Claiming Menace (Ruthless Sinners MC 5)

It was still early when I got to the club, so there weren’t many folks there—just a few of the girls who’d come to practice their night’s routines, and Rafe. He was sitting at the bar studying his phone with a disgruntled look on his face. I didn’t want to interrupt him, but I didn’t have a choice. “Hey, Rafe... is Menace around?”

“Not yet, but he should be here soon.” When he saw the panicked look on my face, he asked, “Everything okay?”

“Yeah. Maybe. I don’t know. I can’t really say for sure.”

“Anything I can help with?”

“No, I really need to talk to Menace.”

“All right. Suit yourself.” He motioned his hand to the stool next to him. “You might as well take a load off until he gets here.”

It was still too early to start getting ready for work, so I nodded and sat down next to him. I glanced up at the stage and watched as one of the young blondes twirled around the pole, and I shook my head with a groan as I thought about what I would’ve done if Menace had actually hired me as one of their new dancers. It would’ve been a nightmare. I couldn’t dance, at least not like the blonde on the stage, and I certainly couldn’t have done it up there with no clothes on. It seemed Marlowe and Frankie were right. Menace really was a great judge of character, but he was also an all-around good guy.

He’d helped out Jessie, Brandy, and Mazie from having to endure their old manager’s sexual harassment by hiring them to work here, he’d also hired me for a more suitable job, and he’d even come to my rescue with that jerk who had his hands all over me. I might’ve been wrong about the sexy biker with the brooding eyes, but I felt like I could trust him—I wasn’t sure just how much, though, especially after what Frankie had told me. That thought had my panic returning. I glanced over at Rafe. “What time does he typically come in?”

“He’s usually here before the rest of us, but he had something to take care of today.”

“Oh?” My mind started racing. “Is something wrong?”

“We’ll know soon enough.”

The words had barely left Rafe’s mouth when Menace came walking through the back door. His eyes immediately met mine in an intense glare that sent a chill racing down my spine. He held my gaze as he kept walking in our direction. Damn. Why did he have to be so incredibly hot? I couldn’t even look at the man without thinking about our encounter in the hallway, but those thoughts were now clouded with fear and anxiety. This handsome brute had the power to destroy me—literally, and he didn’t even know it. When he approached us, he didn’t stop. Instead, he gave Rafe a quick nod and continued to his office as he said, “It’s been handled.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” As soon as Menace was out of view, Rafe gave me a little nudge with his elbow and chuckled. “Hey, ah... Menace is here.”

“Yeah, I see that.”

“Aren’t you gonna go back and talk to him?”

“I don’t know.” My anxiety was at an all-time high. “He doesn’t look like he’s in a very good mood.”

“No, but I wouldn’t let that deter you. Menace can be pretty intense, but he’s a good guy.” It was almost as if he knew what I wanted to tell him. “If you’ve got something to talk to him about, you should go do it. Waiting is just going to make it harder.”

“You’re right. I’ll speak with him now.” I got up from the stool and took a step towards Menace’s office, but the thought of actually walking in and talking to him made my heart start pounding against my chest. My pulse was rushing through my ears, making it impossible to think. I was on the verge of a full-on panic attack. Knowing I couldn’t talk to him until I’d settled my shaky nerves, I quickly veered in an entirely different direction and muttered, “Um, later. Yeah, I’ll talk to him later.”

I was so screwed.

Menace

“Aubrey.”

“Oh, hey, Menace.” She nervously raked her teeth over her bottom lip. “Was there something you needed?”

“No.” Damn, she looked fucking incredible. Thoughts of the night before came crashing through my mind, and it was all I could do to keep my fucking hands to myself. “Just doing my rounds.”

“Oh.” A little blush swept over her face as she smiled and said, “Well, things are okay here.”

Before I could say anything more, Country came up beside me and said, “Well, hey there, sunshine. Nice to see you’re out of your office and reaping the benefits of all your hard work.”

“Seems like you’ve been doing that enough for the both of us.” I sounded more irritated than I’d intended when I asked, “What are you doing here so early?”