Chapter 11 BEAR
BEAR
“There’s a bathroom in here with clean towels and soap if you want to take a shower.
The drawer is full of t-shirts. Take whatever you need.
” I should have taken her to one of the spare rooms. That had been the plan.
But once I had her in my arms, still wearing my cut, my feet refused to take her anywhere but my room.
“Are you sure I need to stay here? I wouldn’t turn down a ride home, since I am kind of exhausted, but…” She looked at the bed and back at me. “I don’t know about sleeping in the MC clubhouse. I’m, uh…” Her cheeks turned red and she looked down. “I’m not that kind of girl.”
I grinned, hooking my finger under her chin and forcing her to look up at me. “Pixie, I know exactly what kind of woman you are.”
“Oh yeah?” She raised an eyebrow, and I loved the defiant tone in her voice. “And what kind is that?” There was the fire I was missing.
“Mine.” I pressed my lips to hers. She gasped in surprise, and I used the opportunity to slip my tongue inside. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close as I deepened the kiss. She got over her shock quickly, and I was delighted when her tongue danced with mine.
I reluctantly pulled away, wishing I didn’t have church, but knowing if I didn’t stop now, I’d never make it back.
“What was that for?” She blinked a few times, her eyes drunk with desire as she ran her fingers along her swollen lips.
“Gabriel.” I brushed my hand along her cheek.
“When it’s just us, call me Gabriel. And that was me letting you know how serious I am about us.
I don’t know what twist of fate brought us together at Costco of all fucking places, but I’ll be forever grateful.
I’ve never planned a cookout in all my twenty-eight years.
But there I was, in the right spot for my brave little caterer to shoot her shot.
You’re mine now. I know it. The universe knows it. And soon, you’ll know it, too.”
Her eyes widened like an adorable deer in headlights.
“But I’m a patient man. I can wait. And in the meantime, you can be the official, exclusive caterer for the Reapers.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, about that. I should probably tell you…” She trailed off, looking to the side.
“That you don’t have a staff or official business yet?”
She groaned. “How long have you known?”
I smiled. “Since I met you. But I was in dire straights and you were looking hot as fuck in that pink outfit.”
She blushed again, causing my dick to stand up. “Thanks.”
“Now unfortunately, I’ve got to get back to church, but I need you to stay in here. We’ll talk more when I get back.”
She shook her head. “So wait, you’re going to kiss me like that and say all those things and then go back to a meeting?”
“I’d much rather stay here with you. But someone tried to kill my club brother, and I’ve got to deal with the threat.” I kissed her on the forehead, willing her to understand.
She took a step back. “Okay, that’s fine.” A wicked grin spread across her face. “But I should probably give this back. Wouldn’t want you not to have it for your meeting.” She shrugged out of my cut and held it out to me, leaving her in those tiny shorts and lacy bra.
“Pixie,” I warned.
She shrugged and turned to the bathroom. “Better hurry, Gabriel. They’re waiting.”
***
“Well, look who finally decided to grace us with his presence.” Mav’s eyes narrowed at me as I took a seat at the table. “Lucky for you, we experienced some technical difficulties, so we’re still waiting.” He nodded toward the spinning wheel of death that displayed on the screen.
“Almost there, Mav.” Baller looked up from his laptop, then whispered into his phone.
“All right, boys,” a voice sounded over the speakers. “Tell me what was so important you had Darius drag me from my cell in the middle of the night.”
The spinning wheel was replaced by a live video of Sinner Malone, Exiled Reapers president and current resident of Central Prison.
“Sinner.” Mav looked up at the screen with a chin lift.
There was a little square in the bottom right corner that showed church.
Baller had installed some kind of smart camera that moved around and zoomed to whichever person was talking.
It took getting used to, but it worked. “I’ll cut to the chase.
We had a breach. Tracker was stabbed inside the compound. ”
“Fuck,” Sinner swore. “Who did it?”
“Still working on that. It was a public cookout, so we weren’t as locked down as usual. And of course no one saw it happen, and the area it was in a dead zone for the cameras.”
Sinner’s eyes bored through the screen. “That’s a lot of coincidences. Was it an inside job?”
I pounded my fist on the table. It was my responsibility as enforcer to ensure the safety of the club and handle any threats, real or perceived.
This wasn’t just an affront to our club, it was a strike against me.
My honor. My ability to keep my club safe.
I didn’t want to believe one of our own would betray us like this, but I couldn’t afford to ignore what was right in front of my face.
Sinner was right. Someone in this club was an enemy.
Mav nodded. “Most likely. Tracker’s recovering, but if it hadn’t been for our caterer, he’d be dead.”
“Caterer?” Sinner raised an eyebrow.
Mav shrugged. “We got lucky. She found him hidden by the dumpster while cleaning up and administered first aid. Did a damn fine job of it, too.”
Hell yeah, she did.
“Doesn’t fucking sound lucky to me,” Sinner snarled. “It sounds like you boys were too busy drinking and fucking to notice one of your own almost getting killed.”
Maverick sighed, rubbing his temples with his hand. Sinner wasn’t right, but he wasn’t wrong, either. Mav continued, “The only thing Tracker said before passing out was Diablos.”
“Diablos? As in the mother fucking Diablos MC? What the fuck has Balthazar’s degenerates got to do with this?”
Mav nodded at me and I sat up. “Their branded product has turned up in local nightclubs. I talked with some of the staff. They mentioned seeing guys in cuts. The surveillance tapes weren’t the greatest, but I was able to confirm the Diablos patch on their backs.
I haven’t caught any of the fuckers in person, but when I do I’ll make sure they scream until they give up all their secrets.
They’ve got a base of operations somewhere, we just need to find it.
Then we can blow it the fuck up and be done with them. ”
Sinner nodded. “And what is Balthazar’s excuse for sending a club member onto our territory? Is he gunning for a war?”
Mav shook his head. “No idea what that old fucker is thinking. He won’t pick up his damn phone.
But once we find out where this branch is holed up, we’ll make noise so loud he’ll hear it all the way in Kentucky.
It was already going to be ugly when they encroached on our territory, but now that they’ve tried to kill one of ours? ”
Sinner cleared his throat. “I got no problem with you eliminating the bastards, but we do need to talk to Balthazar. At least to get it straight from his mouth. They’ve got allies, and before we end up at war with them too, we need to make it clear we were provoked.”
Mav threw his hands in the air. “I hear what you’re saying, Prez, but that’s kinda hard to do when he won’t answer my calls.”
Sinner leaned back. “Then I guess somebody’s taking on a road trip to Kentucky.”
I clapped my hands together. Finally, a chance to get some answers. “I’ll leave first thing in the morning.”