“What’s the catch?” she asked.
“You have to treat Crash,” I replied.
Her brows furrowed again. “Excuse me?”
“Crash is being held in a cellar downstairs. As you know already, he’s addicted to heroin. He is doing pretty bad down there. The withdrawal isn’t treating him well. We could get someone in to look at him; we have doctors on our payroll for that shit, but you can do it instead. You’re a nurse.”
She gulped.
“I’m not exactly an expert,” she murmured.
“But you can do it,” I stated. It wasn’t a question. She was going to agree with me.
“Yes, I can take a look at him. Help him in any way I can.”
I knew Drax would be pleased to hear about this arrangement. So would Mary-Beth. I could bet neither of them knew Mercy was a nurse in disguise.
She stared at me with her blue eyes, like she was trying to figure me out. Maybe she was wondering how my brain worked, what I was thinking about now. Just like me; maybe she couldn’t figure out if she could trust me either.
Without breaking eye contact, she spoke again, this time a little more firmly.
“That isn’t the only catch, is it? There’s something else. Something besides helping Crash recover. What is it?”
I wanted to smile. She wasn’t as naive as I thought she was.
“You have to stay at my apartment,” I replied and Mercy looked away.
6
Mercy
I knew there had to be another catch, something else he wasn’t telling me. And now the secret was out. He wanted me to live with him.
However, the weird thing about it was that I didn’t react to the news the way I probably would have under any other circumstance. I should have reacted with shock and disgust. What kind of girl did he think I was? Just because I was a stripper…he could treat me any way he liked? Etc., etc.
And yet, when he told me, I felt a wave of electric excitement run down my spine.
I felt it like never before, the sexual tension in the room. When he rammed into me, I nearly begged him to kiss me. I was pretty sure I felt a boner in his pants. And then, like an idiot, I hugged him and jumped all over him when he told me I could go visit my grandmother.
A part of me wanted to live with him in his apartment. Just to explore the fantasy of being with him, and what it could be like to be in a relationship with a man like him.
And then there was the other part of me that was insulted by his suggestion.
“Why would I do that? Why would I live at your apartment?” I asked, trying to maintain a neutral expression.
I expected him to give me a direct answer—that he wanted me in his bed. That in exchange for the freedom to go visit my grandmother, he wanted me to pay him his dues. In fact, I waited with bated breath to hear those words. I secretly wanted to be in his bed.
He did give me a simple answer, but it wasn’t the one I was looking for.
“This clubhouse is being watched by Eagle and his men. If you keep leaving and coming back here, one of these days, they’re going to follow you and grab you.”
Okay, so that was the explanation for it.
I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. This wasn’t about the hot, steamy sex we could potentially have together? I had a flashing image of his muscular, taut body hanging over mine, pounding against me as our bodies moved together. I had to shake that image out of my head so I could focus on the next problem in hand.
“What am I supposed to do for money?” I asked. “Do you want me to start stripping here? Will you give me work? I still need to pay for my grandmother’s medical bills.”
Ghost clenched his jaws. He hadn’t thought about this, had he? I crossed my arms over my chest and saw the way he glanced at my breasts again. I thrust them out in his direction, half on purpose. I liked it when he looked at me like that.
“I’ll pay for it,” he replied and I thought I didn’t hear him correctly.
“Excuse me?”
“I said I’ll pay your grandmother’s medical bills.”
I shook my head.
“I can’t accept your money for nothing in return.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be put to good use as far as treating Crash is concerned,” he said and a half-smirk formed on his face. It had a gut-wrenching effect on me. His smile was handsome. Despite the harshness of his features, the intensity of his smoldering brown eyes, the muscles and tattoos and leather jacket, his smile transformed him into a kindly young boy.
“Agreed?” he asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
So I was going to live in his apartment, treat Crash the best I could, and get to help my grandma in return. All medical expenses paid.
This was a deal I couldn’t say no to.
It wasn’t exactly the career I had in mind for myself, but then neither was stripping. Besides, I would finally get to do something I knew I was good at—nursing!
“Okay, yes, agreed,” I said.
What was the appropriate thing to do now? Hug? Shake hands? Sign a contract?
Ghost was waiting for me to continue. Maybe he could sense I had something else on my mind.
“How do I know I can trust you? I mean that you will stick to your end of the deal. The only other MC I’ve worked with before was the Silver Knights and they weren’t exactly a reliable bunch,” I said.
Ghost held my gaze. I got the sense that he wasn’t the type of guy who cared what you thought of him, whether you trusted him or believed him or not. Didn’t he care about my opinion either?
Why would he, I had to remind myself? He’d only just met me. I meant nothing to him.
And
