Page 67 of Hendrix

“Tell me about it,” I replied. “Every time I think about it, I wanna wring Daisy’s scrawny fuckin’ neck. All I see is Anna’s face, white as a sheet and full of fear that she was losing the baby.” My lungs began to squeeze painfully at the thought of what my woman must’ve gone through. “All to prove a point that didn’t need to be proven. Daisy’s not my ol’ lady. Never was.”

Blade’s lips set in a line. “Same with Sara. Fucked her a total of three times. Then suddenly, she thinks she owns my dick.”

“We need to think about reiterating the rules,” I said, pushing up from my chair.

Blade did the same and fell into step with me as I made for the door. “No time like the present.”

We walked into reception and then hit the steps down to the basement. Our underground space was vast and contained a state-of-the-art gym along with the pool the men used for hydrotherapy.

The cave and HQ were located behind the gym and hidden behind a false wall. HQ was the name we’d christened the lab where we stored our cash, weapons, and high-tech equipment and the place from where we operated our drone (Hawk). The cave was a concrete enclosure where we carried out our beatdowns and took suspects for questioning.

The fact that I’d ordered Diablo to bring Daisy down to the cave was a statement I apparently needed to make. If she was comfortable enough to try to hurt Anna and the baby right under my nose, thinking there’d be no recriminations, it told me the club girls had gotten complacent and had begun to get ideas above their station.

That shit needed to be shut down with a short, sharp shock, and it needed to be done publicly.

We walked past the gym and the pool, toward the far side of the basement where we approached the back of the hallway. Blade reached up toward the light switch on the wall and pressed it three times. The false back wall swished open, and we stepped through and then tapped another button to close the wall behind us. I approached the door on the right and keyed in another code sequence, waiting for the locks to disengage before pushing open the thick, heavy steel with my shoulder.

The dim light inside the room came from one solitary naked bulb hanging from the fitment in the ceiling, casting the shadows of the three people who occupied the space.

Colt stood with his back to a wall, his arms folded across his chest and one knee bent. Diablo sat at a table wearing jeans, boots, and a black wife beater while he sharpened a large KA-BAR. The last occupant was also seated, but she was tied to a chair in just a tee and panties. Her red hair was plastered against her sweat-slicked face, and small whimpers escaped her throat.

I should have felt bad for her, guilty even for restraining her in that way, but the only emotion coursing through my blood was satisfaction that she was experiencing something even remotely as frightening as what she’d put Anna through. We had no intention of hurting her, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t frighten her ass to the point where she’d run for her life.

The moment I came into view, Daisy’s eyes lifted to meet mine, and she let out a small cry. “I’m sorry, Hendrix. Please make them untie me. I promise I’ll never do anything like that again. It was just a joke. I didn’t know how sick Anna would get. I’m so, so sorry. Please tell them to let me go.”

Approaching the woman, I lowered to my haunches next to the chair and studied her face. “Why did ya do it?”

She gave me big, tearful eyes and whispered, “I don’t know.”

Diablo flew from where he sat with a loud snarl, then lifted his arm high and stabbed the knife down on the arm of the chair, just centimeters away from Daisy’s fingers. “Answer your prez, or I’ll cut your fucking fingers off!”

“I-I was jealous, alright,” she admitted. “I’m sorry, but I was pissed she’d come back pregnant and ruined everything.”

Diablo stepped back.

“You did it to hurt the baby?” I bit out.

“No!” Daisy cried. “It wasn’t like that. I just thought she’d just suffer with gas or something and humiliate herself. I didn’t know she’d get so sick. I swear to God.”

“You can swear all you want,” I retorted. “But your word doesn’t mean shit to me. What you did was fuckin’ sick, Daisy. You knew as soon as you heard her name who Anna was, didn’t you?”

She stared up at me, wide-eyed, her throat working with a nervous gulp.

“Didn’t you?” I roared.

She nodded, a single tear tracking down her face.

“What did you think, bitch?” I demanded. “That you owned me? That we were goin’ steady?”

Her gaze lowered, and she whispered, “I liked you.”

I let out an incredulous snort. “Jesus, woman, it’s all bullshit. You liked me so much that you fucked every one of my brothers whenever they crooked a finger in your direction. The only thing you liked was using what little status you thought you had to shirk your responsibilities.”

Her face flushed, and her stare hit her bare toes. “That’s what I was here for. I could hardly say no to them.”

“Liar!” I spat. “Never once have you been forced to fuck anyone.” I jerked my thumb in the direction of the bar. “Every girl out there knows full well they can say no whenever they want. You’re not paid to fuck men, Daisy; you’re paid to keep house. The sex is somethin’ you do on your own time. You’ve always had a choice. Every girl here does. If you’re not feelin’ it, you abstain. Nobody forced or paid you to spread your legs, and you know it.”

“You would’ve thrown me out eventually,” she said accusingly.

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