Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Chapter 2

The world may be chewing me up and shitting me out, but I’m built like a piece of corn.

— Gable’s secret thoughts

GABLE

“ Have you ever heard the term dance like no one is watching ?” I asked my twin brother over the phone.

“ Sure ,” Garrett said, sounding distracted. “ Why ?”

“ Because I’m currently at a dive bar in downtown,” my voice barely audible over the music. “ And I’m watching Athena dance to some weird reggae number that I’ve never heard before with the shortest dress I’ve ever seen,” I said to him. “ And I’m in the middle of an undercover op that I’ve been working for six months, with no option but to act like I’m their bitch boy willing to do whatever they want me to do. If I take her out, they’re going to be suspicious.”

“ Of course,” he said. “ You would be undercover in the worst motorcycle bar in the fuckin’ city with the girl you have the hots for showing up,” he said.

Even I could hear the irony in his voice.

But neither one of us were surprised.

It seemed like in the last six months, Athena Murphy had turned into the biggest pain in the ass ever.

She was, by far, the hardest person to keep alive.

Even worse, she’d hooked up with Auden’s in-laws, who just so happened to be in an occupation that the Carters , as a family full of law enforcement, were trying not to think about too hard.

“ Do you want me to come down?” he asked.

I was already shaking my head. “ No . We look too much alike. They’d see that in a heartbeat,” I admitted. “ And they think I’m a kid from West Texas who has no family.”

“ Fuck ,” he said. “ I …”

“ Hey , Prospect .”

I gritted my teeth.

I really fucking hated that word.

If I could never hear a word again, it would be that one.

“ Gotta go.” I hung up and shoved the phone in my pocket, turning. “ Yeah , Merchant .”

There was a single person here who I knew would have my back, and that was Merchant .

He was, like me, undercover.

Though he’d been undercover in this particular MC for two years. He’d started prospecting with them when they were still in Great Falls , Montana .

Merchant , also known as Tyrone Hill , who was actually FBI .

When the Aided Aimers had first come on the map, it was due to a couple of unsolved murders that had fingers pointed at a few of the club’s members.

When Tyrone Hill had come to me at DPD —courtesy of my brother, Quaid , who was head of the gang division— I’d been sure that I wouldn’t do anymore undercover work.

But that was before I’d heard there was a possibility that a few missing women and children were thought to be held hostage by the club.

I’d agreed to go in and had been in for six months now.

I missed my family.

I wanted this over with.

“ Yes , sir?” I asked, hoping that he wasn’t about to ruin my night.

I knew Tyrone didn’t like giving me orders.

I also knew he was as sickened by what happened in this club as I was.

But , to bring the club down, we had to pretend that we weren’t.

“ Wizard wants to see you.” He looked at me warily.

I nodded once, took one last glance at Athena , wishing I could tell her to get the fuck out of here, and headed for the table in the corner with Wizard , the president of the Aided Aimers , and his VP , Hybrid .

“ Sir ,” I said as soon as I came up to their table.

He gestured to the seat beside him, and I took it.

I wasn’t scared of the man beside me.

I was scared what he would do to other people if I didn’t comply, though.

“ Seems like you’ve been working real hard for the last six months,” Hybrid mused.

My brows rose. “ I try, yes.”

“ You know there’s one more initiation before you can become a full-blown member, right?” he asked.

I immediately had an uneasy feeling.

I’d heard about the final initiation.

Pretty much, it was the easiest of the tasks that were handed out as you prospected for the club—sleep with a woman of their choice in the middle of the entire club.

However , I’d been hoping I didn’t have to do that particular task.

“ Sure ,” I said warily.

Hybrid and Wizard both grinned.

“ We know you don’t partake in the festivities in front of the club,” Wizard leaned back in his chair, throwing his tattooed arm over the booth’s top. “ But we, on the other hand, like to watch.”

I knew they did.

I just wasn’t the type of person who liked to share.

I also didn’t like the kind of women who seemed to frequent the club.

Turns out, I had proclivities that leaned more toward the tiny Japanese woman in the middle of the room still dancing.

“ Okay ,” I said, knowing I wasn’t going to enjoy this next part. “ Who ?”

Wizard flashed me a broad smile. “ It’s gonna have to be someone who won’t be easy.”

“ Agreed ,” Hybrid said. “ None of the hot tits.”

The club called the women who tended to hang around the club ‘hot tits.’

I’d asked why, once, and Merchant had said that they thought it was funny. There was no other reason than that.

Truthfully , most of the time, it felt like I was dealing with a bunch of horny teenagers who wanted nothing to do with adulthood.

Half of them didn’t have jobs. The half that did only went to work when they felt like it. And yet they still had plenty of money.

How did they get that money?

That was why I was there.

They liked to do illegal things, and those illegal things had to do with the oldest profession in the world—sex workers.

All the men paid.

Some of them paid for willing women, and some wanted it to be a little tougher.

That’s where the kidnapped women came into the picture.

“ What about that one?” Wizard asked.

I turned to look at where he was pointing, and saw Athena turn down yet another offer to dance.

This time by one of the club members, Madman .

Madman’s eyes narrowed, but before he could force her hand, Wizard called him over with a barked command.

Madman reluctantly left Athena and headed toward where we were sitting.

“ What ?” he asked. “ I was about to get uptight pussy.”

I wanted to take my pocketknife and stab him in the throat.

“ You weren’t going to get shit,” Wizard snorted. “ But ol’ Prospect here is.”

At first, I wasn’t comprehending what he said, because my brain automatically went to how much I hated the name ‘ Prospect .’

Until you were fully patched, you didn’t get a name.

I was okay with that.

I didn’t want one, nor did I want to have to answer to whatever bullshit name they came up with.

“ What ?” Madman asked, bringing my attention back to the table.

“ Prospect here is going to fuck that girl,” Hybrid jeered.

A sick sensation started to fill me.

Not that I hadn’t thought about fucking Athena .

I had.

A lot.

But she was young.

Way younger than me.

Thirteen years, to be exact.

Way too young for me.

Way too… wild.

I was ready to settle down.

After years of undercover work, I just wanted to find someone who could be calm with me.

Athena was anything but calm.

And why would I go down that particular path unless I was sure I was going to stay on it?

“ There’s no way she’ll want anything to do with me,” I muttered.

The woman hadn’t given me a single inkling that she was interested.

Every time we’d conversed in last year, she’d been a giant pain in the ass, and I’d given as good as I’d gotten.

Even worse, she was smarter than me.

Maven had said she was smart.

But from what I’d learned, I knew that she was more than just smart.

She was a fuckin’ genius.

She used that genius for evil.

“ It’s her,” Wizard said. “ Or you’re out.”

I gritted my teeth.

I knew this was something that they did, too.

They chose someone.

Sometimes they were ugly as fuck. Sometimes they were disgusting. Sometimes they were the exact opposite of anything you ever wanted.

But once the president and VP gave you a woman, you had to either take it, or leave.

And I couldn’t fucking leave.

God . Dammit .

I stood up and headed toward Athena , mad as fuck that she was here.

This night had completely gone to shit.

I passed by Merchant , who gave me a wary look.

He knew.

He’d had to do much the same as me, but his girl had been a hot tits who was a grade ten clinger.

He still couldn’t shake her off, and it’d been eighteen months.

She’d followed him down here from Great Falls to Dallas .

Grinding my teeth, I walked right up to Athena and grabbed her arm.

“ No , thank you,” she pulled her arm away.

I caught her hip, twisted her to me, and smiled when she snarled.

“ I said no, thank…” she trailed off when our eyes met.

My hair was longer.

I’d also dyed the white patch in my hair—a byproduct of a swimming accident when I was younger. I’d grown out my beard, too—it was so fucking long that I almost felt homeless.

I hadn’t had a beard like this since I was deployed to Iraq and even then I’d been able to keep it at manageable levels.

In the Aided Aimers , you didn’t shave.

At least, as a prospect I wasn’t allowed to, anyway.

“ What the fuck are you doing here right now?” I snarled.

Her eyes went wide with astonishment, then she leaned in, whispering, “ Gable ? What are you doing here?”

I gritted my teeth, then said, “ I’m here because I’m undercover. You’re about to blow that cover out of the water if you don’t get the fuck out of here.”

“ I can’t,” she breathed. “ I have a lead.”

I ground my molars together before saying, “ If you don’t get out of here, you and I are both fucked.”

Literally , and figuratively.

If I could get her to leave, they’d let her go. They’d give me so much fucking shit that I’d never hear the end of it, but eventually their arrest would be the end result, and I could live with the ribbing.

“ I’m not leaving,” she hissed.

“ I’m not joking, Athena . This one time, please, can you just listen to me?” I asked. “ I just need you to go.”

“ Why ?” she asked. “ They don’t know that we know each other.”

I narrowed my eyes, hating that she could never take anything at face value. She always had to have her questions.

And , because I was pissed that she wasn’t automatically trusting me, I said, “ Because they tasked me with fucking you in the middle of the bar, in front of everyone, to get my patch.”

She blinked.

“ I …” she trailed off. “ What ?”

Before I could answer, Madman was there, leering at my side.

“ It’s either him or me, sweet tits,” Madman said. “ Which one is it going to be?”

And because I damn well knew that Madman would take Athena , whether she wanted him or not, I made a decision.

I would be going through with this.

I would be fucking Athena in the middle of a bar.

I would be taking advantage of her.

At least, if she was okay with it.

I’d blow my cover trying to get her out if she didn’t want this—want me.

I squeezed her hip, hoping she’d get the meaning, and was relieved to see her turn to Madman and say, “ I think I’ll keep this one, thanks.”

She caught my beard in her hand and twisted, placing her lips on mine.

I wasn’t proud when the feeling of intense need started to rocket through me.

And , because I couldn’t stop myself, I deepened the kiss, pushing my tongue between her lips and ravaging her mouth.

By the time I pulled away, both of us were breathing hard and Madman was gone with an annoyed huff.

“ What’s going on, Gable ?” she whispered hoarsely.

I was proud of the way I’d made her lose control.

There were people all around us, some dancing. Some making out. Others doing… other things.

Things that I didn’t think Athena realized they were doing, or she’d have probably left the dance floor.

I caught her hip in my hand and pulled her closer to me, bending down so that I could speak right into her ear, hopefully keeping most of our conversation private.

In quiet tones, I laid out what I was tasked to do.

She pulled back with huge eyes and said, “ Absolutely not.”

Stomach twisting at her automatic refusal, I said, “ We don’t really have a choice. You have three options. One , you let me fuck you, right here and right now. Two , you leave and let Madman fuck you outside, and his way is going to be a whole lot less careful and consenting. Or three, we both leave, and I have to blow my cover.” I once again cupped her chin. “ I’ve been on this job for six months, honey. We’re close.”

Her eyes closed. “ Will you tell me why you’re here?”

I tucked a stray lock of her deep brown hair behind her ear before saying, “ I’m betting the same reason you’re here right now.”

She sucked in a breath. “ Shasha said that I might find a missing girl—now likely a woman—here.”

I gritted my teeth, pissed as hell that Shasha would give Athena that kind of information and not expect her to act on it.

He probably expected her to obey him, since that was the kind of behavior he expected from people. But he’d never met Athena before.

He should’ve known better.

“ Ready for the show anytime now,” I heard Wizard call.

I gritted my teeth. “ I need your answer, Athena .”

Her eyes studied mine for a long few seconds before she once again fitted her body to mine. She wrapped her arms around my neck she spoke next.

“ Is that a flashlight or are you happy to see me?” She batted her eyelashes at me.

I caught her chin in my hand, turning her face so we were eye to eye. “ I’m deathly allergic to bees. I have to carry an EpiPen with me everywhere I go.”

She deflated. “ Oh . I have bees in my backyard. Don’t ever go back there.”

I twisted my hips and let her feel my erection—which I’d been carefully keeping away from her before now. “ Yes , ma’am.”

Her breath caught, and she blinked at me with those warm brown eyes.

I loved her eyes.

I loved even more the way I felt when those eyes were focused on me.

“ Are you sure about this?” I asked.

She licked her lips before saying, “ Whatever you need me to do without blowing your cover.”

My hand trailed down the length of her side, fingers grazing skin a whole lot faster than should’ve been possible.

“ Close your eyes, honey,” I said when I saw her glance frantically around the bar the moment my hand met skin.