Eleven
S he looked like she’d been crying all night. Had someone hurt her? Had some fucker put his hands on her? I’d kill him. I’d kill him so fucking slowly and agonisingly that he’d beg for death.
“The call to arms?” Ice barked, stepping past me while I struggled with my urge to move closer to Elise.
Stitch handed him a phone.
“We need to know who the fuck is sending these, and we need to know now.”
I fought the urge to snatch the phone, and leaned over his shoulder to read a whole barrage of incredibly disturbing texts.
Unknown : I enjoyed tossing off while I listened to your fear.
Unknown : I look forward to witnessing more of it. It gets me hard just thinking about it.
Unknown : Wherever you’re hiding out, I’ll find you.
Unknown : You sound so sexy when you’re panicking. Wonder how you’d sound with my hands around your throat.
Unknown : When I find you, I look forward to finding out how you sound when you scream.
Unknown : I was dreaming about you. Naked and begging me to stop.
Unknown : Gonna fist your lovely blonde hair while I fuck your throat, and choke you on my dick.
Unknown : Those tight jeans you wear? Looking forward to cutting them off your unconscious body.
Unknown : Ever taken a hard dick up your ass? You will. SOON.
There were more, but I had to look away before I completely lost my shit, and scared her even more.
“How long has this been going on?” I directed that question at Elise, even as Cammy looked worried, and I heard Stitch curse.
“What? Like it’s not pretty clear who in this room was tormented by this fucker? How’d they get your number, darlin’? Any friends of yours might have given it to someone?” Elise swallowed hard, looking from Stitch to me, almost like she was checking for permission to answer. I moved a step, blocking him from her view.
“Hey, we’ll find whoever fucking did this, okay?” I forced myself to turn to my Club President, before I made this any worse.
“What actions are we taking, Pres? Ice? Why the fuck are you still here? Run the damn phone.”
He glared at me. “Yeah, because you’re the boss of me.” He turned and left the room, slamming the door.
“Sorry.” I took a deep breath, and backed away from everyone, seeing confusion on my brothers’ faces, and concern on both Elise’s and Camille’s.
“I have a problem with people doing this shit. That’s uh… that’s my thing though, uh… what can I do? Tell me I’m not just here because you needed Ice back.” I needed to be doing something. I needed to be doing something to fix this. To make her feel safe. To wipe that terrified look off her face.
Stitch ran a hand through his hair, exchanging a brief look with Reacher.
“We could do with an update on what you guys found out, to be honest.”
We all looked at the women then, and Cammy groaned.
“Oh, of course, send the ladies out of the room because we’re way too delicate to know anything.”
Stitch groaned and followed her out of the room as she stormed away. Elise stood there with her arms wrapped around herself, and I just couldn’t help myself.
“You okay, darlin’?” She shook her head, and I groaned as I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around her, her body melting against mine instantly.
Reacher cleared his throat and gave me a pointed look, and I chose to ignore it because right now we both needed this hug. She needed comfort from me, because I’d seen that yearning in her eyes when she saw me enter the room, and I needed to be the one doing the damn comforting.
Even though I shouldn’t think it, I wanted her to be mine, and maybe I even kinda felt like she already was.
Elise
H e shouldn’t have risked touching me, not outside of a private room where we could lock out the world. He certainly shouldn’t have done it in front of Reacher, or where Seth could come back in and see him. The fact that he did though, that was so important to me, because he knew he was putting himself on the line, but he put me first, didn’t he?
“We’ll figure this out, darlin’. You’ll be okay, I promise.” He kissed the top of my head, and I sighed, trying to memorise the feel of his arms around me like this, the scent of him, everything that made it such a perfect moment. His touch really was soothing me right through to my very soul, and giving me the feeling of safety that I craved so much.
Reacher cleared his throat again.
“Probably don’t want your VP to catch you doing that, Has.”
He let out a heavy sigh, not releasing me even a fraction.
“Not gonna apologise for offering a lady comfort, Pres. What are we doing to keep her safe until we know more?”
Reacher cursed, and I moved in Has-Been’s hold so I could look at him too. He looked conflicted, his eyes darting to the door every few moments.
“This is going to epically blow up in your face if you’re still touching Elise when he comes back.”
I let out a hiss of anger, and pushed free of Has-Been’s arms, even though it was the last thing I ever wanted to do.
“Better? Isn’t it enough that Seth won’t let me have any friends, or anyone in my life? I just needed a damn hug and some comfort, after he pissed off Cammy and she left.”
Reacher looked like he regretted opening his mouth.
“I’m sorry, girly, I’m just trying to keep the peace here. We have a fucking serial rapist and killer in the area, we’ve lost a member of the Phoenix family to him already, you’re being harassed by someone who may or may not be the same person, and I really don’t need two members of my club beating the shit out of each other just now.”
He dropped heavily into his chair, and firmly pointed at the two chairs in front of him, so we bowed to his leadership and sat down.
“In terms of protecting you, Elise, you said you didn’t feel safe all night. Would you feel safer in another room?” Yes, Has-Been’s. I even looked in his direction, and Reacher cursed again.
“Don’t do this to me, please . I can see if Stitch wants to make up a bed in his room with him and Cammy, or we can look at reinforcing the room you’re in. Those are your options.” Wow, how firm had his voice just become? I sure as hell didn’t want to share with my damn brother and his new wife.
“My room is going to need a proper door, not that stupid flimsy thing, and I need more locks. A lot of them. Anyone could kick their way into the room with the stupid door it has.”
Reacher took a breath and glanced at Has-Been, who’d chuckled at my words.
“Nice of you to volunteer for the handyman job there, brother. Enlist someone else if you need to, as long as it’s someone who won’t unnerve Elise. Both of you know that right now we only have a few members of the club we’re certain aren’t likely to be a risk, and it fucking kills me that I can’t say that confidently about everyone in the club right now.”
Has-Been cleared his throat this time.
“I should mention that three club members red flagged last night at Rossi’s tech lair. Ice sent you the files on all three, but we already ruled Torch out. There’s no way he’s doing this.”
Reacher nodded. “I’m inclined to agree. He’s a perverted little shit, but I’ve never known him to hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it.” Yikes. I wasn’t about to rule him out, god no. He’d been in the bar last night, along with Micro. I still didn’t trust either of them, but I also didn’t know how the hell anyone might have got hold of my number.
Seth and Ice re-entered the room then, and they both looked pissed off.
“Oh god, what now?”
Ice cursed, kicking the one remaining chair across the floor.
“Someone fucking hacked my system. They’ve accessed everything; our personnel files, our financials, and that means all contact information for club members and family.”
Family as in me . Oh god. So it was a club member after all?