Beast (Salvation's Bane MC 2)

Beast (Salvation's Bane MC 2)
Second Edition
Marteeka Karland
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2024 Marteeka Karland

The Playground was hopping tonight. Gideon “Beast” Leigh sat at a bar on the far end of the club, watching the various scenes play out before him. He drank a cup of black coffee because he refused to drink a Coke unless it was liberally laced with Jack. Since they didn’t serve alcohol at the club -- alcohol and BDSM didn’t mix well -- he made do with the coffee.

Beast had seen several women he’d considered introducing himself to, but his heart just wasn’t in it. Most of the time, he loved getting bouncer duty at the Playground, but tonight wasn’t one of them. His mind kept drifting back to an incident that had happened earlier in the day. One that had left him speechless and more than a little unnerved.

Besides the Playground, Salvation’s Bane owned a couple of gyms in Palm Beach as well as a strip club. All but Playground were more for money laundering if they needed it, but all had to be monitored and policed. Last thing they wanted was to give the fuzz a reason to look at them too closely. Beast was at the gym, running diagnostics on their security system and generally scoping out the place. He always liked to keep tabs on their members and know who were regulars and who were fading on their New Year’s resolutions. He was just about to go for his own workout when he saw… her.

This petite little thing with curly chestnut hair pulled back in a knot on top of her head. With unusual silver-green eyes and pale, thin limbs, she looked like she belonged in high school instead of the fucking gym. Which made Beast more than a little uncomfortable.

Instead of being on a treadmill or something light to go with her frame and lack of musculature, the girl was on the bench press, her friend spotting her with only the bar. Which was still too fucking heavy for her. She was obviously struggling, but her friend, though encouraging her to push it up, wasn’t watching her. She was watching a group of young men in the corner. Watching… intently.

Beast focused on the girl. The more she strained to push up the bar over and over, the more she wiggled, giving everyone a good view when her gym shorts gaped. Normally, he’d have thought her “friend” was letting the jocks across the room look their fill at her expense, making fun of her behind her back, but none of them pointed or laughed. Instead, they looked intently, speaking in low tones. When one of them nodded, the girl’s friend called it, praising her for a job well done as she helped her put the bar back in the rack.

“I can’t believe they load those heavy bars down with weights,” she panted. “I can barely lift it as it is.”

“You’ll get used to it, Fleur.” Her friend patted Fleur on the shoulder as the girl sat up, obviously winded from her efforts. “We both will.” She smiled at Fleur before taking her own place on the bench. Fleur seemed oblivious to the men in the corner talking and continuing to watch her.

Beast sensed a trap, and he always trusted his instincts. Something was off about the whole situation. So he did what any self-respecting enforcer would do. He made a big deal about flexing his muscles as he moved to the free weights stationed between the two groups. Beast could be intimidating when he wanted to be. Just then, he wanted to be.

The boys had tried to hold his gaze, thinking themselves safe in a group. Once Beast began curling an insanely heavy dumbbell, they decided against confronting him. Then Beast shifted his gaze to Debbie, not a veiled threat but a notice that he was on to her. The girl had the good sense to realize she was in trouble. If they were setting the young woman up for something nefarious, they weren’t going to do it in his fucking gym.