Copper (RBMC: Tulsa, OK Book 2) Read online

  “I’m waiting for you to get to the part that has to do with me and my brother.” I sip my coffee, pinning her with a glare. “Is there a point to this walk down memory lane?”

  She flips me the bird and gives me her signature bitchy look before continuing. “I’m getting to it, asshole. Be patient.” She leans forward to set her coffee down on the table, giving me a delicious view of her cleavage. The girl has a nice rack, that’s for damn sure. “So I continued to dig on this Vidal guy. He was a clean slate, but I noticed he came to Tulsa a lot for business. I’d discovered he was always meeting with a guy named Cypress Collins.”

  One of my dogs barks, scratching at the door, and Stormy’s spine goes rigid, terror gleaming in her eyes.

  “I can’t leave them out in the cold,” I explain, hating what a pussy that makes me sound like. I should want to punish her and make her cry for what she did tonight, but I just can’t use the dogs against her like that.

  “Please,” she whispers, her face paling.

  “I’m letting them in. They’ll sit on the floor and won’t go near you. I promise.”

  Rather than waiting on an answer, I rise to my feet to go let my bad dogs in. They’re trained to know to wait so I can clean their feet off so they don’t track mud through the house. Once I clean them up, I command them with short whistles and snaps. The siblings trot into the living room, curious about Stormy, and settle on the hardwood floor near the fireplace, their eyes on her. She wraps up tighter in the blanket, her entire body trembling. I sit back down, this time beside her.

  “Continue,” I instruct. “They’re not going to bother you.”

  She lets out a ragged sigh that has Gretel whining in concern and Hansel cocking his head. They want her to pet them now that they realize she’s not a threat, but won’t dare come forward unless I allow them to.

  “So, um, I took a weekend to come to Tulsa to look into Vidal and this Collins character. Vidal was recruiting models at a big event downtown, but he was meeting regularly with Collins. At first, I thought Collins was some super-hot guy Vidal wanted to recruit, but after some time, I realized Collins was just a suit in a tower. A partner of sorts. Whatever his business was, he kept it vague and quiet. To an outsider, maybe it seemed like investments or an accounts manager. But, something niggled at me. I had to dig deeper.”

  I’m tired as fuck and have had a long day. This is the story that keeps on telling. I want her to get to the part that involves me. “Another wormhole.”

  “Exactly,” she says, flashing me a brief smile. “You, of all people, know how it is. Once you get on the hunt, you have to keep pulling on all the threads until it’s unraveled at your feet.”

  “So you came here looking for some douchebag who put pretty ideas in your not-so-pretty friend’s head, found a mysterious motherfucker in the process, and then somehow decided to fuck me and my brother over?”

  She rolls her eyes, the action making her seem younger now that she doesn’t have her usual Stormy makeup plastered on her. If she’s a Fed, she can’t be too young, but she still has to be at least twenty years younger than my old ass who’s pushing fifty.

  “I decided to meet with Collins. I found his office and went right up to it. Pretended to get lost looking for another place I was to interview for.” She frowns as she rubs the top of her mug with her thumb. “He was just a normal looking businessman, but he was interested in me. I could tell he liked what he saw. Collins asked me if I wanted to meet with his friend Vidal. A modeling scout.”

  Stormy modeling is something I could imagine. She has legs for days, perfect tits, and hips that were made for digging your fingers into. Where Koyn’s woman, Hadley, has the innocent look of a pageant girl, Stormy looks like one of those sexy yet still angelic Victoria’s Secret runway models.

  “Okay,” I urge. “What happened then?”

  “He stepped away to make the call. I snooped while he was gone. Sitting in a file on his desk was a folder labeled Koynakov.”

  I tense up, frowning. Who the fuck are these assholes and why were they looking into us?

  “It mentioned an MC gang called the Royal Bastards,” she explains. “It mentioned you being a Fed and your affiliation with the gang.”

  Fury surges through me. Hansel and Gretel, sensing my sudden change in mood, whine as though they’re worried and don’t know why.

  “I’ve been so careful,” I growl. “Koyn and I both have. There’s no way we should have been on anyone’s radar. This makes no fucking sense.”

  She shrugs. “It was there in black and white. Knowing a Fed was working with an MC gang, I had to dig deeper. I wanted to take a picture, but Collins returned with Vidal.” Her lip curls up. “Vidal told me I was incomparable, and he could make me a star. Tried to get me to have dinner with him to discuss it more. I played it off like the real place I had an interview at had called to check on where I’d gone to. They weren’t happy that I bolted, but I was no longer interested in Vidal or Collins. I was onto something bigger.”

  I scrub my face with my palm, overcome with nerves. A conversation needs to happen with my brother and me, but first I’m going to have to do some digging on my own. When I start to stand, Stormy grabs my hand.

  “Where are you going?” Her voice is shrill and panicked, making my dogs whine in response. “Don’t leave me with them.”

  Stormy has done nothing but create a shitstorm in my life and the bitch has me feeling sorry for her ass.

  “You’re going to have to learn to get along with them,” I rumble. “They’re good dogs. Protective. Why are you so terrified?”

  Her grip tightens around my hand. “I…” She huffs. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t like dogs.”

  “Stop bullshitting me,” I bite out. “Did you get bit when you were a kid?”

  “Bit?” She scoffs, a tremble wracking her body. “You make this fear seem trivial and unwarranted.”

  “What then? You’re clearly traumatized as fuck. Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We’re talking about you, not me.”

  “You have three seconds to tell me or I’m leaving your ass here with them.”

  “I watched three pit bulls maul my mother to death when I was ten years old and there was nothing I could do about it because the twins were toddlers. I had to get them out of there before the dogs got to us too.” She angrily swipes at her tears. “You fucking happy now, Copper?”

  I sit back down beside her. “You really do see us as monsters. It’s like you weren’t even there all those months hanging out with us and having fun. Like you forgot the good times.”

  She stiffens, unable to meet my stare.

  “No, I’m not happy your poor mother was killed by dogs. That’s fucking horrible.” Since she’s still holding my hand, I squeeze it. “Were the dogs put down?”

  “No,” she snarls, “because they belonged to him. Her meth dealing boyfriend. The cops couldn’t keep the drugs out of our town, so they sure as hell weren’t worried about a few dogs. If the Feds had done their job when I was a little girl and taken down the web of dealers in Montgomery back then, I wouldn’t have had to see my mother die in a bloody, tragic way. Too many people dropped the ball that ultimately led to her death.”

  I whistle for my dogs and they jump to their feet. Stormy curls against me, a terrified moan rasping from her.

  “Listen,” I say gently. “These dogs aren’t like the ones that meth fucker owned. They’re only vicious when provoked and extremely protective. Hansel and Gretel are intuitive. They can sense you’re afraid and are worried about you.”

  “They can probably sense how you want to rape and kill me too,” she hisses. “Please make them go away.”

  I motion for the dogs to approach. They’re curious about Stormy but a little apprehensive too. Hansel reaches her first, nosing at her blanket covered foot. Gretel whimpers from behind him.

  “This is Stormy,” I tell my dogs. “You have to protect her.”

  Stormy tens
es against me. “Like they’ll listen.”

  I grip her hand tight, pulling it forward. She’s frozen in fear as Hansel sniffs her fist. Then, he licks it. Gretel mimics his action, familiarizing herself with Stormy’s scent.

  “Speak to them,” I tell Stormy.

  “No.”

  “If you speak to them, I’ll let you come into my office with me.”

  She tilts her head up to look at me. “Will you carry me?”

  I’d thought this girl would try and get to me using her pussy that I know she wields like a weapon. Turns out, she’s going to use her vulnerability instead—something I didn’t even know she had. And, because I’m not the sick fucker she thinks I am, I’m going to let her use me.

  Fuck.

  “Yeah, little storm, I’ll carry your bratty ass.”

  Stormy

  Fear consumes me, but the dogs don’t do anything but stare at me, as though they’re waiting for me to say hello. Both of them whine, but they’re well-behaved and obey Copper’s command.

  “Don’t bite me,” I say to the dog closest to me.

  Copper laughs and I don’t hate the sound. I never have. What sucks about being undercover all those months is I actually grew to like those bastards. Some more than others. Knowing Bermuda probably hates me is gutting. He reminds me a lot of my little brother, so it fucking sucks losing him.

  “Talk to them. Blue collar is Hansel and pink collar is Gretel.” He reaches out to scratch behind Hansel’s ears that point straight up in the air. “Go on, little storm.”

  I sneak a look at Copper as he smiles fondly at his dogs. Same smile he gets when he watches Nees, his son and prospect, at the Q—our monthly family barbeques.

  Family.

  I’d grown to think of them that way, hence why I blew my cover with Hadley. She was like a little sister—like my own little sister—and I couldn’t let them destroy her. It was all for naught, though. I should have known Koyn wasn’t going to hurt her. As soon as I stared him in the eye when he used her as a shield, I’d seen it.

  Love. Loyalty. Fierce protectiveness.

  And if it weren’t for that love toward her, my ass would be dead.

  “Hi, Hansel,” I murmur. “Hi, Gretel.”

  Hansel barks, causing me to squawk, burying my face into Copper’s arm. He smells like cologne and leather. The smell is calming.

  “He said hi back,” Copper says. “Come on. We have work to do.”

  True to his word, he scoops me up like I weigh nothing. I try not to look too closely at my captor. Of all the guys who could have taken me, Copper seems the sanest. Koyn and Dragon scare the shit out of me. And Filter…

  Guilt clogs my throat. I used him. Slept with him and pretended to be stupidly in love with him. Filter is fucking hot and his body is built like a god, so it wasn’t a total hardship. Certainly beat having sex with any of my past lovers. At least Filter knew how to service a lady. Problem with Filter and I was he kept me at arm’s length. Never made me his ol’ lady. I think, deep down, he probably saw through my façade. If he got his hands on me now, I shudder to think what he would do for revenge.

  “Why are you being nice?” I ask as we enter a room that must be his office based on the impressive oak desk and iMac sitting on top. “If we’re honest, I expected the same treatment as those men tonight.”

  He sits me down in the chair across from his desk. “We’re assholes, but we don’t torture women.”

  I’m not sure if I believe that. I think Koyn or Dragon wouldn’t think twice about hurting a woman if it served their purpose.

  “You might not,” I grumble as he sits down in his leather desk chair, “but the others will if they get their hands on me.”

  He shoots me a sharp glare. “I took responsibility for you, which means you’re my problem to deal with. They can answer to me if they’ve got something to say about it.”

  A flare of appreciation for Copper ripples through me. As he powers up his computer, I take a moment to admire his profile. Strong, sharp jaw line. Dark scruff from not having shaved recently. Tattoos peeking out from beneath the arm of his white V-neck T-shirt on his massive bicep. His nearly black hair is styled in a messy way that suits him—longer on top and short on the sides. Even though he’s in his late forties, he doesn’t have the hard lines in his face like his younger brother, Koyn, does. Where Koyn lost his wife and child to a brutal rape and murder he witnessed, Copper still has his son Nees—also known as Blake—and even his ex-wife Krista. Koyn’s lived a life of revenge and Copper has remained as a federal agent with the FBI. They may be brothers who are both affiliated with the same MC gang, but they’ve lived very different lives in the past decade.

  “Whatever happened to Erin?” Copper asks, turning slightly to bore his dark brown eyes into me.

  I shudder at his words, fighting tears. “She went missing. I know that bastard took her, but there’s no proof. Besides, by the time I realized she was missing, I was already…with you guys.”

  The reminder of my betrayal has his concerned expression melting into an irritated one. It bothers me, though it shouldn’t. Copper and his brother are monsters. The entire Tulsa chapter of the Royal Bastards MC are. They steal, beat, kill and never blink an eye while doing it. I shouldn’t care what Copper thinks of me, yet I can’t help feel the sting of his disappointment.

  He taps away on his computer, not looking my way. “What happened when you left Collins’s office here in Tulsa after you got the lead on me and my brother?”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “Went back to Montgomery. I told Johnson to look into the Koynakovs. He’d been irritated at my vigilante mission. It took some convincing, but I finally got him to promise he’d look into it.”

  “Convincing?” Copper turns, his dark gaze sweeping down my face to my chest.

  Heat burns at my cheeks with shame.

  “I slept with him. So what?” I snap, irritated by the fact he’s judging me.

  “Did your golden pussy work on your boss man?”

  I let out a heavy, annoyed sigh. “I thought so. At least he led me to believe so. But then…” Disgust churns in my gut. “He put me on administrative leave.”

  “Was he even a good lay?” Copper asks.

  I close my eyes, remembering the way his man tits jiggled and how he dripped with sweat. It was disgusting. He came quickly much to my relief. Fucking Johnson was gross and humiliating, but I needed his help. When he put me on administrative leave, I wanted to kill him. Hell, I still do.

  “No,” I bite out. “Not at all.”

  Copper smirks at me, clearly amused by my story. “So you came back here and joined our group?”

  “Not exactly. I did come back, but I went straight to the police here in Tulsa. I wanted them to open an investigation on you and your brother.” I cross my arms over my chest and lean back. “That’s how I met Brad and Denise.”

  Brad was just another guy I slept with trying to further my agenda. I would have thought after Johnson, I would’ve learned my lesson. Apparently not. At least Brad was my age and not half bad in bed.

  Now he’s dead because of me.

  He and Denise both are.

  “How’d you get in with dirty cops?” Copper asks, leaning back in his chair and swiveling around to face me.

  I could lie and say they weren’t dirty, but I won’t. When I’d gone down to the station to try and open the investigation, Brad was the detective on duty. His partner, Denise, joined us. They were curious about my vigilante investigation. Both Brad and Denise had a successful side hustle selling confiscated drugs on the streets. Their interest in the Koynakovs was because they were hoping to score more product. I certainly played that to my advantage, promising that the Royal Bastards MC would be an opportunity to not just confiscate drugs, but also weapons, too. While we plotted and planned, I fucked Brad, hoping to keep him interested and eager to help.

  “They wanted your drugs,” I mumble, not meeting his eyes.

  “You know
we don’t deal drugs.” His chair squeaks. “But you lied, didn’t you, Stormy? It seems like you lie a lot to get what you want.”

  “Fuck you and the judgmental horse you rode in on,” I snarl out. “Do you want the story or not?”

  His eyes narrow and his jaw clenches. I can tell I’ve pissed him off, but I don’t care. I’m not about to let him make me feel like a shit human because I was trying to save Erin while also taking down the Koynakov brothers.

  “So you decided to infiltrate our group,” he says, lifting a brow. “And somehow ended up riding another dick in the process.”

  Tears prickle at my eyes, but I refuse to let this man see me cry. I did what I had to do. Looking back, I regret it. I’ve slept with exactly four men in my life. A random guy at Langley so I could get rid of my stupid V-card, Johnson, Brad, and Filter. It’s a bit sickening when I realize not one of those was because I actually wanted to. Each one was an agenda.

  “I got into the group through Filter after meeting him at a bar,” I mumble. “I wanted Koyn, but he’s a tough nut to crack.”

  Copper’s features harden. “If you had fucked my brother, I would’ve probably put a bullet in your head too.”

  A chill ripples through me, but I ignore it. “I’m not into getting raped, so your brother was spared having to sleep with the whore.”

  Copper rolls his eyes at my flippancy. “So you got in. Then what?”

  “Then I snooped. Everyone was tightlipped around me, but I learned a lot. I saw what you guys did. The torture and murder. The fact you were robbing people blind to pay for Koyn’s fancy-ass compound.”

  “You got your proof we’re monsters,” Copper grunts out, irritation in his tone. “Fucked your way almost to the top. You found out Erin was missing but were no longer in a position to look for her since you’d fixated on us.”