held the ability to turn and bring a new day. But I wasn’t a child anymore. So many years had passed since I had let myself feed into fairytales, so I knew what would eventually come for us. Reality. Until the ugly truth of the universe came crashing down on us, I wanted to listen to the unspoken lies and remain unaffected with him. It might be absurd to do so, but if that was what it took to stay with Ira, I wished to always be labeled a fool.

11

Sledgehammer

“Place looks empty,” Wily whispered, scouting the club out, and held his balled fist up silently, signaling for us to hold on his command. My heart pounded within my chest with excitement. This was the shit I lived for. No amount of pussy could ever give me the same kind of thrill.

My knuckles turned white from the tight hold I had on my gun as we followed his lead and turned the corner. Something didn’t add up about the scene we were walking into. It was too quiet given the kind of place we were in right now. Monty Cat owned the strip club Cat Call, which always had something going on. He was flexible, and from what I heard, had helped Spider out quite a bit throughout the years.

No one was at the front when we entered, and the door was unlocked. Everyone was on high alert, not knowing what would happen next.

Something shifting in the furthest booth away from us caught my attention, and I lifted my hand, gesturing in the general direction to warn my brothers. As we inched closer, it became clear what had moved, a person. One bare foot stretched, and then the other crossed over it. From the looks of it, someone was on their knees in the booth.

A million possibilities of what was happening played inside my head, but all of them were wrong.

“Fuck,” Monty Cat groaned as we rounded the corner, and the feet we saw moved again. One of his girls was on her knees sucking his cock.

“Mont.” Ghoul laughed, and Monty Cat’s eyes opened. The woman’s blonde hair shielded her face as she lifted her head from his dick, and his hand cupped the back of her head.

“We’ll finish later,” he said coldly, smacking her plump ass when she stood and headed toward the back where the dancers typically got dressed.

“Ghoul.” His hand stuffed his dick back into his open zipper, and he stood from the booth, shaking his dress pants—to adjust his junk, no doubt. Monty Cat extended his hand for Ghoul to take, and Ghoul’s eyes widened in response.

“Mont, there’s no way I’m shaking your hand right after it was on your dick.”

“Ah, man. Shit. I didn’t even think about it.” He wiped his hand up and down on the inside of his blazer. “I get ya, though. Never touch another man’s dicky doo zone.”

“The fuck is a dicky doo zone?” popped out of my mouth before I had a chance to stop it.

“When your belly sticks out further than ya dicky doo, it’s a dicky doo. Sac knows what I’m talking about.” His eyebrows pinned high on his forehead and dropped a couple of times. This fucker was insane, but he was good to the club. That was why they’d kept doing business with him all these years. Truthfully, if I had to deal with him as long as Spider and Ghoul had, I would have found a liaison or someone else to deal with him. After I thought about it, sometimes I thought Ghoul kept him around for the crazy shit he did. “So, all this,” his fingers waved over his junk meticulously as if he were rubbing an imaginary lamp, “it’s your dicky doo zone.”

“You’re a crazy fucker,” Ghoul pointed out the obvious.

“Makes two of us.” He laughed. “What brings you by, old friend?” he asked, walking around all of us brothers and motioned for us to join him at the bar. We took a seat as Monty Cat washed his hands and grabbed a bottle. “Can I get you all anything?” His eyes landed directly on me since I was the dumbass who sat on the stool in front of him.

“I’ll pass,” I said, unable to get the thought of his dicky doo zone out of my head even if the fucker did wash his hands. Every one of my brothers gave a similar response.

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