Angel Girl (S.H.E. Book 1) Read online

  Sweet’s glare snapped up to meet my disgusted one. “Your father, our club, we don’t traffic in humans. Ever.”

  “Well,” I clucked my tongue in admonishment. “You can’t honestly say never since he tried to sell my soul off to the devil by his side.” I mocked. “What were you supposed to get out of it again? Two chickens and a goat? No, that’s not it.” He was getting visibly pissed now, fists clenched. “Oh, I know. A new bike and a shiny VP patch. I see things worked out for you even without me in the picture. My condolences to whatever woman he finally pawned off on you.”

  Okay, I was definitely just being spiteful, because honestly Sweet was one hot piece of man ass, and he’d only gotten better looking with age. He had to be close to 30 by now. He still had a full head of thick brown hair, not even a hint of gray in the thick stubble coating his strong jaw, and the only imperfection marring his otherwise striking face was a slim scar and slight bump across the bridge of his nose. He obviously wasn’t skimping on the workouts either. Every part of him looked tight, hard, and defined. “Drool-worthy,” as the women from the books I read would say.

  If my father had let it happen naturally, I probably wouldn’t have been opposed to dating Sweet. As it was, I was just freshly 17 when my father pretty much promised me in marriage to the man. That same night, I watched my supposed betrothed take not one, but two of the club whores back behind closed doors, and he winked at me when he did it. Is there any doubt why I went running as soon as I was able? That wasn’t even the end of our story either, sadly. He ended up giving me far more reason to run in the end, and only after luring me in until he actually did hold a piece of my heart.

  “No old lady for me, Jamie. I was promised you, and I’ve been waiting to collect. I’ll be sure to let your dad know you send your love, Sugar.” With that he winked at me and walked out of my office, trailed by a very contemplative Peety and a smirking Spike.

  Once we were sure they were gone I turned to Tash. “Call everyone in. They all need to know we should be expecting a whole lot more company real soon. Damn it.”

  “No offense, Angel Girl, but if my daddy promised me a lifetime of fucking Mr. Tall, Dark, and ‘Do-Me-Now,’ I would have been all over that shit,” Keys laughed out. Tash was shaking her head in agreement.

  “If looks were everything I’m sure it would have been perfect. Unfortunately for my dad, I had my Aunt Kiki in my life and her husband Beau. That man loved my aunt harder than any man has ever loved a woman. I knew from an early age that fairy tales weren’t real. After my mom died, my dad brought the club whores around all the damn time. I hated him for it because he let them into our home. My mom’s memories were tainted and obliterated by those bitches. In doing so, I learned that happily ever after was sometimes an illusion. Beau and Kiki made me realize I didn’t have to settle for anything less than I deserved though. I damn sure deserved more than some asshat who tossed his betrothed a wink as he shuffled off to go fuck two club whores the same night my dad announced that we’d be together.

  One of those women he took that night was also the latest skank who thought she was going to win my daddy by trying to play mommy to me. Hell, she couldn’t have been more than three or four years older than I was at the time.” I shuddered with disgust as I remembered the whore in question. I realized that I was ranting, but there was a lot of history behind the interaction they had just witnessed.

  “Damn, I guess he couldn’t have fucked it up any better if he wanted to push you away, huh?”

  Tash’s statement left me feeling unsettled for reasons I didn’t really want to think too hard on.

  “Angel Girl, why make your own MC if you hated the life so much?” Keys finally asked.

  “I didn’t hate the life, Keys,” I answered her. “I loved the idea of the MC life. The family unit, working together towards common goals, always having someone at your back, or to just take shots with is an almighty thing. It’s a beautiful existence. The guys just muck it up by trying to prove who has the biggest dick. Lucky for us, no bitch wants to have the biggest vagina!” I laughed and they joined me in heading to the conference room we used for our larger meetings. The other girls, the ones who held coveted positions or some sort of financial backing in our businesses all trailed in behind us.

  When everyone was settled I began. “Ladies, we had a few members of the Aces High MC in here today. Looks like they’re sniffing around and trying to put down roots in Sierra High. They’re in the old Wayfair place over on Highway 76. We’re going to need surveillance on them ASAP. Let’s try to get trackers on their bikes, if we can manage it discreetly.

  “Is this like Winter’s Renegades 2.0?” Legs asked.

  “Nope. This will be much more difficult if shit goes south. It’s personal for me too. My dad runs Aces High, and I ran from him, and from all of them, when he promised me in marriage to one of his guys when I was 17.”

  A collective round of gasps went up then. Mary Ellen, who we dubbed MiMi, spoke up. “Angel Girl, do the girls who came in with me need to worry?” MiMi and four other girls in our clubhouse had been rescued from a life of slavery at the hands of Winter’s Renegades MC who was in the middle of a human trafficking ring we helped bring down. MiMi’s brother, Paul, was the one to come to us for help in finding his sister. While the FBI was storming some of the WR’s larger facilities, we took the one that was closer to home. It also happened to be the one MiMi was being held in according to our intelligence. Men had sold each of the girls with MiMi into slavery. Sadly, those men were once considered friends and family by each of the girls. In MiMi’s case, her stepbrother Randy was the one who set her up. Ultimately, it’s why those five girls stuck with us after all was said and done. Nothing like putting your faith in a sisterhood after men have let you down so damn dramatically, and I would know all about that.

  MiMi had been a fighter through her whole ordeal. She had put herself in harm's way to keep the other girls safe, and she was in rough shape when we finally got them out. Even though she was in the worst shape of them all, she made us take all the other girls to safety before getting her moved. That was how she earned one of the most coveted positions in our club so quickly. She exemplified the kind of person we were looking for to have our backs and stand by our sides.

  “My dad and his club have never, to my knowledge, been involved in human trafficking. My personal case was just that – personal. My dad had his reasons. He even thought it was for my own good, I’m sure. I didn’t want to be traded off like chattel so I left when I was able.” I took a sip of the rum and coke Tash had handed me moments before and we officially started the meeting. “I need all of you to keep a lookout for anything suspicious. I’m not sure why they’re so hell bent on expanding here. They seemed shocked about my presence so that wasn’t the reason initially. Those guys will try to charm information out of all of you, the other girls, and probably our dancers at Paramour too. Everyone needs to remember to keep their mouths on lock down, their eyes open, and we’re instating check-in times too. If we don’t hear from you at your designated time, we’re sending out the cavalry. If the cavalry shows and one of you bitches simply forgot to check in there will be an ass-kicking coming your way.” They all laughed.

  “No going out alone for any of us. Stick to pairs or small groups if you can.” I sighed and took another sip of my drink. “If you see an Aces High Kutte on anyone in town, I want that called or texted in with road name, location rockers, positions in the MC, and anything else that seems important. I don’t care if you think someone has already reported that particular member to us. I want the info to keep coming so we can keep better track of the situation. “Anyone have any questions?”

  Most of the girls shook their heads no, but MiMi was looking at me again while chewing on her lip nervously. “What is it, MiMi?”

  “This man you were promised to…” she hesitated a moment before continuing. “Will he be looking for you?”

  “He already found me, hon. Nothing
to worry about. We had our words just a bit ago.”

  “Please, tell me it wasn’t that old geezer with the President patch?” Another girl asked while giving an exaggerated shiver.

  “No,” Keys spoke up. “It was the ridiculously hot one with the ball cap.”

  “Holy hell!” Someone chimed in, and there was suddenly a loud ruckus as everyone put in their two cents about how they’d have been all over that. Not like I hadn’t just heard that from my two best friends moments ago until I explained the situation.

  I sighed before raising my voice to all of them. “STOP!” I trained my glare on each and every one of them until they were all visibly squirming under the scrutiny. “Just because a rapist is hot doesn’t mean he gets to do whatever the hell he wants to you if you’re saying no,” I all but shouted. “Sweet isn’t a rapist, by any means, but neither is he a good guy. Do not fall for the pretty boy routine. My father’s MC has plenty of beautiful bad boys, and you better believe they will use it their advantage. If you’re so easily swayed by a pretty face that you think being promised to another person without your consent is something to laugh about and celebrate, then maybe you need to rethink your position in this club.”

  Silence. I’d never actually understood the expression about being able to hear a pin drop until that moment. “A beautiful face doesn’t excuse horrible behavior. Ever. Keep that in mind while you’re out and about and my father’s men are looking for our weakest links and using their assets to get you all to talk.”

  I turned my attention to my two security officers then. “Keys, Legs, head on over to Paramour and get everything squared away and make sure all of the staff are in the know, and understand that speaking out to anyone about the club is off limits unless they want to be unemployed.”

  Both women nodded to me and then took off. “Everyone else is free to go. Get with Tash about your check-in times before you leave.”

  Chapter 2

  Her heavy sigh preceded the words I knew were coming. “It’s been two weeks, and nothing.”

  I ignored Keys for a moment as I finished typing up an invoice for our latest Product Testers client. Not only was she now unhappily out of a relationship, but she owed us $380 more for the pleasure of knowing her man is a cheating bastard. At least she found out before they made it official considering he’d proposed to her the same night our girls successfully propositioned him. Product Testers was just one of our legit businesses. Funny enough, we sent our most beautiful members out to “test” men to see if they were being loyal to their girlfriends, wives, or significant others.

  Besides Product Testers, we also owned the strip club - Paramour; a private security firm – Redemption Inc., which also had a private investigation business lodged under its umbrella; and a less than legal investigative service that used the dirtier side of the internet to dig up information used in business deals, blackmail, and various other scandalous enterprises. We were very selective with the clients we picked up on the darker side of that business, and for the most part all of our other ventures ran legit.

  I finally looked up once I was finished polishing off the invoice, and smiled at Keys. “Don’t let your guard down. My dad is famous for waiting people out, and letting their own issues destroy them. He’s either waiting for us to get lax about things or paranoid about the fact that we haven’t been contacted again. Keep the rest of the girls diligent, it’s important. If you’re pointing out that it’s already been two weeks, so are they.”

  She nodded, and I returned to the humdrum efforts I was ankle deep in before. Billing people for services sucked. Most times, we took half of our expected costs up front in order to make sure we didn’t get stiffed totally. Our reputation was enough to keep people from failing to pay. Once people saw what we were capable of while performing our duties, they knew better than to be on the receiving end of our full wrath. Still, there was always that one asshole that thought he was slick, and not surprisingly it was almost always a man. I rolled my eyes at my own thought. Not that I was a man hater or anything, but hey, if the shoe fits…

  The beeping of an incoming text from across the room pulled me out of my thoughts and the worry dripping from Keys’ face garnered my full attention. “What’s up?” I finally asked as she continued through a volley of back and forth texts for a few minutes.

  “Looks like we’re about to get company. A block of riders was just seen heading this way, all wearing the Aces High patches. Some local, some from Cedar Falls.”

  “Damn,” I muttered. Cedar Falls meant my dad’s MC, and probably him in person, were on the way to our space. He was coming to the one place I never wanted him to step foot.

  “Okay, get everyone on high alert. I want weapons confiscated before they come inside the compound. No exceptions. Have the boys from Redemption Inc. out there to take care of that. You and Legs supervise, but don’t put your hands on any member of their MC yourselves, okay?”

  Keys looked at me strangely then. “Don’t think I’m questioning your authority or anything, but why don’t you want the girls from the club handling it? Don’t you think it makes us look weak that we have to get our security guys to do the frisking?”

  “Nope, just the opposite. We’re too good to touch them. Trust me, it will rile them up.” I laughed, knowing good and damn well those boys were going to have a fit knowing they were headed to a biker chick compound only to end up frisked by large, heavily muscled men. “Electronics need to be dumped too until they’re ready to leave. They can either leave all their stuff with a prospect out front or they can watch you lock it up in one of the general use safes.”

  Keys smiled. “I’m betting they don’t like either of those options.”

  “I’m betting I don’t care. If they want in our compound, they’re going to adhere to our rules. Period.” I picked up the phone then and dialed down to Paramour. “Hey, Trix. I need you to send Brady and Stella down here to the clubhouse as soon as possible. Have them make their way here through the back entrance. We’re expecting company, and I have a feeling we’ll need help behind the bar for the night. Tell them I’ll double their pay for the night, and that goes for whomever you need to call to fill in for them at Paramour too. Oh and have Brady bring some Glenfiddich with him.”

  Tasha had walked in at the end of my phone call and raised a brow when I asked for the single malt whiskey. “My father drinks that shit,” I explained.

  “Ah, I heard we had a band of bikers incoming. I was just coming to see what you needed from me.”

  “Just hang tight. You and I will go greet them together in just a bit.” I took a moment, a deep breath, and then let out a nervous chuckle that I would only ever allow Tash to see. “Don’t freak if my dad thinks we’re lovers or something. I never really dated any guys before I left home. Mostly, because they were all scared to death of the club and my dad. Also, because all the guys in the club knew I was off limits and that I would eventually belong to Sweet. He and I had a few moments, but nothing… Well, let’s just say our interaction never went beyond virginal experiences. It wouldn’t surprise me if my dad’s first reaction were to think I’m a lesbian for forming an all women’s motorcycle club. Hell, that goes for all of them. They probably expect we’re all in here wrestling naked in Jell-O every night or some shit.”

  Tash just laughed at the implication. “Aww Angel Girl, I’ll be honored to play the part of your lesbian lover if you’d like!” Her voice dripped faux sweetness as she giggled while batting her eyes not so seductively at me.

  “Damn it, Tash,” I laughed out. “Do NOT do that out there.” We both had a good laugh before we opted for more serious expressions as a text came through from Keys about the men being outside, griping because we had our security team frisking them instead of our members. “Looks like dear old dad and the boys are already getting their bubble burst.” I watched out the window that looked toward the front of the compound and wished for a moment that I were a fly on the wall. Instead of wishing, Tash to
ok initiative and turned on the volume for our surveillance cameras outside.

  “You know this would go a hell of a lot faster if you ladies would come take care of business instead of leaving it to your hired help,” Peety gruffed out at Legs and Keys.

  “We’re good,” Keys offered without any humor.

  “Sure do look good,” one of the men in the group spouted out as he tossed a cocky smirk her way. Keys just rolled her eyes and continued watching as three of our burliest security guys went through the rigors of patting down and disarming each man in the queue.

  “You know,” my father’s voice rang out, “we could use a few more local prospects. Ever thought about joining a real man’s club instead of working for a bunch of chicks?”

  My dad made the unfortunate mistake of addressing the exact wrong man in the bunch, Paul, MiMi’s brother. “I’m more than capable of working for myself, but I choose to work for this bunch of chicks, because they’re the best at what they do. I’m only going to warn you once, you disrespect them in my presence again and things will not go pleasantly for any of you.” Paul never backed down from the glare my father was shooting at him. In fact, my father’s entire body stiffened with Paul’s words. He wasn’t used to someone speaking to him that way.

  “I’m going to be nice and let that shit go today, since this is my daughter’s establishment, and all. You be warned, I don’t take kindly to threats, son.”

  I’m not sure if my father thought he was going to throw Paul and the guys off their game by announcing his parentage, but it clearly didn’t. Paul chuckled. “Oh, hell. That wasn’t a threat man. It was a fucking promise. I respect the hell out of every last woman in this club. What I don’t have any kind of respect for are the strangers at our doorstep. You want respect? Earn it. Watch how you treat these women. You get one chance with them. Fuck it up, and not even God himself could come down and save your asses. Take that as a threat, a promise, or exactly what it is, some good damn advice.”