CHAPTER 12
RYKER
The sound of my phone ringing has my eyes popping open. Even though I’m awake and aware, the last fucking thing I want to do is let go of my woman. I’m wrapped around her and I was having the best dream.
I let the feeling of her in my arms warm my chest.
Then the sound fills the room again and Ezra sits up straight and wheezes out, “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
My eyes are wide as I look at her with surprise.
“I’m going to crawl over you to get to your phone if you don’t answer it right now,” she grits out the words and even though I can barely see her, I can see the threat in her eyes.
I don’t look away from her as I grab my phone and answer it without looking, “Speak.”
There are only a few people who would call me at this time of night anyway. And only if I was really needed.
“Carnie spotting,” Playboy whispers into my ear like I’m his fucking lover and I scowl.
“Why the fuck are you whispering?”
“Oh,” he hums, “it just felt more clandestine. You know, like I’m doing some real spy shit.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and try not to snap at my brother while Ezra is watching me with a wary expression on her face. “I can’t believe I’m having this conversation right now,” I mutter.
“Sidewinder will be outside your door in about three minutes now since we’ve had this very enjoyable and amusing as fuck conversation,” he informs me and counters at the same time before hanging up.
“Fuck,” I grunt.
When I look at Ezra, there’s no fear in her eyes as she tilts her head slightly. I close the distance between us and kiss her forehead. Her eyes slide closed and it makes my chest ache.
“The carnie’s been spotted. I’m heading out. We’ll figure out what he knows and assess if there’s a threat,” my voice is steady.
“Then what?” Her question isn’t small, there’s a weight of understanding and something more, something like resolve.
“Then we see where we are,” I tell her.
It’s the only thing I can offer her. She nods once.
“Okay.” She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
I should be moving, but I can’t. Not until I know it won’t destroy what we’ve been piecing together.
It’s fragile.
Precious.
Worth protecting.
As if she knows why I haven’t moved, her voice fills the space between us, low and sure, “I understand that there are things you won’t ever tell me.
I’m okay with that, but if I need to know then I want to know.
I don’t doubt your ability to protect me.
” She reaches out and runs her finger along my eyebrow; her touch is intimate in a way that completely kills me.
“I hope you can trust me to be worthy of your secrets.”
“Teach,” my voice is a gentle rasp. “I’m not worried about you keeping my secrets and it has nothing to do with worth.”
“Good,” she nods before flopping back into bed.
“I gotta say, I don’t envy the fact that you’re climbing out of bed.
Just remember that I’m naked in your bed right here,” her voice turns mischievous, the edges of sleep starting to creep back in now that she knows she can relax.
“Go and see about what you need to see about.”
Something warm moves through my chest.
“Yeah, I’m not getting out of bed quite yet.”
She pops one eye open and looks at me. I swoop down and kiss her. Hard. She moans and I know the moment she wants to pull me closer to her, forgetting that I can’t stay.
“Titus,” my name on her lips makes my cock throb while I let out a low growling groan of approval and frustration before pulling away from her.
“Keep the bed warm for me,” I rumble.
The sigh of contentment she lets out almost has me pulling the door open and telling Sidewinder to grab someone else. But I can’t do that. I pull clothes on quickly before sticking my feet in my boots and lacing up. I don’t pull on my cut.
Not tonight.
When I open the door, Sidewinder is already standing there. His arms are crossed across his chest and he’s staring at the wall. He looks at me and something like regret passes over his features for a moment.
It doesn’t make any fucking sense, but he murmurs, “Lets get going before Playboy calls me again. I hate fucking talking on the phone with him. Why does he have to make every conversation into some production?”
Since I’m anxious to get this shit going, I grunt and head away from my door. Every step feels wrong and I fucking hate it.
I should be in bed with my woman. I should be wrapped around her. I should have her hair trying to strangle me slowly while she drapes her smaller body over mine.
“Playboy said he’s in an RV at the fairgrounds,” Sidewinder tells me. “Omen is following right behind us with the van.”
With a nod, I get on my bike, fire it up, and head out with Sidewinder. It takes longer than I’d like to get to the fairgrounds and I’m thankful the area where the RVs are parked, even though they’re thinning out, is on the backside of the lot.
“Tell Omen to bring the van around back,” I tell Sidewinder after we climb off our bikes.
He grunts, which is more than enough for me as we seek out Playboy. The moment I see him, I roll my eyes.
Playboy is practically bouncing on his toes, his hands rubbing together like he’s a movie villain understudy. He looks ridiculous. And far too excited for our little mission.
I’m not surprised.
He’s a damn good enforcer and his…excitement when it comes to getting the show on the road is one of the reasons why.
“Fucking hell,” Sidewinder bemoans next to me.
“Hey,” Playboy hisses in admonishment, “that’s not nice.”
“But fucking accurate,” I deadpan.
Playboy just shrugs and shoots me a look that tells me he won’t be changing any time soon. Not like I would want him to. We keep him around for a few reasons, not all of them have to do his ability to do his job.
He points to something that might have been a bus once upon a time, but it now looks like it’s more rust than anything else. I might have to think about a tetanus shot. And I haven’t even stepped inside yet.
Sidewinder eyes the structure, if you can even call it that, with a wariness which is completely warranted. “You’re saying he’s in there?”
“Yup,” Playboy confirms and I swear he’s about two seconds away from whistling.
“I’m not sure all three of us can even go in there safely,” Sidewinder muses.
“It does look a little suspect,” Playboy admits.
They share a look and then they’re trudging ahead. I stay in the shadows, and it doesn’t take more than a few minutes for them to come out with a man dangling between them. His eyes are wide and wild as he looks around, but he can’t make a sound with the duct tape covering his mouth.
Where the fuck did they even get duct tape?
Playboy winks at me as they pass. I keep an eye out, but don’t see anyone around, as we approach the van.
“Don’t wink at me, brother,” I tell him out of the corner of my mouth. “It’s fucking weird.”
“It’s not weird,” he counters. “It’s kind of funny. Maybe a little sexy.”
“I don’t find a damn thing about you sexy,” I grit out. “I don’t even know why you’re bringing that shit up.”
Sidewinder opens the back doors of the van when we reach it, and they throw the carnie in with a thud which has me glancing around. No lights flick on; no one seems to take any notice.
“Get him back to the clubhouse,” my voice is rough.
As I look at the man, I know he won’t be difficult to break. Call it a sixth sense. Call it intuition. Call it reading the fucking room.
He’ll break and it won’t take as much pressure as he hopes it will.
When I walk into the wet room, the man is tied to a chair in just his boxers. He looks terrified.
It makes sense. He should be afraid.
Nothing about this room indicates he’s going to make it out of here alive.
But he’s already babbling before I even have the chance to really look at him, “I don’t know what this is about. I haven’t done anything to the club,” there’s a plea in his voice.
My lip curls. Pathetic.
Playboy makes a tsking sound and shakes his head while pushing off the wall. This part of the warehouse is under lock and key. No one can get in if we don’t want to let them in.
It’s been retrofitted to be easily cleaned without leaving anything behind to find. Because if you’re going to dance with the devil, you need to understand what is at stake and how to protect yourself.
I learned from Jackal and then I made sure to do exactly what he did—surround myself with men who I knew I could count on to do their jobs well. And, if the look on Playboy’s face is anything to go by, enjoy them.
Playboy looks like he’s in his element. The only thing for me to do is take his place against the wall.
“Why were you following a woman the last night of the fair?” I ask the question, the only one that matters. The one that’ll get this party started.
He blinks a few times, like he’s cataloging my question against any number of things which could have led him here. “The blonde?”
My jaw clenches and I can feel the muscles of my neck straining. What I don’t do is say anything.
“Right,” he nods like a fucking bobble head. “Of course, the blonde one.” He tries to shift on the chair, but he’s not very successful.
Playboy punches the man in the stomach who then makes a very undignified sound. I look at my brother who glances at me and shrugs.
“What?” He tries to defend himself, “I figured we could just move this along a little bit. He was taking too long.”
I roll my eyes and I don’t even have to look at Sidewinder to know he’s doing the same damn thing.
The carnie coughs and then wheezes, “She saw us. I was meeting with a guy, Bobby. It was all set up before, for the dog. Been training it, making it mean. Better for the fights.”
My stomach drops as everything I was afraid of becomes crystal clear.
“It’s not the first dog I trained. I made big bucks last time and wanted to do it again. I have the time,” the carnie says the words like they’re no big deal.
Maybe to him they’re not.