Kink's Way (7 page)

“Round up the other women so I can give the lowdown
on the shit going on.”

She nodded and turned to gather the women that were
scattered throughout two different back rooms.

Once everyone was back in the main room, and a few
more people had come through the front doors. She saw Molly and Dakota, and
even Stinger. She had heard around the club that Stinger was a member of The
Grizzly MC, Molly’s new man, and that Malice and he had gotten into it when Molly
had first started being with the Grizzly member. She didn’t know about all the
drama that happened between them, because frankly she liked to stay away from
that anymore. Cookie had dealt with enough of it to last her ten lifetimes, but
of course she knew it would not be the end of drama in her life. It was like
she was a magnet for the toxic shit.

Adrianna was standing beside Malice, and the big
biker had his arm wrapped around her, but when he saw his son Dakota he pulled
Adrianna toward the little boy. She glanced at Adrianna, and the woman was
pressed tightly to Malice’s other side. She could tell the woman wanted to be
there, but she could also see the way Malice curled his fingers into her side,
as if he thought maybe she’d move away from him. What would it feel like to
have someone want her so badly they were afraid she’d leave their side? She
only knew about someone wanting her because of her body, or because she could
give them something for a few hours at a time. The one thing she was grateful
for was that she hadn’t been passed around, not like the other girls who stayed
in the cabin with her.

She moved over to the bar and took a seat on one of
the barstools. The ten or so girls that stayed in the cabin were sitting at the
couple of tables situated around the main room. A young man and woman moved up
to where Tuck sat, and he embraced both of them momentarily. They both had the
same blond hair and blue eyes as the MC member, so she assumed they had to be
his kids. It had only been a few hours since everything had gone down with the
bombing of the guys’ cabin, but she was surprised they had gathered this many
people in that short amount of time. There were a few other people, an older
woman and man that looked less than pleased to be there, but stood close to
Lucien. Maybe they were his mom and dad? She looked over at Kink again, and her
heart sped up when she saw he was watching her. He leaned against the far wall
directly across from her, and although he was all the way on the other side of
the cabin, she felt like he was right in front of her. That was how powerful
his presence was to her.

“Okay, it isn’t a secret why we called the lockdown,
especially since this shit is plastered all over the fucking news,” Lucien said
in a weary, pissed off voice. He started pacing back and forth, and the
expression on his face showed he was deep in thought. “Without getting into
specifics, all of you were called in for your own protection. Someone is out to
hurt the club, and presumably everyone we care about.” He glanced around the
room at everyone. “Until we get the threat under control, I need everyone to
stay inside this clubhouse.” There were murmurs throughout the room, but no one
argued with the President. “Since Cookie has been working the club for a couple
of weeks now, she can give everyone the layout if you’re not familiar with it,
and show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

“I can help, too,” Molly said after Lucien spoke.

Lucien nodded. “Thanks, Molly.” He looked around the
room again. “Members, I need a meeting.” He turned and headed toward the room
the club guys used for their meetings. Rock, Ruin, Kink, Tuck, and Malice all
headed into the room with Lucien, and they shut the door behind them. There was
a moment of silence, and it felt like everyone was staring at her. She didn’t
know why Lucien had put her in charge of this. Tatum would have been better at
it since she knew about these
things,
or even Molly
since she had been with a member of The Brothers for years. Instead, Lucien had
put her in the spotlight, and given her this responsibility that might not have
seemed like a big deal to some. To her was huge.

“Um.”
She glanced at Tatum and then at Molly, but both women looked at her like she
was the one in charge. Had Lucien done this to further help her in branching
out? “Okay, if the girls from the cabin want to follow me I’ll show you where
you’ll be staying, and then I can set everyone else up.” She glanced at Tatum
and saw the other woman smiling. This wasn’t even that big of a deal, but in
all honesty, to Cookie, it felt like she was making some kind of monumental
decision.

After she had everyone set up in the rooms, some on
the couches out in the main room, and even a few upstairs, she moved to the
backroom. She was alone here, at least for a moment until it was time to cook
something for everyone to eat. But she needed this small moment of reprieve. It
wasn’t about having to play hostess to everyone, not really. It was more about
the fact there was this explosion, and their lives in jeopardy once again after
only weeks of being thrust into the underworld. She felt like she was losing
it.

Chapter Six

Kink sat around the table and listened to Lucien go
over the details of getting in touch with their hacker. Malcolm was a college
kid that was the son of the doctor they had working for the club. He was a
smart little shit, knew his way around a computer like no one’s business, and
they were pretty confident that he could get into The Church of the Good and
Only—also known as the motherfucking cult that messed with them. Malcolm was
going to mole those bastards out.

There was a moment of silence that filled the space
around the table. “Tuck, is Malcolm on board with this?”

Tuck nodded after Lucien spoke. “Yeah, spoke to the
kid right after you called me from the fire. Malcolm took down all the info,
and is going to work on it throughout the night.”

“Was he able to check out their site while you had
him on the phone?” Malice said through a low rumble.

They all could have lost a lot from that bombing,
but Malice and Adrianna had been right in the thick of it. That meant a hell of
a lot to their Sergeant at Arms.

“He said he should have something by tomorrow, but
he can’t guarantee anything so soon.” Tuck leaned forward and braced his
forearms on the table. “When I had him on the phone he said their site was
locked down pretty tight, meaning they have someone who knows their firewall
and protection shit when dealing with people trying to gather their personal
information.”

Lucien nodded after Tuck spoke. “In the meantime, I
want Rock and Ruin to start surveying the town, poke around, and see if they
are actually staying in River Run.”

Rock and Ruin murmured their agreement.

“I can go to Steel Corner and speak with Jagger.”

The Grizzly MC was a group of bikers that lived in
Steel Corner, the next town over.
Although the two clubs had
worked together in the past, things had settled down over the last couple of
months.
They only spoke when they needed each other’s help, or when The
Brothers needed to use Steel Corner as a main gateway to their whorehouse
located in another town. But with the bombing they had immediately shut down
that house, canceled any set-ups they had with some high profile johns, and put
everything on hold until this was taken care of.

“Good idea, Malice, but take
Tuck
with you. See what Jagger and his crew have to say, and if they have any info
on any fanatics coming into their territory and rustling things up.”

“On it,” Ruin said. Although they hadn’t heard
anything from Jagger, the President of The Grizzlies, that didn’t mean those
cult pricks hadn’t started shit on Grizzly territory.

“Kink, stay here and make sure everything stays
together and the girls are all right,” Lucien said and looked at him.

Kink nodded. Even though there was this heavy stuff
that was hovering over the club, the threat of another attack, and not knowing
where to find the ones that were fucking with them, all Kink could keep
thinking about was Cookie. The guys started talking about others things club
related, and Kink let his mind drift for a second. It was insane to be thinking
of a woman he didn’t even know, having these feelings toward her that put him
in a foul fucking mood if a prospect even talked to her. But she was so fucking
gorgeous, and her strength made her as tough as any biker he had ever met. He
had no right to want her. The type of life she needed was soft, quiet, and
without drama. His life was filled with all of that and more.

“If anyone comes up with anything report back right
away.”

Lucien’s voice cut into his thoughts, and he pulled
them away from Cookie. They all stood and headed out, but before Kink left
Lucien called him back in.

“Come here, and close the door behind you.”

Kink shut the door and faced Lucien. He already knew
what the other man was going to say.

“How did Sarah take to you bringing Callie here a
day early?”

Although the club always stood behind each other if
a member needed that support, they never asked about personal business. It was
an unspoken rule among them that they were always there, but that if the issue
was too much of a burden they could talk about it. But never did a Brother
willingly ask about the shit another member was going through. It was just the
way they ran things in their club, and it had always worked out that way. But
here was Lucien, the President of the club, asking what was up, and although it
was supportive of Lucien to do so, it was also uncharacteristic.

“She took it how she takes everything else, I
guess.”

Lucien stared at him, but there was this weird expression
on the other man’s face, and Kink couldn’t place why he was getting this weird
vibe from him.

“Something else on your mind?”
Lucien asked, and knitted his brows. He shifted in his seat, and Kink would
have assumed Lucien was uncomfortable about something, but that couldn’t be
right. Lucien was tough as steel and didn’t let anything get to him.

Kink rested his elbows on the scarred table and
scrubbed both hands over his face. He had enough crap in his life right now
that he was thinking there was something going on when there really wasn’t.
“No, I guess I’m just pretty fucking stressed.” He saw Lucien nodded, but still
the man was tense as hell. “Sarah bitched at first, but then she realized she’d
have the fucking weekend to herself so didn’t care. She was heading out with
that little prick of a boyfriend of hers anyway, so Callie would have been by
herself.” He dropped his hands to the table, looked at Lucien and leaned back
in his own seat. “Callie was acting like something was bothering her, though,
and she didn’t want to talk about it. I’m sure Sarah is just getting under her
skin like usual.”

Lucien didn’t respond, and Kink stared at him,
wondering what was going through his mind.

“Something on your mind?” he asked Lucien.

Lucien cleared his throat and shook his head. “I’m
good. You hear anything back from the attorney?” Lucien shifted in his seat
again and glanced at the doorway.

Kink knew something was definitely off with the President,
but clearly he didn’t want to talk about it. “I was supposed to meet with him
to go over some things tomorrow morning, but I should postpone it since all of
this shit is happening.”

“No, don’t put that on hold. You don’t have a lot of
time anyway. Besides, he’ll come here, and you can talk with him in the meeting
room and get things sorted out.”

“Yeah, I’ll give him a call. He seems like things
should be favorable, but I’ve got this fucking dread in my gut, and it only got
worse after this shit happened with the cult, and now the bombing. Besides, I
want Callie to come live with me. She might be turning eighteen, but I think
she needs to get away from Sarah and her toxic attitude. ”

Lucien grunted, scratched his jaw, and then finally
nodded.
“Yeah, but we are going to take out those fuckers
that did this, and you can let the beast out, man.”
Lucien grinned, and
Kink couldn’t help but do the same. “Okay, go see Callie. I have to go check on
my mom and her husband, make sure they are holding up okay, and call Tilly.”

“Your sister coming in?”

Lucien looked up at the ceiling, and his face took
on this hard expression. “She’s a stubborn girl, and was giving me a hard time
about not missing class and having exams. She is just as hardheaded as I am.”

“She should be good, though, safe I mean. She’s
several hours away, and the
chances of those assholes linking
you two is
low.”

Lucien nodded. “Yeah, I know, but still, it would
have made me feel a hell of a lot better if I had her here in the protection of
the clubhouse.”

“I know, but she is tough. She gets that attitude
from you.” Kink grinned. “I better go check on Callie if we’re done here.”

Lucien nodded and stood. “Yeah, we’re good. I just
wanted to see how everything was going.”

“It’s going.” Kink chuckled humorlessly and felt the
weight that was on his shoulders push down even heavier.