Chapter 23: Warlords MC: Book 2 – King (Tremaine) : Chapter 8

King watched her get up and leave. What the fuck was going on? He’d asked her here to—he looked down at the file. So, she thinks this is all I want. He shook his head and stood. That’s bullshit too. She damn well knew…She’s running, like she did in her driveway. Tossing a twenty on the table, he went out after her. Max was right. She was denying it. But why? He had already made it plain as day. Hadn’t he?

King had never been the kind of guy to look at his feelings or anyone else’s, it just wasn’t priority before. Get a little sex, move onto another mission, no entanglements.

Suddenly, he had a small inkling of why Ace kept miss-stepping with Charli. Am I doing the same thing?

He reached the walk outside and saw her car, an old mustang pull out of the lot. So, do I get on my bike and chase her like a fool? He let out a breath. No. Dammit. He grasped the file so hard that he had to catch himself. The woman might be the bravest he’d ever seen and he hadn’t lied. He had served with females. Then she runs from him, when he gets too close?

No problem. He was having her watched. She didn’t know Storm, he and a couple of the other men had joined them this morning. He just hoped she didn’t catch on. He’d also told them she could be deadly if she thought they were a danger. They had chuckled and he had then made in clear. The woman was trained, a cop, a crack shot and fierce.

Joker had piped in with, “Hot, dangerous babe.”

Deuce and Jack had nodded in total agreement.

King had rolled his eyes. But yeah, that was an apt description. So how did a man get to a hot dangerous babe? He smiled. Back her into a corner and not let her out. A bit dangerous but, hella worth it, if she finally let him in.

He would take the file to Joker, then he would replace Storm. King just knew Gauntlet wasn’t done with her yet. And, if truth be told, if something happened to her… He shook himself and tucked the file into his compartment.

Riding up to the warehouse twenty minutes later, he saw Aces’ bike. Finally. He got off and went in.

Ace was sitting with Charli on his lap.

She was telling him off as she struggled to get up.

“Well, looks like things are as romantic as ever,” King said.

Ace looked up. “Well shit. There you are!”

“So what did he do now Charli?” King ignored his brother.

“Not a lot but he’s egging it on.” She laughed. “But someone has to take this man down a notch, every other damn day!”

Ace laughed as he let her up. He raised his hand to smack her but.

Flipping around, she stared him down. “You’d better not big man!”

He laughed and lowered his hand.

King laughed too. Yeah, the same and maybe even better. Was that what Mags did? Take him down a notch? Nah…if anything she fired him up like no one else ever had

“So what is with that goofy face, fucker?” Ace asked.

He walked over to his brother who was bigger than even he was. “Laughing at you.”

“Well, what ya got there?” Ace nodded to the file in King’s hand.

“Oh ,yeah.” He looked around. “Joker!” he yelled.

Joker came from the other side. “Damn, King why you gotta yell all the time. It’s making me deaf.” His eyes lit up at the file. “Is this it?”

King nodded.

Deuce and Jack stepped up.

“So how did you get her to hand it over?” Jack asked.

King looked up at him. “She just met me at a bar and handed it over.”

“Ha!” Joker called from the Op area.

King scowled. “Seriously, she did.”

Deuce looked surprised and so did Jack.

“Are they talking about this hot babe cop?” Ace asked.

King sighed.

“Yeah, man,” Deuce answered. “She…” he faltered at King’s hard stare.

Jack laughed. “She said he was rude so she told King to go fuck himself.”

Joker’s laughter drifted over.

King shook his head.

Ace’s eyes narrowed at him. “A woman you can’t handle?”

King snorted. “Hardly.”

“Yeah right.” Deuce chuckled.

“Next subject,” King cut them off.

“Interesting.” Ace stood and walked over to him.

King stared at him. “What the hell you lookin’ at?”

Ace raised his brows. “So, a woman cop huh?”

King shook his head. His brother could be very astute. But he wasn’t saying a thing about this. Especially in a room full of his brothers. No fucking way.

“Wow, so you were what? Out on a date with her tonight?” Ace asked with a raised brow.

King opened his mouth to say in fact he was. But was he? She sure didn’t think so. He needed to ratchet up his game and see if he could do a real date next time.

“So we got some information out of those two dumbasses in the Lincoln, King,” Jack told him.

He looked over at him.

“He’s the same as the rest. Knows only his own chain. But we can take this one down.”

King clenched his fists. “That means there’s still four left and no Gauntlet.”

“Well. Holy shit!” Joker exclaimed from the opt area. “Man, this is gold!”

The brothers all looked over at him.

“King. Get the fuck over here! Your girl may be in a shit load of trouble.”

Her Sunday morning run. The day looked good for it, no one up at this early hour and the park sat completely empty. The sun was just about to rise. Sunrise might just be her favorite time of day. It figured, cause it would only last for three whole minutes.

Mags knew she needed the run today. After, her departure from the bar last night. What the hell was the matter with her? She saw the look on King’s face when she got up and left. He’d looked stunned. Well, she just got… what Mags? Why do you keep moving away from it? You need to take Max’s advice and just have sex with him. Get it over with. Sate this lust. Yeah, that was another thing and why she did not do it. She had never lusted over anyone in her entire life. Never felt her blood run hot, never felt tingles or any of the things King had accomplished in just a week.

So? Let’s do some real running and get it out of my system. Not that it will help. Only his mouth, hands and body will fix you up, Magdalena.

That was another thing. No one had ever called her by her full name. Except for her dad. And certainly not make it sound like King did. Like a caress.

She tried to just free her mind. He was all she’d been thinking about. It was time to get back to her police work and not think about this all the time.

Some days, Mags would cut the run short, if there were too many people about and she would use the tread at home. Not today. People must be sleeping in. She just now passed her two-mile mark and needed to head around the oak clearing to stop and catch her breath.

Someone simply appeared next to her. A large solid frame. It seemed as if they might have leapt out beside her or something. She jumped over to the side and landed her foot sideways. Down she went. Tumbling over the path as her body rolled downhill. She couldn’t seem to stop the perilous roll and just tried to tuck her body in. Pain and stings pinged at her body as it ran over rocks and roots along the way. Finally, her hip hit a tree trunk and she came to a painful stop.

Gasping for the breath that had been forced out of her, she gazed up to see someone looming over her. She couldn’t even move due to being breathless and stunned. So whomever stood there, she had absolutely no defense against him yet.

Steel like hands reached out and grabbed her ankles with a ferocious force, pulling her along the ground, through the leaves and roots which scraped at her back and tore at her sweatpants.

Mags knew she needed to fight, she just couldn’t get her body to obey.

The large stranger finally stopped his dragging and ripped at her sweat pants.

Feebly, she grasped them weakly, but to no avail. They came off in shreds the ripping sounds loud to her ears while the cool morning air hit her thighs as she panted and tried to sit up. Oh, God. I’m a cop and I’m about to be raped. A blow hit her forehead and her head slammed to the soft dirt. The tree branches above her whirled and spun as she fought to stay conscious.

The solid form above her grunted and she could hear him pull back the slide on a gun. He leaned lower, ready to shoot her in the face it looked like and take her world away.

With all her might and determination, she raised up and tried to hook his ankles. She was not going down like this. No way. She scooted forward looking for his feet.

The shadow disappeared from above her. What in the? It seemed like he was just plucked up into thin air. Her eyes drooped almost closed, so she couldn’t have searched for him in any case. She heard a yelp and some grunts, the same grunt as he emitted before. Then yowls of pain echoed all around the oaks. Finally, she heard the loud thump of a heavy weight slamming to the sodden earth. Then silence followed.

Someone gently lifted her. “Please…?” she whispered weakly.

“He isn’t here hurt you anymore.” He swiftly scooped her up.

King’s voice?

Now, he was carrying her.

“Don’t—don’t take me to authorities, King.”

At her words, he halted.

“No cops, no report…”

He released a breath. “But if I find you have serious injuries,” he paused and his grip on her tightened. “Okay.”

The word echoed in her head…okay…okay…While the sky above lit with the sunrise, orange, yellow and pink colors swirled all together until everything spiraled into black…

The next thing she knew, he was laying her down on her bed. She flinched, as her ass must have bruises she would never want to see.

“Sorry.”

Mags released a moan.

“I’m going to have to—” he halted. “I will have to undress you some. You have some cuts and scrapes.”

Mags let out a weak chuckle. Undressing her was something she’d dreamt of him doing a lot in the past week since she met him, but this was too much. She gave a slight nod as her head pounded.

King gently placed a pair of scissors at the hem of her sweatshirt and cut it all the way to her neck. “I don’t want to aggravate your wounds or your head by tugging your shirt off,” he explained.

Lying there, her vision finally became clear and she calmed down a lot. She focused on his face.

His expression looked concerned, his hands were steady, his eyes focused on just this task. His dark hair fell slightly over is forehead in a wisp of raven like strands.

Then, she caught his scent, the very same one she had gotten to take in a couple of times now. A smile formed on her lips.

King seemed distracted by the cutting of her sleeves and lucky for her he was, she thought.

How could she explain smiling right now? With that notion, her thoughts instantly turned as she closed her eyes. She’d almost been murdered. Me! The woman who could take down men who weighed 250 pounds. How many times have I cuffed men three times my size. Then? If King had taken her to the ER, she would be just like any other victim…But being a woman cop! Mags would have rather died than to have all the eyes of her coworkers filled with pity at her being attacked.

A lone tear rolled down her cheek as she squeezed her eyes shut.

King’s ministrations stopped.

He sees the tears. Dammit!

Next, she felt the cold sting of the alcohol wipe as he cleaned the scrape on her elbow.

He said not a word.

Mags fought hard to keep from blubbering like a child. Here was…the man she’d dreamt of, obsessed over, and searched for on every busy street when she patrolled. A small laugh burst from her lips. He’s even seeing me nearly naked! Her laughter grew while she tried to remember if she wore her sexiest bra today. Oh yes, I bet you look sexy now, Mags! Never mind the red dress. It was all said and done now. Her laughter grew as tears continued to roll down her cheeks. “Oh!” She grabbed at her ribs because it hurt to laugh.

He must have been bandaging her upper arm, cause she could feel his wrapping of the length just stopped. “The fuck, Magdalena ?” King asked. “Dammit, I should have kept you with me.”

Mags kept her eyes squeezed completely shut, so she could only guess at his expression. No way would she open her eyes and see him either glaring at her or looking disgusted at her weakness.

“Shock,” he muttered in that deep voice of his. “It’s shock and it’s perfectly normal. I didn’t mean to yell at you… but that fucker was there to truly end your life…” His voice fell away. “Then if he’d accomplished the hit…We’d have wasted the last couple of weeks. Like Max said.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips, kissing the tips of her fingers.

Mag’s was too sore to feel anything but the gentle touch. King? Gentle? “Fuck. You’re just feeling sorry for me!” She tried to sit up. “Screw that!” She yelled in pain.

He eased her back down. “Damn, you are stubborn. But it is shock.” He continued the wrap he’d been doing before. “I’ve been on the front lines and I’ve seen it before.”

Mags chuckled again, and opened her eyes. “No, I don’t think you’ve seen this before.” Her laughter began again, as she gazed into those wonderful hazel eyes of his. “I’m losing it. I got ambushed. Then I was about to be dead. Though I was about to give it one last shot when you came along.”

A small twitch pulled at his lip as if he wanted to smile. “Yeah, you would be the kind to go down fighting.” He leaned forward to peer at the bruise on her head. “You are something else woman. So where is your first aid kit?” He stood from the bed.

“In the bathroom,” she whispered.

He moved away.

She could hear him talking to someone on his cell.

“No, I’m staying with her. Storm is probably sleeping. Send Jack to watch the front and Deuce at the back. He paused as he came back towards the bed. “A hit. No accident. He was about to shoot her. You need to get the body out of there and wipe the scene entirely.” He listened. “Okay. When she feels well enough.” He set his phone on the nightstand. “When this is over, Magdalena, we are going to talk.”

She rolled her eyes. Yeah lectures about her needing protection again.

He sat down and waited for her to look at him.

She finally did.

“Talk about you and me.”

Her eyes rounded.

“There is a you and me. We may headbutt a lot, but we have something and I want it.”

“And King always gets what he’s after,” she repeated what Max had said once.

He chuckled. “Usually.”

Mags waited for him to say more.

He didn’t. He continued checking her over and then he leaned in close to her face.

Mags held her breath. His lips were within an inch from hers. Anticipation tightened in her chest.

King reached his hand up to her face and lifted her eyelid with his fingers, then flashed a light over her eye.

Mags released the excited breath she’d held. He’s checking for dilation, you silly female!

He then checked the other eye and switched the light off. He paused and stared at her lips.

Oh…he’s thinking about it. Mags stared at his yummy looking mouth. She’d thought once that he was addictive but she knew it now for sure.

Raising his head up, he then stood. “Is there anyone you want to call?”

Mags just stared up at him.

His posture told of self discipline and seemed to be naturally aligned for hand to hand combat, like he always stood on the edge of a ring, ready to throw down.

She then remembered when he’d teased her about throwing sown. But now she wasn’t so sure he’d been teasing. She blinked her eyes. “What?”

“Do you have anyone you need to call?”

“Yeah. I will have to call in to miss work tomorrow.”

Silent, he handed her his phone. “Are you okay to dial or do you want me to?”

“I can.”

“All right, I’m going to get you some soup, I think.” He walked out through the doorway.

She raised the cell phone and saw that her hands shook. She grunted with frustration. Swiping it, she simply stared at the picture he had on there—a little girl. Dark hair and dark eyes. Maybe about 5 years old or so? Such a sweet face. She looked as if she might be—Mags shook her head. God! You’d think I had no shame, poking into his life like this. She rolled her eyes with self disgust and dialed the precinct.

One ring and they answered.

“Yes, connect me to the duty desk.”

“Eighth Precinct, Lieutenant Hodges.”

“Yes, Randy? It’s Giovanni. I’ve got the flu I think. I need tomorrow off.”

“What?”

She laughed a little. “Monday 3rd shift?”

“No, no. It’s just—you’ve never called in before.”

Mags smiled. “Yeah, I know.” She’d never missed a day on the beat. Not in two years. But this was an exception. Someone had just tried to kill her.

“Oh, sorry. Yes, sure! Rest up, okay?” He replied.

“Bye, Randy.” She swiped the phone closed.

King stood over her, carrying a tray.

She gave a start. “How in the hell did you just appear like that?”

He smirked. “Don’t let my size fool you. I’m very light on my feet.”

Yeah and easy on the eyes and I just bet when you’re hard— She caught herself. Sexual thoughts were never a standard thing for her. She never looked at guys that way before. She would assess either what they might do for a living or where they bought their clothes. At times, she would guess at their motives and most of them were after sex, of course. But with King, it happened more and more. Wondering what it would feel like to be with him.

He grinned and set the tray down on the bedside table. Then, he turned, grasped her underneath her armpits and held her with one hand while raising the pillow with the other.

Mags gasped, she’d never felt hands so strong, just the strength in his fingertips could probably make a dent in steel. When he’d held her before she felt the muscles in his arms but she never realized how strong he really was.

“Sorry.” He winced. “Did I hurt you?”

“No, no. It just surprised me is all.” She kept staring at him. Where was the swagger and the gruffness? This was a gentle King, one she never knew was beneath all that commanding crap.

King gently set her torso back onto the pillows and grabbed the tray. “I’m not really good at being a nurse. And as you have seen I am not great verbally since all I seem to do is piss you off just by opening my mouth. Though it is sexy when you get riled up.” He set the tray on her lap.

Mags stared at him. “What?”

He pulled up a chair and sat. “You are so…” he faltered. “God damn infuriating though. I can’t seem to help it. But I just can’t see myself acting like that.”

“Like what?” She was truly interested now. Her and King had never had a real conversation. All the cards on the table so to speak. She snickered a little. To use a pun.

“Like just talking to women.” He shrugged his wide shoulders. “You know like how was your day? How do you feel? Oh, you look pretty.”

Mags chuckled. “It is true but I hate men who do that. Meaning, all they want to do is kiss your feet and not treat you like an equal. You do treat me like that, toe to toe.”

He looked at her for a long moment. “I just couldn’t figure it out. I’ve worked with women, like I said. I’ve even worked with women who outranked me. But I can say I never pissed them off like I do you.”

Mags nodded her head as she smiled. He did piss her off, and made her feel so many other things at the same time. She lifted the spoon full of soup to her mouth. She tasted the chicken and rosemary while she sipped at it. He must have found the soup she liked so much in one of her cabinets.

“I think it’s just that I’ve just never been good at talking to women who turn me on like you do.”

Mags spluttered the soup from her mouth.

King grabbed the napkin and dabbed her chin.

She looked directly at him.

Staring at her face, he smiled. A brilliant, dazzling smile. “When are you going to hear it? Magdalena? Finally hear me, here ok? Yes…I want to lick every inch of you. Take in every bit. Keep you naked for god dammed days. Feast on you, delve into you until we both fucking pass out.”

Her spoon clattered to the bowl as Mags stared at him.

Oh, fuck…I think I just became soaking wet.