Blaze: Kings of Hell MC (12 page)

“You guys stay here. Make sure no one else comes in to see Dimitri. If Julia shows back up, call me. I’ve got my cell phone on me,” I told the guys at the steel door to the interrogation room in the basement.

“What are you going to do?” Juarez asked.

“I’m going to track her down,” I told him.

“By yourself?” Chase chimed in.

“Yes, guys, I’m tracking her down by myself. I certainly don’t expect either of you to know her well enough to know how to find her. I know the places where she might have gone. Now, stay here and keep an eye on your boy back there.” I turned and left.

I didn’t want them to know how worried I was. Nothing was supposed to get under my skin, least of all a girl. They had already seen too much, anyway, after they walked in on me as I took out my frustrations on Dimitri. They could only have assumed it was because Julia had left.

The fact was my reaction had as much to do with Julia as it did with Lisa. What happened with Lisa had been my fault. I had allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment. I learned my lesson with her. I had to keep my personal life separate from what I did for the MC. I had no business letting my old lady get mixed up in the business side of things.

My guilt over what happened to Lisa became a reluctance to find Julia. I hopped on the back of my bike and gunned the engine, but I didn’t drive off right away. I sat at the curb and listened to the engine as it purred beneath me. I contemplated killing the engine and going back inside. If I brought Julia back here, I risked putting her in the same position Lisa had been put in when I lost her. I didn’t want to lose Julia the same way.

“Then, don’t,” I told myself as I walked the bike back from the curb.

When I pulled up in front of Julia’s apartment building, I wasn’t sure of what I was going to say, or if she was even home for that matter. I walked up to the door and buzzed her from the intercom downstairs. I was surprised when she let me in.

That didn’t mean she was completely comfortable talking to me yet. She cracked her apartment door, and I could see the chain pulled tight. I wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t have helped. Anyone could still enter her apartment, even with that chain in place. I decided to use a little more tact and work my way in.

“Why are you here?” she asked flatly from the other side of the door. “I thought I made myself clear earlier. I don’t want any part in what you’re doing.”

“Listen, Julia, I really need your help.” I leaned into the door and added in a low tone, “If you come back, I will pay you today. He’s ready to talk.”

She closed the door, pushing me back from it, and I could hear her sliding the chain across to release it. A moment later the door opened and Julia stood there, ushering me in. She’d switched out of her jeans and tank top and into a pair of slacks with a long-sleeved blouse.

“Are you heading up to the university?” I asked her.

“Yeah, I’ve got to account for where I’ve been the last few days,” she said. “See, I’m accountable, Gage. When I tell someone I’m going to do something, I have to show them that I’m doing it or that I’ve done it. I can’t say that I’m going to do research and then go sit on the beach somewhere or torture someone in my basement.”

“I’m sorry. I should have been more up front with you about what was going on.” I followed her into her bedroom as she continued to get dressed. As sexy as she was in jeans and a loose tank top, I couldn’t deny how great her ass looked in slacks. What was wrong with me? Here I was, trying to convince her to come back with me to HQ, and all I could think about was ripping her clothes off and manhandling her on the bed. I didn’t want to listen to her scolding me. I wanted to listen to her crying out in ecstasy.

“Damn right you should have been more honest.” She turned around and started walking towards me from her dresser with a hairbrush in her hand.

I took a step back. I knew if I let her get too close, this would be just another thing that was never resolved because we fucked instead of taking the time to talk.

“And another thing,” she continued. “Wait, did you say you think he’s ready to talk?” Her ears perked up.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“How do you know? Surely, he didn’t tell you. Or, if he did, you wouldn’t have understood it anyway.” She walked back to the mirror above her dresser and brushed her hair.

“He started asking for you while we were
talking
to him,” I admitted.

“You mean while you were torturing him,” she stated for clarification.

“Well, I wouldn’t call it torture. Torture implies we did something creative. Juarez and Chase just beat the shit out of him until he started asking for you,” I said matter-of-factly. There was no reason to lie or hide it anymore. Hiding what was really going on would just ensure that Julia took the same path Lisa had taken.

“Dammit, Gage,” Julia said, shaking her head, “you can’t keep torturing this guy.”

“What’s he going to do? Is he going to go tell the cops?” I laughed. “Or is he going to tell Ivan? All that would do is bring Ivan to us instead of us having to look for him.”

“How do you know I didn’t tell the police?” she asked me frankly.

“You wouldn’t.” I checked to see how far I was from the front door or the nearest window. It wouldn’t have been the first time I had to escape the law at a moment’s notice. I hadn’t even considered that Julia would have gone to the cops with her story.

“You don’t have much to say now, do you?” she snapped. “I could have already called the police to let them know I’d been held against my will in a garage downtown. I could have buzzed you up here so that when they show up, they’ll find you. I can even tell them that you forced me to have sex with you. When they start asking questions, I can tell them all about your little motorcycle gang, about Dimitri and Ivan. I can tell them everything I know, Gage, and I’m sure they’d be more than happy to take you down.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You didn’t call the police. In fact, you wouldn’t have let me come up if you had. Knowing you, you would have sent the police to HQ to pick me up if you had called them.”

“You’re right,” she said, suddenly sounding exhausted. She put her brush down and turned around to face me, leaning against her dresser. Her shoulders slumped as I stole her fire by calling her bluff. “I thought about it,” she added.

“Oh, I never said you didn’t think about it. I just know you didn’t actually do it.” She looked so vulnerable I couldn’t resist walking over to her and putting my arms around her.

At first, she resisted and tried to push me away, but she quickly gave up and rested her head against my chest.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this,” I told her while I stroked her hair, “but I need you to come finish the job. I really think he’s about to crack.”

“But how do you know he’s going to tell you the truth?” She tilted her head up to look at me with those beautiful green eyes.

“Well, think about how long I’ve been doing this. Guys like Dimitri don’t usually lie when they crack under pressure. It’s not like being interrogated by the law. There’s only so much they can do. We’re not bound by their rules and regulations. If we catch someone lying to us, they can be pretty sure it’s the last time they lie to anyone.” It felt odd talking to Julia about this with her body leaning against my chest. She was giving me her trust, and I was telling her about hurting people, and worse.

“What are you going to do once you get the information you need?” she asked. I couldn’t help but think she already knew some of what I was trying to get her to figure out from Dimitri. She sounded worried that I would find out he’d been talking all along.

“We’re going to take Ivan down,” I told her. “That’s the whole purpose of taking Dimitri the way we did. We need to shut Ivan down.”

“Does that include killing him?” she asked, looking back up at me again. Her eyes searched my face, and I knew she wanted me to tell her I wouldn’t kill any of them, but I couldn’t promise her that.

“If we have to, we will.” It was the best answer I could give her. There was always the possibility that he would get away from us, but I didn’t know how to explain to an outsider that our safest option was always going to be to completely eradicate threats like Ivan.

“If you
have
to,” she repeated, pushing herself back from me. “Why does it sound more like if you
want
to?”

“Because you don’t understand,” I said. “You don’t know what we’re up against, and you don’t know how this all works.”

“Yeah, because I’m this sheltered history geek who spends all her time in libraries and university lecture halls, right?” she snapped at me resentfully.

I wanted to admit that she was right, and that her academic lifestyle was exactly why I didn’t expect her to get it, but it was also one of the reasons I found her so irresistible. I couldn’t tell her she was right; it would have crushed her and ended my chances of bringing her in.

“Listen, you come from a different world,” I explained, grabbing her hands and pulling her back to me. “I want to protect you from everything outside of your conversations with Dimitri. You weren’t supposed to get involved, and you really don’t want to know what else happens after you talk to him, so please, trust me.”

“I don’t feel like I can.”

“Look, the guy who has to deal with assholes like Ivan isn’t the guy standing in front of you right now. He’s certainly not the same guy you slept with. Understand that, for some of us, work isn’t all we are. We aren’t all lucky enough to find a job where we really get to be a hundred percent all the time. History is who you are. It’s you through and through, and you get to work with Russian history and Russian culture, and I’m willing to bet there aren’t too many other things you think about during the day. Am I right?”

She stared at me, wide-eyed.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Look, I got into this because I love motorcycles. I love the way it feels to hop on my bike and hit the open road. Whether you’re an outlaw biker or one of these new school cats who keep it clean and work nine to five, you got into it because you love the way the bike feels, and you love what it means. I got into what we do for a living so that I could ride all the time and so that we could also control what comes in and out of our communities. We’re not in it just for the money, though that’s nice. We’re in it to monitor what’s going on.”

She tilted her head. “Don’t make yourself sound like a hero, Gage. You’re far from it.” She pushed herself away from me again and grabbed her jeans from the floor. She dropped her pants, and I caught a brief glimpse of her hot pink cotton panties before she pulled her jeans up over them. I wanted to bend her over the side of the bed and just slide those panties to the side. The color made her skin look so delicious and innocent.

“You coming?” she asked as she walked out of her room, zipping and buttoning her jeans as she went.

“Wait, you’re coming back?”

“Just to get some answers. Then, I’m out.”

Julia

Dimitri looked pretty rough when I walked into the room. He sat slumped against the ropes on his chest. At first, I wasn’t even sure if he was breathing, so I approached him slowly to make sure he was. I held my hand up to Gage and his men to keep them waiting at the door while I checked on him. His chest heaved slightly in the dim light, and I gave them the thumbs up to close me in the room with him.

Once the heavy steel door slammed shut, I sat down across from the tired, beaten down Russian. The table had been moved out of the way, but my small chair still sat about where it would have if it hadn’t been moved.

“Dimitri, I’m here,” I assured him in Russian.

“Don’t let them back in here,” he croaked.

“Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, they don’t seem to be as eager to come in here.”

“Good. Thank you for coming back.” He looked up at me, and I could see his severely beaten face. His life was turning into a horror movie.

“How do you know I left?” I asked him.

“It took them a while to find you after I asked for you. You would have been here much sooner if you had been here,” he answered. “You have to be able to piece things like that together when you can’t understand what the people around you are saying.” He tried to laugh but choked, probably on blood.

“Gage said it sounded like you wanted to talk.” I kept my voice gentle and comforting. After all, Dimitri had never wronged me. I had just been hired to get information out of him. Unfortunately, he hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with any real info just yet. I couldn’t have prevented what happened to him in my absence. In all honesty, I doubted it would have been prevented had he been talkative.

“I’ll only talk if you can promise me you’ll keep them from coming back in here,” Dimitri told me.

“I can do that,” I answered, knowing I didn’t really have any control over what Gage and his men did to him. They saw this man as their prisoner, and they were determined to treat him as such. I knew I couldn’t promise him anything, but I
would
promise him anything if it meant getting something out of him so I could get out of here.

“And I know that as soon as I tell you, you’re going to run up there and tell Gage,” he continued. “Can you promise me he’ll let me go once he knows?”

“I’m sure he’ll want to verify any information you give me before he does, but that’s the plan.” That was not the plan. It was never the plan. I could see that now. At least the beatings would end, though. Maybe Dimitri knew that it wasn’t the plan, but he seemed to want a little comfort before opening his mouth.

“Okay, I can tell you one person who is going to be part of Ivan’s big drug deal,” he started. He spoke slowly through his labored breathing.

I was on the edge of my seat. I wasn’t planning on hanging around after he gave me this information. I was going to deliver it to Gage and get the fuck out of Dodge. Dimitri was about to deliver my ticket to freedom.

“It’s the mayor,” he said.

“
What?
” I couldn’t believe my ears. Was I the last person alive to get involved in this massive, international underworld?

“Try not to be so naïve, Dr. Danvers,” Dimitri said. “You already know crooked politicians exist. Don’t pretend to be shocked.”

“I’m not pretending,” I told him. I didn’t know whether to be more shocked that our mayor was crooked or that Ivan was that connected.

“Ivan stays under the radar because he pays off the radar not to see him.” Dimitri tried to force a smile but it only came across as a bloody grimace. “Besides,” he continued, “no one will be heartbroken if Gage were to rough up the mayor for more information.”

“He wouldn’t.”

“Oh, you don’t know him as well as you think. Gage is power hungry, Dr. Danvers. If you haven’t seen it yet, you will. You’ll probably see it soon,” Dimitri predicted.

“Can you give me any more information?” I had to ask.

He shook his head. “Just remember, you promised to keep them off of me.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” I stood up and looked down at the beaten man before me. I could feel my face harden. I could hear my voice grow cold.

“You promised,” he pleaded.

“Don’t beg, Dimitri. There’s nothing more pathetic than a man your size being broken down like this. You’re better than that, or that’s what I thought.” I turned and walked out of the room.

Gage and his two favorite henchmen waited for me in the pit. Gage’s eyes lit up in anticipation when he saw me, and I realized I had leverage. If I played my cards right, I knew I could use the information Dimitri had given me as a way to get out of here and get back to my life.

“Anything?” he asked.

“In private.” I jerked my head to the side to indicate that we needed to talk away from everyone else.

Gage shot a confused look at the two men standing by the door and shrugged as he walked off with me. I needed time to figure out how I was going to approach him to secure my freedom for the information he needed. I led him up to the third floor, back to his room at the end of the hall.

“What’s so important that you couldn’t tell me in front of everyone?” he asked as we closed the door.

I pushed him back against the door and pressed myself against him. I ran my hand down between his legs and stroked the front of his jeans. Two could play at his game and use sex as a tool to earn compliance. I put a hand gently around the back of his neck and leaned up to whisper in his ear.

“I want you to let me go after I tell you this,” I told him in the most seductive voice I could manage.

“Nice try, Julia, but you know you I can’t do that.” He laughed hoarsely and grabbed my arms with his massive hands. He pushed me back away from him. There was no humor, no desire in his eyes. They were hard, stony. In fact, he looked like he was on the verge of another angry outburst.

“I don’t know if I should tell you, then,” I said. I felt like a prisoner in his MC’s headquarters. I wondered if he would ever let me leave, for any reason.

“Oh, you should,” he growled. “That is unless you want me to throw you down there with Dimitri.”

Panicked questions swirled around my head. Why was he turning on me like this? Was Dimitri right about Gage? Had he been playing me the whole time? Was I doomed to share Dimitri’s fate in spite of everything that had happened? I didn’t understand how this man who had seemed so caring could suddenly be so mean and cold.

“I’m waiting, Julia.”

I gave in. “Okay. Let go of me and let me stay out of the basement. If you can do those things, I’ll tell you. Since you won’t let me go.”

“Done, but you’re not leaving until this is over. I want to make sure you’re safe.”

I supposed that was the best offer I was going to get from him. I sighed. I realized I probably wasn’t going to get away at all, no matter what happened. The best I could do was to play along until I found an opportunity to leave on my own.

“He says the mayor is going to be part of a big drug deal that should be going down soon. He said Ivan’s arranging a massive drug deal that’s going to include the mayor and a few other corrupt government and law enforcement officials, but he won’t tell me who the others are.” I said it in one breath, giving up the only hope I had for leverage against my imprisonment.

“I knew I could count on you.” Gage cupped the back of my head and kissed my forehead. Once again, his demeanor was pleasant. I began to wonder if it wasn’t all just a game to him. Maybe Dimitri had been right after all.

Gage held me close to him and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed me, pushing his lips forcefully against mine. I didn’t return his kiss, and he gripped my hair, tilting my head back.

“You don’t want to celebrate?” he growled. “I can make you want to.” He placed a hand between my legs and started rubbing his fingers against my jeans.

His touch drove me crazy, and he knew that, but I couldn’t let him distract me. I couldn’t give in and pretend that everything was fine. I decided I wasn’t going to let him use sex as a weapon against me anymore.

“No, Gage.” I pushed his hand away from my crotch and pulled myself back from him.

“No? You don’t tell me no,” he said with a cruel laugh.

“I do now,” I informed him. “Besides, you have work to do. You’ve got the information you want. Now is not the time to distract yourself with sex.”

“But it is a good time to celebrate,” he argued, reaching for me again.

“No, it’s not. Nothing has happened. Nothing has been solved. You need to get your men together and do whatever it is you’re going to do.” I was shocked at the strength I heard in my own voice.

Then, in an effort to seal the deal and redirect his attention, I stepped closer to him. I ran a hand gently down the side of his face and spoke in his ear again.

“We can celebrate when this is over. I’ll be waiting for you, and I want you to do all those things you’ve been afraid to do to me because you think I’m too inexperienced.”

It worked. He looked at me with hope in his eyes, kissed me quickly, and headed out the door. He went down the hallway to the stairs without as much as a glance back. He knew—or thought he knew—that I would still be around when the job was finished, but, in reality, I needed the time to figure out how I was going to leave. Getting him off my back and out of my pants was the first step to getting out of here.

As he walked away from me, trusting me to be here when he came back for me, I couldn’t help but feel a certain measure of satisfaction that I’d completed my task. I sat down on the bed behind me and let the small sense of closure wash over me. I had finished my job for him, and I would be rewarded handsomely if the information checked out. I would be able to pay off some of my mother’s medical debt and start moving forward with my life, instead of always trying to live in the shadow of her dementia.

As long as she suffered, there would be new bills, but paying off the old ones would help immensely. I hadn’t said anything to Gage about it. Giving myself time to think about it, I realized we didn’t know each other all that well. It had been one hell of a whirlwind romance, but I hadn’t really let him that far into my life. He’d been in my body, and I couldn’t help wanting him back in there every time I saw him. Dear Lord, there was something so incredibly sexy about that man. He was everything I had never wanted, but with him, it was right. Gage Noll made the undesirable irresistible.

Even sitting on the bed, staring at the perfect opportunity to leave without being noticed, I wasn’t sure if I could. I wasn’t sure if I should. I wondered if the insatiable desire I felt for this underground crime boss could be transformed into something more, something deeper. I felt myself already growing worried for his safety as things moved forward. I knew that he would soon be making the move he’d been waiting to make, and I knew that he would be putting himself and his men in danger.

That probably meant I would be in danger too if I stayed around.

“Come on, Julia. Get it together. You know what you need to do,” I told myself out loud on his bed.