HIS SWEETNESS (WOUNDED SOULS Book 1) Read online

  “I know a Shifty. Prick is dodgy as hell. Runs a strip club further through town. Down past the old railway and old industrial area. He pays off the cops to leave his business and girls alone. I sent Squid over there to check the place out. He opens all day—sick fucks like to watch girls dance all hours of the day.”

  I could hear the words, but they sure as fuck were not computing. Strip club. No fucking way was my woman at a strip club. And if she was, well, no fucking way she was dancing there.

  No…fucking…way.

  I was about to lose my shit when my phone rang. “Yeah?”

  “Sarge, she is here. She is on a fucking stage, dancing. I tried to get in, but they saw my cut and refused me entry. But before they kicked me out, I saw Charlie up on the stage dancing. I think she was crying, too, Sarge.” Squid’s voice came through loud and clear, but I couldn’t hear anything but the blood rushing through my ears.

  I guess Booth caught on because he snatched the phone from my cold fingers and barked into it. “Right, stay there, Squid. Maintain a presence so they know what’s about to come their way. Deck, pull your head out of your arse and let’s get the fuck out and get your woman.” Booth’s voice boomed through the room, but my mind locked on one thing and one thing only.

  Stripping.

  Charlie was taking her clothes off for men to gawk at for money. What the fuck! My head was about to explode with all the anger I was feeling at that moment. How did I get it all so wrong? How did I pick a woman to be around my child, around me, when she was nothing but a common stripper? No, no, no, no, no. The words all felt wrong going through my head. Charlie was pure and innocent. For fuck’s sake, I had given her the first orgasm she had ever had just last night. That was not someone who strips for money. Not my sweetness.

  Booth’s words were finally starting to penetrate. My woman. I had to get to her and stop her, then find out what made her do this stupid shit.

  Shaking my head to clear it, I sprang into action.

  “Mannix, you got this prick’s number?”

  “Can get it. What do you want me to do?”

  “Ring him, and find out why Charlie is there. I want to know what we are walking into.”

  No matter how much I wanted to charge in there and go postal on Shifty’s arse, I needed Darth with me. So I took the few extra minutes to get Shiloh organised with Stella.

  Stella was the one making Booth crazy with all the great smells from the kitchen and his laundry. I knew this, but I was having too much fun watching him as he tried to figure it out.

  But the last thing on my mind now was having fun with Booth’s headspace.

  13

  CHARLOTTE

  I hated myself. I had let my parents get to me. Again. I allowed my mother to bully and scare me into doing exactly what she wanted—control me.

  And here I was, standing on a stage, half-naked and dancing.

  But I was not on the right stage. I was not dancing Giselle.

  Nope, not me. No, Charlotte Victoria Jackson was on a dingy stage with a pole half dressed in baby-doll lingerie and a G-string.

  I’d meant it when I told Shifty I wasn’t going to be naked up here. Dancing was what I’d agreed to, but he had insisted I dress at least a bit sexy. Thinking of my scars, I came up with the perfect outfit. Flimsy and short, but it covered my belly where the worst scar was. Most of the others were fading and thin—except for the big one where the glass really tore into me.

  Gyrating my hips, I made a motion to fall to my knees then popped back up, pushing my arse out. I knew how to pole dance. My girlfriend and I had taken a few classes back when I was still dancing ballet. It was a great way to keep in shape and a fun way to get away from being on your toes all the time. I, of course, never knew back then how it would come in handy for me today.

  I tried hard to ignore the leering men throwing their money at me. I refused to get close to them so they could put it in my G-string, so after about fifteen minutes of them trying to get me to come closer, they just started chucking it at me.

  Closing my eyes against the harsh light, I conjured up visions of Deck and Shiloh. I had to get through this, and then I could go back to him and forget this nightmare had ever happened.

  Maybe I could wear some lingerie for Deck. Not this one. This one, I was going to burn as soon as I took it off. Feeling the music down to my bones, I tuned out the voices and danced. It didn’t matter what kind of dancing it was. My body moved as the hum of the music flowed through my veins, and despite the circumstances, I really loved to dance.

  14

  DECK

  I paused for a second as I let my eyes adjust to the dark room, strobe lighting and smoke filling the space.

  Booth and Darth had taken care of the moron security guard at the front door. Security—what a fucking joke. Mannix would have laughed his arse off had he seen them.

  The place was disgusting. Men of all kinds were sitting at tables drinking and smoking.

  Was that a guy jacking off? What the ever-loving fuck! Mannix never allowed men to touch the girls or themselves inappropriately during dances at the club’s strip club. What the hell was my sweetness doing in here?

  “Oh, fuck me,” Darth cursed. His eyes seemed to be bugging out of his head. Following his line of sight, I looked towards the stage, and my heart stopped beating.

  “Oh, fuck no.” I growled as I sprinted towards the stage, leaping over a table and the prick jerking off to my woman’s body clad only in a piece of flimsy see-through shit. Her breasts were barely covered, and I could see her nipples plain as day. The prick Shifty knew if he kept this place cold enough, the dancers were going to have erect nipples whether they wanted to or not.

  I reached the stage and vaulted up in one smooth motion.

  “Deck, no.” Charlie looked horrified as embarrassment filled her beautiful face. “Oh, God, Deck, you can’t see me like this,” she cried, trying desperately to cover her breasts.

  “You’re coming with me right now, Charlotte.” Again, I growled. I ignored the hurt look on her face at me using her full name instead of calling her Charlie or Sweetness. Charlotte was for everyone else to call her.

  “Deck, I can’t. I have to finish this. I signed an agreement,” she protested, not trying too hard to fight my hands from her body.

  I had to cover her from the filth around her. So I whipped off my shirt, pushing it down over her head, and helped her get her arms through the holes. I ignored her intake of breath as she took in my chest and arms. I was a big man. My muscles had always been large, and all of us took our fitness seriously. It had helped us during our military days, and it still did now. I noticed the other night Charlie had a thing for my arms. Arms I desperately wanted to hold her in right now, but I held myself in check. There was way too much talking that needed to happen first.

  “You’re finished here, Sweetness. Now, where is your shit?” My tone didn’t invite chatter.

  “At the back of the stage in the dressing room,” she answered quietly. She sounded dejected, broken.

  “Just hold on, Sweetness. Let me cool down from the vision of seeing you dancing on a pole on a stage, showing other men things I haven’t even seen yet.” I gritted my teeth as I spoke. I made a mental note for the next time I took Shiloh to the dentist to make an appointment for myself.

  “Darth!” I shouted for my brother.

  “Yo.”

  “Go take Charlie to get her stuff. I’ll help Booth deal with this Shifty prick.”

  “Deck, please, listen to me. I’m sorry—” she started to explain, but I cut her off.

  “Not ready to hear anything yet, Charlie. Please, just go with Darth. Put some clothes on, and we can get out of here, okay?” I implored her. I couldn’t talk in here with the music and the smell of dirty sex penetrating my brain. The beautiful scent of her skin was long gone from last night, replaced by booze, smoke, and bad choices.

  Then I turned my back on her and walked away. It hurt too much
to look at her like this. Her innocence lost in sin. Charlie didn’t belong here. Okay, so sin was a bit harsh. I was far from a choirboy myself, after all. But Charlie and this place didn’t go together. And before I had to make a hard decision, like ending things with her, I needed her to talk, and she was going to tell me everything. Everything.

  “She owes me until tomorrow at four,” the bald man shouted in the face of my pres.

  Smirking, I stood back. This was going to be fun. Booth was itching for a fight and had been for days now.

  Booth moved closer towards the little weasel. “Listen here, you little fucker. You have taken advantage of a lady who never wanted to be here in the first place.”

  Huh, what had Booth already found out? My gaze sought his, but I could see he was deliberately ignoring me.

  “I will send you one of Body and Soul’s girls. She can work the hours Charlotte promised. You get to keep the grand, but the girl keeps any tips. One of my men will stay here and watch her at all times. Agreed?”

  Shifty pondered for only a few seconds before he smiled wickedly.

  “I keep the grand? And she never comes back here again. Fucking reneging on a deal. She came to me, and you tell her to remember that,” he said with a snarl.

  I was done with this arsehole. Walking up to him, I reached for his scrawny neck.

  “Listen here, you fucking cunt. You don’t get to talk about her like that.” The need to push my fingers through his throat grew stronger with every second.

  “Let him go, Deck.”

  I instantly released my grip. The soldier in me could never disobey a direct order.

  Booth nodded my way, but I could see the disappointment in his expression. Directed at me? The fuck?

  “Pres?”

  “Let’s get out of here. Squid, you ring Mannix and have him bring Rainn. Then you and Seb stay here and watch her like a hawk. Got it?”

  “Absolutely, Pres,” Squid answered, then pulled out his phone and walked off to the side, leaving me alone with Booth.

  “Deck, you take my bike and head back to the compound. Darth and I will take Charlotte back in your truck.”

  “The fuck you will.” I growled at him. Charlie was going nowhere with anyone but me.

  “Stand the fuck down, Sergeant. I saw you up there, and I didn’t like what I saw.” Moving away, he dismissed me. I do not think so.

  Reaching out, I grabbed him by the arm to stop him. Bad move. Booth moved so fast that I hardly saw it coming. The punch hit me smack bang in the jaw. I was fucking seeing stars.

  “Take my bike. Charlie does not deserve your anger right now. Something ain’t right here, Deck, and you know it, but you’re too busy trying to make her feel bad that you don’t see it. So I’m taking her back and finding out the reason. And if she feels like telling you, then she can.” And just like that, he walked off to where Charlie was waiting with Darth. I could see the humiliation in her eyes, but what gutted me more than anything was I could see deep hurt. Hurt I’d made her feel because I was too stuck in my own head.

  Of course, she wouldn’t want to do this intentionally, right

  Booth was right about one thing. Something wasn’t right here. But he was very wrong about something else. I wasn’t angry at Charlie. I was angry with myself for not trusting the person she was with my daughter and me—but she was going to be doing a fuck load of explaining.

  Getting onto Booth’s Night Rod, I took off after my woman. I wanted her in my arms.

  15

  CHARLOTTE

  Booth drove us back to the compound in Deck’s truck. On my way back from the dressing room at Gypsies, I heard the dressing-down Deck received from his friend, but he didn’t deserve it.

  My decision had caused all of this. Deck should be annoyed at me. What kind of person did this? I was a teacher of little girls, for heaven’s sake, trusted to guide them in the right direction, yet here I was, scantily dressed, and not even a one-dollar bill for my troubles.

  Deck was mad at me. Probably wanted to end things before I could even see him completely naked. I’d had dreams recently of all the things I had read in books that I wanted Deck to do to me and me to him.

  How could he allow me to be around his daughter after seeing me up there on the stage? His look of disgust brought tears to my eyes.

  “Knock that shit off.” Booth growled at me. “Deck just needs the ride back to cool off. He reacted badly, but let him explain first before lopping off his balls. It was a tough few hours for the poor bastard.”

  Let Deck explain? Seriously? He thought I was mad at Deck? I hoped Deck would let me explain. And I would. I would tell him everything he wanted to know and more.

  “I hope I haven’t ruined things with him,” I admitted quietly, which earned a grunt from Darth. He seemed even more uncomfortable with me than normal—well, since my crying jag in his car yesterday. Now he had seen me at my absolute worst—and I was pretty sure he saw my nipples through my negligee.

  “You can tell me about it if you like, and I can talk to Deck before you do. Make it a little easier for you,” Booth offered, his hand resting lightly on my shoulder.

  Covered from shoulder to shins in Deck’s T-shirt, which left him with just his cut on, the silly absent thought entered my overloaded brain—I hope he isn’t too cold.

  I looked over at Booth and gave him a fake smile. “I think I should explain to Deck first.”

  “Okay, Teach.” He gave my shoulder another slight squeeze, then concentrated back on the road.

  These men. Such wonderfully caring and hot as hell alphas. I just hoped I still had mine once I explained about my family.

  16

  DECK

  Fuck, it was cold. I was sure Booth made me ride his bike just so I could freeze my arse off and cool my temper down. What a prick! Plus, I owed my CO for that fucking punch. My jaw felt like I’d been hit with a brick—which I practically was.

  I pulled into the compound’s car park only seconds after Booth parked my truck. I made quick work of walking the bike into Booth’s spot in reverse and shut it off. I took a deep breath and made sure the kickstand was down properly before I took off at a sprint to get to Charlie.

  I reached the passenger side and swung the door open. My heart skipped a beat when I saw my woman, her face stained with drying tears. A fresh wave hit her eyes as soon as she saw me at the door.

  “Oh, Deck,” she cried, throwing herself at me. My arms wrapped around her as I buried my face into her neck, breathing easier for the first time in three hours. The scent wasn’t right, but that was okay. She was safe and in my arms where she belonged. The rest was just details. Details we could get to soon enough. First, I needed to let my woman know exactly how I felt about her so she never doubted that when she had issues, coming to me was the only option she should take.

  “My beautiful, Sweetness. Oh, baby, I can’t tell you how fucking scared I was,” I whispered to her as I absorbed her gut-wrenching sobs against my chest. Rocking her, I looked over to Booth and Darth, giving them a look that told them I had it. Booth was right. I needed to cool down and approach this from an entirely different angle.

  Picking Charlie up in my arms, I walked straight into the main room and then off to another room, knowing Shiloh would be in our rooms watching TV with Stella. She could see Charlie for herself later on. I needed her right now.

  I balanced Charlie over to the side a bit while I fished my key out of my pocket and unlocked the door. I kicked it closed behind me, which automatically locked it.

  I didn’t stop moving until I was in the adjoining bathroom and had turned on the water to let it heat up. I knew Charlie was trying to figure out what I was doing or if I had lost my damned mind, but I needed to get the stink of that place off her.

  Once the water was the right temperature, I shrugged off my cut, catching it one-handed before it fell to the floor. Charlie seemed to realise I didn’t want it to fall, so she took it from me and reached behind us to the
toilet and sat it on the closed lid. I walked straight into the shower with both of us fully clothed—well, I just had on my jeans and shitkickers, and Charlie had even less than that.

  “Hold on to me, Sweetness,” I said as I leaned her up against the tiled wall. I couldn’t let her go. It just wasn’t in me to put her down, so we manoeuvred ourselves around until she rid me of my T-shirt and her of the flimsy material she was wearing. The G-string was easy to rip from her one-handed while my other hand held her arse cheeks firmly in place. We then tossed the offended garments out onto the tiled floor. My woman would wear sexy shit for me, just not those.

  “I was going to burn them,” Charlie admitted softly against my chest where her face seemed to be staying. I did this to her with my anger at the club.

  “Sweetness, look at me, please.” I moved my body back a bit and forced her face away from my chest.

  “Deck, I am so sorry.” I didn’t want that from her. No, I wanted something else.

  I took her lips and forced my tongue into her mouth. Her taste—that’s what I needed. I kept my eyes open because I wanted to watch her now that I realised I was completely and totally in love with her. The kiss went from hot to fuck me in zero seconds, and Charlie was making the sexiest moans I had ever heard from her. Her hands were all over my back, but the slipperiness of my skin made it hard for her to get a good grip.

  Oh, God, my dick! Charlie was grinding on it, and she was naked. We needed to talk, but fuck me, I needed to come, too.

  “I know we need to talk, but, please, Deck. I want you to make love to me. Please,” Charlie begged, her hot, pink tongue making its way down my throat.

  Fuck, a man could only take so much. Reaching over to turn off the water, the decision was made—I was going to make love to my woman. Then I was going to listen as she talked and explained the day’s events.

  Then I was going to fuck her.

  After towelling off in record time, I lifted Charlie back into my arms and carried her into the small bedroom. I climbed onto the bed with her still in my arms, and then set her down, and for the first time since the shower, I took in her nude body.