Page 60 of Devil's Own: Roughneck

Rank. Crusty. Nasty-ass. They aren’t hard to suss out from just that description, but Elise subtly points them out just for confirmation.

Once we know they’re in the audience, each one of us starts a walk around the club, strutting our fine asses as if we’re supposed to be there.

One of the men, a greasy-haired, shaggy-bearded troll with a slight pot belly, grabs my arm harder than anyone should be grabbing a woman’s arm and tugs me over to his lap.

“Been eyeing you for a while.” Inside, I go on alert. Did he figure us out? He shoves money down into my cleavage. “Dance for me. Get me hard, I’ll fuck you. It’ll be worth your time.”

I’m repulsed, but breathe through it and smile big. “Worth my time?” I ask, inwardly rolling my eyes. Like I’d ever take dick from this asshole. “How much you talking?”

“Got a grand on me right now. Ride my cock and it’s yours.”

“Then let’s see if I can get you hard, baby.” I’ve never given a lap dance in my life. This is the most awkward thing to happen to me in a very long time. I climb on his lap and gyrate my body the way I know turns Rough on. I figure if my moves work for him, they’ll work for this disgusting mouth breather.

He grips my hips to force me down against his growing erection as I continue to grind on him. “Fuck,” he growls. “Gonna love fucking you.”

“Oh, yeah, baby. Show me.”

This disgusting waste of a human being stands, grabs my hand, and drags me outside behind the club. I caught Gillian’s eye before we reached the back door and she nodded. I know the women will have my back.

“Fifteen hundred, you let me ruin that ass.”

“Condom,” I say. I can’t show any fear. He smirks, reaching into his pocket. While he’s distracted fishing for protection, Elise cracks him upside the head with a cast-iron skillet and he drops. “Where did you get that?” I ask and Maryanne pipes up.

“Me,” she says, waving. I didn’t know she’d come. “I can’t go in. But I brought precautions.” It’s brilliant. I figure most of the women are packing heat, but a couple of whacks from that heavy skillet will knock anybody out, and with a lot less noise or fuss.

Dusty walks around the side of the building to join us at the back. We’re clear if we leave now. Gone too long and his friends will come looking.”

Maryanne then produces rope, two scarves, and a bandana. One scarf they shove in his mouth and the other they tie around to keep the scarf in his mouth. The bandana gets tied around his eyes. These women rock. I want to be them someday.

We tie him, hands and feet behind his back to keep him from loosening the binds, and the lot of us drag him to the trunk of Maryanne’s SUV, which she has backed up and parked at the side of the building. Dusty has Gillian’s Kia parked next to it.

“Where are we heading?” I ask the group.

“Climb in your car and follow us. We’ll try to get us onto the compound without being seen.”

“I have a better idea,” Dusty says. “We have a cabin—”

“I know the cabin,” Caity says. “I’ve been there.”

“Well, we don’t have any girls there right now. It’s private and we won’t have to worry about the men.”

A cabin? Does it belong to Dusty and Reaper or to the club? I didn’t know about any of this. Dusty points Gillian in the right direction and we roll out from the parking lot with Maryanne following. If we get separated, they have Caity to get them to the destination.

We drive for about three hours, cutting through the countryside and up mountains instead of taking the main interstates. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the beauty of this place—the densely packed forests all thick with green, and when we reach the top of one of the roads, heading down the other side of a mountain… It’s breathtaking.

For a moment, I forget we have an enemy biker in the back of Maryanne’s SUV that we’re bringing to some mysterious cabin to interrogate. The more I think about it, the more I feel like a biker’s old lady. Like I belong here with this group of incredible women. I closed myself off from friendships for so long because I had to be the best mom for Waite. Work and Waite were all I had in me for years.

But considering what’s going on right now, I have to take a good look at myself and think about the possibility that I kept friends at arm's length because I don’t trust people very easily—which makes my relationships with Rough, Aja, and Dusty that much more significant. I’ve been hurt or let down by so many people throughout my life. But I’m more than my past.

Wow.That’s a revelation.I’m more than my past.How many people figure that out before they’re too old to change their life course? I don’t know how much the Horde needs me, but it appears that I needed the Horde in so many ways.

“Turn at the next drive,” Dusty tells Gill. “It’s dirt and between trees. I’ll point it out in case you don’t see it. It’s easy to miss if you don’t know where to look. That’s what makes it the perfect place.”

“Perfect for what?” Gill asks, and yeah, I want to know, too.

“If I tell you, you have to swear to secrecy—forever.”

“Is it something I can help with?” Gill asks and I like her. I wish I could think of a brother who could keep up with a woman like her. I’d love to have her around more.

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