“I can control it, Max.”
I look up from drying beer mugs. “What?”
“I can hear you. Thinking about us and sex again.”
“What? No.” My face heats like it always does when he’s around. “Get out of my head, Salvation.”
He laughs. “Learn to build a block so I can’t hear you, but…” He leans across the bar, planting his lips on mine. “Isn’t it better that I do know what you’re thinkin’ so you can’t hide from me?”
“That’s cheating.”
He goes back to counting the money on the bar. “Then I don’t know what to tell ya.”
“Bite me,” I mutter under my breath.
“You just tell me where.”
71
Salvation
I set stacks of bills on the table in front of Lux. “Check it out, boys,” I say.
“How much is that?” Lux asks, picking up a stack and spreading the banded bills apart.
“That’s thirty thousand dollars, five thousand of that was in tips.”
“So, they each made twenty-five hundred a piece last night,” Lux states.
“Yes,” I say.
Jude whistles and snaps his fingers.
Ridge claps and smiles.
Lux pulls the rubber bands off a stack and counts out another two separate piles. He slides one pile to Jude and one pile to me. “They’ve earned this. Make sure they get their cut. The rest goes into the treasury. Salvation, how’s that lookin’?”
I pull out the small notebook I keep in a pocket on my kutte. I’m always makin’ notes and keeping track of who owes what. I flip through the pages. “All dues have been paid, the next shipment of guns comes in from the Mexican border and it’s been paid for. We are sittin’ pretty this month, Boss.”
He nods. “Any other business?”
“Yeah, I was thinkin’ about lookin’ at applications for more dancers at the Luscious Leopard,” Ridge states, laying his fist on a stack of papers.
“Sure, go for it, but you know the rules: no drugs, jealous ex-boyfriends, husbands or any other shit some broad could drag into our club dealings.”
Ridge nods. “Got it.”
“Anything else?” Lux asks, looking around the room at all of us. “No? All right, let’s go drink.”
When we exit chapel, I notice the girls huddled around the bar. “What’s goin’ on in here?”
“None of your business, Salvation,” Andi says, as they all move away from each other.
Max turns on her stool, pushing her glasses up onto her nose. I can’t help it, she’s fuckin’ cute and I lean into her kissing her nose. “Salvation?”
Oh shit, she’s breakin’ out the sweetness and I have no choice but to indulge when she talks to me like this. “Yes, baby?”
“I want an Otter,” she states running her tiny hands up my chest and tangling her fingers in my t-shirt.
Andi snickers and Sharayah smiles. “You what?”
“I want an otter.”
“Is this what you three were talkin’ ‘bout?”
“Maybe. Can I have one?”
Lux sits down next to me, laughin’ to himself. Thanks, brother, you’re no help.
“Please?” Max is relentless and she’s right, she does everything to the Max.
“What for?” I ask
She places her tiny hand on my face, scratching the patch of facial hair between my bottom lip and my chin. My panther purrs at her touch. “Because they’re cute and cuddly, but you have to promise you won’t eat him…or her.”
Lux laughs harder. “Shit. You’re around animals, doll face.”
“Lux, promise me,” Max orders, shooting him an I’ll-kill-you-if-you-eat-my-otter look at him.
“Babe, I may be an animal, but I’m nice. Scouts, honor, I won’t eat your Otter,” Lux promises, giving the two-finger boy-scout salute.
Still not helping here. I wrap this tiny woman in my arms and kiss her. Her cheeks flame bright red and she lets out a soft sigh. How can I say no? “I’m cute and cuddly, too, baby and I don’t stink. Otters smell, baby.”
She stands on her tip toes, planting a kiss on my lips. “You are cute, and cuddly and warm, but you’re also strong and masculine with hard lines I’d love to trace with my fingers and my tongue, but you aren’t my pet, you’re my protector, and my light on my darkest days, you’re my salvation.”
I slide my hands up her bare arms, cupping her face. “How am I supposed to say no to that?”
She smiles. “You can’t.”
In the end, Max got her otter, and the set up was a bitch to do, but hey, if it keeps a smile on her cute face, then that’s all that matters. She really does everything to the max and every day she surprises me with something new; whether it’s a book or a pair of glasses or even the pair of black motorcycle boots that we argued over me buying her.
Her game is strong, lethal, but also innocent. So innocent, she has no clue she’s playing me. I let her because I love her. Yep, this panther found his mate. He fell hard and fast for a human. She doesn’t read minds, or have superhuman strength, but what she does have, no one else can match. Her capacity to love is not something I ever thought I’d find, and it doesn’t matter how many people I come into contact with who want to take me out in a boxing match, no opponent will ever be as lethal as my girl.
The End
Acknowledgments
First, to the authors of the Dark Leopards Motorcycle Club – thank you for letting me be a part of this Anthology. Thank you all for being patient as I asked so many damn questions. It’s what I do.
Second, to those people who took the time to read Lethal Opponent and give me your honest feedback, I really do appreciate it.
Third, to the readers who may read this Anthology, I hope you fall in love with every single character. These authors put so much heart into their stories and they want to share them with you. I hope you find your next several book boyfriends and girl crushes.
V. Kelly, thank you for taking the time to edit this work. I’m sure it was pain in the ass. My punctuation and
