Chapter Fifteen #2
Not seeing an alternative, she agreed. Either they would figure it out or they would be back to square one. Well, not exactly, they had eliminated several things, so maybe square two would be more accurate.
“I’m sure it’s not my cut. This is the first time I’ve worn it since I got to town. I have no doubt he’s never seen it.”
“Okay, what else you got?”
She went through everything but her underwear, pointing out why she thought it couldn’t be that item, and her reasoning.
“What about jewelry?” Hammer asked when she was done.
Winter frowned. “I wear hardly anything on a regular basis, except these.” She lifted one finger and held it behind one of the studs in her right ear. “And I only take them out to clean them, then they go right back in.”
He frowned and watched her for a moment. “What’s the watch?” he asked. “It’s got a good-sized face and I noticed it’s dark most of the time. Is that a smartwatch? I saw the software for two different ones on your phone, but wasn’t sure if you were using either.”
“Yeah, I just use this one, and have for a while. I just wasn’t sure if I would like this one and kept the other software so I could go back if I wanted with less hassle.”
“Is it one that connects to your cellular company or just to your phone?”
“It’s carrier connected, why?” She frowned, not sure why that mattered.
A slow smile crept across Hammer’s face. “That’s how he’s tracking you. He’s hacked into either the cell system or the manufacturer, and he’s tracking you with the GPS in your watch.”
“Shit,” Bishop muttered.
Winter looked down at her wrist and frowned. She loved her watch but knowing it was at least partly responsible for the hell she’d been going through, suddenly she didn’t love it quite so much.
“I can give it up if I need to, I just liked that it would do so much for me.”
“You planning on going anywhere else tonight?” Hammer asked.
Winter looked at Bishop, not sure what he had in mind.
“I’ve got no plans to leave, unless there’s somewhere you want to go, Spitfire.”
Winter couldn’t think of anything she needed badly enough to leave the compound. If she found something she had to have before morning, she could get Bishop to send one of the prospects for it.
“I don’t plan to go anywhere.” She frowned, wondering what he was planning.
“Give me some time. If you’re in for the night, can I steal the watch for now? I’ll give it back in the morning, but I think I can get in and either block him or insert a bit of code that sends him false location information.”
“Oh, that would be amazing.” Winter imagined Kevin chasing fake locations for her all over town.
It might be a little mean, but after how much stress and worry he’d given her over the last couple of months, she couldn’t bring herself to feel bad about it.
She unfastened the watch and handed it over.
“Do you need the phone too?” She held that out toward him as well.
“There are a lot of settings and stuff you can’t change on the watch, you have to do it on the phone. ”
“I’ll take it just in case.” Hammer took both devices and held them in his hand. “Anything else?”
“Not that I know of,” Bishop said.
Winter shook her head.
“No. Go ahead and get started on that.” Bulldog dipped his head toward the devices Hammer held.
“Once that’s done we’ll figure out what’s going on.
” Hammer stood and headed for the door. “No need to close the door on your way out.” Bulldog turned to Bishop, “Don’t forget we’ve got that run tomorrow, and we’ll be gone for two days.
I don’t feel right leaving her here with only our minimal guards.
You need to figure out if she’s riding with you or in the chase car with Wrench. ”
“I hadn’t forgotten, but I also hadn’t thought about it. We’ll talk about it and have it straight by the time we head out. We line up at nine, right?”
Bulldog nodded. “Anything else I need to know?”
Winter shook her head, then turned to look at Bishop, who did the same. He nudged her leg, she took the hint and stood.
“Nope.” Bishop pushed himself to his feet.
“We’ll leave you to get back to whatever you were doing.
I do need to go see Styx about tomorrow but that won’t take but a couple of minutes.
” He placed a hand on the small of her back and guided her out of the room.
When they reached the common room, Bishop paused behind her, she turned and saw him scanning the room, obviously looking for someone.
She didn’t know if he spotted who he was looking for but after a moment he urged her to the right.
They approached a man sitting at a table alone, a beer bottle on the table in front of him.
Winter didn’t recognize him. He had wild dark hair that brushed his shoulders, that reminded her of a TV show her grandmother watched when she was a kid.
What was that character’s name? Sammy? Sally?
No. It had been Sully. The man had dressed in buckskins and worn his hair almost the same as the man in front of them.
“Hey, have you met Winter yet?” Bishop said as they approached.
The man shook his head.
“Winter, this is Mayhem, our VP. Mayhem, Winter. She’s a princess for an ally club that we just found out was in the area.”
Mayhem nodded in her direction, She nodded back then turned and looked at Bishop, his tone letting her know he wasn’t happy.
“She didn’t tell us she was here until she walked up to me to let me know she needed help.” He scowled down at her for a moment then seemed to shake himself. “Anyway,” he said to Mayhem. “I need to talk to Styx, any idea where I might find him?”
“He and Wrench are out in the garage making sure everything’s ready for the trip tomorrow. Why don’t you go talk to him and leave the little princess with me? We can get to know each other a little better.” Mayhem shot her a leer.
“Sorry. I’m not a mama and I won’t be treated like one. I’ll stick with Bishop, thanks.”
Mayhem threw his head back and laughed. When he was through he gave her a much friendlier smile. “Turn around, girl. Let me see who you belong to.” She did as he asked, knowing that unless he knew the colors and recognized them, he wouldn’t know she was from the Angels.
He let out a low whistle, making her think he recognized the small patch. She turned back around to face him and found him looking at her more closely, as if trying to see something that either wasn’t there or was hiding.
“I think I see it. You’re Samson’s girl. You’ve got his eyes, and his smile. No wonder.” He scanned her from head to toe. “You take after him a bit but you look more like your mama.”
“You knew my mom?”
“I did. I was sorry to hear she’d been killed and even sorrier when I heard about your dad. He was a good man. Sit with me, we can visit a bit.” He tilted his head toward the seat across from him.
Winter lifted one brow as she stared at him. Did he really think she would sit down and act like he hadn’t just propositioned her?
“I’m an asshole but I can see you’re not a club girl, and it looks like Bishop’s well on his way to claiming you. You’re safe here, even if you don’t sit and talk, I won’t hit on you again. I just wanted to see if I could get him to react.” Mayhem tilted his head toward Bishop.
Winter turned to look at Bishop, who stood slightly behind her. Bishop had his jaw clenched as he shot daggers out his eyes at his VP, the hand hanging at his side clenched into a fist so tight his knuckles were turning white.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“He’s not lying. He’s a fucking asshole who likes to cause mayhem wherever he goes, but he’s not a liar.
If you want to visit, talk about your parents or anything else, you can and he will make sure you’re safe.
Not in the least because he knows I’ll take him apart, joint by joint, if he lets anything happen to you. ”
She looked back and forth between Bishop and Mayhem for a moment.
“Do you need or want me with you to talk to Styx?”
“I always want you with me, Spitfire, but there’s no need for you to go. I just need to talk to him for a few minutes. Stay and see what he remembers about your parents. I’ll go talk to Styx, then come back and join you.”
She searched Bishop’s face, looking for a sign he wasn’t being entirely honest, and found none.
“All right. I’ll stay here, talk to him a bit. I’ll stay in this room till you come back since I don’t have my phone and can’t let you know where I’ve gone, all right?”
“Sounds good.” Bishop leaned in and kissed her. A searing, needy kiss that had her forgetting where they were and that there were easily twenty or more people in the room. She lost track of the noise around them, the people moving, talking, drinking. All that existed was them.
Then he broke away. One side of his mouth lifted in a satisfied smirk, then he turned and walked away, leaving her watching after him, stunned.
“Looks like he’s got you about convinced to let him claim you.” Mayhem’s voice pulled her back to the present and that he’d left her with someone she wanted to talk to, if only to learn more about her parents.