Chapter 18 Nic #2
I kiss her carefully—at first. Then, when she leans in a little I deepen it. Everything goes quiet the moment our lips touch and I claim her mouth like I don’t know how to breathe without this.
Because I don’t.
I take everything she gives me, grateful she wants this too. Wants me.
I didn’t think I’d get anything this good. Never in a million years. I wasn’t even chasing it. I had the patch, my brothers, the life I built around me and I never knew I was missing something vital until Keeley.
Now?
I’m already mentally mapping what our world will look like. Sunshine. Fuck, she has no idea what she’s awoken. That first night she tried to escape and we drank together was the moment of no return. I didn’t recognise it then, but I was already half-buzzed on her.
Keeley’s mouth is soft and searching against mine, like she thinks I might snatch this back. Not a chance.
Everything drops away from me, but this moment.
There is no weight on my shoulders, no Russians trying to undermine my authority, no club to save. It’s just me and her. Just her fingers brushing against my stomach as she kisses me, like she’s learning the shape of us through our mouths.
I pull back slowly after I’ve taken my fill of her—for now. It’ll never be enough.
She’s still leaning into me, boneless almost. Keeley has no idea how easily she could break me.
“That one get into your top five?”
Her eyes roll. “Still cocky,” she murmurs, holding a back a real smile this time. She tilts her head, thinking. “I’d say that kiss moved to seventh place, maybe eighth.” She says it so seriously, like she’s really thought about it.
I rub my thumb over her swollen lips before I brush my knuckles over her cheek.
“Just means I still got work to do to impress you, sunshine.”
Fuck, I want to stay here, in this moment, but I hear boots approaching, see Mace close behind us and I know my time is up. I don’t want to leave her, not for a second, but I have to.
I have to become Phoenix—president. It’s the only way to protect Keeley.
My hand wraps around her nape, my forehead pressing to hers.
“Stay with the girls. I’ll be in my office if you need me. Don’t fuckin’ leave.” That last part comes out sharper than I intend, but I need her to hear it, need to know she’s not going to disappear the second my back’s turned.
“I won’t.”
“I mean it, Keeley. Don’t make me come lookin’ for you again.”
“I’ll stay,” she promises. Her lips curve into something soft and brittle. “Pretty hard to leave when you keep kissing me like that. Gives a girl an incentive.”
“I’ll keep doin’ it then.” I brush my knuckles over her cheek and then I stand slowly from my crouch.
Mace is waiting for me, my brothers too. He watches me carefully as I approach, cutting one final glance at Keeley as the girls surround her. They won’t let her run or get too deep into her head.
That helps.
“Plan?” Mace asks.
“I gotta make a call and then church.”
I don’t wait for his answer. I head to my office and the second the door is shut behind me, I open my contacts list and hit call on one name.
He answers on the third ring. “What do you want?”
Of course, he answers like a pissed off teenager. Not that I’d ever say that to him. Kane Fraser is a fucking psychopath. Poke that bear and risk losing fingers.
“Got a job for you.”
There’s a beat of silence before he speaks. “And what makes you think I’m in need of work?”
“Oh, this ain’t gonna feel like work. You’ll enjoy it.”
I hear a woman’s voice in the background, soft and gentle. Probably his wife. He murmurs something low to her before he comes back on the phone.
“I’m listening.”
“I got a Russian problem.”
He snorts, but there’s not really humour in it. “If this is about a woman, you’d be better off calling one of my brothers. I don’t do relationships, Nic.”
That’s a lie. Everyone knows Kane is soft for his wife. She might be the only person on the planet he lets his control slip for.
Didn’t get it before. Now, I do.
“Not a woman. A Russian oligarch by the name of Demetri Morozov. He’s tryin’ to make a name for himself, throwing his weight around like his name means something.”
“Birmingham is not London,” he says. “I don’t care what is going on in your little patch of territory.”
I expected he might say that. “No, it’s not, but the club gives you a straight route through the city into the north. He gets control and those wheels I grease for you are suddenly stuck or costin’ you more to keep movin’.”
There is a beat of silence, not because he doesn’t know how to answer me, but probably because he’s trying to calculate how fast he can get to Birmingham. “That sounds close to a threat, Nic.”
“It’s a friendly warning. If this prick gets entrenched in my city, we lose the gateway to the north. All those carefully planned trade routes and county lines disappear.” I let that sit before I continue. “Ain’t askin’ you to come down here with guns and men, Kane.”
“So what are you asking for?”
Right. Get to the reason I’m calling one of the scariest motherfuckers on the planet.
“Every direction we’ve taken has hit a wall.
” It pisses me off to admit that. I don’t like feeling out of my depth, but I am.
And pride gets Keeley taken. “He’s got legit fronts, but that ain’t his real wealth.
Need help findin’ where he’s stashing it.
I got some links, but not what I need.” I lean against my desk, suddenly tired.
“This ain’t just about me or my club, Kane.
This shit with Morozov… it’s personal. He’s comin’ after my woman. ”
There’s silence on the line for a moment. I press the phone harder to my ear, waiting, hoping. Two seconds from getting on my knees if it protects Keeley.
“Why?”
“He made a deal with a patch, one of Crank’s boys. That deal had her as the insurance if shit went sideways.”
I don’t need to explain shit definitely went sideways. He already knows. Wouldn’t be calling him otherwise.
“And now you want to hit him where he hurts, right?”
“I wanna fucking destroy him,” I admit in a vicious growl. “He shot into my clubhouse.”
Silence stretches down the line. “That’s bold.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “Look, Kane, this cunt ain’t breathin’ whether you help me or not. He’s got a buyer lined up already for my girl. Ain’t lettin’ that happen.”
“Morozov is Bratva?” He’s the second person to bring that up.
“Wants to be.”
There’s a pause. “Send me everything you already know, even if it’s only a suspicion. I’ll call you as soon as I have anything.”
My shoulders relax just a fraction. The Frasers have reach even the club can’t manage and that might just be the thing that helps draw Morozov out or gives me a lead on where he is. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” he says. “You owe me for this.”
“I know.”
“And Nic? You get a sniff of Morozov breathing in my direction, you tell me. I don’t want to be caught unaware.”
“Yeah, I will.”
I end the call, sliding my phone back onto my desk. Fuck. Fraser is club-adjacent because of his relationship to Nox’s sister, but still. The man’s a loose cannon with more than a few wires loose.
I just unleashed him in the middle of all of this to protect Keeley.