Empire of Savages (Savage Hunt MC #1)

5. Alex

Chapter 5

Alex

“We’re going out tonight,” Bliss said as I brought the garage door down for closing. The day had been slow—barely any bookings and zero drop-ins. I hadn’t been able to find a glazier open, so Bliss and I had covered the hole in a sheet of plywood and prayed it was enough of a deterrent for any other would-be thieves or vandals.

“I think I’m still drunk,” I mumbled, my stomach still a little queasy from last night. Bliss seemed to be unaffected, able to party multiple days in a row. I was not so lucky. Unzipping my coveralls, I stepped out of them and hung them on the toilet door hook. Jesus, it felt good to be out of that stifling material, but it was a necessary evil to save my clothes from being covered in grease all the damn time.

Bliss popped her head out of the office. “Then you need hair of the dog.”

“Pretty sure that’s just a morning cure,” I shouted back to her.

“Nope. It’s an anytime cure.” She tugged at my hand, giving me her best pleading face. “Please. For me?”

“Pretty sure you used up your for me pass last night.”

She grinned, flashing her straight white teeth. “Oh, please. I get at least five of those per day. Come on. It’ll do you good to get out.”

Trying to forget all the shit in my life did sound good. “Where are we going?”

“A friend of mine invited me to a party.”

“Who is this friend?”

“Just a friend,” she replied in a sing-song voice. She spun me around and pushed me toward the spiral staircase led to my apartment. “Now, go and get ready. I’ll lock up on my way out and meet you back here in thirty. Wear something slutty.”

“I’m not wearing something—” The door between the office and the garage slammed. “—slutty.” I started up the back stairs, wondering why I didn’t say no to this. I had no interest in going out and getting wasted again. My body wasn’t built for repeated alcoholic batterings anymore. But Bliss wasn’t the kind of woman you said no to. I should know.

Opening the door to my apartment, I went straight to the kitchen sink to scrub the grease from beneath my fingernails. Once I’d managed to get most of it out, I stripped out of my shorts and t-shirt and started the shower. I didn’t want to go out tonight, but the thought of staying in my apartment was becoming less and less appealing. The phone call from Maddox last night had me shaken. He wasn’t the kind of man you said no to, and I knew he wouldn’t stop at the phone calls or bloody bricks through my windows. He’d start showing up here soon enough, and I didn’t have the strength to face him yet. Going out with Bliss was the lesser of two evils, really, and at least I could keep an eye on her while I was at it.

After showering and rubbing lotion on my arms and legs, I wandered to my closet and started flicking through the outfits. Pursing my lips, I looked at what was on offer, then sighed. My wardrobe consisted of jeans, jean shorts, and funny cat t-shirts. There was nothing in there that was party appropriate. Maybe because I hated going out, and Bliss damn well knew it.

From the kitchen counter, my phone chimed with a message.

Bliss: I already know you don’t have anything to wear so I’m going to make this easy on you. I’ll be over in fifteen with a dress.

I didn’t bother to text back. Besides, any response I could possibly give her wasn’t going to work. She was tenacious, and if she wanted something, she went out and got it. Dumping my towel, I slipped into my underwear, then drew my robe over my shoulders, tying the sash at the waist. I had fifteen minutes to kill, so I sat down on the couch and started looking over the paperwork that had made it back to the coffee table once more.

Maddox’s money wouldn’t magically materialize no matter how hard I wished for it, so I had to find a way to make it. Bliss was my only employee. I needed her to run the office and field the phone calls, so there was no way I could fire her.

I stared at the papers. Another look over the invoicing for suppliers revealed another possibility. If I stopped using dealer and manufacturer recommended parts, and switched over to the generic ones, I could save myself a lot of money. Not enough to make up the deficit, but enough to maybe make Maddox back off a little.

I didn’t want to skimp on quality, especially not when my customers knew me for that quality, but these were desperate times. First thing Monday morning, I’d make the calls and switch over to the cheaper parts. I’d just dropped the last invoice to the table when the buzzer rang.

I opened the door without bothering to ask who it was, then sat back down. When I heard footsteps on the spiral stairs, I shouted out to Bliss that the door was open.

“You shouldn’t just buzz people in without knowing who they are, baby.”

My shoulders stiffened. My blood ran cold. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Maddox filling the doorframe. Jesus, fuck. My own stupidity was going to get me killed. Licking my dry lips, I asked in a quiet whisper, “What are you doing here?”

He stepped inside. Malice bled from him, and I watched the way he rolled out his neck and shoulders, the movement shifting the jacket of the expensive suit he wore. Dark eyes studied me, calculating weakness. The thing was, he already knew all my weaknesses—both physically and emotionally. A fact he liked to throw in my face repeatedly.

My attention shifted to the movement over his shoulder. There was another man here. A huge mountain of a man with a bald head, wide shoulders, and arms thicker than my thighs. Dressed all in black, he watched me with cold, dead eyes.

“Don’t worry about Reaver,” Maddox said offhandedly. “He’s just here for… motivation.” He laughed and walked farther inside. “You’re looking good, baby.” Maddox’s voice crawled with lust, his dark eyes eating up my exposed skin.

I hugged the robe more tightly around my body. “What are you doing here?”

“I want my money, Alex, and I want it now.”

My heart raced, the blood pounding through my ears. “I already told you. I don’t have it. And breaking my goddamned windows isn’t going to make me get it any faster.”

He smirked. Smiling like a viper. Confirming my suspicions about who was behind the vandalism. “I don’t believe you, baby. You’ve always managed to get me my payments on time.”

Shaking my head, I got to my feet. “Business has been slow.” My eyes darted to the left—to the doorway of my bedroom. I had a knife under the mattress, as well as a gun in the nightstand. My brother had taught me how to use both, and although I abhorred violence, if it meant not getting hurt by this man again, I would gladly use it.

I edged a step to the left, freezing when Maddox pulled out his own gun. He wasn’t pointing it at me yet, just showing me that he knew exactly where my thoughts had taken me.

“You don’t want to do that, Alex. I’m faster than you.” He took a step closer. “Stronger than you.” Another step, until we were sharing breaths. “And would inflict more damage than you could ever recover from.”

Swallowing hard, I forced myself to stay still. “I don’t have your money, Maddox. I don’t know what else you want me to say.”

His eyes swam with malicious intent. Raising the hand holding the gun, he rubbed the muzzle along my bottom lip, his eyes swallowing all the light from the room. In a soft, dangerous voice, he said, “Suck my dick, baby. I’ve missed your mouth, Alex. The way you hollow out your fucking cheeks while you take me deep into the back of your throat.”

I shook my head. “You don’t want my mouth anywhere near your dick right now.”

He had the audacity to smile at me. “You still hate me, baby?” His voice lowered. “ Good . I can use hate.”

“I can’t believe I ever loved you.”

“I can. You’re emotionally ruined. Psychologically ravaged. Your daddy got you so twisted up that you take affection any way you can get it, even if it comes in the form of me forcing my dick down your throat.”

I started shaking my head, matching the tremor in my hands and arms. “Don’t you dare throw that in my face. I trusted you with that information.”

“You did, but here’s the thing with loving a sociopath…” He stepped closer until I bumped against the wall. Crowding me like he was sent my pulse into overdrive. “I don’t care that you shared that part of you with me. I only care about how I can use that against you. Do you think daddy would like to know how well his daughter sucked any dick that I told her to in order to pay off her debt? Do you think he’d be surprised that you whored yourself out whenever I demanded it?”

Time slowed, then stopped altogether as the sins of my past came flooding back. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that all those things had happened, but I hadn’t known any better. Just like my father had used my desire for acceptance against me, so had Maddox. I’d just been too stupid—too blinded by what I thought was love—to see that history was simply repeating itself.

The sound of the buzzer fractured the silence, snapping me out of my spiral. My gaze darted to the door but returned to Maddox’s face when he took me by the chin and jerked my face to his.

“You always were my favorite fucktoy, Alex. We could have that again, and I can make all these money problems disappear.”

The buzzer sounded again—longer this time.

“I’d rather die than willingly touch you again.” I spat the words in his face.

With a wicked smile, he kissed me, pressing his mouth to mine, sliding his tongue into my mouth. I attempted to bite him, but he reared back in time. “You best let Bliss in before she breaks the buzzer.”

He walked to the door, stopping before stepping through. “You have one week, Alex. For old time’s sake. Next quarter, I’ll take the insult out on your body… after my work associates have had their fill of you.”

Reaver’s stare remained on my face for a moment before sliding down my body and lingering in places I never wanted him to look at again. When he turned around and followed Maddox down the stairs, I let out the breath I’d been holding. Shaking violently, I collapsed to the floor, knowing I only had a few minutes to get it together. If Bliss found me like this, she’d dig for information—information I wasn’t willing to share yet. Although, if Maddox left the garage and walked past her, she would know he was here and question me regardless. Mental fortitude was something I’d worked hard at, and I’d be damned if it failed me now. Getting to my feet, I buzzed Bliss in, then sat on the couch, pretending that nothing had happened.

I waited to hear an exchange of words as Bliss passed Maddox either on the stairs or down in the garage, but I heard nothing but the click of high-heeled shoes.

“You better not have thrown on jeans and a t-shirt, and called it a day,” Bliss warned at the top of the stairs. “I had to?—”

Turning to face her, I could see her looking right through my watery smile.

“What the hell happened?”

“Nothing.” I fidgeted with the sash on my robe. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me and shut the door. The fact that she wasn’t pushing me for more information meant that Maddox had somehow avoided her before she could see him. Bliss deposited her bag onto the couch. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Fine.” Fuck, my voice was shaky. Putting more pep into my voice than I felt, I asked, “What dress did you bring me?”

The mention of her dressing me up was too hard to resist. Deep diving in her bag, Bliss brought out a black bodycon dress that looked like it would expose too much cleavage with the deep V in the front.

She threw it at me.

I held it up against my body. “I can’t wear this.”

“Sure you can. Your body is banging and that dress will accentuate all the bits that men would love to get their mouths on.”

“My tits and thighs?”

“Between your thighs is a better place to aim for.” Tugging at my arm, she ushered me into my bedroom. “Go. Get changed then I can do your hair and makeup.”

“Bliss, no.”

“I know you think grease under the fingernails is enough to be called nail polish, but the reality is, you need some help in this department.”

I hated that Bliss’s words hit closer to home than I would’ve liked. It was true that I hadn’t been out in a very long time, and being away from the apartment might help eradicate the uneasiness of having Maddox in my private sanctuary.

“Let it be known that I’m doing this under protest,” I said.

“Yes, yes,” she said with a put-upon sigh. “Noted. Go and get dressed.”

When I emerged a few minutes later, I begrudgingly agreed that the dress wasn’t terrible. The V in the front did expose way more of my cleavage than I wanted, but there was no chance of any wardrobe malfunctions. The only problem I could see was the split up the side, ending so far up my thigh that I was afraid I’d be flashing my panties with every step.

“Sooo, what do you think?” Bliss asked, standing back and giving me a once-over. “Do you love it? Because you look hot AF.”

I skimmed my hands over my hips, enjoying the feel of the clingy fabric more than I thought I would. “I think I do, but what shoes am I supposed to wear with this?”

Bliss dug into her bag once more, producing a pair of glossy black heels. “These will make your calves look killer. But first, makeup.”

Bliss forced me into the bathroom, where I perched on the edge of the closed toilet seat lid and gave myself over to her makeup skills.

Twenty minutes later, my hair and makeup were done, the heels were on my feet and we were heading out the door.

“Where is this party?” I asked when we were both settled into the back of a ride share.

“That is a surprise,” Bliss replied, reapplying her pink lipstick with ease. “You will just have to trust me.”

Nervous energy battered my body as we drove through downtown Detroit. I had no idea where we were going, and the fact that there was a chance of running into some of my father’s men niggled at the back of my mind. I let out the breath I’d been holding when we crossed over the river and continued into River Rouge. We were in the Savage Hunt’s territory now. Was that a better situation to be in? Maybe. Maybe not. I’d not been associated with the Devils for over a decade—not since the night I was raped in the clubhouse.

I just had to hope that nobody remembered my face, or I’d changed enough not to be recognized as the daughter of the Devil’s Chaos president.

The car came to a stop in front of a building that looked like a mechanic’s shop. The reason I knew it wasn’t just a mechanic’s shop was the eight-foot-tall chain-link fence topped by razor wire.

I turned to my friend. “Bliss, where are we?”

“You’ll see,” she said cryptically, getting out of the car and slamming the door.

Those nerves I’d felt before suddenly came rushing back, crushing the air from my lungs. Opening the door, I stepped out into the heat of the Detroit night and looked up at the imposing building in front of me… no, not building . Rather buildings . My eyes darted around, taking in the motorcycles lined up outside the building at the rear. Holy shit. We were at the Savage Hunt clubhouse.

“Bliss,” I called out, but she was already stepping through the open gate, a man dressed in beaten-to-shit jeans, t-shirt, and a leather cut wrapping a hand around her hip.

Bliss glanced over her shoulder at me. “Come on. The party’s already started.”

“Bliss!” I hissed after her, but she was already out of earshot. Indecision and fear kept me rooted to the spot. There really were only two choices here. I could leave her here unprotected, or I could pull on my big girl panties, march inside, and get Bliss out of there before anything happened. Bliss had no idea what she was getting into with the club, but letting her be drawn into this life simply wasn’t an option.

Holding the shoulder strap of my bag tightly with one hand, I walked toward the gate. The prospect standing guard eyed me like I was naked.

“Welcome to the party, sugar,” he said, addressing my breasts rather than my face. “Come and find me later if you want a private tour.”

“Thanks,” I muttered, passing through the gates. As I looked around the compound, I thought about what my father would say if he knew I was here. He’d probably want me to seduce one of the members and get information, because as far as he was concerned, I was just a pawn he could use to advance his club.

Bracing myself, I entered through the door of the clubhouse, my senses immediately assaulted with the deep thump of the bass from the music, the sound of pool balls hitting each other, and the smell of alcohol, sweat, and sex. Then my attention fell to a dog tied up to the leg of the pool table. It looked mean, fixing its dark stare on my face as I passed.

I didn’t have time to worry about the animal; I had to keep an eye on Bliss since it was clear she had no intention of leaving herself, or the potential danger she was in. There was a bar directly ahead of me, the long stretch of wood crowded with members and prospects, along with their guests. The club girls and old ladies telegraphed who they were without having to say a word, each group glaring at the other from across the room.

Taking in a sharp breath, I straightened my spine, threw my shoulders back, and headed toward the bar, keeping my eyes open for Bliss along the way. Slipping between people, I finally made it to the bar. There was a prospect pulling beers from the fridges and pouring shots. When he glanced up, I ordered a bourbon. As soon as I took my first sip, my anxiety levels dipped from a thunderous roar to a dull throb.

Putting my back against the bar, I scanned the room for Bliss through the crowd of leather-clad club members and scantily dressed women. Being here gave me flashbacks to when I was barely a teenager, mixing with the men of the club—being stared at. As I took another sip of my drink, I kept my eyes locked on the room over the rim of my glass, keeping my guard up.

When I caught a flash of pink hair across the other side of the room, I threw back what liquid was left in my glass and started after Bliss. Pushing through the open space being used as a dance floor, more than one man grabbed my ass.

“Excuse me,” I muttered softly, finally emerging out at the other end of the room. The doorway I passed through led into a long hallway. Directly in front were two doors, the signs indicating they were bathrooms. I knocked on the female toilet door, nudging it open. It was empty. That was when I heard her laugh from somewhere behind me. There were more people drinking in the hallway and couples grinding against one another. One woman was on her knees, enthusiastically sucking cock. Averting my eyes, I kept pushing forward, hoping to hear Bliss’s laughter again.

Desperate energy clambered through my body—too many reminders of my past coming to smack me right in the face. Coupled with my run-in with Maddox tonight, I was wound so tight I was sure a panic attack was cresting the horizon.

Recklessly, I started opening every door I passed, not seeing anything other than colors and vague shapes. There were shouts that I couldn’t decipher, curses thrown my way as I opened door after door, searching for pink hair.

When I reached the last door on the left in the hallway, I braced myself for finding Bliss. There wasn’t anywhere else she could be, and as I mentally prepared what I was going to say to her, I threw the door open. It bounced against the wall behind it, ricocheting before coming back into my face. Stopping it with an outstretched palm, I stared at the man sitting on the couch at the foot of the bed. His jeans were unzipped, his legs kicked wide. One tattooed hand was stroking his huge cock as he watched two women mutually masturbate in front of him. The pungent smell of tobacco filled the room, the herbaceous, woody scent just as thick and heavy as the smoke hovering in front of his face as he exhaled.

His dark hair was disheveled like he’d been running his hands through it, his eyes a pale shade of blue… or maybe they were green. Tattoos covered his neck and dipped past the collar of his black t-shirt that stretched snuggly across his chest. Bringing the hand-rolled cigarette to his lips, he inhaled, the end glowing brightly. I stared at his mouth, at the way the white smoke drifted over his bottom lip like a slow-moving waterfall. His angular jaw bulged with irritation and the heat of a flush crossed my face. There was no doubt I’d walked into those other rooms and disturbed whatever was going on in them, but I hadn’t stopped to process it all. Unlike this room. Like a deer in fucking headlights, I lingered longer than I should have, jumping when the man’s pale gaze traveled down my body and back up again.

With a bored expression, he crooked his finger at me, inviting me to join the other two women. Shaking my head, I stumbled back out into the hallway, turned, and bolted for the exit.