Penance Page 12

  She slides her hand into mine shaking once with a firm grip. “It’s really great to meet you, Ayla. I hope you’re nice to my friend, Sensei, here. He deserves to be treated well.”

  I smile as he groans.

  “Everyone really looks out for you here, hey, Sensei?”

  He looks at Ruby and raises his brow as she giggles.

  “All I’m saying is he’s an uptight guy who needs a little… tender loving care.” She waggles her eyebrows suggestively, and I burst out laughing as Sensei groans.

  “Ruby!” he warns as Ruby’s smile falters.

  So I smile to liven the mood back up. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to give him some real good tender lovin’. But maybe after dinner… I’m starving,” I suggest, and Ruby bounces on her toes again in happiness.

  “Okay…” she giggles, “… you want something to drink with your food? You allergic to anything, hon?” Her joyful mood is back in an instant.

  Sensei shakes his head like he’s living his own personal hell.

  “No allergies and beer is fine. Thank you.”

  “Beer for you, too, Sensei?”

  “Anything. Just get me anything. If you. Please. Go. Away.”

  Ruby laughs patting him on the back. “You love me, I know you do. Food will be here shortly. Have fun, guys,” Ruby beams as she rushes off, and I nuzzle into Sensei’s side wanting to be closer to him.

  He wraps his arm around me, I smile up at him, and he shakes his head with a long, drawn out huff. “You’re trouble with a capital ‘T.’”

  I smirk. “I invented the word.”

  Sensei stifles a laugh. “I don’t doubt it… you’re going to have everyone here wrapped around your little finger in no time.”

  “Even you?” I smile.

  He leans in pressing his lips to my forehead softly, sending a wave of giddy butterflies through my stomach. “That’s a given, Sass.”

  As I take a look around the clubroom, I cuddle in a little more. His brothers are eating and drinking, club girls are serving food or cleaning up the tables, and the room has quite the cheery atmosphere. I like this place. It seems cool, calm almost. I’m not sure if it’s like this all the time. Hell, I know it isn’t from the blood I saw stained on the pool table, but for now, at least, the club seems to be settled.

  “So, Raiden Maki… what’s your job in this club? Tell me your mad skills.”

  He grins. “I’m the Enforcer.” He glances to a man sitting by the pool table, his hair long on top, swept over, then shaved on the sides. A decent beard on his face, not overly long, enough for it to be manageable, but still in the realm of sexy rather than tatty. Though it’s his eyes—they’re so dark, so lost, so vacant as he stares off into nothing. There’s a length of chain strung between his hands as he mindlessly plays with the links.

  “Chains over there, he’s our Sergeant at Arms. I answer to him… basically. I’m security along with him. He’s the lead, I am his second.”

  Pursing my lips, I nod matter-of-factly. “Why are you the second and not first?”

  He grins. “Chains has been here longer… simple as that. We’re both good at the job, and while Chains flexes his muscles out in the field, I use mine more… underground.”

  Jolting my head back at that, I wonder what he means. “Underground?”

  He smiles at me. “Club business, Sass… I can’t divulge any more.”

  “Do you mean like in the underworld?” I can’t help but ask.

  He lets out a breath. “No, not the underworld… underground—”

  “What like literally under the ground? Like a basement or something—”

  “Sass!” he berates while looking into my eyes with a stern glare. It sends a shiver down my spine, and I draw my lip in by my teeth and stop talking immediately.

  “Got it! You can’t say.”

  He nods, his hand gently running up my back in a soothing way. I relax back as I chew on my bottom lip assessing him. “You’re the torturer, aren’t you?” I blurt out.

  He stiffens. “Sass!”

  “Okay, okay,” I bring my hands up in surrender. “I’m just saying that… if you were, and you tortured the really bad guys… I would be fine with it because they’re bad guys, and they deserve it.”

  He raises his brow. “What would you know of torture?”

  I snort, it’s very unladylike, but then again so am I. “I grew up with a widower father and two snotty-nosed brothers. I’ve seen every torture movie and horror flick ever made. Blood and gore doesn’t faze me, Sensei. You don’t scare me. This club doesn’t scare me. Your brothers don’t scare me.”

  He raises both his brows in a look of appreciation as he lets out a long breath. “There’s more to a club than blood and gore, but if you can handle that… it’s a damn good start.”

  “I can handle anything you throw at me, baby.”

  A smirk forms on his face as he assesses me up and down. “Baby?” His eyebrows squeeze so tightly together they almost form one single line.

  My face falls as I realize how bad that sounded. Honestly, sometimes my mouth runs away with garbage before my brain thinks—stop!

  Think about what you are going to say, Ayla.

  “Shit! I didn’t mean that as in a baby. I meant it like…. babe, as in a pet name. You know… like babe as in like how I say slick and shit. It just came out. I’m not getting all cutesy on you or nothing…” I keep ranting, digging myself deeper and deeper into my crazy. “Give me a break.”

  Sensei smiles so wide the brightness of his teeth almost blinds me, and he’s holding back a laugh. “You’re cute when you’re embarrassed, it’s a rare sight.” His cocky tones seep through, and I purse my lips as Ruby walks over with a tray of food and plonks it down in front of us. There’s two giant plates each with a massive burger, fries, and onion rings.

  Hell, yes!

  I pick up a fry and shove it in my mouth. “Thanks, Ruby,” I express, but it comes out more like a mumbled murmur through my mouthful.

  She giggles. “I like this one, Sensei. Keep her around, will ya?” Ruby bumps into his shoulder and then walks off.

  Sensei shakes his head while glancing at me, and rolls his eyes as he turns toward his meal to dig in.

  “You and Ruby good friends?” I ask picking up my giant homemade burger, a sliver of ketchup running down my hand, but I don’t care as I let it drip and take a bite.

  He shrugs. “Yeah. She’s always been there to lend an ear… her, Torque, and Surge.”

  Swallowing the mouthful of the delicious food, I nod. “Torque’s your Pres, right?”

  He nods and glances over to the corner where he’s sitting with a few other men, and an older woman in very tight clothes, her red hair framing her pale face. There’s a younger brunette, who seems completely occupied by another biker who’s sitting next to her.

  “I’m guessing the one in the middle is Torque?” His shoulders are broad, his posture strong. He gives off the appearance of strength, power, toughness like he could carry the weight of the entire club on his shoulders and not blink. He looks exactly how I would picture a president should look.

  Sensei nods. “Yes… to his left is his blood brother, Trax, he’s our VP. To his right is Surge, he’s the oldest member of our club and an Original Nine. Next to him is Freckles, Torque’s mother. Then Neala, Torque and Trax’s sister, we call her Lala. It’s been her nickname since she was a kid. And next to her is Tremor… a prospect.”

  My body warms that he’s taking the time to tell me about his club members. To me, it means he actually wants me around. He wants me to get to know these people, his brothers, his family, and you know what? I want that too.

  “Well, I can’t wait to get to know everyone…” I take a small bite of my burger. “But after this burger,” I say through the food in my mouth.

  He laughs and shakes his head and starts eating his meal.

  SENSEI

  Tonight’s a good night. While the ever-present threat
of the Yakuza is still in the back of our minds, for the moment we’re gathering ourselves and trying to come up with something, we just have no idea what that something is. So tonight, we’re having a night off, and while Sass’s here, I figure she may as well meet everyone seeing as she did a pretty good job of impressing my family—they are the hard ones.

  My brothers, however, have taken to her like candy to a baby. Scratch already loves her. So while everyone’s in a semi-decent mood, we’ve done the rounds.

  There’s no party atmosphere, it’s a typical Tuesday night at the club, and everyone went about their business while we mingled. But Sass is certainly a hit. She seems to get along with everyone. The guys love her, the girls worship her, and I stand back in awe at how she manages to work a room without batting an eyelid.

  The confidence flows off her. She’s a real people person without even trying to be, and even though everyone’s different and has their own unique set of interests, Sass is able to keep conversations going. Because beneath all that talk and attitude she has going on is a really smart girl, who knows a lot about everything.

  When she was talking with Ace about how they’ve each hacked into high-security government facilities, one-upping each other, it was like watching two nerds going head to head. I learn more and more about her every day, she’s so goddamn smart.

  Foxy came in after work, she works with Doctor Rebecca Kline at Northwestern Memorial. Kline has taken her on to teach Foxy the ropes about all things medical, while Foxy’s in her third year of pre-med. Once she finishes, she can go on to med school to become a fully qualified doctor, and with the help she’s getting from Kline, she’s going to ace everything that’s thrown at her.

  As Torque and I sit back watching the two women talk endlessly like a pair of long-lost friends, it feels almost like they have met before tonight.

  I turn to Torque and raise my brow. “Are you as dumbfounded by this as I am?” I question, and he chuckles.

  “Brother, the thing I’ve learned about women is they will always band together generally toward our damn downfall.”

  Letting out a small chuckle, I nod. “Yes… I believe you may be right.”

  Torque turns toward me more, his face taking on a more serious look. “Sensei, I’ve never seen you ‘bring home’…” he uses air quotes, “… a woman to meet everyone. The girl… you’ve known her how long?”

  Letting out a long puff, I shrug. “Couple of days at best. Honestly, I hardly know her. I know how this looks… believe me, this isn’t my typical style, Torque. I don’t… delve into anything remotely serious with a woman, but Sass… there’s something so inherently different about her. But a little heads up would have been nice.”

  He stifles a laugh. “She’s definitely different, man. The background checks we did on Smokin’ Joe were years ago. Sass was just a kid. Smokin’ Joe kept her well-hidden. Guess we know why. But I like her and how different she is…” My stomach swarms with warmth, a feeling I’m not used to. “In a good way, brother. She’s like one of the guys, and she’ll fit in here… if that’s what it comes to.”

  We both sit back in a comfortable silence as I let his comment sink in. I know what he’s saying—

  Sass could be Old Lady material. But it’s way too early for that, and with everything that’s happening with my family right now, I can’t even contemplate thinking about my future. All I can think about is the present, and how the fuck I am going to deal with Ishikawa. And more importantly, what the hell is going to happen to my family if he finds out who we are.

  Sass and Foxy race over with bright smiles on their faces along with Neala a step or so behind—a trio of trouble by the looks of it.

  “Oh, fuck, here we go…” Torque calls out as they step up to us.

  “Sooo…” Neala says.

  Torque sits up taller and lets out a long huff as Sass glances to me with a sly smirk. “What? What hair-brained scheme have you three troublemakers come up with?” Torque queries.

  Foxy slides down onto his lap for extra sugary sweetness as she wraps her arms around his neck and cuddles into him. He shakes his head as Neala giggles, and Sass laughs.

  “So, babe… we were thinking…” Foxy bats her lashes at him, buttering him up making me know they’re definitely up to something.

  “Out with it, woman,” Torque demands through a smirk.

  “We want a ladies night… us three, Freckles, Ari, maybe Ruby? What do you think?” Foxy’s voice comes out so sickly sweet I almost choke on all the sugar in the air.

  Torque’s shoulders sink as he looks at me, and I wince while shaking my head subtly. He turns back to Foxy running his hand up her leg and looks into her eyes. “As much as I want to say yes—”

  “I know there’s something happening with the club right now. I don’t know what, Sensei didn’t tell me, but before you say no, what if the girls hang out and you guys are there, too. But just like… you know, in the background and away from us, so we can dance and drink while you stare at our asses and shit,” Sass interrupts Torque.

  Foxy’s eyes light up as Neala bounces on her toes, and I look to Sass as she glances at me gnawing on her bottom lip in hope.

  “You do like to stare at my ass,” Foxy murmurs as Torque chuckles.

  “I don’t need to know that,” Neala mumbles under her breath.

  Torque glances to me, and I shrug. I guess if we’re there, we can protect them. I don’t like it, but we can’t shelter the ladies forever—they’ll end up resenting us. Plus, going out and seeing Sass dressed up sounds fucking good to me. I mean, I love her in her coveralls, but seeing her dressed up will be something for me to look forward to.

  “Fine, one night soon we’ll all go to Club Modesty. But you will stay in VIP where we can watch you. You will not drink excessively, and you will leave when we tell you to. Understand?” Torque demands.

  They all smile as Foxy leans in pressing her lips to his firmly while we all roll our eyes.

  Sass steps up to my side and wraps her arms around me. “Save one dance for me,” she whispers in my ear, and I let out a stifled laugh.

  “I do not dance, Sass.”

  She grins placing her hand on my chest and leans in against my ear. “I’ll get you dancing, don’t you worry about that.” Then she moves in further biting the side of my neck in a half-hickey half-bite making a tingle run straight down to my cock. Sass certainly knows how to tease a man as I wrap my arm around her. She giggles then presses her lips to the tender area softening the harsh sting while she stands next to me like nothing’s happened as my cock strains against my pants in a semi-erect state.

  “You can dance up on me, but I won’t be dancing, Sass... I can assure you of that. No matter how fucking hard you try to tempt me.”

  She chuckles and nods, her hand wrapping around my waist. “Fine… I’ll dance up on you then.”

  “Sheesh, I’m outta here. Two couples who can’t keep their hands off each other, when my guy’s still deciding whether his patch is more important than me. Fuck, guys are such hard work,” Neala grunts out. “See you soon, ladies,” she chimes and saunters off down the hall as Torque raises his brow.

  “Tremor’s still not making a move on Lala?” Torque asks, and I shrug.

  “I have no idea what’s happening, Pres. But I must admit, I haven’t seen them together as much. I do know he takes his patch with the utmost of seriousness, as do we all.”

  Torque nods and lets out a heavy sigh. “As he fuckin’ should. I thought I made myself clear, he’s okay to be with Lala as long as he doesn’t fuckin’ hurt her. I should talk to him. Up you get, Foxy.” Torque pats her legs, she smiles while jumping up and then leans in kissing his cheek.

  “Maybe… I mean, I know it’s none of my business, but maybe you should let them fix their love life up on their own?” Foxy states.

  Torque glances to her and raises his brow. “Don’t you think me chatting with Tremor and telling him to pull his head out of his ass will make
him start treating Lala better?”

  “Or you’ll make him pull away from her even more,” Foxy states.

  I wrap my arm around Sass’s shoulders and pull her with me as we walk off leaving Torque and his Old Lady to discuss their family business alone. They don’t need us interfering with any of that.

  “So… are they about to have an argument?” Sass asks as I pull her toward the other end of the room.

  I chuckle. “Either that, or it will end up with them tearing each other’s clothes off in the middle of the clubhouse… Probably the latter.”

  “Does she always talk to him like that?”

  I chuckle. “Foxy has a tendency to throw sass and fight for what she believes in. Remind you of anyone?”

  She glances to me raising her brow. “Is that why you call me, Sass?”

  I nod. “Yes, it’s like a road name, my brothers and the old ladies will call you it as well.”

  She smirks waggling her eyebrows. “I like it when you call me that.”

  Warmth floods through me. “It’s getting late—”

  “You kicking me out?” Sass’s eyes droop as she puts on a fake smile through her chirpy tone.

  Looking into her beautiful hazel eyes, I pull her to me. “Just the opposite. I was wondering… would like to stay the night?”

  Her eyes light up, and she grins. “You wanna have a sleepover? Braid each other’s hair?”

  I cock my head. “Sass!”

  “Okay, okay. Sorry. Yes. I want to stay, but I need a shower first.”

  We head off toward my room.

  “Okay. Shower it is.”

  Sass and I had a hot shower together. We cleaned ourselves and then got dirty all over again. I couldn’t help myself and shower sex with her, though much more vanilla than our first sexual encounter, was fucking amazing. And now as I lay in my bed, completely naked with her, her back pressed against my front as we spoon, I only now realize that I’m doing things for her I’ve never done for any other woman. I’ve never held a woman in my bed before. Sure, club girls have slept in my bed once or twice, but I’ve never held them in my arms. Especially, not like this in such a tight embrace, where my heart is pummeling in my chest so fast I can hear it in my ears.