Exquisite Redemption (Iron Horse MC Book 3) (29 page)

“Tell you when we get upstairs.”

We reached the landing and Hulk grabbed my hand, dragging me behind him. When I passed Poppy, I heard her say, “
Dios mío!
Oh no!”

“Oh no what?”

Hulk pulled me into what looked like an office with a wide wooden desk and a big computer, flicking on the light as he stared at me.

Seeing his eyes so big and the way he was staring, I started to freak out. “What?”

“Sarah—oh God, sweetheart…someone cut off your hair.”

“
What?
”

His words made no sense and I reached back, finding my braid…or at least part of it. From just below my shoulders, my braid, which had reached to almost my butt, ended abruptly, the soft ends bristly against my fingers.

Horrified, I tried to pull it around to look at it, but it was too short. “Someone cut my hair off?”

“Honey—” He started to approach me but I held up my hand.

“Someone cut my hair off!”

“Sweetheart—”

“Someone cut my fucking hair!”

Poppy said in a low voice, “Hulk, are there cameras downstairs? Should I have someone get Beach?”

A banging came from the door and Hulk opened it up to reveal Hustler standing there with a panting woman. She was shorter and curvier than me, with wide brown eyes and big hair, and her dress was as tiny as could be, showing off her fabulous figure. Something about her was familiar and I tried to place where I’d seen her before.

“Sandy did it!” she told Hulk, her chest heaving as if she’d run up the stairs. “I didn’t notice until after. I swear I didn’t know she’d do it. We were just here to party.”

“Bitch, have you lost your fuckin’ mind?” Hustler growled and shook her.

“I didn’t know she was going to do it! One second we’re standing there talking with Vance, next thing I know she’s pulling a big pair of scissors out from her purse. I didn’t even realize what she was doing until she did it!”

“Why?” I asked while trying to keep my shit together. “Why would she do this?”

My hair. It was gone. I no longer looked exactly like my sister.

The woman’s eyes flicked to me and they were angry. “’Cause me and her were Beach’s women before you showed up.”

“You mean that crazy bitch cut my hair off because of
Beach
?”

Hustler shoved the woman into the arms of another brother. “Get her the fuck out of here and find Sandy. You better run, Brandy, ’cause when Beach finds out, he’s gonna lose his mind.”

My distressed morphed, heated and twisted into anger. “I want her—Sandy, now.”

“We’ll—”

“Listen to me, either you help me find her or you are going to have to hide that bitch for the rest of her life because I will hunt her down and get her. Where’s Beach?”

“He’s in a meeting,” Dragon said as he entered the room, his gaze going right away to my slowly unraveling braid. “Let us take care of this. Swear that cunt will pay for what she did to you.”

I had a feeling what they meant by “pay” and what I meant were two entirely different things.

“No, she’s mine.” I took a gamble. “Either you give her to me or I’ll go to Beach right the fuck now and let him know what happened on your watch.”

“Yo, Hustler, we got Sandy,” a strange guy yelled from the hallway.

“Bring her in here,” I said, seething. “I want duct tape and a chair I can bind her to.”

Dragon arched his brows, his full lips pursing. “Not sure the Prez is gonna be down with that.”

“Not sure I give a fuck.”

Hulk said in a weary voice, “Take Sandy down to the holding cell. We’ll be there in a minute.”

Not long after, I had Sandy taped to a folding chair in the middle of a suspiciously empty concrete room in the basement with a drain in the floor. Without a doubt, this was a room where they took unwelcome guests and I tried not to get creeped out by all the blood likely shed here. Normally I’d beat the fuck out of Sandy and call it a day, but I had a feeling if even one drop of blood was spilled, these men would be on it like a pack of wolves and kill her. Or hurt her in ways I didn’t even want to think about.

No, the punishment had to fit the crime, and while she’d hurt my soul by cutting my hair, she hadn’t hurt my body.

But she would pay.

Sandy sat in the middle of the room, her green eyes spitting fire at me while she raged. She was drunk, and torqued up on coke, so she had a lot of energy to waste on trying to get out of the tape. I kept the door to the room open, knowing I had a chance to send a message here that I needed to take.

Yes, I was furious this piece of trash who Beach had been fucking decided to take out his dumping her on me, but more importantly, I had the attention of these men and we needed to lay some ground rules. This was one of those “what would Mimi do” situations and I tried to channel her as I sneered at the woman and took out one of my knives. Word would spread about how I handled this situation and if I showed any weakness, I was going to be fighting off bitches for the rest of my time with Beach, however long that may be.

Before I could take a step closer, Hustler was there, his hand grasping my forearm. “What are you going to do to her?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“If you’re gonna kill her, I need to clear the room.”

I glared at him, disturbed by the casual way he’d said that. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

He didn’t look reassured, probably because I was in scary-motherfucker mode, but he let me go and I crossed the room to where Sandy glared at me.

“I’m only going to say this once, so let me make myself clear.” I ran the dagger under her eye, brushing her lashes and half hoping she’d sneeze and kill herself. “Whatever you do to me, I’m gonna do back to you three times as bad. Doesn’t matter what it is, you will pay the debt you owe me—and bitch, you owe me big.”

She said some not-so-nice things behind her gag, but I just smiled, stood, then grabbed her hair. “Listen to me. For the next three weeks, you’re going to shave yourself bald every day.”

Her muffled scream as I sawed through her hair was gratifying, but even more so was watching the men in the room wince as I laughed and hacked her hair off. There was nothing but ultra-short, uneven stubble left by the time I dusted my hands off and smiled. At this point, Sandy was sobbing and leaning forward as much as the duct tape would allow, snot and tears mixed with makeup dripping down her face.

I almost felt sorry for her, but tucking my now much-shorter hair behind my ear cured me of that emotion.

Giving her cheek a hard slap, I shouted, “Look at me, bitch!”

She did, her eyes almost swollen shut from her tears, so I got right in her face, letting my anger go as I yelled at her. “Every day when you shave your head, you’re going to think about
me
, think about the results of your evil action. When people stare at you, I want you to remember who I am, and I want you to know deep down in your soul that I will find out if you don’t and I will make you hurt. If you try to run, I will hunt you down and take great pleasure in making the last few hours of your life filled with pain. And believe me, bitch, there is nowhere you can hide that’ll keep you away from me.”

With that, I spit on her face, then turned and froze when I noticed Beach leaning against the wall just inside the doorway, his impassive gaze focused on me.

“Hey,” I said with a small wave that caused some of Sandy’s hair to fall off my arm.

“Hey,” Beach said back while everyone stared at us.

There were quite a few women mixed in with the men looking in from the hallway, and they gave me some thumbs up and encouraging smiles.

Well, good to know the old ladies of the club were as crazy as I was.

Beach tipped his head in Sandy’s direction. “Want me to finish it?”

And there was proof the old men were crazier.

“If I wanted her dead, she would be.”

He studied me, then nodded. “She is very, very lucky you got to her before I did. If that bitch doesn’t do what you told her, I’ll make sure she regrets it.”

Sandy sobbed and I ignored her. “You done with your business?”

“Yep.” He straightened and came over to me, brushing some of Sandy’s hair off my shoulder. “You need a shower.”

The adrenaline high of the last half hour was wearing off and I sighed. “Are you going to wash me?”

Heat flared in his gaze and he leaned down and slowly rubbed his nose along mine. “Yep. Gotta keep my old lady happy so she doesn’t shave me bald in my sleep.”

“Damn straight.”

Chapter 15

Carlos “Beach” Rodriguez

A
s we left the room, I cut my eyes to Hustler, who was fuming with anger. When he noticed me looking, a wave of remorse moved through his gaze and it was obvious he felt like shit this had happened on his watch. Hulk shared the blame as well, but Hustler was on flank and had apparently been distracted by Veronica throwing drama. He needed to quit that bitch, but for whatever reason, he kept goin’ back to her, hopin’ this time she’d stay on her meds.

Poor bastard, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna get some form of punishment from me that would send a message. Sandy could have just as easily had a knife, or a gun, and the knowledge she could have ended Sarah’s life instead of cutting her hair burned through me. My gut clenched at the mental image of Sandy stabbing a knife in Sarah’s back, making me want to rage, but I needed to keep my control right now. Even if I was screaming on the inside, I had to be calm for Sarah.

“Hustler,” I said in a low voice as we passed him. “Tomorrow, we’re havin’ words.”

He closed his eyes and nodded while Sarah tensed even further next to me.

I needed to get her away from everyone, and quick. She was going to lose her shit, I felt it like a storm building heavy in the air. Her hand gripped mine hard enough that it almost hurt, and her free hand kept lifting up to touch her hair, to finger the short strands that barely brushed her shoulders, where it had fully unraveled from her braid. Guilt that I’d been distracted by business when I should have been with her churned in my gut and I tugged her quickly behind me as we took the stairs to my rooms.

When we passed Sledge, I looked him right in the eye and nodded once. The disrespect Sandy had shown me couldn’t stand. Man or woman, what she’d done to my old lady was unforgivable. I’d let Sarah have her vengeance, as fucked up as it was, and a few months down the road Sandy was gonna disappear. No one threatened my old lady and lived.

I had a feeling Sarah wouldn’t have too much of a problem with bitches getting lippy with her after this bullshit. The horrified looks on the women’s faces, old ladies and sweet butts alike, would have been funny if I hadn’t watched my woman laugh in a bitch’s face as she shaved her bald. There was more than a little bit of crazy in Sarah, and I needed to remember that.

That crazy was pushing at the surface as I led her into my suite in the clubhouse.

I flicked on the lights and she froze, then looked around with wide eyes. “Wow…this is not what I was expecting. It’s beautiful.”

“President gets the biggest suite.”

“Suite,” Sarah muttered, “this is a luxury apartment. You have an almost-kitchen and a living room. Nice color choices, the black with the teal and sand is a good combination, and I love how whoever decorated pulled it together with your couch. The pillow choices are a little feminine for your space…I would have avoided the velvets, but the harshness of the minimalist decorations needed to be blunted somehow. Oh, I see what they did now. The pillows match the thick velvet drapes. Bet they darken the room wonderfully if you want to take a nap. I wonder if the artwork they used was local; I really like that tree scene. Is your bathroom to the right?”

I shook my head to clear it of her rambling, a smile tugging at my lips despite the recent drama. “Bathroom’s to the right.”

“Good. Can I smoke in here?”

“What?”

She spun around to face me, Sandy’s dark hair still sticking to her despite her attempts to brush it off. “Smoke, as in light up. Can I smoke in here?”

“Lemme open a window, but yeah.”

“Thanks.”

I led her over to the couch beneath one of the windows, leaving her to the task of getting comfortable while I opened it.

“Lighter?”

Silently, I went into my kitchen to grab one, wondering when that icy façade of hers was gonna crack.

Taking it from me once I returned, she fished around in the small inner pocket of her vest, then pulled out what looked like a pink cigarette.

“What the hell is that?”

Before she answered me, she lit it up and took a deep inhalation before letting it out. “Gift from Poppy.”

“Shit, what did she give you?” I didn’t recognize the hearts on the paper, and the smell of the weed had a hint of cloves to it.

“An aphrodisiac.” She offered me a hit but I shook my head, wanting my mind clear for dealing with her.

“What?”

“Never mind.” She settled back onto my couch with a huge sigh, holding her arm up and frowning. “Yuck, I look like I’ve been rolling around on the floor in a salon.”

I sat next to her and gently grasped her chin, turning her head so I could see her watery eyes. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

After taking a deep drag of the joint, she turned her head so she wouldn’t blow the smoke in my face then let it out in a rush. “She did it because she loved you.”

“No,
mi corazón
, she never loved me.”

“She thinks she did.”

“Don’t let that bitch make you believe she did what she did to you out of love. I know Sandy, and her actions are the results of her hate and envy.”

Closing her eyes, she finger-combed her hair back, her breath hitching. “She cut my hair.”

I went to hug her, but she pushed me back and sat up, taking one more hit before standing and going over to the sink and wetting the end. Her shoulders had a slump to them that killed me, but as she gave me her profile, I realized how elegant she looked with her hair shorter like this.

When her wounded gaze met my own, I held my hand out to her.

“
Mi riena
, come here.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

She curled her lip in disgust and for one brief moment I thought she was lookin’ at me like that and I though my heart was gonna break, sure she was gonna leave.

“I’m hairy, I need a shower.”

Studying her as relief crept through me, I nodded, determined now more than ever to bind her to me in every way possible. “Go, shower. When you come out, I want you ready for me, so wash that little pussy real well. Gotta take care of some shit real quick, but I’ll be back before you’re done. Wash that tight asshole of yours real good while you’re at it.”

She gaped at me, then gave a visible shiver that went straight to my cock. “Okay.”

“How about, ‘Yes,
Papi’
.”

Her pupils visibly dilated and I didn’t miss the way she pressed her thighs together. “Yes,
Papi
.”

Then she smiled and even though hurt and anger still haunted her face, there was also a hint of happiness and lust.

While she quickly went into the bathroom and shut the door, I went outside into the hallway and found Smoke waiting for me.

My Master at Arms moved away from his position leaning against the wall and made it to my side. I glanced down the hallway to make sure no one was close enough to listen. “What did the Boldin
Bratva
say after I left?”

“Kostya Boldin was pissed off until I explained your old lady was in danger. Motherfucker went all soft on me for a second and said he understood that family comes first, and hoped everything is alright.”

“Great, but did that slick bastard give you the manifest?”

“Part of it. All weapons. Big ones.”

“How big?”

Smoke’s voice got real low and he stepped closer to me. “Missiles.”

“Shit.”

“Yep. And the Israelis are hinting they have something even bigger, but won’t give me any information other than to say it is plants and some kind of herbal liquid. They swear up and down it’s not a biological weapon. They want Poppy to be part of the ride-along to insure the plants survive the journey.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, Poppy was a little freaked out, having witnessed your old lady go psycho barber on that cunt Sandy, but she agreed to be part of the transport.”

“So we’re gonna be movin’ missiles and fuckin’ plants?”

Smoke shook his head with a wry smile. “Life is fuckin’ weird.”

“And they’re gonna pay us millions to do this.”

“Yep.”

“Fuck.” I took a deep breath, greed tempting me to give the thumbs up, but I had to be careful. “Tell ’em we’ll have an answer for them by tomorrow evening.”

“Of course. They’re partying with Tom Sokolov so I don’t think they’ll have an issue with extending their visit by a day.”

Knowing Tom was probably treating them like kings with the best pussy and drugs money could buy, I’d bet they weren’t in a hurry to leave.

I looked over his shoulder, noticing Vance standin’ at the top of the stairs with Dragon on the other end of the hall. “I don’t want to be disturbed until late tomorrow morning. Sledge can handle shit, but I need some time with my girl.”

Smoke’s dark gaze softened. “She okay?”

“No, but she will be.”

“Right. Go take care of your old lady, I’ll brief you in the morning.”

I clasped his shoulder and squeezed it before returning to my room. The faint scent of my soap and shampoo filled the air and I took in a deep inhalation before moving to grab the black leather bag I kept beneath my bed. From it, I took out a red elk-hide flogger and a pair of black leather cuffs with sheepskin lining. I debated adding nipple clamps, but figured I was gonna push her enough tonight. I needed to take her out of her mind for a while, focus her on physical pleasure and fight back the sorrow eating at her.

When Sarah came out of the bathroom, her eyes were red and I knew she’d been crying, but she gave me a wavering smile that tugged at my heart something fierce.

Her hair was slicked back from her face and I once again admired her adorable freckles. “You’re so beautiful.”

She lifted the hand that wasn’t holding up her towel to lightly touch her hair. “Thanks.”

“I mean it. You’re so gorgeous you bring me to my knees.” I stood and took off my cut, then my shirt. “Come here.”

Just as I predicted, she came to me right away and snuggled close, her hand stroking my chest hair and sending little sparks of pleasure through me.

“Is that a flogger on the bed?”

“Yep.”

“And restraints?”

I indulged myself in stroking the smooth, muscled skin of her back. “Yep.”

“Nice.”

Chuckling, I was glad I wouldn’t have to talk her into playing with me. “You gonna let me cuff you?”

“Absolutely.”

“Flog that pretty ass?”

“Please,
Papi
.”

“You are a naughty baby. Drop your towel then take the rest of my clothes off.”

She did as I asked without protest and I grit my teeth when her breasts came into view. The tips of her nipples were already hot pink and I could see the way her pussy was puffed up and wet. This woman was ready for my cock and I hadn’t even touched her yet.

After removing my boots and socks, she made quick work of my jeans, leaving me standing in my boxer briefs while she let out a happy purring sound.

Lightly running her nails over my thighs, she rubbed her face against my shaft, her lips parting on a sigh. “I love your dick.”

“It loves you back.”

She giggled, then began to place teasing kisses along my length, each brush of her lips making me twitch. “Can I see it,
Papi
?”

“Uh-uh, you gotta earn this dick.” Her eyes gleamed as she looked up at me, kneeling back on her heels just as pretty as you please. “Get on the bed. I want you on all fours in the middle.”

I loved the fact that she didn’t appear fearful or apprehensive in the least. She trusted me to take care of her, to do her right and not hurt her. It was a heady feeling and I couldn’t stop myself from smoothing my hands over the round globes of her perfect ass. Millions of men wanted this ass, but I was the only one who got to touch it, and that thought had a little bit of pre-cum wetting the tip of my aching erection. I placed a kiss on each cheek before licking my way down to where her tight thighs met her ass, soothing the soft skin there with my tongue.