Unwilling Protector (Steel Vipers MC)

Ride and I are both pissed, but we’re also torn. We want to stay here with him, but we need to figure out what happened to him, too. We can’t risk this chicken-shit coming back to try and finish the job. Brambles rode in with us, so we’re leaving him to guard Ghost. He helps us safeguard our brother and he just might get patched in yet.

We picked up Ghost’s personal belongings from the hospital, hoping to find a clue as to why he’s even in North Carolina. There must be a reason, but none of us can understand why he didn’t tell us. He had to know whatever was going on, his brothers would have his back.

There was a small chance that we’re barking up the wrong tree, too. Maybe Ghost just changed his mind and decided to go to North Carolina and hole up in a lake house, or maybe he was going to the beach. At this point, we don’t know.

Hound called when we got into town. Instead of meeting us at the hospital, he wanted us to come out to a titty bar on the outskirts of Dillion, North Carolina. So, that’s our next stop—even if we aren’t happy about it.

Pulling into the joint where we’re meeting Hound, it looks like any other small-town dive. It’s aptly named Moneymakers. The building looks more or less like an old wooden house that’s been converted, and that’s probably what it is. Hound mentioned he followed Ghost’s steps to this place. I just can’t figure out why.

Don’t get me wrong, Ghost likes tits and ass, but he’s quiet about it. He doesn’t take part in the fun and games at the clubhouse with the candy there. He stays to himself. He had a thing for Marcum’s old lady, Toi, before Marcum claimed her. That’s the most interest I’ve seen him show in a woman. He keeps his personal life behind closed doors. He’s private. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m that way to an extent, but Ghost is bottled up tight. If he ever lets go with a woman, he may scare the hell out of her.

If he gets the chance…

Fucking hell.

Chapter 3

Train

“You assholes are late,” Hound mutters when we make it to his table. He’s in a corner at the back of this place, almost sitting in the dark. If I hadn’t felt the heavy weight of his gaze when we walked in, I would have had trouble spotting him.

“Took a while getting Brambles settled in with Ghost,” Ride responds.

I let my gaze move around the room. This place is a dump. There’s no other word for it. Outside wasn’t much, but somehow, it’s worse on the inside. The damn chair actually creaks under my weight. I’m not a small man, but I’m lean with muscles. The chair groans like I’m a six-hundred-pound man. I actually tighten up all my muscles, waiting to plummet to the floor. I’m relieved when that doesn’t happen.

“Any change in Ghost?” Hound asks, and Ride and I just shake our heads no—almost in unison. “Shit,” he hisses.

“That pretty much sums it up,” I mutter.

“I’ve got to say, this place is a real shit-hole, Hound, but the local talent is fucking great,” Ride says with a sly smile, leering towards one of the stages that’s set up.

“It does have its charms,” Hound laughs.

This place has one giant stage with the bar in front of it. Convenient, you can drink and watch the girls shake their money makers—at Moneymakers. My joke makes me smile, as lame as it is. Yet, around the room are small, round stages with poles for the girls to dance, and there are chairs around them. Ours is built that way, but it doesn’t have a dancer, probably because the club isn’t that crowded yet. Then, again, it is still daylight outside.

I follow Ride’s line of sight and see exactly what—or who—he’s looking at.

She’s the hottest piece of ass I’ve seen in a long damn time—hell, maybe forever. She’s moving against that damn pole like it’s the only cock she’s seen in a fucking decade. Her curves are open for display in that damn G-string she’s wearing. She’s got some kind of black leather get-up covering her tits, but it’s molded to her body like a second skin. Just watching her makes my cock ache and swell with hunger. I reach under the table to adjust myself, my reaction to her that potent.

“Fuck, I bet those long legs would wrap around a man while he was eating out that snatch and smother him,” Ride says lazily, his gaze still glued to the dancer. Of course, mine is too. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look away.

“It’d be a hell of a way to go,” Hound chimes in. “But you better stop looking. That woman of yours is way too jealous for you to have a roving eye.”