Mixed with Trouble: A CASH BAR NOVEL Read online

  Chardonnay is silent for a moment, then she smiles. “Snake, baby. I don’t do what anyone says. You won’t hurt me, not in here, not ever. If you know, then you know why you’ll never hurt me.”

  “What, because I’ll be scared of your daddy and brother?” he asks.

  She tilts her head to the side, her blonde hair falling down one shoulder. I watch as she slowly rises to her feet, then makes her way to the front of Snake’s desk. She places her palms on the wood and leans over, her face just inches from his.

  “Screw my daddy and my brother. I’m the one you should really be worried about,” she breathes.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m the one in charge. You want all of your Notorious Devils women and children safe?”

  Snake stands, slamming his hands on the desk. “Bitch, we fought a war for years with assholes taking our women and threatening our children. You’ll be dead before you issue the order. I won’t fucking stand for this shit. Not now, not ever,” he growls.

  “What makes you think I haven’t already issued the order?” she breathes.

  Snake shakes his head. “You’re telling me you’re some big powerful woman? You practically blackmail and demand a relationship with a brother who while respected, doesn’t even hold an office? I don’t fucking buy it,” Snake mutters.

  “Drugs, guns, and minions to do my transporting. It’s worth spreading my legs for. I’ve spread for less.” She shrugs.

  My stomach twists at her words. I’m sure she fucking has, and I bought that bait—hook, line, and sinker.

  “Baby was easy. Not all of the men would have been as easy as him. You think I just happened to find him? He was my target, I’d been researching him for a year before I ever laid eyes on him.”

  “Fuck,” I groan.

  Snake’s jaw clenches and I hear Free growl. Played. All of us, but specifically me. That shit makes me fucking sick. So goddamn sick that I want to puke all over this office.

  “Well, all that work was for nothing, because we won’t be your bitches. Now, call your daddy. The meet happens tonight,” Snake announces.

  She sighs and holds her hand out for the phone. “Oh, and Chardonnay?” Snake calls. She pauses, lifting her head and her eyes meet his. “You so much as breathe anything that I don’t agree with, your torture starts immediately.”

  “Torture?” she asks.

  Snake chuckles. “Trust me when I say that you don’t want to be on the other end of my knife. Cunts that fuck our club over…” His words trail off.

  I remember the women who have tried to hurt our club, the kids, anyone who is part of our family. I cringe thinking about that nurse a few years ago who had the pleasure of knowing all about Snake’s knife.

  “Trust me when I say you don’t want that, Chardonnay,” I point out.

  “I’m dead anyway though, so what does it matter?” she asks.

  “Dead and tortured to death are two totally different things,” Snake warns.

  Chardonnay audibly gulps. Without another word, her fingers glide along the phone and then she holds it out as the room fills with the sound of it ringing. The girl isn’t dumb, she put that shit on speaker.

  “Martel,” a raspy voice growls into the phone.

  “Daddy? It’s Char,” she offers. “The Devils want a meet, tonight,” she continues.

  “Char,” he breathes. “Your brother, Carter,” he says.

  Chardonnay’s eyes widen. “What about him?” she demands.

  “Dead, don’t know who did it, but he was found in some whore’s bedroom,” he growls. “We can’t find his little girlfriend, is she there?”

  “Why would she be here?” Chardonnay demands, then her eyes flick over to mine and understanding fills her features.

  Her father begins to speak, but she cuts him off. “Tonight, Snake wants the meet and he wants it tonight.”

  “Lakehouse, I’ll forward the address and directions,” Snake murmurs.

  “You hear that, Daddy?” she calls.

  “My men and I will be there,” he states and then the line goes dead.

  “Lea,” she hisses, throwing the phone back to Snake before her eyes find mine. “Your whore was fucking my brother? Did she kill him?” she demands.

  I don’t show how her words affect me, that I want to strangle her in her spot. Instead, I tilt my head to the side, crossing my arms over my chest, and watch her.

  “I killed him, Chardonnay. I took my gun out of my shoulder holster and I aimed. One bullet was all it took to watch him fall to the floor and I’m not the least bit sorry about it either. You’ll be joining him in Hell soon enough by my blood-soaked hands.”

  I don’t wait around for her response. Instead, I turn my back to her and walk out of the office. I need to breathe. I want Lea. I want to hold her and fuck her and make sure she’s still fucking breathing.

  LEA

  Throwing back my head, I let out a burst of laughter as Ginger glares at the mini female version of Snake, their daughter, Evalyn. She has attitude times a million and I’m certain that she’ll be a much bigger hellion than I ever was.

  Evalyn rolls her eyes and stomps off toward the back office. “That girl will be the death of me, mark my words,” Ginger grumbles.

  “She’s sweet and I think it’s sweet.” I smile.

  Ginger’s gaze snaps over to mine. “You would,” she huffs.

  “What does that mean?”

  I feel myself bristle from her words. My eyes narrow, but she doesn’t feel my laser glare on her or more than likely doesn’t care. Instead, she just continues with her explanation.

  “It means that you were starry-eyed over that man, who shall not be named, when you were just a touch older than her. If she’s already daydreaming about Easton, then we’re all fucked. Evalyn is like Snake, she always and I mean, always, gets what she wants.”

  I bite the corner of my lip, my eyes scanning the room until I see Evalyn pouting in the office, her head down and her little girl arms crossing her chest.

  “You’re in trouble,” I whisper. “I knew that I wanted Baby when I was thirteen years old. I made sure to become exactly like the girls I saw that he liked,” I admit.

  Saying the words aloud makes me feel weak as shit. They’re the truth though. My life has been nothing but a devised plan of my thirteen-year-old self that has developed over the years.

  Every single thing I’ve done, every man that I’ve been with, it’s all been because I want to be someone that Baby would have on his arm.

  Ginger and Whitley both look at me, then glance down at their laps. I feel someone’s finger touch the back of my neck and I tilt my head back to look into Coda’s eyes. I’m surprised he’s here.

  He treats me with a small smile before he speaks. “Free called in prospects to keep their eyes on you.”

  I’m not surprised to know that prospects were called down here. I honestly just wish that Baby had called them. At least then I would know that he truly cared about me.

  Coda’s fingers travel from the back of my neck to the side before his entire hand wraps around my neck. I shouldn’t feel anything, except, I do. My heart begins to pick up and my eyes widen as I lick my lips and look up to him.

  He smirks, knowing exactly how he’s making me feel, my pulse beating against his hand a sure sign. Whitley clears her throat and Coda’s hand falls away.

  “One guy is in front, one in back, and I’m on the inside. I’ll be over by the bar,” he announces.

  I watch as he walks away, licking my lips at the sight of him in his jeans.

  “You’re going to get that boy killed,” Ginger whispers.

  “Seriously, you’re playing with fire,” Whitley states.

  Shifting my gaze back to them, I suck in a breath. “Baby is with someone else, in way a that I can’t deny it and neither can he. He shoved that shit in my face. Everyone knows about her and I’m over here watching them like a fool. Not anymore. I may have always wanted him, may have dre
amed about this tattoo on my shoulder, but I won’t be a laughingstock. No fucking way.”

  Ginger nods, her eyes scanning the room until they land on Coda. Then her gaze flicks back to me. “He’s a good kid from what I’ve seen,” she points out. “He reminds me of Baby when he was younger, except maybe a little less of a manwhore.”

  “I’m sick of the manwhores,” I sigh. “I chased them, because they all reminded me of him. I allowed myself to be treated like garbage, telling myself that I wanted it. That I liked it. That I craved the wild ride.”

  “But, now?” Whitley asks, her voice softer than normal.

  I shrug, my gaze finding Coda’s as my teeth sink into my bottom lip. “Now, maybe I want someone who wants me. Someone that I don’t have to chase.”

  “Danger, girl. Danger,” Ginger warns. “He’s marked you.”

  “That woman, what is she to Baby? I want the truth. The way she walked in, it was like she owned the place.”

  Ginger and Whitley both sigh at the same time. “I don’t know the full arrangement,” Ginger says.

  “None of us knows everything,” Whitley points out.

  “But…” I urge.

  “They’re engaged,” Ginger states.

  Like ripping a Band-Aid off of a gaping wound my entire body lurches forward at her words and I begin to bleed. “Ginger,” Whitley hisses.

  “She needed to know the truth and God knows that man wasn’t going to tell her.”

  I don’t respond to their words. I’m too speechless, too lost inside of my own head. When I finally gather the ability to speak, I lift my gaze to the two women who are staring at me, waiting for my response.

  “He marked me. He was engaged to someone else and he marked me,” I breathe.

  “He hates her, Lea. Trust us, he despises her. There is something much bigger at hand with their situation, but we don’t know what it is, the men aren’t talking.”

  I want to believe them. My heart aches to believe them. Even if what they say is true, I can buy him not liking her, he didn’t seem all that into her when I saw them together.

  The fact is, he lied. He straight up lied to me.

  He marked me when he didn’t really have the right to do so. He doesn’t belong to me and that’s what hurts the most.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  BABY

  Free jerks his chin, his eyes searching mine and then I watch as he tilts his head to the side. He watches me, his lips twitching. He wants to say something, wants to laugh at me or fuck with me, I’m not sure which. I don’t have the tolerance for it, not right now.

  “She okay?” I ask.

  He lifts his hand and runs his fingers through his hair, then wraps them around the back of his neck, his eyes never leaving mine.

  “She is. Coda is inside with her, his eyes haven’t left her and he’s given me hourly updates,” he says.

  “Coda wants to fuck her,” I grind out.

  Free chuckles. “I’m sure he does. They’re about the same age.” He shrugs.

  “She’s mine,” I state.

  “Is she? Because where I sit, you’re not fucking available to claim her. She can be your whore, but she can’t be your woman, not yet anyway, even if you put your mark on her, it’s null and fucking void at this point. Coda knows it, everyone knows it.”

  Standing, I walk over to him, my hand reaching out to grab the front of his throat and I squeeze. Free only laughs, then easily bats my hand away. The motherfucker is strong and that shit pisses me off even more.

  “Call her a whore again and I’ll kill you,” I grind out.

  Free shakes his head. “I didn’t call her anything, I said that’s all she could be to you. You claimed her when you had no right. I’m sure Skinner is two seconds from skinning your ass in your sleep.”

  I lift my eyes, tipping my head back to look at the ceiling of the cabin. I hate coming to these cabins. The club owns a few and nothing ever fucking good comes out of coming to them.

  It’s a good place to have meets. It’s isolated, private, and far enough away from the clubhouse that we can keep our families safe and on lockdown if they need to be. But fuck, the nightmares that these places have seen are unmatched.

  “We all know that Chardonnay won’t see the light of day, what the fuck does it matter, now?” I ask.

  Free lets out a small whistle. “It wasn’t the case when you marked her. Plus, you did that shit without even asking Skinner. You went about this whole fucking thing the wrong way. Mark or not, you’ll be lucky if you even end up with the girl.”

  “Skinner can suck a fat dick. I don’t give a fuck about him, about what anyone in the club has to say. Lea’s mine. She’s always been mine and she’ll always be mine.”

  Free doesn’t say anything, his gaze cuts to me and he dips his chin before he turns and walks out of the room. Someone clears their throat in the corner of the room, standing in the goddamn dark, like a fucking creeper, Skinner pushes off of the wall.

  “You don’t give a fuck about me?” he asks. “Lea’s been my daughter since she was a teenager. Loved her like a daughter for a fuck’ve a lot longer than that and you don’t give a fuck about me?” he asks.

  “We don’t have time for this shit right now,” I point out.

  “There’s always time to talk about Lea. She’s not yours and you can’t have her, it’s as simple as that.” He shrugs.

  Taking a step toward him, I dip my chin and hold back my growl as I clench my fists. “She’s mine. I marked her. I’m not letting her go, not that it’s your goddamn business.”

  The front door flies open and both of our faces turn toward that direction. Snake is standing at the entrance of the cabin, several men at his back. He lifts his chin toward us as he walks inside.

  “Enough waving your cocks around. We don’t have time for that shit. They’re here. Baby, go and get that bitch and bring her in here. I want her to have a front row fuckin’ view of the show.”

  I dip my chin, following his directions and make my way to the back of the cabin to grab Chardonnay. She’s sitting right where I left her, tied to a cheap fold-up chair. Her eyes narrow at me but I only chuckle at her expense. She has a piece of duct tape across her lips.

  “Ready to see your daddy?” I ask. Her eyes widen, then narrow on me. “Oh, you are? Good news, he’s almost here.”

  I laugh as I reach down, wrapping my hands around the edges of the seat of the chair and pick her up. She wiggles and moves as a feeble attempt to become free. She’s not going anywhere. She will never make it out of this cabin and she will never, not ever, see the light of day again.

  Dropping her in the middle of the empty room, she screams behind her tape and I can’t help but chuckle at her expense, the fucking bitch.

  “She’s good and pissed now, do you see how red her face is?” Snake asks.

  There are headlights that flash in the windows and all jokes immediately disappear. Chardonnay makes a humming sound and I look down at her to see that her fucking eyes are smiling.

  The bitch is getting off on this. Maybe she thinks that when this meet is done, she’ll come out the victor. She won’t. Not if I have anything to say about it. Not at fucking all.

  A few seconds later, there is a knock on the door. Snake opens it to see Crooner on the other side, an AR strapped across his chest. I have no doubt that the rest of our men are strategically placed all around, with the same lethal hardware.

  “Barbarians,” a voice announces with a slight French accent.

  Crooner steps to the side and lets the man walk through. Both father and son, Phillippe Martel, Senior and Junior waltz into the room as if they own the place. I find it fucking comical, especially when Senior’s eyes lock in on his darling daughter who is tied up.

  “Release her,” Martel Senior announces.

  “Nope,” Snake responds.

  I watch as the man’s face reddens. “You are messing with the wrong people, boys,” he grinds out.

  “I think
you’ve underestimated us in an attempt to gain control and power,” Snake slowly says. “Underestimating a person or group, isn’t a very smart move, in general.”

  Martel Senior tilts his head to the side, obviously the man in charge of this whole thing. If I thought that Chardonnay had any control, I was wrong.

  This man, right here in front of me, he holds the power to everyone around him—except the Notorious Devils, he’ll never have control over us, we’d die before we let that happen.

  LEA

  Coda doesn’t say anything else to me. True to his word, he stays perched at the bar and watches me the entire afternoon and into the evening. Unfortunately, for me, I decide to spend all that time, drinking.

  Eventually Whitley and Ginger take off, their families needing them and though I wish they could stay, I’m kind of glad for their absence. I don’t know how I should feel around them, but the way they raised their brows when I talked about Baby, I felt very—judged.

  Lifting the liquor bottle to my lips, I’ve foregone the act of pouring it into a shot glass and am just drinking straight from the bottle at this point. Why pretend?

  “Girl. You’re a fucking mess,” a woman’s voice laughs softly from next to me.

  Turning my head, I see Traci with her hand on her hip and a smile playing her lips. There’s zero malice in her voice or in the look she’s giving me.

  “Tell me about it,” I agree.

  “Coda looks like he’s seconds from taking you right here and judging by the fresh ink on your shoulder, Baby has already staked his claim.”

  “But it wasn’t a claim for him to stake, was it?” I ask, arching a brow.

  Traci sits down in the empty chair next to me, her lips twitching. She reaches for the bottle of vodka and lifts it to her lips, taking a swig before she sets it down.

  “It wasn’t, but he did it anyway. You ever wonder why?”

  I bite the inside of my cheek, trying not to think about any of that. If I do, then I’ll start to hope that he wants me because he’s in love with me the way that I am totally enamored of him.