Page 17 of Death's Deal

Martin went from “I’ll give you anything” to “you owe me” in under ten minutes. I bet he could talk the unions out of well-deserved raises too.

“I’m not playing your game, Martin. My club will have nothing to do with the cartel or you. So put my ass in jail. I’m not the scared little kid anymore. I’ll be fine inside.”

“I asked for you,” Antonia blurts out. “I asked to get you involved. I wanted someone who could protect me. I knew you could keep me safe, Quinny.”

Seeing the veins on my hand rising out of my skin, my whole body stresses. I can feel the blood pumping through the tiny roadways. This is just another problem I don’t need, and she’s another problem I could’ve avoided for the rest of my life.

Murianos may be out of the picture, but that doesn’t stop the wheels of the bus from turning. The Mano Cartel, it seems, still wants their money, their product, and their business to continue with the Mayor of LA. I now understand why I’m being asked to protect her. This wasn’t random, it is because he’s in a predicament, and this was her choice. Antonia asked this of him.

I pace the space before I turn back toward Martin, answering as truthfully as I can, “I need to table it with the club.”

“This isn’t club business, Bennett. They don’t need to know why my daughter is in your care.” Martin’s voice is short, clipped, and glib in nature.

“I won’t do anything without their knowledge. They know the history and I’m loyal—”

“To a fault,” he interrupts. “Yes, I know that. It’s exactly why I can trust you to care for Antonia.”

Without saying another word, I turn quickly, exiting the office. I have to, before I say something I know I’ll regret.

Popping the door and finding myself out in the California midday sunshine once more, I stop beside my bike. Looking back at the house, I consider what was being asked of me. The club is bleeding cash and Martin is giving us a way to get above water. He’s asking me to lie to my family and friends to do it though. He’s asking me to leave them in the dark about Antonia. Most of the guys know the story, and they won’t be pleased to see her around at all.

As I muse about my predicament, Antonia steps outside. Sauntering over to where I stand, she is just close enough that her perfume wafts my way. “I wouldn’t have asked if I thought there was someone better for the job. I couldn’t think of anyone.”

I know Antonia, she’s cunning, calculated, and she has a MENSA level mind. After the way I treated her—after she’d thrown my ass in the penitentiary—I don’t see why she’d come to me. Unless I was her last best choice. “If I consider this, and I mean this is a big if, Toni, your father has no involvement from this moment forward.”

The thought of even considering this is turning my stomach. Fucking over my brothers and not telling them the truth? I feel really uneasy about it.

“I get it. I understand it’s a big ask, Quin—Death, but there’s no one I trust more.” As she steps up beside me, her scent nearly overwhelms me. Warmed vanilla, roses, and daffodils. Letting it wash over me, coating my soul in a smell that hasn’t affected me in years, I can’t help but to ask, “You still wear it?”

Stuck in the memory of how my body reacted to her just from something as simple as her perfume, I take a second deep breath. Even if I don’t see her again after this moment, the smell will linger in my thoughts.

She gives me that tiny quirky smile. “It’s not produced anymore. I have it professionally made.”

Of course she does.

Bypassing the way her perfume goes straight to my cock, reminding me of how it felt to be inside Toni, I keep on task. On the situation at hand. Blowing out a haughty breath, thinking of how this will affect us in both bad and good ways, I know it’s the only thing I can do to help the club. I’ve almost run through the personal loan I took out. The club is strapped for cash as we rebuild, and without Obi and J, we’re not as busy at Humble. We need help. The club needs the cash injection, immediately.

I know I’ll regret this in some way going forward, because no gift is given freely, but this is a necessary evil. It’s in the best interest of the club’s survival. I only have to protect her, not make her my bride.

Pointing to the bike, I bark out a command, “Stay here.”

Cursing myself the whole time I walk the distance back to the mayor’s office, leaving Toni at my bike, I don’t stop at the closed doors. Striding in, I give him my demands. “One mil, no questions asked, for the emotional pain I’ve endured. Then five mil, in advance, for what you owe me for my time inside. Also, an extra mil a week for protecting Toni, starting this minute. Have the first seven mil wired by the end of the day to this account.”

As I write out the account number, he doesn’t protest at any point about the value he’s just attached to her safety, or that he’s left her in the care of a notorious biker club. “Don’t think I won’t take her ass straight to the cartel, or the FBI, myself if you cross me or miss a payment each week. I will.”

He looks down at the paper. “I’m trusting you with my daughter’s life, Bennett. Tell me my trust is well placed.” Martin just sold his daughter’s life and he asks if I’m to be trusted.

“You called me. I have no reason to trust you. Remember that. I was the one who’s already taken the fall for your shit. This is your daughter on the line now. Prove you love her more than life itself.” Turning, not wishing to stick around a second longer, I feel the bile rise in my throat for the betrayal to my brothers as I head for the door.

As I’m about to walk out, he calls out, “Even though you don’t believe it, Bennett. I do appreciate you’re doing this.”

Without pausing, I stated quite loudly, “Don’t thank me yet.”

---