Page 4 of Pearl
Whatever she’s about to say, I can already tell is not going to make my day but instead probably piss me off. I don’t even wait for her to answer. I drag her up by her arm and spin her around. Charity doesn’t fight me, and she better not or I’ll knock her out because I know exactly how she knows. “Where is it? Where’s the phone, where’s the fucking cell phone?”
Charity doesn’t make me search her, but I sure as shit would have done it. “What were the rules? Give us all your electronics. Not just the ones you fucking wanted to give us!” I give Shine, my Sergeant of Arms a scowl. First time she’s missed something as important as this. I don’t know what’s gotten into her lately, but something is definitely going on that we’re going to talk about, as soon as we get out of this mess.
My head spins with the implications and the importance of getting to the bottom of this. Not just for the safety of Angel’s twin, but for the safety of our club, our involvement in the operation and the details of the rescue being learned and that it could very well botch our promise to Duchess about keeping our involvement in helping her on the down low. Fucking nightmare to end my long-ass day.
I turn to the group. “Pack your shit. Everyone and everything that ties us to this place, just like we’ve rehearsed a million times. Grab your go bags. We’re moving out as soon as you’re ready.” Everyone’s got assignments in the event we get compromised but I sure as hell wasn’t expecting this tonight. I take the sim card out of Charity’s phone and smash the whole works under the heel of my boot.
I glare at Shine. “Stay here and keep an eye on all of them, alright?” She doesn’t reply, but I know she will. We’ll get tothe bottom of her sloppiness of late, later, but right now there’s more important things to do. Like warn Duchess. The minute I’m in my room, I call Stephanie, or Duchess as she’s referred to now. As president of the Harlots’ national chapter, she needs to know what’s going on right the hell now.
Duchess should chew my ass for bringing trouble to her door, but just like years ago and every time I’ve been in trouble, she’s got my back. “If you haven’t already, get rid of the phone, abandon the club, and get the ladies and yourselves over to the Phoenix Crew. You can stay there until things blow over. They owe the Royal Bastards, so they owe me.”
When I get back downstairs, I alert the rest of the Harlots who aren’t hanging at the club tonight not to come back before heading out. Instead to go straight to the Phoenix Crew’s. They’re going to be pissed as hell, but every one of them will obey that fucking order. They know for me to give it means things are bad here at home.
Three of us sling on our backpacks, each of us taking an extra lady on our bikes, riding back roads through the city to get to a safe haven deep in the heart of Phoenix after weaving in and out of alleys to ensure no one’s on our tail. The others will follow. If someone has tracked that damn cell phone, we can’t be too damn careful with these ladies.
We park in the back of the well-known hangout of the Phoenix Crew’s club, the allies of the Royal Bastards who’ve agreed to take the Harlots under their wing. It may seem like just another biker bar and strip club to those who don’t know better, but it’s also the protection for many women seeking a new and better life when theirs goes south. No one will see us because no one dares tread back here without an invitation. Unless they plan on leaving with scars that no one wants to talk about.
The minute we’re off our rides, I gesture to Onyx and Skye. “Walk your bikes over behind the dumpsters. Just in case somenosy asshole comes sniffing around.” Charity slips off my bike and goes to join Angel and the ladies. A shiver goes down the length of my spine and the little hairs on the end of my nerves stand at attention. I don’t need to look behind me to know that we’ve been made.
A hand snakes around my neck, grabbing my right arm and holding it against a solid wall of muscle. “I guess I’m the asshole sniffing around, sweetheart. Who the fuck are you? I know you don’t belong to anyone with the Phoenix Crew.”
My chest pounds with fear of the unknown but I’ve been in tougher situations than this before. Silently I work through my options. There’s only one of him, and I can probably talk my way out of this. But a tall man with a beard steps out of the shadows. “I’ve got the girls over here covered, Carver.”
And now the game has changed. Nobody hangs out in the back of the Phoenix Crew’s pad unless they’re with them or looking to cause trouble, and these two sure as shit look like trouble to me.
This fucking night keeps going from bad to worse, but I’m determined to turn it around. I bring my knee up almost to my belly, and with all the force that I have slam the square two-inch heel of my boot into his kneecap while my elbow drives into the side of his face.
One chance, that’s all I had. But it’s all I need. Too many run-ins in back alleys with assholes who want a piece of a blonde who wants no piece of them. It teaches you skills no one should have to learn.
He recovers faster than most, and fucking smirks at me, wiping the side of his face with his sleeve. “You’ve got a mean little right, baby. Why don’t you just settle down and tell me what you’re doing here before me and my boy have to get rougher than we want. You’re trespassing.”
Carver dude is saying all the right things, but he and his friend aren’t Royal Bastards, or any Phoenix that I know. If they belonged here, they’d either know we were coming or be dragging us inside by the hair of our head for daring to step foot on their property without permission.
No, these two are here for us. My hand slides to my side. Carver dude sees it, but he’s too late. I’m too fucking fast and experienced with my pearl-handled Glock. “Don’t come any further, or I’m going to have to put you in the ground and let the Royal Bastards or Phoenix Crew deal with your remains.”
His eyes narrow. “Honey, if you plan to shoot me, you better know how to aim straight. I’ll even give you a clean shot.” His western drawl may be sexy as hell, but I don’t appreciate the insinuation that I don’t know how to shoot. If I wanted to, I’d put a bullet dead center between his eyes and I wouldn’t miss.
“Fucking asshole. Who are you and who sent you? The girls aren’t going back with you, and where the hell is Angel’s sister? We want her back.”
Carver looks honestly confused. “Who and who?”
The back door of the bar opens and prevents me from answering. Hawg, a big burly guy and the prez of the Phoenix Crew pushes the door open and strides right toward me and Carver. “You’re supposed to be laying low, Pearl. But that’s not really your specialty is it? Put that gun away and keep it holstered,” he says to me while extending a hand in the direction of the man with the smirk.
“Canyon fucking Carver, good to see you man. Sorry I missed you the last time. I see you met our visitors. Let’s get these women inside and out of sight before someone with a vendetta we don’t want to deal with sees them and starts a fucking war.”
I didn’t ask for handsome’s fucking help, but I’ll take it from whoever this Carver guy is and the Phoenix Crew right now. We had one job to do. Go to Vegas, pick up the three ladies and keepthem safe until they could get a ride north. Easy fucking payday, or at least it should have been if my sergeant at arms weren’t off her game lately. Now we’re stuck getting protected by a bunch of macho males. I’m still fuming as they lead the way into the club.
First rule, always, always make sure they’re not packing heat and take any and all communication devices that could be used by their traffickers to track and find them in the middle of a rescue. Fucking blew this job, and who fucking knew there was another sister. No one said a word about that, or we would have never left her behind. We’ll be damn lucky if Duchess gives us another job again.
Hawg leads us into the back of the club. Carver turns to Hawg and gestures to his friend. “Hey man, we’ll probably hang for the night if that’s okay and then be back on the road in the morning. I’ve got another drop this week, so I’m going to do a quick turnaround and then be back.”
The Phoenix biker nods. “You’re always welcome here, Carver. You and your friend make yourselves comfortable. Check out the entertainment and have a drink and some food. You know where the beds are when you want to crash later.”
“Don’t mind if we do. Pretty rough night corralling these trespassing lovelies,” Carver says with a glint in his crystalline blue eyes as they meet mine.
My eyes narrow at the handsome devil with dark hair, long enough to hang over one side and ice blue orbs that heat me with a glance. My mask quickly drops into place. Handsome or not, I’m not interested at all. “We were invited, asshole.”
Carver laughs before turning to his sidekick and the two head to the farthest side of the bar where all the ladies are shaking their asses and pastie-covered tits.
