Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Gemini
“That’s Gopher, one of the brothers from the West Texas chapter,” I reply, my hands still running up and down her trembling body.
I’ll never lie to anyone, especially myself, when it comes to how many times I’ve thought about having Sutton in my arms, but never in my wildest fantasies was it because some fucker turned his obsession in her direction.
No, I’ve imagined running into her in our hometown and reconnecting on an adult level.
Maybe even seeing an article that featured her that told me where she was now living so I could track her down.
But a stalker? That never even crossed my mind whatsoever.
“What did you mean when you said that?” Gopher asks Sutton, who is now peering over my shoulder at him.
“I started thinking about how isolated I am living out here, with neighbors who aren’t exactly on top of each other, then it dawned on me that sitting in my car made me a sitting duck if someone was watching me through a scope on a gun,” she replies.
“Then my mind kind of took off from there and I freaked out.”
She sounds embarrassed and I let her know she has nothing to be ashamed of, because I was keeping my own head on a swivel as I looked around her house.
Hell, I didn’t even breach the threshold before I heard Mercury call out, so I have no fucking clue if he managed to get inside and desecrate her sanctuary.
If he did, it’ll be one more sin to add to his tally when it comes to figuring out how to end his miserable life.
The passenger door opens during our conversation where Pisces leans in to check on Sutton’s well-being. He listens but keeps quiet as he too starts scoping out our surroundings. If her gut is saying she isn’t safe, we all need to listen to that little voice telling us to watch our backs.
“Sutton, no reason to feel humiliated,” Gopher says before I can open my mouth and utter a word.
“Hell, I can promise you there’s no shame in healthy fear, it’s what keeps people alive.
You trusted your instincts to get you back to your vehicle and call Gemini, now trust him and his cousins to make sure everything is okay here. ”
I realize that Orion and Mercury are now walking around the exterior of her house, with the two of them looking up into the trees that surround her property, then I see Rio and Riptide head into the house with LoneStar hot on their trail.
I may not know my new brotherhood the way I do my cousins, but the Kings have a reputation that precedes them, so I know they’ll be thorough yet respectful of her space.
“Shit, Sutton, Gemini’s been wanting you where you’re at for a very long time,” Pisces teases, causing me to glare at him.
I may be short one cousin if he doesn’t shut his piehole.
The only problem is, how will I explain his absence to the aunts when they inevitably roll into town?
Because they will, it’s only a matter of time and I mentally sigh at the chaos that group of well-intentioned women will bring with them.
She freezes on my lap and I hear Pisces bite back a chuckle, which may have just saved his ass.
This time.
Because he’s bound to fuck up again. He may be the more laidback, easy going one of our quartet, but he’s not immune to sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong from time to time. Like right now.
“You’re just jealous because she chose him instead of you,” Gopher retorts, making Sutton giggle which I suspect was his reason for making the comment he did.
None of the men who traveled up to us have been around us long enough to know our dynamics, or how we truly know Sutton considering we’re new in town.
Spying motion from the doorway, I see Riptide and Rio at the doorway, fierce looks on their faces as they nod at me to join them. “Sutton, let me go see what the brothers found. Will you stay in the truck with Gopher while I do that?” I ask.
“I’ll protect her with my life,” Gopher asserts. “Go do the presidential thing while I get to know your old lady.”
I don’t correct his assumption because she’s all that and more, she just isn’t totally aware of my intentions just yet.
Instead, I slide her to the center and hop out, Pisces taking point at the passenger door as he lifts his chin for me to join the men now standing on her porch talking quietly.
Not wasting any time, I move with intention toward them, eager yet worried to find out what they found.
“Need you to see this,” Rip states before he turns and walks back into Sutton’s home. I dutifully follow because I’m anxious to discover what has him walking with purpose.
The first room he guides me to is Sutton’s bedroom where LoneStar is crouched down, his nose basically shoved into the pane of the window.
Riptide moves to the side and lets me move in his direction.
When I see what has him so enraptured, my shoulders stiffen and my temper soars.
“The fuck?” I ask as I lower the upper half of my body to inspect what I’m seeing with a keener eye. “Is that a motherfucking smiley face?”
“Sure is,” LoneStar answers, reaching up and using his nail to see if it scratches off. “It’s been drawn on the outside.”
I clear my throat and grab my anger by the scruff as I ask, “Like the shithead is saying this is where I’m watching you from? What the holy hell is he up to?”
“Not sure,” Rio remarks as he comes strolling into the room. “But the same image is on her kitchen door which leads out back as well as the small window over her bathroom sink.”
“Aren’t those the angles the photos of her came from?” Rip inquires.
“Precisely right,” Rio acknowledges. “And that lets us know where her vulnerable points are.”
“She’s vulnerable just being out here alone,” LoneStar adds. “She has no security system worth having, the only thing the one she has will do is alert if one of her doors is breached. Even that’s hit or miss, the wiring is a hack job.”
“I’m fixing to nip that in the bud,” I growl. “She can’t be here without good security or anyone around in case shit hits the fan.”
“You think she’ll be good with that?” Riptide asks. “She’s got an independent streak from what you’ve told us, do you think she’s going to tuck her tail and run?”
“After she shared her fear of walking through that door, yeah, I do,” I state.
Rio snorts before saying, “Good luck with that, brother. You have my sympathies.”
I rear back and narrow my eyes at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“When you were telling us about her and shared her background with us, you told us she all but reinvented herself, correct?” When I nod my head at him, he continues, “She’s not going to want you holding her hand, Gemini.
She built herself up and she’s not going to allow anyone to tear her down. Get my drift?”
“I’m beginning to,” I acknowledge. “But she’s paddling her way down shit’s creek if she thinks I’m gonna stand back and let her stay here without me.”
“I think, if it were me, I’d convince her to buckle down at the clubhouse with you and the others,” Rio advises.
“Why don’t we let you tell her that?” LoneStar asks, snickering. That snicker doesn’t bode well for me. I have a feeling they're finding humor at my expense and I don’t like it one damn bit.
“She’s not my woman,” Rio points out. “If she were already tagged as Gemini’s old lady, I may have a fighting chance of getting her to toe the line.”
“Does that work with Issy?” Riptide asks, humor laced on his face.
“Shut the fuck up,” Rio snaps at his cousin, and I hide the smirk from appearing on my face.
He has my sympathies since I have the same sort of issues with my family as he seems to have with his.
“Your Van is the same fucking way.” This time, it’s Rip snarling at Rio, and I quickly realize their dynamics are definitely similar to mine and my cousins’.
“Can we backtrack a little here? What do you mean if she was already tagged as my old lady you’d have a chance at getting her to do as you command?” I inquire, crossing my arms across my chest.
“Hierarchy, man,” LoneStar answers in his stead.
“With me and Rip here helping you build the club back to what it once was, we’re higher on the totem pole and what we say goes.
” He shrugs his shoulders as if he didn’t just state he’s above me in station in my own damn town and club.
“It’s not going to be that way forever, Gemini, but right now, especially since Rocco pulled so much shit and caused a lot of the goodwill from the town to dissipate when it comes to the club, it’s how it’s gotta be. ”
Still doesn’t sit right with me. I feel as if my head has been cut off before I have a chance to rise. I don’t have to like it, but I understand.
“We had the same thing happen to us when we moved to East Texas,” Rip admits.
“Fucking sucked, too, because we grew up in the West Texas chapter, but there’s always strength in numbers when it comes to the Kings, brother.
Think of it as our version of the buddy system, like you learned back in school. ”
I bark out a laugh at that one then state, “My cousins were my ‘buddy system’ growing up. Nobody fucked with us because if you went after one of us, you got all of us.”
“Just like with the Kings,” Rio reiterates. “Because nobody fucks with us, or they find themselves dealing with as many brothers as can get there, plain and simple.”
I’m beginning to see the positives of becoming part of this worldwide club.
Granted, we were a family club before our fathers died, but outside of allies, who were more interested in whose turn it was to bring the brisket and who was bringing the beer at our get-togethers, the Kings stand for something bigger.
“Hate to be the one to bring this up, but I think we need to get Sutton in here and see if anything’s missing. Based on the markings he left, he was only ever outside, but he could’ve come in too,” LoneStar states.
“What if he planted some listening devices?” I ask, the thought suddenly coming to mind. We grow silent as we begin turning in circles, trying to see if anything that shouldn’t be obvious to the naked eye stands out.
“We’ll go to town and get some equipment,” Riptide inserts. “If there have been any bugs planted, we’ll find them and destroy them. I’ll call Booker and see what he recommends, since he’s my tech guy.”
“While y’all are doing that, I’ll get Sutton and have her go through every room,” I say.
“Warn her about what she’s gonna see first. No need to set her off if you can prevent it,” Rio cautions.
I take that under advisement as we go our separate ways and I head back to the truck where Sutton is relaxed, talking with Gopher. I’m about to unintentionally light her world on fire.