you’ll be fine. OK?”
“Hmmmm.” She was drifting away again and he took her chin in his fingers.
“Hey. Come on… stay awake, baby.”
She was out now, though, out completely and Curtis held her closer. He knew she wasn’t his girlfriend, that this astounding body wasn’t his to touch like this, but screw it. She needed the comfort and he needed to give it to her. The ambulance would be taking her away any minute now and then the sweetness of these few moments would just be a memory. Yeah, he was a selfish prick for wanting that sweetness – but he was going to take it anyway. He needed to take it.
**
“So she’s definitely at Curves, huh?” Trigger said.
“Yep, for sure.” Don grinned and did another shot. “Room Two.”
“Good.” Trigger stared around the clubhouse conference room, thinking hard. “Getting in to her ain’t a big problem, but getting that bitch out of Curves will be. Any bright ideas?”
“The crash rooms have windows, but they’re secured from the inside,” Lizard offered. “If someone can get through the door and open them from inside, it’d be easy enough to shove her through the window. She’s small enough to fit, no problem and so is Don. Me, not so much.”
“Yeah?” Trigger looked pleased. “You checked?”
“Uh-huh. I went to the other rooms and checked ‘em out. The windows are all the same, so I’m guessing the one in her room is too. And the best part? Her window faces away from the parking lot and main road – it faces the area behind the kitchen where the dumpster is. No foot traffic, no cars.”
“Fucking perfect,” Ace breathed.
“Right?” Lizard smirked. “Easy as hell.”
“OK, so.” Trigger was all business now and they gave him their undivided attention. “I need you two to go get her for me.”
Don and Lizard nodded. Kidnapping wasn’t really their bag, but if it gave them an in with Trigger MacGee, the Fallen Angels and Kirk Jensen, they’d do it, no fucking hesitation. They’d even get rid of Gabriela Torres if that’s what Trigger wanted – they knew they’d have rock-solid alibis for the time of her ‘disappearance’.
“I figure we need three people to pull this off,” Trigger said. “One to break in to the room and wait for the bitch and knock her out, one to be outside the window with a car and one to be outside in the hallway on look-out. Clean, simple, fast.”
“So who’s the third man?” Ace said.
“I was thinking Joker’s cousin.”
“That fucking prospect?” Ace said. “What’s his name?”
“Who the hell knows?” Trigger said. “But he’s perfect. Nobody at Curves knows him, he ain’t in the club yet and he’ll do whatever we tell him.”
“Yeah, good,” Ace said. “When do we do this?”
“Tomorrow,” Trigger said. “Sundays aren’t so nuts at Curves, so fewer potential witnesses, but still busy enough for Prospect and you two to pass through unobserved.”
“OK,” Don said. “What do we do with her when we’ve got her?”
“You bring her here. To me.” Trigger’s blue eyes were as dead as his human compassion and decency. “I’ll take it from there.”
**
Gabi sighed, exhausted. After the bar fight, the rest of the night had gone well – despite the fact that Tessa and Aidan were taken to the hospital. She was worried about both of them, but Mac was there and he’d called Jax earlier to pass on the news.
Aidan had needed nine stitches and he was fine… fine enough to want to work the next night. Jax had protested but Aidan had insisted, so he’d be working with Gabi again. She was ridiculously pleased about that, she was a bit interested to note. Their moment of connection came to mind again and she felt a bit breathless, remembering what it had felt like to be held in his arms, held against his body. God, it had been so hot, so sweet.
Tessa was a different story, though: full-on concussion, some bad bruising and a good-sized bump on the back of her head. They
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