Page 136 of Girth (Marked Skulls MC 1)
“Who is it?” the man growled, shaking her by her head again.
“Candy,” the girl said and he released her.
“Fuck! What did she do this time? Did she start crying again?” he said and I shifted, feeling a rage rising up in my bones. I knew exactly what was going on. Axel was right in his suspicions. These assholes were running a prostitution ring. Abusing these women. This one was definitely not one of the groupies and if she was, she was being sold to clients for money.
She had started crying by now and the guy grabbed her arm and twisted it as he dragged her around the warehouse.
When they were gone, Glock turned to look at me. His eyes were burning, just like mine were and he had his jaws clenched.
“These motherfuckers are going down,” I heard Tank say in a low growl and we straightened up and got into the car. I was driving while the others talked. We knew something had to be done, and for the first time since I joined the MC as a full member, I was glad of my decision.
The other things I didn’t care so much about, but putting an end to the abuse of women by another gang was something that I wanted to do. Something my father and Bryce would have done too. My veins were pumped and throbbing and I could feel a new energy coursing through me.
Chapter 10
Brooklyn
I’d been thinking about Gunner all day, hardly being able to concentrate on work. By the evening, I’d forgotten about the incident from the morning, when Viper and the other guys from the club had turned up at the diner. Now, all I could think about was seeing Gunner again. I felt safe around him and even though I knew I couldn’t really tell him what was going on in my life, I knew I would feel assured just having him around me.
Sometime before, my phone had beeped with a text message from him. I’d smiled as I read it.
See you at Temple Bar at seven
That was all he had said, but it was enough to keep me going for the rest of the day. I’d canceled my shift at PJ’s already and was hoping against hope that Viper or one of the guys wouldn’t turn up there tonight. If they did, they would know I was lying about work and a whole different world of trouble would descend upon me. But I was feeling brave today. I didn’t mind taking the risk, just as long as I got to see Gunner again.
At home, I took time with getting dressed for the night. I wore sleek black denim pants which I knew accentuated my curves and I also knew how much Gunner liked looking at my ass. And a corset style red and black lace top which I found at the back of my wardrobe. It pushed up my breasts and deepened my cleavage and as I put it on, I couldn’t believe how conscious I was, of making Gunner look at me. I liked being watched by him. I put on a matching red lipstick and black heels and a chunky statement necklace, before I ran my fingers through my curls to fluff them into position.
Then, with my heels clicking against the pavement, I walked the couple of blocks to Temple Bar. Even though it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since I last saw Gunner, to me it felt like an eternity. When I entered the bar, it was empty as usual. I looked around and saw him at the same table we were at the previous night and his eyes glowed when he caught sight of me.
He looked delicious, in his black leather jacket and gray cotton t-shirt. Every time I looked at the muscles he sported, it turned me on and as I weaved around the tables towards him, I could feel my pulse quickening. There was something about this guy that I couldn’t shake off. It was more than how hot he was in bed, or how he looked at me like he was undressing me…no it was something else, it was how he made me feel about myself when we weren’t touching. Nobody had done that to me before.
He stood up when I approached him and held out the chair for me like a gentleman. I sat down beside him and noticed that a gin and tonic were waiting for me already.
“You’ve gotta stop walking like that,” he said, sitting back down beside me and I smiled at him.
“It’s how I walk,” I said and Gunner was grinning.
“But your hips sway and that ass moves and I want to flip you over the table and take you here,” he said, as calmly like he was reading out the menu at a fancy restaurant. I bit down on my lip as I imagined him doing it and then shook my head to drive those thoughts away.
“Remember how we decided to get to know each other tonight?” I asked him and picked up the cold glass. He was still grinning and his blue eyes were shining. I knew the kind of control he could exercise with just his mouth and it made the knots in my belly tighten.
“All right. What do you want to know?” he asked and drank from his bottle of beer quickly.
“Everything…I don’t know. You’ve told me nothing about yourself,” I said and tucked in a few stray curls behind my ears. Gunner was looking at me again, and I felt goosebumps erupt on my skin. I wondered how long we would last, sitting like this beside each other and trying to have an actual date. Before we ran out of this place and fucked in his car again.
“Hmm…there isn’t much to know. I’m just a simple guy, Brooklyn,” he said and I arched an eyebrow at him.
“Just a simple guy? You’re anything but simple, Gunner,” I said and he shrugged his shoulders.
“Well, I’m not very good at this opening up thing…so I don’t know where to begin,” he said and I took in a deep breath and cleared my throat.
“All right, why don’t I start so that you get an idea?” I said with a laugh and he nodded his head. I shifted in my seat and placed my arms on the table and I saw the way his gaze dropped to my breasts. We weren’t going to last very long.
“Okay, I work at a diner in the mornings and as you already know, at PJ’s in the night,” I offered him and Gunner nodded his head. But he was still silent so I widened my eyes at him.
“This is where you tell me what you do,” I said and he flashed me a look which confused me a little. Again, it seemed like he didn’t want to discuss his personal life. I was determined tonight though, why had he suggested this date if he didn’t want to talk about himself?
Gunner shrugged his shoulders.
“I do a bit of this and that, I suppose. I just got out of the military, so I haven’t really plunged full time into the job market yet,” he said and I giggled, because I couldn’t exactly imagine him doing any kind of “job”.
“Okay, fair enough. Well, let’s see…I live alone in a one bedroom,” I said and this time, he smiled at me.
“You know already that I live alone,” he said and I blushed and dropped my gaze to my lap.
“Okay, how about friends? Who do you hang out with?” I asked, to keep the questions going. I wanted to avoid drifting into dangerous territory of discussing what happened in his apartment. Gunner shrugged his shoulders again.
“I’m pretty sure you don’t know the people I hang out with, Brooklyn,” he said, in a more serious voice and I crossed my brows at him, a little annoyed.
“How do you know who I know and don’t know?” I asked him, leaning over the table towards him and Gunner shot me another one of his looks. His blue eyes had turned dark and stormy, but I was determined to hold my ground.
“Well, if you do know them, then maybe you shouldn’t,” he said, not making a move towards me.
“Maybe you don’t really know me, Gunner. Or the kind of person I am,” I suggested and he stared at me lazily.
“I didn’t say that I did,” he said.
“So, then you shouldn’t make judgments about what crowd is bad for me,” I said and sat back in my chair. I was beginning to feel a little frustrated with him, because he was giving me so little to go on.
“I may not know you at all, Brooklyn, but don’t blame me for wanting to look out for you. Of course, I don’t want to overstep my boundaries,” he said and I shook my head, I was squinting at him.
“Why are you so resistant to just telling me who you hang out with? Why do you hang out with them if they’re so bad?” I asked and Gunner looked around the bar then, as though he was making sure we weren’t being watched.
“I didn’t say they were bad, I just said that I hoped you weren’t hanging around with them, that’s all,” he said and I rolled my eyes and looked away from him. This was proving to be impossible. It was so difficult to get any information from him. We’d been sitting there for a while now and I still had nothing on him.
“Fine. It seems like I have to be the one making all the revelations around here. I hang around with the Dragon Knights crowd, if you’re interested,” I said with a humph and crossed my arms over my breasts. I knew that was a little childish of me, but I couldn’t help it. Gunner’s lack of interest in this conversation was beginning to annoy me.
When I looked back at him, I noticed that he was glaring at me like I had told him something terrible.
“Do you know who they are? They’re a motorcycle club,” I offered to him and Gunner snapped.
“I know who they are!”
I knew the kind of reputation the DK’s had in these parts, but I was family to them, I knew they weren’t as bad as people assumed they were. They were brash and rude and sometimes violent, but they were also the only family I had.
“Okay, so there,” I said to him. Gunner brought his face closer to mine over the table now and I could see that he was clenching his jaw.
“What are you doing hanging around with the Dragon Knights, Brooklyn?” he asked and I looked away from him, my nostrils were flaring.
“Well, they’re like family to me,” I said and I could sense his eyes on me.
