Kristen Ashley - Own the Wind

The presence of Elvira wearing a fabulous wrap-around green dress and spike-heeled chocolate brown boots while strolling into the Compound at five o’clock in the morning meant she wasn’t there for the usual reasons she was there: to eat, drink, and raise her brand of hell alongside a bunch of bikers.

Her expression and the phone held to her ear, not to mention the words she was snapping into it said finding fun while dressed to kill was not her current mission.

“I’m tellin’ you, Hawk, Tack kicked me out. I was all set, everything was good, then badass biker boy didn’t hesitate to blow my cover and send me on my way.”

Her cover?

She glanced at me, hauled her ass up on the stool next to mine, moved her gaze to Rush, and slapped her hand on the bar. This meant tequila, STAT.

She also kept talking on the phone.

“Those biker boys strolled in packin’. I knew no good things come to those who suddenly garner Chaos attention at three thirty in the freakin’ morning on a porno set and I was right. They made no bones about stating their intentions. They wanted that new girl. Those boys ambled in full force, the whole freakin’ Club showed, interrupted everything and launched right in, starting negotiations. Not surprisingly, Benito didn’t feel like negotiating. He wouldn’t accept a Chaos marker. He wouldn’t accept Chaos doin’ him a needed favor since you and me know Benito keeps his shit tight and he’s got no strings dangling so he don’t need no favor. He wouldn’t accept anything they were offering. He wouldn’t even accept payment with interest for what the girl owed him. The girl was goin’ to work. Seein’ she owes him thirteen thousand with interest, she’s got a lot of work to do. Therefore, negotiations had reached a stalemate and with those boys, well… you know.”

I closed my eyes.

Thirteen thousand. With interest.

All for drugs.

God, Natalie.

“Told you she was a pain in the ass,” Rush muttered.

My brother was not wrong.

Elvira kept talking and I opened my eyes to watch her.

“That’s when things got hot and I tried to hold my cover by not leavin’. Tack was tryin’ to be subtle then he got impatient with subtle when I didn’t move my ass so he upped and blew my cover in order to get me out of there before negotiations totally broke down. When I left, Benito gave me a look that was uncomfortable . Tack sent me on my way tellin’ Benito that if anything happened to me, shit that was already makin’ plans for the winter would seriously go south and on my heels he sent the Chaos recruits. I’m thinkin’ you know what that means.”

I didn’t know what it meant and I didn’t want to know, but I was going to know because she continued.

“Yeah, it’s good you’re haulin’ ass out there, Hawk. Girls in slutty nurse’s outfits and boys with big dicks in patient gowns were scurryin’. They felt the vibe deteriorating but then again, that shit was hard to miss.” She stopped talking to Hawk and looked to me. “Seriously, can they not get more original with this shit? Nurses and patients? That’s been done to death . If I was makin’ a porno, not that I’d make a porno, but, just sayin’, if I was, it’d be all about a UFC ring, sweaty hot guys with tape on their hands and shorts that come off easy, say, with that Velcro stuff at the sides. One yank and gone . You get what I’m sayin’?”

I blinked.

I didn’t get the chance to confirm or deny I got what she was saying before Elvira’s attention went back to the phone.

“I’m here,” she stated, then ordered, “You get there.” Pause, then, “Take that up with Tack, and get this, I’m gonna take it up with him too. Spent two months hornin’ in on that crew for you, such filth, I had to shower about seven times a day. Now all that work is blown with shit to show for it. I don’t care if he can kick my ass, Kane ‘Tack’ Allen is still gonna get a few words from me.”

Then she stabbed her phone with a finger that had a long, perfectly shaped, shiny, eggplant-painted fingernail, slammed the phone down on the bar, and trained her eyes on Rush.

“Uh… did you not get that I want a shot of tequila?” When Rush moved, offering the bottle to her, she shook her head. “Don’t hand me that bottle. I am not a biker babe. I got manners. I drink out of a glass.” Then she turned her head to me and declared, “No offense.”

“None taken,” I muttered.

“And no offense with this,” she carried on, “but your bitch is a pain in the ass.”

I opened my mouth to agree just as the door crashed open and a long, solid, handsome, chocolate-skinned black man with a bald head, magnificent cheekbones, and a thick black goatee surrounding a pair of full lips that had to be sculpted directly by the hand of God walked in, eyes on Elvira, his long legs taking him right to her.

“Oh lordy,” she muttered, her head turned from me, and I knew she was watching the tall drink of chocolate-skinned goodness prowling her way.

“Are you fucking shitting me?” he ground out, still heading toward her.

“Calm down, baby, it’s—” Elvira started.

“You are,” he cut her off. “You are fucking shitting me.” His big frame teetered to a halt a foot away from her and I was a bar stool away with Elvira in between and I still leaned away from his fury. “After I spank your ass for this bullshit, I’ll be kicking Hawk’s ass for sending you into it.”

Uh-oh.

I failed to mention that Elvira was sassy in a way that she pretty much defined it. When women were sassy, men, no matter how hot they were, didn’t threaten to spank their asses. It also didn’t matter how angry they were, this would not be met with gentle, calming words. It would be met with rocketing fireworks and even tall, built-hot guys could not control a rocketing firework.

I knew I was right when Elvira slid off the stool which I thought was a tactical mistake seeing as she was taller on it.

She didn’t seem to mind, tipped her head back and snapped, “It’s my job, Malik.”

He moved closer and retorted, “It’s your job to answer the phones, do computer work, and herd commandos.”

There it was. I was right. Hawk was a commando.

The black guy kept going. “It is not your job to go undercover with a drug-dealing porn producer who targets girls, gets them hooked on junk, and takes payment in pussy.”

Uh-oh again.

“It’s my job to answer phones?” she asked, her voice soft in a way that made me glance at Rush who was scowling at the pair but, wisely, not wading in.

“Yeah, baby, it’s your job to answer fucking phones ,” the hot black guy returned, bending a bit to get in her face.

“You don’t get to say what my job is, Malik. Hawk and me decide what my job is,” Elvira shot back.

“Woman, you wake up in my bed and after you give me what I need to start the day, I haul my ass out of bed and bring you breakfast so you got what you need to start the day. So do not even think of handing me that shit. I get a say when my woman puts her ass in danger,” he volleyed.

I had to admit, not out loud of course, that he had a point and also, breakfast in bed sounded sweet. Further, now that it was clear that this guy was Elvira’s man, I thought she did a little bit of seriously all right in landing this hot guy.

Elvira clearly didn’t think this at the present moment. She snatched up her cell from the bar, shook it at him and asked sarcastically, “You want me to get on the phone , big man? Hire a sky writer so all of Denver can know our personal business?”

I thought the appropriate response to this was no.

The gorgeous Malik clearly didn’t share my thought process.