Page 1 of Twice the Rivalry

CHAPTERONE

GLITCH

“That bastard,” she growled as she stared at the box Taz set on her desk.

“You don’t even know what it is yet,” Taz chuckled, his southern twang making the sound smooth as honey. “Maybe it’s from a secret admirer.”

She looked up at Taz with aare-you-kidding-meglower. The grin on his face stretched even further and his brown-green eyes sparkled with mirth. He was a jokester and their MC’s Road Captain, but that didn’t mean she had to appreciate his humor right now. At six-two with dirty blonde hair that he wore long and flipped to one side with the underside shaved, he was damn good looking. Not to mention he was covered in ink all the way down to his hands, with a thick, dark blonde beard that framed his grinning mouth. But even with all that hotness, the man was a pain in her ass. Out of everyone here, he was the one who most loved to drive her insane. And ever since this little battle with her archnemesis started, well, he’d been even more insufferable.

“Did you check it for explosives?” she asked Taz as she stood and inspected the box. It was on the smaller side, but it made her instantly wary. She and Code had a reluctant appreciation for each other, but she also knew he was pissed about her latest foray in their little war. Personally, she found it hilarious, but from the message she got, he did not.

Who knew that a man wouldn’t appreciate a custom made blow-up doll decked out in full bondage gear, including a whip, paddle, and a giant strap-on dildo? Though, perhaps it wasn’t so much the doll, but the fact that she had it delivered by a dominatrix who also handed him a bottle of lube for him and his “friend” to use, with the offer to show him how to best make it work.

She even hacked into his surveillance system so she could watch him receive it. She cackled with absolute glee when she saw the shock on his face, and that they were in the middle of what looked like a party. A party where, if she wasn’t mistaken, there were a few extra people in attendance from a visiting club, and all of them lost their shit laughing.

Code’s face was thunderous, and within the hour, she had been kicked out of his system—which she allowed, because why not let him keep believing he was as good as her—with the promise of retribution coming through their message system. Of course, she told him to go right ahead, but now that she was faced with a box, it was her turn to be wary.

“Would you just open the damn thing?” Taz demanded impatiently. “I already shook it. If he was going to bomb the place, I’m sure it would have already gone off.”

That was a good point. She heard a ping on her computer and glanced at it quickly. Of course the bastard was trying to hack her systems to see her reaction. Turnabout was fair play and all that. She clicked a few buttons to let him in, without him knowing of course, then picked up the box and headed for the common room of their small clubhouse. “Then I guess we best give him a show, shouldn’t we?” she replied with a grin.

Taz shook his head, but his grin widened impossibly further. “You two are fucked up, you know that?” But he followed her, shutting the door behind him. Everyone knew not to go into her space if that door was shut. Taz decided to test that once, and had ended up with a broken nose, and a gun in his face. She was fiercely protective of her space. She didn’t care if they were a team, she refused to have them going in and messing up her stuff.

“But that’s what makes you get up and going in the morning because you love other people’s drama,” she tossed back at him as they made their way into the common room. The garage they bought was on the smaller side, with just enough room for them to remodel the top floor so it had a room for each of them, a communal bathroom, a room for Church, a bar, a small but nice kitchen, and a common room. That space had a few chairs and tables, a large leather sectional sofa, and of course a huge TV on the far wall. They weren’t the kind to host parties, so what did they need a bigger space for?

She, however, got her own bathroom, since she was the only woman on the team and she refused to share with the rest of them. Men were disgusting. She also refused to clean the communal bathroom. They could damn well do that themselves, but they recently hired someone to do it, and so far that was working out well. She did her own, since she wasn’t a messy person, and she hated clutter.

“Alright, everyone, gather around,” Taz called out. “Glitch’s secret admirer sent her another gift. Personally, I don’t know how he’s going to top the last one. Any guesses on what it could be?”

The other members of the club were milling around the room, a rare occasion they were all in the same building. Secretly, she enjoyed it. It was lonely at times when they were on the road and she was here working, but then again, she was used to being alone. Right now, as they all headed her way, some grinning, others rolling their eyes, she was glad she had witnesses if Code finally snapped and tried to take her out.

“What did you send him this time?” Simba, their club’s President, asked. He was always the leader of their band of merry mercenaries. The man was a born leader and a good man. Even when he was pissed at her and reading her the riot act or handing her ass to her in the training ring. To the point that it was almost sickening. Still, she appreciated that he treated her equally and not like she was a weak link because of her gender. He stood at six-two with dark brown eyes and hair that he kept long on top and short on the sides. His dark beard was no longer scraggly now that they were back from their latest mission. Though, if she wasn’t mistaken, she was starting to see hints of silver in there too. She’d have to mention that at some point. Currently he was wearing a simple black t-shirt that showed off the ink on his arms and the letters on his knuckles. Like everyone else, he was well built, and kept himself in shape.

She grinned wickedly as she told him exactly what she sent Code, making him shake his head and laugh. Simba rarely laughed when he was on mission, but here, he always seemed far lighter. “It was very thoughtful of me,” she added, grinning at the rest of them.

“Well apparently he didn’t think so,” Ursa remarked drolly. Ursa was their Treasurer, and a whiz with numbers. Personally she thought he missed his calling with coding, because he was decent at it, but she knew he wasn’t the kind of guy to sit behind a desk for long. He would get too restless. He was six-four with dark eyes that always held a calculating glint in them. He also had a thick long black beard, and two braids woven into his equally black hair. Add in the ink on his forearms, and he was the picture of a hot man with a rough edge. Women threw themselves at him daily. Well, except her, of course. She saw him as more of a big brother. One that liked to beat the shit out of her when they sparred, but that just made it more fun. Especially when she got the upper hand.

“Just open it already,” Taz ordered, tapping his foot.

She gave him an arch look, which he returned, before she rolled her eyes and pulled out the knife from her boot to open it. She never went anywhere without a weapon, and she had some excellent places to hide them. She slid the blade across the tape and then opened the box, bracing. When she saw what was in it, she narrowed her eyes angrily. The men around her let out small laughs and a few curses. She might have even heard Taz mutter, “That dumb bastard, she’s going to kill him.”

Bastard was right, she thought as she looked at the bright red push-up bra. It was no secret she was lacking in the breast department, and while she normally didn’t let it bother her, this was a dick move. Knowing he was watching this whole thing, she picked it up with one finger and inspected it for show.

She’d give it to him that it was pretty to look at, being blood red with some diamonds along the seams of the cups and straps that criss-crossed in the back. At least the man had some taste. Still, the insult was not lost on her. The cups had so much padding that they would probably give some lift to her small A-cup breasts, but not much else.

He took this into dirty fighting territory, and her gut burned with excitement for this new field of battle.

“Excuse me, boys,” she announced sweetly to them. “It looks like I haven’t been clear to that asshole about just who he’s messing with. I’ve been going easy on him, but now, well, he’s only brought this on himself.”

“What did we say about playing with your food, babe?” Jag warned, but his cast iron gray eyes were full of amusement instead of their usual hardness. Their VP, and former second-in-command, wasn’t much of a talker, but there was no one else you wanted at your back when shit was going down. He was calm in the face of any danger, and little got past him. Well, except the one time Karissa got in one lucky slice with her knife during training a few years ago, leaving him with a scar on the left side of his jaw. The reminder of that lucky slice was now mostly covered by his beard, the black scruff starting to show a sprinkle of gray. His hair was equally dark, but no gray showed there yet. Secretly, she wondered if he dyed it, but she hadn’t found any evidence, so for now she was chalking it up to genetics.

“He’s far too lean and skinny for me to be interested in eating him,” she said with a wicked grin, knowing the bastard could also access the audio on their cameras. She wanted him to hear this, and let him know exactly what she would do. She didn’t do sneaky unless she absolutely had to. “I’d just be gnawing on bone. I like my men a bit bulkier.”

“Considering you bit me the last time we sparred, I can see that,” Warg drawled. He was one of their Enforcers. He was a six-four black man with a thin goatee instead of a beard like most of the team. He kept his black hair shaved on the sides and thick on top, but last night he had decided to braid the top. It was something he’d been teaching her to do so she could help him on the days she wanted a break from the keyboard.

“You pulled my hair, what did you think I was going to do?” she sniffed. He shook his head and grinned at her, flashing straight white teeth.

Warg rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched. “Next time I’m just going to knock you out,” he bluffed. They all knew they never sparred to the point that anyone was actually hurt, but it was common for them to threaten it. Especially her.

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