“Ah, you’re a good girl.” He gives her a doting tap on the cheek before taking the paper from her grasp. “Go and get that fuckin’ boy of yours, would ya? Sooner ’im and Tommy get started on this, sooner you can have him home tonight, yeah?”

Again, with the sickly sweet smile. My pulse thrums in my neck. I turn to walk away, over this fucking charade and certain I’ve fucked the whole plan up, when Eddie calls me back.

“Where you runnin’ off to so soon?”

I sweep my hand around, indicating the rapidly emptying field. “Looked like it was time to head off.”

“It ain’t. Come ’ere.” He beckons me with two fingers, nodding to an empty seat.

I oblige, as much as it pains me to.

“What exactly is it a man like you does for a bit of crust?”

“I’ve been told I’m good with my hands,” I say, watching Ryan approach Gunter’s car.

“Brawler?”

“Guess that’s what you call it where you come from.”

Eddie nods, eyeing Gunter and Tommy as they head our way. “I’ve got quite the list of people who ain’t wantin’ to play by my generous—if I may say so myself—rules. What would you say to accompanying these two and givin’ them a hand?”

I catch Gunter eyeballing my proximity to Eddie, and smile. “I’d say you’re the boss.”

“You’re a smart man, Bronson. A clever man indeed.”

***

Almost two hours later and Eddie’s mob have finally packed up the fucking Taj Mahal. I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off her, which in itself has been a hard task given I’m being watched by her fucking boyfriend.

Ryan spends the majority of the time on her phone, looking insanely bored, yet refusing to acknowledge anybody around her. The late afternoon breeze picks up for a time, blowing strands of her black hair about her face. Watching her bat them away, growing increasingly frustrated as they tangle about her nose and mouth amuses me no end.

“Give us a hand to tie this down, would you?” Tommy thrusts a rope at me and walks towards the trailer with the sofas.

“It’s a bit excessive, isn’t it?”

“You rather we lost one on the way home?” He holds his hand out to catch the rope.

I tie one end on and toss the rest over top of the furniture to him. “I meant having all this brought out here.”

“Not my place to question it. He feels the need to be comfortable; that’s his deal. We just do as we’re told.” He loops the rope around and tosses it back.

I glance across to where Eddie’s talking with Taylor. Easy leans on the front fender of a truck, eyeing the two of them while he rubs powder from a small bag over his gums. “How did you get mixed up with him?”

Tommy follows my gaze, checking the opposite direction before he speaks. “Gunter. He wanted to work with Eddie, so I went with him. Just what you do with family, you know?”

“You’re family?”

Tommy catches the rope, looping and returning it again. “Yeah, Gunter’s my brother.”

I pull my bottom lip in, nodding. “I guess you do look similar when I think about it. Didn’t make the connection since you skinheads all look alike anyway with the same bald heads.” I catch him eyeing me over the load. “No offence.”

“None taken. The two of us have always stuck together, so I never gave doing the same as what he was a second thought. Always figured since I was real little if it was good enough for him, it was more than okay for me.” He rubs a hand over his stubbly hair. “When my dad went to the box, my mom walked out. Said she’d had enough of trying to set us all straight—that if she couldn’t do anything by now, she didn’t have a hope in hell.” He rounds the back end of the trailer to stand beside me while I tie the rope off. “Kind of have to agree with her, you know? She has a point.”

I glance over at Gunter, walking across to where Ryan sits on the grass. “It sure looks like she was right.”

Tommy follows my line of sight, nodding. “He’s a good guy under it all. Has a real big heart for the right people.”

“I’ll take your word on it.”

Tommy smiles and walks away, crossing over to where the last young wannabe is milling about. I lean a hip into the side of the trailer, crossing my arms and watching Gunter interact with Ryan. She’s stand-offish, turning her body side on to his, not fully settling in when he tries to hold her.

The fuckwit’s oblivious.

A piercing whistle rents the air, doing a fucking fine job of turning all our heads toward where Eddie stands. “Break time’s over, children. Some of ya have work to do.”

I drag a deep breath in and nod to Tommy when he thumbs towards Gunter’s car. Sparing a last look at Ryan, I immediately wish I hadn’t. Her blue eyes are focused on me as Gunter gathers up her bag and holds it out to her. She whips her gaze back to him, taking the mini-suitcase from his grasp and turns to leave, but that split second was enough for me to know—she’s as conflicted as I am. I could damn near feel it from where I stood.

“You follow me. I’m going to drop the Fairlane home and swap over to Gunter’s other car so we’ll all fit,” Tommy explains when I catch up to him.

“How’s Gunter getting there?”

“Ryan will take him.”

Tommy walks ahead while I hesitate, dropping back a few paces so I can steal another look at where she’s fading into the creeping dark, shadowed by the skinhead’s huge frame as he pulls her to his side.

She thinks she can get away, leave him behind. She said it herself, that he was a convenience. What I don’t think she quite realizes is how intensely he clearly thinks the opposite.

That girl doesn’t have a hope in hell of escape.

PUNISHMENT

Ryan

“I’m not happy we have to babysit that fucker, but it does mean one good thing,” Gunter comments as we walk toward my car.

“What would that be, baby?”

“I can get home sooner to fuck around with you if he’s helping us get house visits done.” He stops and bends his knees, scooping me into his chest and picking me up in one fluid motion.

I’m forced to wrap my legs around his waist if I don’t want to slide ungracefully to the grass, which means I’m also forced to feel the shifting shape of his jeans digging into my backside, thanks to his growing erection.

“You think they’d care if we took a bit longer?” he asks. “Nobody’s parked out here but you.”

“You’ve got work to do,” I tell Gunter as he walks.

“Don’t care. I’ve got a woman in my arms who needs some attention, too.”

I crinkle my nose. “I’ve been sweating in these clothes all afternoon, baby. Take me home, and I can have a shower while you’re out.”

His eyes hood, his hands squeezing my butt before he pops me down beside my car. “What if I wanted to shower with you?”

“We can do it again after,” I say, placing a hand on his chest and tipping my chin up to face him.

“Sounds good.”

Yeah, it does, considering there’s no way I’d go see Bronson while smelling like you.

His tongue traces the seam of his lips. “I want you to do me a favor.”

“What would that be?” I drop my hand away to rifle through my bag for the car keys.

He dangles them before me. “Put on that outfit I bought you for Christmas after your first shower.”

My lips are curled into a smile, but my dignity is curled into a ball in the corner of my mind, rocking back and forth while my guilt tries to tell it things will be okay. I hate that outfit. “I’ll see what I can do.” I’ve managed to avoid that fucking gift for the better part of a year.

“Yes or no, Ryan?” He jingles the key ring. “Or I might just fuck you now anyway . . . and again when I get home.”

“Yes,” I blurt out before he acts on that damn rigid member in his pants. “I’ll wear the outfit for you.”

“You don’t sound like you want to.”