Piston by Andi Rhodes
Chapter One
As the VP of the Soulless Kings, I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect what we’ve built. Even if it means taking out the pretty little story chaser.
Piston
One year later…
“You gotta believe me!”
I shake my head at the man’s useless pleading as I watch Joker stalk toward us. Unfortunately for him, I don’t believe a fucking word he says. Fender and I have been holding onto him for a few minutes, ever since Riley made it clear that he’s her stalker. As much as I want to take him out, that pleasure is being reserved for Joker. Riley is his woman, after all.
The only sound in the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse are the pleas spewing from this prick’s mouth. Most of the spectators of the underground boxing tournament have left, leaving only a few cars in the lot. I can sense a few people to my left, no doubt enjoying the show, but I do my best to ignore them.
A light flashes from that direction, and I glance toward it out of the corner of my eye. When I see a woman standing in the dark, her phone held out to capture the scene before her, my muscles tense. There are several others around her, but I zone in on her. There’s something about the way she’s taking pictures and not videoing that rubs me the wrong way.
“Jesus,” Fender barks. “Piston, go handle that shit.”
My lips tug into a grin. “With pleasure,” I say before turning my full attention to the small crowd. I jog toward them.
Before I even reach the onlookers, they flee. Well, all but two of them. The woman squares her shoulders and continues to take pictures and a man stands slightly behind her with his camera still recording.
“You’ve got two seconds to stop—”
I don’t even get the words out before the man takes off running. For a brief moment, I wonder what kind of man runs from danger, leaving a female behind to face it alone. A fucking pussy, that’s what kind.
The closer I get to the woman, the more of her features I’m able to make out.
This is going to be more fun than I thought.
I stop about two feet in front of her. My eyes travel the length of her body, from her head to her toes and back again. She’s insanely sexy in her tight jeans and loose t-shirt. The gray cotton has an image of a boxing ring with a light shining over the words ‘the first rule of fight club is we don’t talk about fight club’.
Clever. And oh so telling.
She’s the kind of woman who’d give everything she has to offer to a man and then demand so much in return. In other words, not my type. But if her body is any indication, she’d be a hell of a lot of fun in the process.
“I’m not leaving. I have a duty to report news and this,” she sweeps her arm to indicate our surroundings, “is definitely news.”
Her velvety voice shakes slightly, and the combination forces all the blood in my body to go straight to my cock. I lock eyes with her and tilt my head. She’s oozing stubbornness, but her weariness is trickling through. The glasses she’s wearing give her a smart girl vibe, but she’s not being very smart right now.
“Yeah, sweet cheeks, you are. There isn’t a story here, not one fit for public consumption anyway.”
I crack my knuckles and grin as I take a step toward her. For a split second, her eyes widen. Her confidence is slipping but not quite as much as I’d like. Her eyes dart toward something beyond me and I glance over my shoulder. The shouting from the stalker has stopped and Joker is running back into the building.
I return my attention to the girl. “Looks like this is your lucky day.” Before she can even detect the threat, I reach out and wrap my fingers around her throat. I don’t squeeze. No, I’ll let her imagination do most of my dirty work. “Delete the pictures. Kill the story. Erase all fucking memory of tonight.” I lean in to growl in her ear. “Don’t make me do it for you because if that happens, I’m not sure you’ll live long enough to regret it.”
I shove her away from me, and she stumbles backward but manages to steady herself. I take off toward the warehouse and fall into step with Greaser.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” Greaser responds. “Joker yelled ‘It isn’t him’ and then took off.”
We reach the makeshift locker room that Grizzly and his club set up for the fighters. Drawing out weapons, we enter, prepared to take down whatever, or whoever, is inside. Joker whirls around to face us and then bends to rest his hands on his knees.
“She’s gone,” he says while trying to catch his breath. “Riley’s gone.”
Joker stands back up to his full height and shoves his way past Greaser and me. His fury is evident in his steps. He’s seething and he has every right to be.
“I swear to God, I’ll fucking kill her,” Joker grits out.
“What is going on?” I demand when I catch up to him.
From Joker’s other side, Greaser asks, “Who?”
With horror and rage mixed in his tone, Joker tells us that the man we thought was Riley’s stalker isn’t. Even worse, he believes Cheryl, his mother, is somehow behind Riley’s disappearance.
“Mercedes, black,” Joker mumbles.
I glance around the parking lot, looking for the vehicle and seeing nothing. What my gaze does land on is the woman from earlier. She’s standing a little further away, more toward the edge of the parking lot, but her phone is up, and the light is flashing as she snaps more pictures.
I break from my brothers and stomp toward her. She spots me and quickly shoves her cell in her back pocket. Her arm shifts to the bag slung over her shoulder and she reaches inside.
“I thought I told you to get the fuck outta here,” I bark when I’m within feet of her.
“You did,” she quips and pulls her hand out of the bag.
My eyes land on the mace that she’s holding, and I quirk a brow as I continue to advance on her.
“I hate to break it to you, sweet cheeks, but I’m pretty sure that,” I nod to the can grasped in her fingers, “is no match for this.” I lift my hand that’s holding my pistol.
“You won’t shoot me.”
I point the gun just to the right of her head and pull the trigger. Her only reaction is to blink.
Impressive.
“Like I said, you won’t shoot me.”
Impressive but stupid.
“That was a warning shot,” I say from behind clenched teeth. “I won’t be so nice next time.”
“Piston, let’s roll!”
I look over my shoulder and see Fender standing next to our Harleys waving me over. Joker jumps into a vehicle, and it peels out of the parking lot.
“Looks like you’re the one that has to go,” the woman says, pulling my focus back to her.
“You’ve got one hell of a guardian angel.” Her face falls for a moment but she quickly recovers. I’d love the chance to figure out where that reaction comes from, but I don’t have time. “Better hope they’re always around because if I see you anywhere near my brothers or my business again, you’re gonna need them.”
With those parting words, I leave her to stand there and figure out her next move. If she’s as smart as her glasses make her look, she’ll realize there is no next move other than to back the fuck off and pretend she didn’t see whatever it is she saw tonight.
Something tells me that’s not at all what will happen. She’s not going to give up. Not without some more convincing from me, at least. And surprisingly, I’m okay with that.
If my threats don’t scare her off and there is a next time, I’ll just have to ensure my actions do. Besides, that’s what I live for, what I crave.
As the VP of the Soulless Kings, I’ll do whatever I have to do to protect what we’ve built. Even if it means taking out the pretty little story chaser.
