Chapter 14 Nic
FOURTEEN
NIC
I watch the stunned look ripple over her face. Disbelief gives way to panic, then shock, as if she can’t believe I would say that and mean it. I don’t think she realises she’s already leaning into me, or that her fingers have curled into the front of my kutte.
Or that she’s trembling.
Fuck, she looks terrified. Not of me—of whatever promise she thinks I’m dangling in front of her. Does she think I’ll give her everything and then snatch it away later?
Not happening.
I didn’t plan to say any of that. Not right then. Not with her already walking on a knife’s-edge. But once the words were out, there was no taking them back. I don’t know how she slid past my defences so quickly, but she has. Somehow she’s deep in places I didn’t know still had room for this.
I want to take care of her in a way I never have with anyone before. I want to know if she’s eaten. That she’s warm. That she slept okay. I want to fix her pain. And I want to protect her from whatever fucking nightmare her brother walked her into.
“Come on.” I nudge her toward the side door. The hallway is too cramped and there’s a chance of being interrupted. I don’t want anyone to step between us while I’m doing this.
We step outside into the courtyard, the walls of the clubhouse surrounding the small square of concrete I’ve never given a fuck about.
Until now.
It’s weird, but this nothing space in my clubhouse feels like ours now.
Keeley stops just before the bench, her arms around her middle like a shield.
Yeah, I hate that. I’m not what she needs protecting from.
“Sunshine… look at me.” The plea in my voice would usually piss me off. It doesn’t with her, especially not when her eyes lift to mine.
I cup her face so I have her attention. And because I want to feel her skin against mine.
Need to.
“This ain’t new,” I say, my thumb stroking the side of her jaw, grounding both of us. “I’ve been takin’ care of you since the minute I pulled you out of that cage. Nothin’ has changed.”
She swallows, as if she’s forcing down every bit of panic she walked out here with. “I didn’t know that. I mean… I knew you were doing some things, but—”
Her words die, and for once that sharp mouth of hers is not spitting jokes or sarcasm.
I should tell her I won’t push or do anything she’s not ready for. That’s the right thing to do. The Nic thing to do. Keeley needs a second to catch her fucking breath, but I’m not walking away from whatever we’re building here.
Not because she’s scared of what it means or she thinks I’m here out of duty. Not for any reason.
So I don’t open that door. I don’t give her the chance to say no. I’m not a patient man, not when I decide I want something.
And I want her.
Not because I feel guilt or shame or whatever fucking reasons she thinks. No, she’s not a fucking project or something I need to solve.
She’s just mine.
I dip my head close until my lips hover over hers, not touching, but so close I can almost taste her. Fuck, I want to grab her face and kiss her until she’s breathless.
Her eyes flick to my mouth, then back to me. Panic is still there, but it’s tangled with something else now
“Nic.” She breathes my name like a fucking prayer.
I’m so fucked. I’ve never wanted something so badly. Not the club. Not the gavel. Not a single fucking thing, but the promise of this kiss sitting between us.
“I’m done pretendin’ this ain’t happenin’. I want you. Ain’t fightin’ it anymore.” My voice is a low rasp I don’t recognise, and fuck, it’s taking everything I have not to close the distance between us, not to take what I want from her.
Keeley’s fingers curl into my kutte, holding me here. That’s all the permission I need. Fuck being noble. Fuck waiting.
My control snaps.
I slide a hand around her waist, pulling her against me as I take her mouth. Her breath is hot and sweet as it mingles with mine. I swallow her surprised gasp, even as I warn myself to slow down, give her time and let the ground steady under her feet.
I’m too far gone to listen.
The world narrows to her and this moment. The clubhouse could fucking burn to the ground and I’d still be standing here, hand on her waist, taking everything she’s giving me.
Her fingers tighten in my kutte, pulling me closer, and my pulse kicks hard under my skin. She fits against me perfectly, like she was always meant to be here.
I break the kiss only because my lungs are screaming for air. My chest is heaving. So is hers. Her lips are parted, swollen from me, and she blinks up at me, dazed.
Fuck. I like her like this. Soft and flustered. I keep my hand wrapped around her hip, gentle but firm enough to keep her grounded in this.
“You alright?” I ask, because now I need to hear her say it. I need to be sure we’re on the same page.
“I—Yeah.” She blinks. “I just… wasn’t expecting that. Was it okay?”
A smile tugs at my lips. “Sunshine, it was perfect. So are you.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes. “I’m pretty far from perfect, Nic.”
I fucking hate the way she shrugs it off, like the compliment means nothing. I wish she would see herself the way I do. Wish she could feel my heart racing in my chest. Her brother made her feel like nothing and I’ll spend however long it takes proving that wrong.
The door creaks open behind us. Keeley jolts, as if we’ve been caught doing something we shouldn’t. My hand stays on her hip, keeping her where I want her.
“Prez?”
I stare down at her, still flustered, pretending that kiss didn’t knock the breath out of her the same way it did me. “Sunshine?” Her eyes lift. Good. “We’re not done here.”
“We have an audience,” she murmurs, glancing around me. “I don’t want to traumatise him.”
I cut a glance over my shoulder at Diesel. Despite what he just walked in on, there’s nothing on his face. No judgment. No disbelief. No interest. Just that tight indifference he wears for everyone but Makenna.
“You want somethin’?”
“Need a word,” he says, then adds, “It won’t wait.”
He turns and heads back inside.
Never a fucking moment’s peace in this place.
I press a knuckle under her chin, and her eyes meet mine. “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere.”
There’s a flicker of surprise before she covers it. “You don’t have to—”
“I’ll be back,” I repeat.
Then I brush my mouth over hers again, this time more gentle than I thought myself capable of.
She leans into me, warm and soft under my touch, her moan swallowed by the kiss. I wish I could take it slow, explore her the way I want to, but I keep it short. Just enough for her to know I mean what I say.
Then, with monumental effort, I step back from her.
“Two minutes, sunshine.”
Walking away feels impossible, but I force myself to. Diesel’s waiting inside my office. He’s leaning against the wall, his boot pressed against the plaster behind him. His gaze lifts when I shut the door behind me, but his expression doesn’t change.
Good. I don’t want to explain what he walked in on.
“Talk to me.”
“Found something on Morozov.”
My muscles lock at the mention of that prick’s name, especially with Keeley’s taste still on my tongue. “Tell me.”
“He’s a rich prick, and I mean real rich, Nic.
He owns most of London’s real estate and has been buying up chunks of Birmingham like he’s building an empire.
Shares in some of the biggest companies on the planet, friends in high places, wealthier than a lot of countries—and that’s just the shit I could find. ”
None of that is surprising. But the leap from businessman to crime lord is. No one trades finance bros for backroom deals where the currency is breathing.
“You’re tellin’ me this guy went from buyin’ million pound penthouses to sellin’ women?
” There will be nowhere for him to hide if he’s buying up my fucking city using Keeley as currency.
Disgust twists my lips into a sneer. I just can’t get my head around it.
“Why? It doesn’t make a lick of sense. He’s got more money than he could spend in a lifetime. ”
Diesel shrugs. “Excitement. Boredom. Who knows why men in suits do anything?”
“It’s a hell of a leap from boardrooms to sellin’ humans.”
Fuck, even saying it makes me want to puke.
I think about Keeley in that cage and what would have happened to her if we hadn’t found her. I think about how scared and how brave she’s been. I think about her in a dark room being auctioned like a product. I think about that kiss and how it’s changed everything.
Morozov was going to die anyway, but now I’m going to make it hurt.
Red films my vision before I can blink it away. “If he’s doin’ that shit here—” I don’t finish that sentence. I don’t need to.
“One deal doesn’t make a pattern.”
“One deal that we know about,” I mutter darkly.
Diesel’s tongue taps against his teeth. Once, twice, three times. I let the silence stretch until he’s ready to speak. “He’s dirty as fuck,” he says slowly, “but he’s careful too. Knows how to hide in plain sight. If he’s done more of these… arrangements, they’re buried deep.”
My stomach churns. There could be more women like Keeley. More cages.
We’re not saints. The Sons do a lot of bad shit, but we don’t sell women into that kind of fucking nightmare. And I won’t have that shit in my city. Not now. Not ever.
I rub my temple, feeling the headache building behind my eyes.
Thirty seconds. That’s all I fucking got. Thirty seconds of something good before the whole damn city started burning again.
“Walk me through it,” I say. “How’s Morozov connect to that basement, to Keeley, and to Blade? What proves it’s him pullin’ the strings and he ain’t just some middleman with more money than fuckin’ sense?”
Diesel pauses. “The building we pulled Keeley out of? I couldn’t find anything at first. No owner, no lease, no landlord. Not a single company registered to the address, past or present. It’s like it didn’t exist on paper.”
My brow’s pinch. Everything has a footprint, especially since digital became a thing. It takes power, means, and cash to be a ghost in the world today.