Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read online

  Bailey fought her way out of James’s arms, having to pull off one of her pant legs in order to stand. Cursing, she ran to the other side of the desk, almost tripping on her pants, and looked through the two-way, furious to see that those troublemakers had come back to her bar.

  Her limbs still trembled, and although she would never have admitted it, she was thankful for James’s support as he came up behind her and tugged her shirt and bra back in place before wrapping his arms around her.

  “Sons of bitches. I’ll show them. They think they can come in my bar and cause trouble. Let’s see how much trouble they’re going to cause when they’re on the receiving end of my bat!” Trying unsuccessfully to pull her arm from James’s grasp, she tried to kick him, but only ended up tangling her pant legs together. More kicking sent her panties and jeans flying, leaving her naked from the waist down.

  “Let go of me, damn it. I’ve got to get out there.”

  Marc’s eyes darkened to midnight, his face going hard. His gaze lowered, lingering on her mound, making it nearly impossible to stand still.

  “You go out in the bar like that, sweetheart, and James and I will have to start killing people. Go upstairs.”

  Blinking at his arrogance, Bailey put her hands on her hips, trying to look as intimidating as possible while naked from the waist down.

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  His smile fell, one dark brow going up. “Now. Don’t push me on this.” He turned and left, the quiet click of the door behind him more threatening than a slam would have been.

  That formidable control turned her on in ways she didn’t want to consider, and she stared in stunned disbelief at the closed door before turning back to James, trying to come to grips with the arousal still humming through her even now.

  Straightening, she cleared her throat before attempting to untangle the mess she’d made of her jeans.

  “I’ve had about enough of your friend’s arrogance.”

  James appeared distracted, keeping an eye on the bar while keeping her steady by holding on to her shoulders.

  “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”

  It took some fumbling, but she finally managed to get dressed again, her hands trembling due to arousal and anger making her clumsy.

  She couldn’t believe those assholes had come back. The ringleader’s uncle owned the only other bar in town, and they resented the competition. She’d known before she bought the place that it was the reason the other owner sold to her, but the price had been right and she’d been determined not to let them intimidate her.

  Not only were they bothering her customers, but they’d interrupted what promised to be an orgasm she’d never forget.

  Unforgivable.

  “Those sons of bitches are going to eat my bat.” She turned, pushing against James to get enough room to pull her jeans back up.

  Staring into the bar through the mirror, James patted her shoulder. “Stay here.”

  Bailey fastened her jeans and shoved at him, both impressed and irritated that she didn’t move him at all.

  “Just because we’ve messed around, don’t think you have any say in what I do. Get out of my way.”

  Straightening, he crossed his arms over his chest, the arrogance in his posture and in his expression putting her back up and adding to her anger. “No.”

  Furious, she took a swing at him, even more furious when he caught her fist in his open hand before she could connect.

  Standing on her toes, she tried again to shove at him with the same result. Respecting and turned on by his strength, she was still frustrated that he kept her from doing what she needed to do.

  “Let go of me, you arrogant jerk! I’ve got a fucking bar to run, and I need to get out there and deal with those assholes.”

  Concerned for Ricky and Gun, and also for the bar, she struggled to get her arm back. She kicked his shin, was rewarded with a satisfying grunt, but couldn’t get free. She continued to fight, using every move she knew, her anger growing with every thwarted effort.

  James cursed, his movements lightning fast as he avoided the punches she threw at him and even several of the kicks. He somehow managed to pin her arms at her sides and lifted her several inches off of the floor. He shook her once, his eyes flashing with fury.

  “Damn it, you little wildcat! Stop it. You’re our fucking mate, and you’ll stay in here where it’s safe and let us protect you.”

  Setting her none too gently on her feet, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him, leaving Bailey staring after him in shock.

  Cursing, she raced after him, sure she must have misunderstood him. “Mate? What the fuck?”

  She ran out and down the small hallway, hurrying to the corner behind the bar to grab the bat she kept there. Without pausing, she raced back out again and shoved past Marc, who stood blocking her way, to confront the troublemakers.

  Only to find them gone.

  “Where the hell are they?” She scanned the bar to see several of the customers smiling in amusement and pointing toward the door.

  One of her regulars grinned.“Your friends got rid of them. Never thought those guys could run that fast.”

  Ricky shook his head, smiling, his relief evident.“You should have seen it, Bailey.”

  Another man called out from the corner booth. “I don’t think they’ll be coming back.”

  Forcing a smile, she nodded and leaned toward Marc, bristling at his smug smile. A glance at James, who stood sipping his beer, and a grinning Leland just pissed her off more.

  “I appreciate the help, but I don’t appreciate the arrogance. I also don’t appreciate that you and James think you can tell me what to do. You can’t. Now get out—and take your friends with you.”

  Marc shook his head and lowered himself back to the stool again.

  “No.”

  He held up a hand before she could speak, grabbing the bat from her with remarkable ease.

  “I appreciate that it’s your bar and that you want to handle things yourself, but as long as I’m around, I’m not going to stand back and watch you get hurt.”

  She grabbed her bat back, filled with satisfaction that she could.

  “Thankfully, you won’t be around for long.”

  She started to turn away, gasping when he grabbed the back of her sweater and yanked her back, his face just inches from hers.

  “I wasn’t looking for you. To be honest, I don’t care much for wanting you the way I do. Now that I’ve found you, though, I’ll be damned before I walk away.”

  Brushing the tendrils of hair that had come loose during her encounter with James, he smiled.

  “Guess you’re just going to have to get used to having us around.”

  Chapter Five

  “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

  Bailey pounded the steering wheel, staring through the windshield at the spot where she’d run into the woods to escape her attacker over a week ago.

  She could do this. She could go in there. It was only trees. No panther would really be in there.

  She had to go in there if she wanted her necklace back.

  After Marc and James had dropped her off the night she’d been attacked, she’d realized she didn’t have her necklace on and panicked—until she remembered her intention to take it off and pack it so it didn’t get lost while she worked on the bar.

  After that, she’d put it out of her mind.

  She’d been so busy this week cleaning and reorganizing the bar, that she’d fallen into bed each night, obsessed with thoughts of Marc and James and the bar and not thinking about much else.

  Last night, after spending hours tossing and turning, aroused and angry, she’d finally fallen asleep, only to wake up with a gasp, reaching for her throat, her heart pounding at the knowledge that she’d lost her necklace.

  While sleeping, her mind had wandered, and she remembered taking the necklace off to pack it for safekeeping, only to put it back on again, hoping it would bring her good luck.

>   So tired she could barely keep her eyes open, she knew she’d never rest until she found the necklace her grandmother had given her, her only link to her past.

  It was her most prized possession, and she wanted it back.

  Well, she wouldn’t find it sitting here in the car. She’d parked a little farther up than she had that night in case it had fallen under her car.

  Taking a deep breath, she swung the door open and got out. Armed with a flashlight and her baseball bat, she scanned the woods, her heart pounding at the idea that a panther could pop out at any moment and horrifying memories of the night she’d been attacked here.

  She hated this place. Already her skin crawled, but she wanted her grandmother’s necklace and wouldn’t allow a claim from a stoned asshole to keep her from it.

  Besides, the sun had just started to come up over the horizon, and she hoped that panthers only came out at night.

  Gun had told her earlier in the week that it was rare for anyone to see the black panther that presumably haunted these woods, but the fact remained that something had sliced into Billy Davis.

  She suspected he’d fallen and hurt himself, but was too embarrassed to admit it or too stoned to really remember anything.

  If the authorities really believed there was a panther on the loose, they’d be out here scouring the woods for it, wouldn’t they?

  “Hell and damnation, Bailey. Stop dawdlin’ and go get Granny’s necklace.”

  Shivering against the early morning chill, she closed the door as quietly as she could and started forward.

  Keeping one eye on the line of trees, she scanned the area where she’d parked her car that night, hoping that the necklace had come off when Billy Davis grabbed her and she’d find it right there on the pavement. After going back and forth and then in circles and not finding it, she sighed and stared toward the trees, knowing she had no choice but to go in there if she ever wanted to see her necklace again.

  Another chill went through her, one that had nothing to do with the cold.

  It didn’t help her self-esteem to realize she wished Marc and James were here.

  Approaching the woods, she couldn’t help but remember the looks on their faces when they’d left the bar last night after closing. Leland had already gone ahead of them, looking more than a little disapproving. She’d expected James to make an attempt to finish what they’d started in her office, but to her surprise, both men had spent the evening talking in low tones, and although they watched her constantly, left her alone.

  Once everyone else had gone, they’d each given her a light kiss on the forehead, Marc’s eyes gleaming with the knowledge that he knew what she’d expected, satisfaction in surprising her, and the promise that this wasn’t over.

  James didn’t appear as cool or as composed, his hand a little rough as it slid over her ass.

  “We’ll finish what we started, Bailey. Consider this a reprieve and a chance to calm down. You’re too upset to listen to anything we have to say tonight.”

  Leaning close, he’d run his hand over her breast, and tapped her beaded nipple under Marc’s intense scrutiny.

  “Don’t even begin to think this is over. Sweet dreams, honey.”

  Bastard. That son of a bitch knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, especially with her body still humming from what he’d done to her in her office.

  Thinking about the way he’d touched her, the low growling tone in his voice that she’d already become addicted to and the look of hunger in his eyes when he reached for her, had the ability to arouse her even now.

  She liked sex, but her response to both Marc and James had started to border on the ridiculous.

  Forcefully shoving all thoughts of them out of her mind, she concentrated on the task at hand.

  Searching the ground, she entered the woods, keeping her steps as slow and steady as she could manage. She didn’t want to disturb the ground any more than necessary and sure as hell didn’t want to make noise that a panther would feel compelled to investigate. Although she’d almost convinced herself that the panther had to be the figment of someone’s overactive imagination, she found herself lifting her head often to take in her surroundings and whipping it around at each little noise.

  The air got cooler and damper the deeper into the trees she went, making her glad she’d worn thick sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but the chill that came with memories of the night she’d been attacked came from inside and wouldn’t go away.

  The panic of that night came back, closing in on her as she made her way through the trees, making it more and more difficult to keep her breathing even.

  She kept scanning the surrounding area, jumping at each sound as she made her way across the spongy ground. She kept her steps slow, not wanting to miss her necklace, and tried her best to retrace the steps she’d taken that night, something that proved nearly impossible. She’d been so scared she’d just run, not paying much attention to where she was going in her attempt to escape, and she didn’t know these woods at all.

  Nothing looked familiar. Just tree after tree and what seemed like miles of those roots that had almost gotten her killed.

  It also looked far different now, with sunlight dappling through the trees instead of moonlight. She also spent as much time scanning the woods and jumping at every noise as she did searching for her beloved necklace.

  She backtracked several times, trying to retrace her steps, but nothing looked familiar at all.

  She should have taken the time to stop to ask Marc and James where they’d found her.

  After a while, the quiet began to soothe her and some of her panic subsided. She stopped jumping at every noise and only looked up occasionally as the sounds of the forest became more and more familiar. Concentrating on finding her necklace and retracing her steps, she blocked even those out. Making her way over the assortment of tree roots, leaves, and slick, muddy patches, she paused to look between the roots and kicked aside leaves, searching for anything that glittered.

  An hour later, she’d found nothing but a few gum wrappers, a nickel, and several shiny stones.

  Another officer had come into the bar while she’d been cleaning and remodeling earlier last week to tell her that they’d found the gun her attacker had dropped while chasing her, which meant that the police had disturbed leaves and foliage, making her search even more difficult.

  With that in mind, she kept moving, using her bat to push against small bushes. The number of footprints going in every direction just made her search even more confusing. She didn’t know who’d walked where or if any of the tracks she saw had been made by her attacker.

  She followed trail after trail of them, looking for her smaller ones, but they were so trampled and smeared from the rainstorm this week, that she couldn’t make out one from another.

  After a while, she glanced at her watch, surprised to see that almost two hours had gone by. Hot and thirsty, she wished she’d taken the time to grab a bottle of water, but she’d been in such a hurry and too tired and anxious to think about it.

  She also hadn’t imagined it taking this long, somehow imagining that it would jump right out at her, but now she realized it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

  She couldn’t quit, though, even if she had to come out here every morning before opening the bar to search. Today and tomorrow the bar would be closed, though, so she’d spend every minute she could here.

  Maybe if she stayed out here long enough, she could push thoughts of Marc and James out of her mind.

  They confused her, and she didn’t like it. She would have bet money that she would have ended up with James in her bed last night. She knew he wanted her, but after several hours of low conversation with Marc, he’d walked away.

  Men. Who the hell could figure them out? What did they want to talk about that was so important that they couldn’t talk to her about it last night?

  They probably wanted to make sure she understood that neither one of them wante
d a commitment.

  Arrogant assholes.

  What made them think she wanted one?

  Fuck it. The next time she saw them, she would make it perfectly clear that she didn’t want anything more than what she suspected would be the best sex she’d ever had.

  Blowing out a breath, she propped the bat against a nearby tree trunk, dropping the flashlight onto the soft ground next to it.

  Closing her eyes, she lifted her face to the sky, lifting her arms and arching backward to relieve the tightness in her back from spending so much time bent over and looking down.

  She stayed in that position, enjoying the tranquility for a few precious moments and the chance to just be alone with her thoughts. She’d been too busy this week to even let herself to think about the attack last week, keeping herself focused on getting her bar ready in time. She hadn’t wanted to think about it, hadn’t allowed herself to think about it.

  Now, though, the fear she’d felt that night came rushing back, and she found herself gritting her teeth, blinking back the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes.

  Damn that bastard for making her lose her necklace, and damn Marc and James for being so unforgettable.

  Damned tears. She never let herself cry. It didn’t help anyway. It never did more than make her nose run and give her a headache.

  She sighed and straightened, rubbing her stinging eyes with the heels of her hands and holding them there as though doing so would prevent any more tears from falling.

  Damn, she hated crying, and more than that, she hated feeling sorry for herself.

  She’d only been in town a little over a week and, in her usual style, had already made a mess of it.

  Between her attack, the loss of her necklace, the missed opportunities with Marc and James that left her frustrated, and the thugs who continued to plague her new bar, things couldn’t get much worse.

  Unless, of course, she got eaten by a panther.

  Furious at herself for falling into a well of self-pity, she rubbed her eyes again, forcing back tears even as a sob erupted. Damn it. She could do this.

  She could run her own business. She could finally settle in one place and make a home. She could sure as hell handle the troublemakers who came in.