Chapter 18
Ronnie stared at Demon. What the hell was that? Call work and ask for a specific person? What the hell was going on here?
“What’s going on?” she asked, still watching him.
“Let’s give him a few minutes to make that call. That way I only have to go over it once.” He stepped toward her and lowered his voice. “Do I scare you, firecracker?”
She blinked. Butterflies fluttered low in her belly.
“No.”
“How long is your brother going to be in town?” His voice got softer, some how deeper. Something about it seemed to vibrate through her entire body, sending warmth curling through her to pool between her legs.
“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it. Why?”
He didn’t respond right away, but let his gaze rake down her body, then back up.
“Because I want to know how long I’m going to have to compete for your attention.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, firecracker, that I want to know when I can kiss you again. I want to know when I can touch you. I want to know that when I start something, it won’t be interrupted.
” He moved closer with each sentence, until she sat on her barstool, her head tilted back to look up at him as he stood close enough that if they both took deep breaths, they would touch.
“Kiss me again?” The words came out as barely more than a whisper. Why had she let them out? She hadn’t meant to. The hungry look in his eyes did something to her, something she didn’t understand. But it felt so good she wanted more.
“Yeah, baby. I want to kiss you again.” He lowered his head and brushed his lips across the shell of her ear. “I can’t wait to find out what you taste like without the whiskey. That little taste I got last time left me hard and wanting for hours. I want to see if you can do it to me again.”
Ronnie’s jaw dropped. Hard and wanting for hours? She’d never had anyone talk to her that way before, but she liked it. She wanted more. Now.
“Then we’re even,” she whispered. “Cause I had planned to come home and have a little fun.” Her face heated, even as she said the words.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because before I had a chance, I had company.” She tilted her head slightly toward the bedroom where the low rumble of Gavin’s voice could be heard, even if it was muffled enough by the walls that you couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Not that she was trying. Demon seemed to want all of her attention, and she was happy to let him have it. She wanted to turn her head and kiss him, but something told her he would move away before she could. She had a solution for that.
“Let’s see if it’s repeatable.” She grabbed a fistful of his t-shirt and tugged him down.
When he was close enough, she closed the distance between them, and grazed her lips against his.
It didn’t take as much as she thought, because the next thing she knew, he’d captured her mouth beneath his. She leaned into him, wanting more.
“Oh, Jee-sus.”
Gavin’s voice cut into the haze that had descended over her brain almost as soon as Demon had taken possession of her mouth.
“I don’t need to watch the two of you eat face. We have some serious things we need to talk about.”
“I take it you were able to get in touch with Wes?” Demon asked.
Ronnie frowned. Who was this Wes?
“I was.” Gavin shook his head. “Let’s take this in the living room. We might as well be comfortable while we do this.”
“You two go ahead. I’ll be a few minutes,” Ronnie said. She wanted to get the kitchen cleaned up before she went and sat down.
“You’re going to want to hear this, Ronnie,” Demon said.
That got her attention. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d called her by her name. Said it while talking to someone else, sure, but not to her. He always called her something else, firecracker usually, or baby like a few minutes before.
“You start, Gavin. I want to get the kitchen cleaned up first.”
“Babe?” Demon said. He still stood close enough that she had to crane her neck to look up at him.
“Come have the talk. Once we’re done, I’ll wash the dishes.”
She blinked at him. A man who did dishes? What sorcery was this? She watched him for a moment, not sure she believed him, but did as he asked, grabbing the file off the counter and taking it into the living room with her.
Once there, she saw that Gavin had taken her recliner, leaving only the sofa. Demon had waited for her, so she chose one end of the sofa, hoping he’d take the other so that she’d have some room to think.
Maybe she should have said something, because when Demon sat, he sat so close that his thigh pressed against hers. That was going to make it difficult to keep her mind on what she was supposed to be doing.
“All right. Let’s start with me and what I know,” Gavin said, looking back and forth between Ronnie and Demon for a moment as if waiting for one of them to protest. When neither said anything, he slid forward in the chair so he could lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees as he continued.
“Our father is an abusive ass. We both survived in his house until we were old enough to get out. I went to school, got a job away from here, and I only come back to see my sister.”
Demon laid one hand on her knee. He didn’t move it up and down, he didn’t caress her skin. Just let it sit, as if he was trying to comfort her. She listened as Gavin outlined to her when he’d come back and last night.
“I found out last night that Dad isn’t just involved with the Devils, he’s deep into debt with them and has promised Ronnie to them to cover at least part of the debt.
We didn’t know when they might try to take her, so I stayed here so she wouldn’t be alone.
” When Gavin finished talking, he took a deep breath and held it for a moment, then sat back in his chair.
“Not sure who your source is, but you’ve got much the same information I do.
I do have a little more, but the only part of it that affects what’s going on here, is that the Devils are run by Switchblade Montoya, President of the Diablos in New Mexico.
Switchblade and his crew are into human trafficking, and I’m not just talking about bringing people into the US.
I’m 99% sure that’s what they intend to do with her. ”
As each of them spoke, she’d stayed silent, listening and trying not to let the way her heart raced, and her stomach churned to show.
The hand Demon had on her knee squeezed gently, letting her know without words that he had no intention of letting anything happen to her.
As if she’d taken something, her stomach calmed and over the next few seconds, her heart eased until it no longer felt like it was trying to beat out of her chest.
“I’ve got some time coming. I’ll put in for it all,” Gavin said, “maybe I should put in for a transfer so I don’t have to leave when it’s up.”
“What are you talking about?” Ronnie asked.
“I need to be here. I need to make sure you’re safe. If that means coming back to Tucson, I will.”
“How much time do you have?” Demon asked.
“At least a couple of months. I’ll have to check to be sure.”
“I have a couple of questions, if you two don’t mind?”
Gavin didn’t say anything, just looked at her. Ronnie turned to Demon.
“That depends on the questions. I won’t know until you ask them.”
Demon watched her for a long moment. Before he had a chance to ask anything Opie hopped onto the far end of the couch and made his way over Demon’s lap to hers.
“Hey, baby. What have you been up to?” She scratched him under the chin. “Did you need to say hi to everyone?”
He wove his way around her hand for a moment then went back the way he came, over Demon’s lap, pausing for a moment to sniff at his vest for a moment then he went back to the other end of the sofa.
Ronnie watched as he went up onto the arm of the couch and made the hop from the sofa to the arm of the recliner. He curled around Gavin for a moment then curled up in his lap and went to sleep.
“Why does Opie love you more than me?” she asked.
“Opie?” Demon asked.
“Yeah, she named the cat after her favorite TV character.” Gavin shook his head as he ran one hand from the top of the cat’s head, down his back and along his tail, only to start again.
Ronnie held her breath, waiting to see what Demon said. He looked at her and lifted his brow. After a moment, he looked over at Gavin, shook his head and took a deep breath.
“Back on topic.” He turned to look at Ronnie again. “You couldn’t wait to get out of your dad’s house, why do you work for him?”
“I’ve been asking her that for years,” Gavin said.
“I don’t know.” She looked away, not wanting to see the judgement in Demon’s eyes. “I think it started as a way to get his approval. If I worked hard enough, if I contributed enough, he would see that I’m not just the worthless female he told me I was for so many years.”
“Jesus, Rica. I didn’t know he was saying those things to you.”
“He never said them when anyone was around, not where anyone could hear him. Anyway. I wanted his approval. After a while, I became determined to prove to him I could take over the business. No matter what he threw at me, I took it, and I handled it.” She shrugged and focused on the clock on the far wall.
The three yellow, capsule shaped characters looking terrified never failed to make her smile.
This time even she could tell the smile was thin.
"Guess I failed." She looked at her brother, refusing to acknowledge the tears pooling in her eyes.
"What do you want now? Do you still want to take over the business or give it up?”
“Maybe the industry entirely, and do something else?" Demon asked.
She turned and focused on him for a moment before she answered.
"I don't know. I never thought about doing anything else. Well not since junior high when I wanted to be a writer.” She let one side of her mouth tip up.
"I don't think anyone, except maybe a teacher has asked me what I want since I was a kid.
Does it make me sound stupid to say I don't know what I want? "
"No. I don't think so, it’s not stupid not to know what you want to do.
Especially if no one ever asked you or if you've never thought much about it," Demon said.
The hand on her knee squeezing again. "Think about it. You’re young, you can do anything you want.
" He turned to face Gavin. "As for making sure she's safe, I'll help.
I've also got a plan to put an end to this for good, but you'll have to trust me.
" Demon watched Ronnie's brother waiting for his reaction.
Gavin was silent for a moment, then scraped his bottom teeth across his upper lip.
"I asked my boss if he knew any thing about Moore when I called earlier.
" He scrubbed one hand over his face. “He had nothing but good to say about him.
Then I talked to Moore. Told him what you said too.
He said if you gave me that info, then I can trust you.
He said you're on the right side even if it doesn't look like it.”
He let his gaze skim down Demon and backup. "I don't like Rica getting mixed up with a wannabe biker."
Demon tensed. She felt it everywhere he touched her, from the leg pressed along the length of hers to the hand that sat on her knee. She reached over and covered his hand with hers.
“I’ve been on my own for a long time,” Ronnie said, looking at Gavin.
“I’ve been making my own decisions for even longer.
I appreciate you coming all the way down here to help me.
But I don’t need you liking or not liking who I see.
And if you’re going to be nothing but a judgmental ass, then you can go home.
I’ve got enough to deal with, with all this.
” She motioned toward the table still covered in files.
“I don’t need to manage an ego that’s been overdosed on testosterone too.
” She didn’t look at Demon. She wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t want to see his expression as she let her brother know that she wasn’t the child he left behind when he left for college.
It wasn’t that she didn’t think he knew that but sometimes they fell into old habits when he came home, and he’d never been around much since she had been on her own.
Gavin dropped his head, letting it hang for a moment before he spoke.
“You’re right. You’re right. I’ll try to keep my comments about your choices to myself.” He lifted his head and met her gaze.
“That’s not what I’m saying. I don’t mind you telling me what you think.
I value your opinion on most things. But you bring those opinions and concerns to me.
You don’t try to scare people away from me by doing the big, bad, older brother routine.
” She kept her hand on Demon’s, the weight of both reminding her not to get up and knock some sense into her brother.
“He’s not good enough for you.”
“I know that,” Demon said with a snort.
She turned and looked at him, eyes wide. Why would he say he wasn’t good enough for her?
“But I figure I could be the next president or next in line for the throne of the United Kingdom, and I still wouldn’t be good enough, so why not try?
Why not go after her? If I’m lucky, she’ll settle and then I can spend the rest of our lives proving to her how much she means to me.
” Demon didn’t look at her as he spoke, instead looking at Gavin.
But he wasn’t ignoring her. He’d released her knee and turned his hand over in hers, weaving their fingers together as if he was letting her know that together they were unbreakable.
Ronnie liked that thought. Not the whole thing about not being good enough. Given time, she’d show him otherwise, but the part about being unbreakable as long as they held on to each other.
But was that what he was thinking? They’d barely kissed a couple of times, maybe she was reading too much into this.