Broni woke in the morningwith Rhys’s heavy weight lying on top of her. For a split second, she lay underneath him, enjoying the warmth of his body on hers. Regretfully, she carefully slid out from underneath him. Dee would be coming to wake her soon, and Broni didn’t want to wake Rhys since there was something she needed to do before the men woke. Broni feared the troubled dreams that had kept her awake most of the night had been a warning that danger was drawing nearer.
She dressed quietly, and when the knock came at the door, she turned to leave with a last glance at Rhys to make sure he was still sleeping. Quietly, she went to his side of the bed. Reaching down, she brushed away the tracks his tears had made, her heart melting. She hadn’t been the only one who hadn’t slept well.
Chapter 6
Rhys rolled over, his hand searching for the warmth of the woman lying next to him. He stiffened when his hand found only the cool material of the sheet. He jerked his hand back as if it had been burned, angry at himself for becoming used to the feel of her next to him after only a few nights.
He got to his feet, grabbing his head as pain burst in his skull. His rolling stomach didn’t help, either. Rhys barely made it to the bathroom in time, vomiting in the toilet. Flushing the contents, he turned to face himself in the bathroom mirror. Pushing back the disgust at himself, he washed his face in the sink. Drying his face, he reached out for his toothbrush that was sitting next to a bright pink one. The sight sickened him. Throwing it in the trashcan, he then brushed his teeth, placing it back on the sink.
He dressed, dreading the coming evening. When his head finally felt clearer, he went into the clubroom where Layla waved at him, bringing him a cup of coffee and toast. He forced himself to eat the toast, his stomach gradually settling.
He almost asked for a bottle, but for the first time in months, he didn’t start the day with a drink of bourbon. Drinking the scalding hot coffee instead, he let his eyes roam the clubroom, telling himself he wasn’t searching for Broni.
He saw her giving Mason a beer,and as she turned to leave, the biker ran his hand over her ass. Broni glared back at the man’s action before going back behind the bar.
The woman would do better if she came to accept her position as another club whore. If not, he saw a painful future ahead of her. They always broke sooner or later, regardless of how strong they started out. Broni was stronger than the others, yet she would become broken just like the ones that had come to accept their place in the club.
He watchedNikki move chairs to the tables. Her black eye and obvious bruises around her throat had him furious. He had enjoyed her many times, and she was always willing to please, so there was no excuse for Tank’s treatment of the woman. Rhys’s eyes met Adam’s, seeing the same expression on his face that he was sure was on his own.
Tank was going to have to be dealt with. Adam had tried to keep the man under control because it would be a brutal fight between the two. Plus, if Tank’s friends joined into the fight, Adam could not only lose control of the club but his life.
Adam met his eyes andRhys knew what Adam was silently asking. Rhys nodded his head that he would stand by him and fight if necessary. Hell, what did he have to lose? His life? He had been throwing that away for years, it wasn’t worth one of the bruises on Nikki’s face.
The afternoon dragged by as theDark Highwaymen slowly came in throughout the day, waiting for the auction that would take place at nightfall.
It didn’t take long forLayla to turn on the music before climbing onto the bar, high from the coke she had just snorted, her bare feet swiping through the remains on the counter. She lifted her foot, letting Tank suck her toes into his mouth, and laughter burst out in the overfilled clubhouse. When Tank released her foot, she turned, shaking her ass to the beat of the music. Several men reached out to pat her ass as she danced.
Broni was behind the bar, andRhys’s hand clenched on his cup as Tank jumped over the bar, grabbing Broni and tossing her over his shoulder. Her hands slapped against his back as he carried her across the room to the stage, setting her on the edge of it. Rhys saw the large biker say something to her before reaching out to rip off her top.
She jumped to her feet, moving away from Tank, and began to dance to the music. Her perky breasts jutted out and his cock hardened in his jeans. Rhys had to adjust himself as he watched her innocent, sensual movements. If they didn’t start the auction soon, he would have to take one of the women back to his room to relieve the lust that had his cock strangled in his jeans. There wasn’t another clean sheet in the clubhouse, and he was in no mood to watch Broni turn her nose up at the evidence he had fucked someone in the bed they shared.
As it began to get dark, the men started filling up the tables throughout the room. Jace went to the back room, coming back with a notebook, which was filled with the total points each brother had accumulated for doing jobs for the club. Some jobs earned more points than others. A dangerous drug run, dealing with the cartels, could earn as much as a hundred points. Killing an enemy of the club could earn as many as five hundred. Jail time for the club was the one that earned the most, though.
The points were used in lieu ofmoney during the auctions to buy the rewards they wanted. It was a fair system. Adam had worked it out, giving the brothers that deserved it a reward for doing a good job while the lazy shits got what they deserved—nothing.
The auctions took place once a month. On the stage were several expensive computers, which would be bought for low points then sold for cash. There were also several guns that the brothers were salivating over to add to their collection, jewelry, a bike from a brother that had been gunned down during their last deal, and Broni standing half-naked, yet to be fucked by anyone in the club.
The biker that purchased her could do what he wanted with her. Usually, they used them until they tired of them and then sold them to the other brothers until they became bored. Once the newness wore off, they inevitably became another club whore to be passed around for anyone’s use, regardless of their feelings.
Rhys secretly admired her misguided confidence in herself. If Tank succeeded in buying her, however, she would be broken. The stubborn, beautiful woman he was staring at would be gone.
The bidding began with the computers. Skip managed to snag those withthe few points he had earned. The jewelry and other small items went next to different brothers, buying whichever item caught their eye. The points started going higher when the guns went up for bid. Jace and Rucker each managed to score one. Then the motorcycle went up next.
Rhys noticed that Tank hadn’t bid on any of the items, hoarding his points determined to buy Broni. His face in the front row would have been hard to look down on, but Rhys saw that she never lowered her gaze; instead staring at the back wall and ignoring the auction going on around her.
AfterAdam bought the motorcycle, Broni came up for bid.
Tank bid one hundred points. Jace and then Mason bid. The bids went high quick, up to a thousand points from different brothers spread around the clubroom. Tank bid two thousand, stating that he and Buck had pooled their points. No one would have the points to beat him because the men had the auctions monthly, and no one really made the effort to accumulate a great number of points.
WhenMason and Adam both bid, combining their points, Rhys was certain Adam was trying to keep Tank from owning Broni. It went back and forth, the bidding becoming higher than Rhys had ever known it to get. Tank had the last bid at fifteen thousand. From the expression on Adam and Mason’s faces, they were at their limit.
“Going once, going twice…” Dee’s voice hesitated.
“Thirty thousand.”
Everyone in the club turned to look at him in shock. He had never bid during the auctions since he had begun riding with the Dark Highwaymen.
“Going, going, gone,” Dee yelled out, her voice filled with relief.