Chapter 4
Kiersten
I’d lost them, but I had no idea how to fix it.
I thought the Sinner men would be blown away by what I had to offer, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.
I needed to act fast, to come up with something that would convince them to stay, but nothing was coming to mind.
It didn’t help matters that the hot guy from the bar was staring at me again.
With every step, I could literally feel the heat of his gaze on my skin, and knowing he watching my every move made it impossible to think straight.
I had no one to blame but myself. I should’ve known better than to pick some guy up at a bar.
It was just another one of those things that were completely out of character for me, and it had come to bite me in the ass.
And to make matters worse, I knew in my gut something wasn’t right—that there was something familiar about him and I was stepping into trouble, but I let my overactive hormones get in the way.
In my defense, I never would’ve dreamed that he was one of the men I’d seen on the Ruthless Sinner’s surveillance footage, but there he stood and holy cow.
The man was even hotter than I remembered which was hard to believe since I was so incredibly attracted to him that night, and apparently, I was still incredibly attracted to him.
I couldn’t even look at the man without remembering how amazing his hands had felt on me.
Yep. There was no doubt about it. The man was a distraction—a big, whopping distraction, and that was the last thing I needed, especially now when there were millions of dollars at stake.
I knew the Sinners had doubts about going into business with me, but I wasn’t ready to throw in the towel. “Is there something in particular that you are concerned about?”
“Oh, I’m more than just concerned.”
“About?”
“Everything.” Hawk inhaled a deep breath, clearly trying to collect himself before saying, “You got people living here, and they come and go as they please. That shit is enough to make us walk, but the fact that you’re out here in the wide-open like this is pure insanity. You’re a sitting duck.”
“Just so we’re clear, the people who live here work for me.
This is their livelihood. I trust them, and they trust me.
It’s no different than you and your club.
” There was so much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t.
I’d given my word to keep certain aspects of my work under wraps, so I simply said, “And we have security. More than you might think.”
“Not the kind you need with all this high-dollar equipment and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs.”
I wasn’t exactly surprised by his concern.
I had a feeling from the minute he walked through the door Hawk was going to be my biggest challenge, and I was right.
I was trying to think of a way to ease his concern when I felt my phone vibrate in my back pocket.
I quickly pulled it out, and relief washed over me the second I looked down at the screen.
I read the message, then looked back to Hawk and said, “Riggs wanted me to tell you not to worry. We have a state-of-the-art security system.”
“Riggs?”
“Yes, I think you might know of him. He’s a member of Satan’s Fury.”
“You gotta be shittin’ me.”
“Satan’s Fury is the buyer from Memphis that I mentioned yesterday. I wouldn’t have ever given his name or his club’s name if he hadn’t given me the okay to do so.”
“And they’re good with the security here?”
“Riggs put in the system himself. Even put in a large generator to make sure it stays up and running when the power goes out. He’s thought of everything.”
“Clearly.”
I pointed to one of the hidden cameras and waved. “He knows how important today was to me and has been watching since you arrived.”
“I gotta say, I’m surprised.”
“I thought you might be.” I walked over and grabbed one of the hidden remotes. “Riggs added some special features to our security system to help us out in case anything were to happen. I think you will be impressed by it.”
I pushed the red button, and the hidden compartments above the windows opened.
Seconds later, the light in the gymnasium started to dim as the bulletproof panes came down and covered each of the windows, sealing us in.
I couldn’t help but think of the movie I am Legend every time I saw those thick metal panels come down from the ceiling.
It felt so surreal, and I wasn’t the only one who was impressed.
It was clear from their impression, all four of the Sinner men were equally blown away by Riggs’ special set up.
Menace walked over to get a better look at one of the coverings over the windows and said, “Damn. I gotta admit... This is pretty fucking cool.”
“Yeah, until they come down and lock the wrong person inside.” Hawk turned his attention to me as he asked, “What are you going to do when that shit happens? You gonna give them some of your miracle pot?”
“I’ll handle it,” Braylon answered as he stepped through the side door. “Along with Timms and Duggar. We’re all ex-military and have no issue handling whatever comes our way.”
“What about the cops?” Hawk pushed. “How are you gonna handle them?”
“The police here aren’t an issue,” I answered.
“The cops are always an issue.”
“Well, we live on a nature preserve, so they have no reason to disturb us.” I could tell by his expression, Hawk wasn’t convinced, so I added, “Besides, the deputies here are under a great deal of stress and need a way to unwind.”
“Hold up.” Hawk’s brows furrowed. “You’re selling to the fucking cops.”
“I didn’t say that.” I shrugged as I repeated, “I said they were under a great deal of stress.”
“Unbelievable.”
I took a step towards Hawk as I said, “Look, I get that you and your brothers have your concerns and I’m sure many of them are justified. But you’ve come to see how we run business, so please, stay and see the entire process. I believe that in the end, you will be glad you did.”
When he didn’t immediately answer, Menace gave him a pat on the shoulder and asked, “What do you think, brother?”
“I think we will be wasting our time, but we came prepared to stay so we might as well stay.”
“Great.” I tried my best to hide my excitement as I said, “I’ll show you to the guest quarters, and we can meet back up after you’ve gotten settled in.”
“Sounds good.” Hawk looked up at one of the security cameras as he told me, “Tell Riggs I’ll be in touch.”
“Of course.”
I pressed the button on the remote to disengage the security brigade, then showed the men back to the front parking lot.
After they grabbed their things, I took them across the grounds to the guest house.
It was a little bigger than the other houses on the property with a large kitchen and living room, and four bedrooms. Once I’d given a brief tour, the men dispersed to their chosen rooms.
One by one the doors closed behind them—all except one. Country was standing in his doorway, and he was glaring at me like I was enemy number one. “Did you know?”
“I didn’t.”
“Well, I didn’t have a clue.” I felt even worse about the whole situation as I admitted, “I would’ve never... you know, had I known you were a Sinner. I’m actually surprised you thought I did.”
“Why wouldn’t I? I mean, come on. You were laying it on pretty thick that night.”
“What?”
“You asked about places to stay or sights you needed to see. It was all a crock of shit” His face was void of expression which made it difficult to tell if he was being serious as he said, “You live thirty minutes away.”
“I was making small talk, Country. That’s what people do. They talk. They flirt. Blah blah blah.”
“Flirt? Hmm... Guess that explains why you were all over me.”
“What!” I gasped. “I was not all over you!”
“Yeah, you were and you know it, but I don’t blame ya.” A mischievous smirk crossed his face as he arched his back and ran his hands over his muscular chest. “I’m quite the catch.“
It took all I had not to laugh—not because what he said wasn’t true. It was, but the playful way he was poking at me helped to ease the tension I’d been carrying around all afternoon. “You’re an ass.”
“Yeah, I’m that, too, but don’t hold it against me.”
“I’ll try my best.” We stood there for a moment, just looking at one another, until I finally said, “Well, I guess I’ll go and let you get settled.”
I gave him an awkward wave, then rushed out of the house and back over to the main office to find Braylon.
I wanted to take a minute to fill him in on everything that had transpired with the Sinners—including my conversation with Country.
When I walked in, he was sitting at the desk going over our numbers for the day, but put them aside the second he saw me walk into the room. “Well, how do you think it’s going?”
“Couldn’t be going much worse.” I walked over and sat down in the chair beside his desk. “I think I’ve handled this whole thing the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?”
“I should’ve never done the whole cryptic email thing.”
“I tried to tell you that.”
“I know, and you were right. They don’t trust me or anything I’m doing here.” I dropped my head into my hands. “I should’ve just gone to their clubhouse and met with them face to face. I certainly shouldn’t have had sex with one of them.”
“Hold up... You had sex with one of them?” he gasped.
“Afraid so.” I lifted my head from my hands just long enough to say, “Remember me telling you that I met someone at a bar?”
“Oh, damn.”
“Yeeaaahhh. I screwed up.” I lowered my head back into my hands. “I should’ve known I couldn’t do something like that without it coming back to haunt me.”
“There’s no way you could’ve known the guy was a Sinner.”
“That’s just it!” I looked back up at him. “I should’ve known! I’ve been watching that security footage for weeks now. He’s been on there a hundred times, but it never crossed my mind that it could actually be him sitting at that bar.”
“Did he know?”