Royally F**ked (Royal Bastards MC: Royal Sons CA Book 6) Read online

  “Bring her into my office,” King suggested.

  Tai looked toward the room they called Church, which Cosmo had explained it wasn’t like the place where she’d heard people would go on Sunday with a priest or preacher holding a service. She wasn’t sure where King’s office was, hadn’t known he had one, but that wasn’t unusual, since the place was huge, larger than it appeared from outside. Cosmo had told her about the men he was close to, and taken her to King and Duke’s homes, but they hadn’t left the property. She didn’t want to complain, but at the same time, she was aware they couldn’t stay there forever. Cosmo had a life outside the land they were holed up on.

  “Come on, Baby Girl, I see questions swirling in those green orbs. Let’s go back to King’s office, and I’ll fill you in on what we know. Keys, you gonna come down to the cabin or want us to come to your place?” Cosmo slipped his arm around Tai, securing her to his side.

  “I’ll give you a shout when I got what you need.”

  “Good enough. Thanks, brother. I’ll stop by and see you and Ayesha when we’re finished.” Cosmo pulled King in for a hug.

  The camaraderie was evident in the way all the men shook hands and slapped each other. Back in her country, they bowed and nodded. It was a very cold way of greeting and kept others at a distance. She’d hated it then and knew there was no way she’d go back there and survive.

  “You want a drink to take with you?” Cosmo snagged a beer for himself, holding the cooler in question open.

  That was another difference. She’d never been allowed any sort of alcohol. She nodded, holding her hand out for one. Cosmo shook his head, keeping the two bottles in one hand, the other he held out for her hand. Walking back down the hallway, butterflies took flight in her stomach. She suddenly wished she’d asked for water instead of the alcohol.

  He pushed the heavy door open after entering a code. Like everything else to do with the MC, they didn’t leave anything open without a secure code. She wondered if they did illegal activities or if they were worried someone would rob them. Once inside, she took in the interior. A huge desk that looked old and...not used very often sat in the middle. It appeared to have state-of-the-art equipment with dual monitors. Against the wall sat a huge leather couch, with a couple of matching chairs directly in front of the desk that looked as if they’d been used often.

  “Let’s sit on the couch.” Cosmo sat the two beers on the table in front of the black sofa, sitting down with a groan. He patted the spot next to him.

  “Okay, tell me,” she blurted.

  He held his hand out as she paced in front of him. “Sit, Tai. My neck is getting a crick in it.”

  She placed her hand in his, stumbling as he tugged, landing in his lap with a yelp. “Oh, sorry.”

  “I’m not. I enjoy you right here. Now, stop worrying and let me explain what we found out.”

  She watched his face as he spoke, looking to see if he was worried or upset. In the time they’d been together, she’d become adept at reading his expressions. “I can’t not worry, Cosmo.”

  He lifted his hand, rubbing his thumb across her bottom lip. “I love your mouth. Have I told you that?”

  Her breath hitched.

  “Don’t try to distract me,” she warned him, biting his thumb.

  “Ah, but it’s fun to...distract you.” He pushed his thumb inside her mouth, moaning when she sucked his digit, then narrowed his eyes as she clamped down with her teeth. “Woman, I’ll spank your ass.”

  She smiled around his finger. “I’m just playing with you.” She swirled her tongue around the tip, releasing it with a wet pop. “Seriously, tell me what you brought me in here for, then we can go back to the cabin and have make-up sex.”

  “Damn, baby, you drive a hard bargain.” He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Keys finally got a hit on your Handler. They were good, but Keys is better. Mind you, he’s still dead, but everyone has a footprint somewhere. Most people in that business try to erase all traces of themselves, and those guys are professionals. When you’re dealing in drugs, or human trafficking, trust me, you don’t want to leave any evidence behind. Luckily for us, our John Doe had touched things we were able to get his fingerprints from. Namely your shit.”

  She shut her eyes, hating the reminder of her life before Cosmo.

  “Hey, stop that right now. I don’t give two shits about what you did to survive. I would be a sad motherfucker if you hadn’t.” He wouldn’t let her look away from him, keeping his fingers on her chin.

  Tai could hear the conviction in every word he said. “I know, and every day, I’m getting better at accepting my past.”

  “That’s good. Now back to the discovery. It seems Brent, that was his real name, had been contacting a man in Florida, a man by the name of Mark Jefferson. Keys did some digging and found the owner of the building you were living in was owned by a holding company with the same last name. Jefferson Holdings.”

  Tai would’ve fallen if she hadn’t been sitting on Cosmo’s lap. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the same man as the one she’d met in China. “Do you think he’s the same man?”

  “Keys is trying to find a picture of the man. Do you think you would recognize the doctor if you saw him?” Cosmo asked.

  She took in a shaky breath, her heart racing so hard he could see it and wanted to do anything to keep her from having to face the bastards who’d hurt her. He let her have a moment to work through the implications of what he’d said, knowing she was going to have to see the ghosts of her past. He had done the same thing each time he’d tracked one of his...his rapists down. It had been cathartic, yet he’d suffered as well. Facing them had forced the memories he’d buried to resurface.

  “Hey, are you okay?” She smoothed her hand up his chest.

  Cosmo noticed he was squeezing her a little tighter than he should, relaxing his hold with a murmur of apology. He brought his forehead down, resting it on hers. “I’m sorry, Baby Girl. I’m not good enough for you. I know that, but I’ll be dammed if I’ll let you walk away from me. I’ll work my ass off to be good enough for you if you’ll let me.”

  She shoved at his shoulder, a little growl coming out of her that had him lifting his head. “Not good enough for me? Are you serious? Cosmo, you are better than any man I’ve ever met. You’re so much better than I’ll ever be.”

  He silenced her the only way he knew how, kissing her, sucking on that bottom lip she insisted on torturing. His body, of course, reacted the way it always did whenever he had her in his arms or thought of her. Fuck, he didn’t even need an excuse to get rock-hard when it came to one Tai Zhou. “We need to stop, or I’ll be balls deep in the sweetest pussy I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing, then I’ll have to hear King bitching because I’ve sullied his furniture. Nobody wants to hear that man whining.”

  Her little laugh was what he’d been hoping for. King wouldn’t give a shit if he and Tai fucked on any surface in his office. It sure as shit wouldn’t be the first time any of them had done it.

  As if on cue, the phone rang on the desk. King’s phone never rang in there unless it was an emergency, since they all had cellphones. He waited a beat, then the thing stopped ringing, then started again.

  “Should we answer that?” Tai shifted around to stare at the phone.

  He sighed, shaking his head. “Nah, I’ll answer my cell.”

  Tai giggled, slapping her hand over her mouth. “Oh no, have you been ignoring King?”

  “Fucker didn’t know if I was in the middle of something or someone,” he groused.

  She lifted one dainty brow. “How would you be in—oh my, you are so bad.”

  He pulled her hand to his lips, kissing the palm, then licking it, loving the slightly salty taste of her. “Ah, I’m glad you’re aware of that little fact, Baby Girl.”

  A little maneuvering of his hips allowed him to get his phone out without relinquishing his hold on Tai. “What’s up, King?”

  “Wh
at the fuck you doing turning your phone off? Next time I’ll just barge right in there with my camera on and take pictures. I bet I can sell them on eBay for a nice profit, asshole.”

  “Nah I got a hairy ass. Ain’t nobody like a hairy ass.” He winked at Tai who sat with her eyes so wide on his lap, he was a little worried she was going to fall over.

  “Bullshit. There’s sick fucks everywhere for everything.” King and he didn’t say a word because they both were aware that was true. “Well, aren’t you going to ask why I was calling you when you might’ve been fucking on my perfectly innocent leather sofa?”

  King spoke so loud even Tai heard, making her giggle. God he fucking loved her. Heart and soul loved her. He loved her so hard, he’d do anything for her. It didn’t matter they’d only known one another a short time. Love didn’t have a clock or timeframe. His mama had said those in his family would find love when they least expected it. She was a very wise woman in that regard.

  “Just tell me what you found out so I can get back to dirtying up your office. By the way, you need to do something about the edges on that desk of yours; it isn’t cohesive for soft asses,” he said with an even tone.

  Tai reared back, her mouth opening then closing. He shook his head, grinning as King cursed in the background.

  “Motherfucker, you best not be getting any of your jizz on my perfectly innocent desk. Ayesha, tell Cosmo to get his naked ass outta my office.”

  “I’m sure he’s isn’t naked, naked. If he is, can you turn the cameras on? We might be able to sell footage of that for a new—”

  Whatever Ayesha said after that they couldn’t hear, but it sounded like she was asking for a new bench. Cosmo was pretty sure she was going to find herself over something, getting a spanking real soon.

  A text came through from Keys with the address and name of the man who owned the building, followed by another location, and another. The fucking bastard had several holdings, two of which were in Florida, one in Tampa and one Miami. The other was smack dab in the middle of the US in Kansas City, Missouri. He sent a text back asking Keys if there were any pictures of that location compared to the Florida ones.

  “Are we going to go to wherever he is?” Tai asked, looking at the screen.

  “No, I’ll be going with a few of my brothers.” Cosmo didn’t look up from his screen, scrolling through the images Keys sent him.

  Tai got off his lap, feeling bereft but also needing to assert her independence. Cosmo and the others had done so much for her, but in this, she had to stay strong. Letting him and the others go and take care of things, while she stayed behind like an obedient little girl didn’’t sit well with her,

  “That’s not going to work for me, Cosmo.” She turned away from him, unable to look him in the eye and see the disappointment. Goodness, how had she fallen so hard, so quick, for a man she hardly knew. Some would say she had a syndrome she’d read about, but she knew better. If she was going to be attracted to anyone, it would’ve been the doctor back in China. He’d been the one who’d promised her things, given her special attention, and kept the guards from abusing her. No, she didn’t have any feelings for him, nothing like what she felt for Cosmo.

  “What do you mean it won’t work for you, Tai? This is how it’s going to go down. Me and my brothers will head down, find the son-of-a-bitch and whoever else is in connection with him, and take care of them. If you’re there, I’ll be distracted,” he said in a calm tone like he was talking to a child.

  She spun around, her arms at her sides, hands in tight fists so she didn’t do something like hit him. “I need to see. I need to look him in the eye and know it was him who sent me here. I—I have to know.”

  How did she explain to him she needed to be there and hear Dr. Jefferson say he’d sent her to America so he could sell her, instead the reason he’d told her? She’d thought he actually cared, like a...a father figure. In the time she’d been held in the dingy apartment, doing what she had to survive, she’d held onto the one good thing, and that was the doctor who had given her a sliver of hope. How could she give flight to a life with Cosmo, if she couldn’t trust that there was still hope and goodness, if the first person she trusted turned out to be evil?

  “Don’t,” he growled, getting to his feet.

  She didn’t fight him as his arms came around her. Her head landed on his chest like it belonged there, like he was made for her. “Cosmo, I have to see for myself that he’s the same man who had offered me kindness.”

  He tugged on the back of her hair. Since she’d been staying with him, she’d begun leaving it loose instead of braiding it. The fear of someone using it against her had disappeared with the strong support of Cosmo, and everyone within the Royal MC compound.

  “Look at me, Dai-tai.” He tugged again, his hold didn’t hurt, but the order was clear.

  “What?” she whispered, her throat thickening with unshed tears.

  “Don’t. Don’t cry. Fuck, you can do anything but cry. I can handle anything, but your tears gut me.” He pulled her in tighter, rocking them back and forth. “What the hell am I gonna do with you? All the brothers are gonna laugh at me. Here I am, a big badass motherfucker, being wrapped around the little pinky of a tiny slip of a woman,” he sighed. “I guess there could be some benefits of you riding with me.”

  She rubbed her face against his chest, loving the masculine scent of him mixed with the cologne he used. He was so perfect; she didn’t know why he was with her when he could have any woman he wanted. “What are those benefits?”

  His hands skimmed down her back, palming her ass, pulling her up his body so that she was cradling his erection. “Well, you see, I’ve gotten used to having you anytime, anywhere I want. Except in Kings office, clearly. If I was down in Florida, my hands would get a workout, but they wouldn’t come close to satisfying me the way you do. There will be rules, Baby Girl. I won’t bend on them though, so you will agree, or it’s a no.”

  Her body shivered at his words and tone. “You’re going to let me come with you?”

  “Yeah, fuck me all to Hell. I can’t say no to you. Like I said, you’re going to have to follow everything me or one of my brothers say, to the letter.”

  She reared back as far as she could with the hold he had on her. “What?”

  “Dammit, I didn’t mean it like that. I told you I don’t share, and I sure as fuck ain’t going to start on the damn road. Have you so little faith in me and you?” He released her, making sure she was able to stand before moving away.

  Cosmo turned his back on Tai, running his hands through his hair. “Tai, what do I need to say or do to get it through your thick head that I—fuck.”

  She stood there, waiting for him to tell her it was over and storm out. She knew she’d hurt, or angered him, maybe both. “I’m sorry, Cosmo.”

  “So am I. I know this is new for you. You’ve never had anyone who cared about you other than your grandmother, yet she still allowed you to be treated like garbage. Baby, I will never allow anyone to do that. Ever. You’re my ole lady. I’d fuck up anyone who tried to hurt you or take you from me. I know that love isn’t always perfect. Hell I’m far from perfect. I want to give you the fairytale love like you’d read in a storybook. What you see is what you get with me, scars, baggage, and so much love for you you’ll never doubt how much I care about you. You know, love isn’t supposed to be easy. Shit, I’m the complete opposite of easy. I can pretty much guarantee things won’t always be the way we want them to be. We’ll have obstacles, but we’ll either overcome them or we’ll bust through them. No matter what, we’ll face them together, whether its fighting or figuring out how to work around shit. I’ll hold onto you and the love I feel for you with everything I got. I’ll never let you go and make sure you never question where you stand with me. Look at me, Tai, don’t you see how I feel? The word love, it’s such a short word that packs so much into it. Many people say it, but they don’t mean it, Baby Girl. I fucking do. I haven’t ever told ano
ther person, other than my mama, I loved them.” He held his hand out, waiting for her to take it.

  “You love me?”

  He nodded, knowing it was hard for her to believe. If she needed more words, more of him, he’d give it. “Some say love in and of itself is hard to define. It’s easy to spell, only four little letters, but for me, it ain’t all that hard. What is hard, is thinking of you not being with me. Yeah, I love you. Love is thinking of living without you, of being without you and feeling a black hole where my heart would be. Every hour, every minute, of every day since I saw you, I think of you. I know it’s going to be a lot of work. Hell, I’m a lot of work, but I think together we can be amazing. We can build something truly remarkable if you give us a chance.” He looked down at his hand then at her, waiting.

  She rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his neck, lifting her legs around his waist. “I love you too.”

  “You were making me sweat, Baby Girl.” He gripped the back of her head, taking her mouth in a kiss filled with love and claiming.

  “Dammit, I told you. First comes the kissing then the fucking. Cosmo, not on my desk,” King muttered.

  Chapter Twelve

  Tai couldn’t help but laugh at King and Cosmo. They were both, big alpha men, yet they also joked around. She had no doubt that King would’ve busted into his office and growled, if they’d have been doing the deed on any of his precious surfaces, but he wouldn’t have actually been upset—she hoped. She didn’t have any plans to test that theory out though.

  “We were being good, King, promise.” She looked over her shoulder, feeling lighter than she’d ever been in all of her twenty-four years.

  “That’s only because I busted in here before that big bastard could get his willy out, and in your tunnel of love,” King muttered.

  “His what in my what?” She leaned back, looking at Cosmo for clarification.