Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
D eke had driven around the block twice. If he did it again, he would have to remove the Daddy stamp from his man card. Hell, he might have to cash in the whole damn card.
This was probably a bad idea. Scratch that. There was no probably about it. Staying away from Suzi for the last twenty-four hours had taken every ounce of strength he had. When he walked into her office, when he saw her, he wouldn’t be able to walk away again. That Little girl was his, and knowing how much danger she was in now put a pin in it.
Yesterday, taking Breezy and the girls to the Knoxville craft mall had turned into one gigantic clusterfuck. Then Sabre found out Suzi had come into possession of dangerous information. Rickson Everett, a raging psychopath, had sent her recordings that, at minimum, proved Alexander Boucher, the sitting District Attorney General, was directly involved in everything Breezy had endured. The MP4s might even implicate The Society as well.
Deke might not be a mathematician, but he could damn sure put two and two together and get four. Those recordings had to be why Suzi was so intent on working late yesterday. There was no way his Little newsie would be able to pass up finally taking that group of sadistic assholes on head-to-head, especially when the evidence was dropped into her lap or her email inbox, as the case may be.
But Boucher was a powerful man who had proven on more than one occasion that he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. And he wanted a lot. Rumors were that Darling was only the first rung on an extremely tall ladder of ambition. Boucher had big plans.
He worked for a well-connected global organization filled with people even more powerful than he was. He got them what they wanted, and they returned the favor. Suzi was smart, talented, and in no way equipped to handle the level of evil that had landed in her inbox.
To make matters worse, they now knew the gang moving fentanyl into the area, the gang that Don Smith was a member of, was a one percenter motorcycle club that rode under the Lawless Warriors banner. Their group was responsible for distributing drugs, primarily in schools, up and down the West Coast. And now they were making their way east into areas like Darling.
The whole reason for Deke showing up at Suzi’s office this morning was to get that information from her as soon as possible. Hopefully, before the Warriors and The Society knew she had the files. And before she wrote another article, painting an even larger target on her back than her previous two articles had.
He circled the block like a carousel horse, trying to work out the best way to get the files. He could take them from her by force, but that would be the end of any hope of Suzi being his Little girl. He’d made the mistake of saving her from herself the wrong way already. He’d do anything possible to protect their fledgling relationship.
Best he could tell, his Rosebud had been working on the files she’d gotten all night. She had no idea of the danger she was in. The Society, the Warriors, and the District Attorney General all wanted those files and were willing to do whatever it took to get them.
Deke and his brothers were doing everything possible to contain all three of those threats. Connor was at the Graceview Retreat Center talking to his contacts to figure out The Society’s next move. They had eyes on the Warriors, but they could only get so close to their compound. They’d been busier than usual the past few days. Whatever they were up to, it wasn’t anything good.
Sawyer had been on the dark web all night, tracking down any leads to information about Boucher. As far as they could tell, he hadn’t been at work that day. He didn’t have his phone, or if he did, he’d disabled all ways to track it. That meant they were working blind. Lawson was figuring out who else from the police department and the DA's office might be on Boucher’s payroll.
There were too many unknowns, especially when Suzi was in the middle of it all. She held the one thing everyone wanted. Those files could dismantle their entire operation. They knew it, and they’d stop at nothing to get them.
Those files were not Deke’s problem. Deke’s focus was on Darling’s ace reporter wannabe. Suzi had jumped into a pool that was filled with snakes, and she didn’t seem to know it. But he did.
Someone had to step in and keep her safe, and that someone was going to be him.
Taking control of the situation suited Deke just fine. He’d already decided Suzi would be his Little girl. He just needed to get her on board and make it official.
Then he could keep her safe. He wasn’t about to let anyone else do it, that was for damn sure. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his brothers at Sabre. He trusted them completely. But Suzi was his Little girl. His.
Now he just needed to let her know that.
He’d practiced what he was going to say all the way out to her house. Yeah, it had been a little before five in the morning. And yeah, he’d driven out there based on the text she’d sent him the night before. The one letting him know she was headed home.
Imagine his surprise when he got all the way out to her place, only to discover she wasn’t there. A quick scan of the video feed showed she hadn’t been there all night. She had lied to him. Something they’d be having words about shortly.
A quick look at The Daily Nugget’s camera feed showed she was still there. She had been working there all fucking night. They’d be having words about that, too. Her days of working herself into the ground were over.
He parked his SUV behind her office this time so as not to attract attention. His ride kind of stood out. It came in handy when Sabre had high value targets to protect, as the luxury armored car was practically indestructible. But it was also huge. And since it was probably one of only a handful in the entire state, it was also recognizable.
Casing the alley as he walked around to the front, he was glad to see the outside cameras were still in the right places. It was a good sign that no one had made a move on Suzi’s office yet. It was good to know someone at Sabre had eyes on her all night, even if it hadn’t been him.
He was usually the one who watched the video feed at night, a habit he’d developed during the months she hadn’t been speaking to him. He hadn’t had any other way to keep an eye on her.
In the past few months, she had become a major part of his life, more than he realized. not just in the amount of time he spent with her but also in the joy that time had added to his life.Of course, she didn’t know that he’d been the one watching her.
His Rosebud brought light to his dark days, warmth to a world that could be cold, and heat. God knew she provided the heat. Between her temper, her grit, and those gorgeous fucking curves of hers, she added plenty of heat to his day and to his dreams at night.
He gripped the doorknob, gritting his teeth when, as usual, it turned in his hand. He added that to the growing list of things they’d be having words about. At least she hadn’t left the lights on so everyone driving by could see her alone inside.
He spotted her as soon as he stepped around to the other side of the counter and almost had a heart attack. Suzi lay sprawled across her desk, unmoving, her phone resting near her hand.
Had he gotten there too late? How the fuck had The Society found out she had the information so soon? Or was this Boucher’s doing? If the man were willing to turn his own daughter over to a psychopath, he wouldn’t blink an eye at coming after Suzi.
“Suzi! Babygirl, talk to me,” he demanded as he shifted her from her desk to his arms. “Where does it hurt, baby? Tell me what they did to you.”
Pictures of all the things they could have done flooded his brain. Reaching for his phone, he was in the process of bringing up Bones’s number when she tensed in his arms.
“Wh-what’s going on?” she said, her voice groggy.
He stared into her face, looking to see if she was injured, when her eyes focused on him. For the first few seconds, her eyes flared with recognition, relief, and hope. That was definitely hope he saw, but hope for what? He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t have time to ask because, one second later, all that was snuffed out by uncertainty and outrage.
Wiggling until she could get her hands on his chest, she shoved out of his arms. Or at least she tried. Unfortunately for her, he wasn’t of a mind to let her go at the moment.
“What are you doing?” she asked, blinking up at him in confusion. “Wait. What are you doing here ? It’s not even six o’clock in the morning. Is something wrong? Did something happen? Is someone hurt? Oh god! Let me get my things. You can tell me what’s happened on the way.”
She shouldn’t have mentioned someone being hurt. Pictures of everything that Gabe and Breezy had been through in the last twenty-four hours scorched his memory. Fury at her recklessness swallowed his joy at realizing she wasn’t hurt. He grabbed her by the arm as she tried to race past him and sat her butt back down on her desktop.
“What are you doing? We need to go.”
“You aren’t going anywhere, little girl. Your friends are all fine. Everyone is all right. You need to stop worrying about them and start worrying about yourself and your ability to sit comfortably in the near future. That is a much more imminent problem for you.”
His words brought her up short. “What do you mean? Why am I in trouble?”
Was she kidding him? “Do you want me to list things chronologically or alphabetically?”
She huffed, her fists planted on her hips, ready to tell him off. But then she changed right before his eyes. Her arms crossed, holding tightly to her chest, and vulnerability darkened her eyes. “Do you promise all the Musketiaras are okay?”
It was so typical of his rosebud to be worried about everyone else when she should be worried about her own situation.
“I wouldn’t have said it if it wasn’t true. Everyone has been taken care of. Most of them are still asleep.”
She slapped her purse down on the desk beside her. “Then why, for the love of Nellie’s nightmares, did you scare me like that? I could have hurt you!”
To his credit, he managed to keep a straight face. “I think I’m safe, Rosebud. I’m here because you have something that a lot of dangerous people want. I want you to give me the files you received from Rickson Everett.”
She looked like he’d slapped her. “How do you know about those?”
“Once Breezy felt up to it last night, she told us Rickson had turned recorded conversations between himself and the General over to you. I need you to give them to me.”
She shook her head as if to clear her ears. “Give them to you? Why would I do that? No, strike that. Why would you ask me to do that?”
“I just told you. Some very nasty people want those files, and they will be more than happy to hurt you to get them. I’m not about to let that happen. The only way to stop them is for them to know that you don’t have the files. I’m sure they have eyes on this place even as we speak. When I leave, I’ll make sure they know I have the only copy and that if they want them, they’ll have to get them from me.”
She looked at him like he had just told her the Earth was flat. “I can’t do that. I have a responsibility to the public to report this. That’s how this news thing works.”
His temper flared, but he did his best to tamp it down. “Watch your tone, little girl. Do not get sarcastic with me. I’m trying to keep you safe.”
“I didn’t ask you to keep me safe.”
Deke took a deep breath. Her pitch and volume rose. She was hearing him, but she wasn’t listening.
“That’s my job, Rosebud.”
“Funny, I don’t remember hiring you. I let you talk me out of doing my job twice already. And twice, I’ve had friends suffer. I will be happy to give you a copy of the files I got once I’ve gone through them. But I am not letting you take them away from me right now.”
His neck heated. He understood her dedication to her paper. His dedication, however, was to keep her alive. She had no idea how important she was to him.
“You need to take it down a notch, Suzanna. I’m trying to help you here.”
“I know you think you are, but you can’t help me by keeping me from doing my job.”
“Suzi, do you need any help?” Carly stood in the office.
He’d been so focused on Suzi he hadn’t heard Carly open the door. When had she even gotten there? She was one more person that needed watching over because the Warriors would not play fair when it came to getting what they wanted.
“Carly, you need to go home. Take the day off or something,” Deke said.
Carly narrowed her gaze. “I don’t take orders from you,” she said. “Suzi, do you need me to call the police?”
Suzi had not taken her eyes off him. “I hope not, Carly, but I’ll let you know.”
“I needed to talk to Ezra Harper about something else anyway. I’ll just give him a call.”
“Carly, I said that won’t be necessary,” Suzi said, but Carly had already stepped back outside, her phone to her ear.
Deke raked his hand through his beard and rumbled, “This doesn’t have to be difficult. You don’t understand the trouble you are inviting into your world. I’m trying to help you. You need to listen to your Daddy.”
“You aren’t my Daddy,” she cried. “You said all that stuff
about things having to be consensual. Did you really mean it? Besides, I’m not a real Little. I want to be, but I don’t know how. I only know about being a reporter. It’s all I have, and now you want to take it from me.”
Fuck. She was killing him. He’d obviously fucked everything up somehow. Again. But he hadn’t been a Green Beret for nothing. He knew strategy. The likelihood that Boucher had contacted anyone about the files already was slim. It was time for a tactical, temporary retreat.
There was enough time to run to Deep Dive and check on updates. He’d be back once Suzi had calmed down. And if his brothers had any advice on how to get a Little who didn’t think she was a Little to listen to a Daddy who wasn’t her Daddy, yet, even better.
Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem at all. Fuck.
Deke floored the gas as he raced back to The Daily Nugget . Thirty minutes. How could everything have fallen apart in thirty fucking minutes?
His heart still thundered in his chest as he recalled the phone call he’d gotten five minutes ago. When his caller ID had shown Suzi calling, he’d hoped she’d come to her senses and wanted to talk.
He’d been about to leave Deep Dive anyway to head back to talk to her again when his phone rang. When he first answered the call, he thought she was bratting him. He could hear muffled sounds, but she wouldn’t say anything.
And then, a whispered, “Deke?” followed by a whimper had sent him on high alert.
“Suzi? Baby, what’s wrong?” After signaling his brothers to follow him, he ran to his car. “Talk to me, babygirl. What’s wrong?”
“You were right,” she breathed into her phone. “The bad men are here.”
Fucking hell.
“Where are you? Are you somewhere safe? Are you hiding in the spot we talked about in your office?”
He’d rearranged the equipment in the storage closet in her office. She now had a place she could hide. Intruders would have to pull out almost everything in the closet before they spotted her.
“Yes,” she sobbed quietly. “I’m the only one here, other than the bad men.”
Fuck. “That’s a good girl, Rosebud. You did exactly the right thing. I thought Carly was there with you.” He’d asked Carly if she was leaving and Carly had told him no. The only reason he’d left at all was that he hadn’t thought Suzi would be alone.
“I sent Carly on some errands. A few minutes later, I heard a crash. I didn’t think to look. I just ran to the closet in my office. I hid behind the stacks of paper and the folder you made, but I can hear them. I think they are messing everything up. I’m really scared. Are you here yet?”
Holy hell. How could he have left her there without protection? He’d been so sure the Warriors could know about the files yet. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since Boucher disappeared.
“I’m almost there, Rosebud. You’re doing a good job. Stay very still and quiet for Daddy, okay? I’ll be there soon. You have permission to put your phone on silence for now so they won’t hear it.”
How in the hell did he have the gall to call himself a Daddy? He’d fucked up so bad. She would never trust him now, and he didn’t blame her.
She cried quietly. “H-h-hurry. P-p-pl-please?”
He should never have given in to her about the files. He should have moved them to a flash drive and waved it around like a fucking flag for all to see. Then maybe they would have come after him and not his Little girl.
There was no comfort in the fact that he’d been less than ten minutes away from her. He shouldn’t have left her side. He made the ten-minute drive back in five. He didn’t even slow down when he got to town.
His phone dinged when Suzi texted him again. He’d told her to send him a text every minute so he’d know she was still safe. He glanced in the mirror to confirm his brothers were still behind him.
When they reached The Daily Nugget , they screeched into the back lot where Deke had parked before. Hutch, Reid, and Lawson stood with him as Sawyer used the code to open the back door. As they entered the back hall, a man with long, greasy, dark hair was rifling through the papers on Suzi’s layout table. He wore a leather cut with his patch, a flaming red skull with a snake weaving in and out of the eye sockets, surrounded by their name, Lawless Warriors. The guys spotted them immediately.
“Fuck,” the guy called out. “Company. Light it up, and let’s go.”
Deke had no idea what the fucker was talking about, nor did he care. His brothers would take care of that scum. He needed to get to his babygirl.
Crossing the layout room, he headed straight for Suzi’s office. His phone alerted him of her text as he crossed the room. When he reached the door, he yanked it open and thundered, “Suzi? Rosebud? It’s Daddy, babygirl. Can you come to me?”
The shuffling noises of her pushing papers out of the way drew his attention to the very back of the deep closet. She crawled out from behind the stacks as he stepped into the closet to meet her.
As soon as he reached her, he pulled her up into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clung to him. Her trembling enraged him even more. Someone was going to die. But he needed to shove that down for now. There’d be a time to take out all his anger on the ones who deserved it. His girl needed him to calm down and focus on her.
He encased her in his arms, willing his strength into her.
“I-I-I was s-so s-scared,” she sobbed into his neck. “All I could th-think was how m-much I needed y-you.”
Christ almighty. Her words sliced through him. “I’m here now, babygirl. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
The cries and grunts of pain coming from the other room were like music to his ears. And then a brilliant light flashed, and smoke filled the room. As soon as the smoke reached him, his eyes felt as if they were being attacked by fire ants.
“Close your eyes, Rosebud,” he rumbled, shifting her in his arms. He carried her like a fawn, lost and alone. With smoke so thick he could barely see, he raced toward the front door.
“Fire that way! Take her out the back,” Lawson yelled. Deke turned without missing a beat and headed toward the back. He had to get his Little girl out of danger.
“Hutch, Lawson, follow those assholes and see where they go. We’ll take care of them later,” Reid boomed. “Sawyer, help me put out the flames in the damn trashcans. Whatever they put in them smokes like a damn coal fire engine. I’ve got this one. You get that one.”
Deke’s eyes were on fire by the time he made it to the back alley. Where in the fuck had the Warriors gotten tear gas? As soon as he was outside, he put Suzi down and started stripping off her clothes.
“Keep your eyes closed, babygirl,” he told her as he worked off her blouse. Thank god the wind had kicked up. That would help get the tear gas, which was really a powder, off her.
“What are you doing? Stop,” she screamed, slapping at his hands.
“Put your hands by your side, little girl. I’m trying to help you. You are only going to slow me down, and if I can’t get this off you, we will have to go to the hospital.” She stilled immediately, though she still trembled like a leaf in a mountain gale.
As soon as he removed her outer clothes, he pulled her close to the water hose connected to the back of the building. He had no idea why it was there, and he didn’t care. He leaned Suzi forward and started rinsing her face and eyes with cold water.
His own eyes were on fire. It took everything he had not to wipe them with his hands. That would only make it worse.
Once he was sure Suzi hadn’t been affected by the tear gas, he stripped off his shirt and turned the hose on his own eyes, washing the powder and chemicals away. Before he finished, Reid was there, wrapping a clean blanket around Suzi and leading her to Deke’s SUV.
The roar of motorcycles was gone by the time Deke and his brothers had put out the small fires. Suzi would have to deal with smoke damage, but the office and equipment were unharmed. He’d have to call a company in to make sure the tear gas residue was taken care of before anyone could reenter the building.
He checked Suzi over as best he could. She seemed to be fine, but he’d have Doc take a look to be safe. He wasn’t taking any chances when it came to his Little girl.
She’d been mumbling something since he’d found her, but he couldn't make it out with all the noise and commotion. Now he could. Over and over, she chanted, “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
His heart broke at her words. He should be apologizing to her, not the other way around. Lifting her, he sat down and pulled her into his lap. Gently stroking her hair, he soothed her as best he could.
“Shh, babygirl. It’s all right. Everything is going to be okay. Daddy’s got you, Rosebud. Daddy will always keep you safe.”
He held her, rocking gently in his car, until she fell asleep in his arms.