Hold Back (Biker Daddy Bodyguards #5)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

RED

Red Baxter scowled at the three men in front of him.

“This interrogation…whatever this is…it’s bullshit.”

He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. He fixed his gaze on the fake plants behind them. They were large and ostentatious. Red preferred his real plants, some old, and lopsided, shoved in all corners of his apartment. Not as a feature, but because he loved them.

“It’s a job interview, Mr. Baxter, not an interrogation,” the giant on the left said.

Interview, my furry ass.

The guy who spoke was around forty, built like a giant, handsome, severe features, with long dark hair, graying at the temples. Red knew him. Quinn Ryder came with a reputation.

The one in the middle with the almost buzz-cut was Craig Booker. Younger than Quinn but looked like a man you didn’t want to cross. Red didn’t know him, but knew he was Quinn’s sidekick in the Biker Daddy Bodyguards.

Stupid name.

His traitor mind pointed out that he knew it though.

The redhead he didn’t know, but by the way the other two deferred to him, albeit mockingly, he could guess. Dominic Cook, co-owner of CDR, the high-end security firm in whose conference room he sat. He looked as if he could do with a week’s sleep, dark smudges under his eyes, his mouth pinched.

The guy had just become a dad again. No wonder he was exhausted. Red didn’t know much about babies, but he could remember his sister swearing babies were designed to break you. He’d decided early in life that he’d be a willing guncle, but babies were for handing back.

Cook gave him a bored look, like this conversation was a waste of his time. Red knew just how he felt. “We’re offering you a job. Monaghan’s has given you a great reference.”

Red grunted.

Booker turned to Cook. “Were we all as annoying as this?”

“Pretty much. You all said no.”

“He didn’t listen to us, either,” Quinn grumbled.

Red watched the funny guys…that was sarcasm…

play out in front of him. “I came for an interview for a bodyguard position at CDR.” His collar suddenly felt as if it was choking him, but he resisted tugging on it.

He hated suits. Why did he even bother? He wanted to be in his leathers, riding to the mountains.

He’d believed the interview was for protection detail until the minute he walked into the room and spotted Quinn Ryder.

“Uh-huh,” Booker said. “It is a bodyguard position.”

“I know who you are.”

“Good for you,” Quinn drawled, clearly unimpressed. “Could you try telling my boy. I haven’t seen him for months.”

“Where is he this time?” Cook asked.

Quinn grimaced. “You know where he is. Quickfire is taking care of him as I couldn’t travel. You wouldn’t let me go.”

Quinn Ryder’s boy was Cade Connolly. Red knew that as well as half the world did. Front man of the biggest pop band on the planet, Daysance, and a talented artist, ConC, Cade Connolly never stopped moving.

“Griff?” Booker asked.

“Yeah. He’s already called to tell me Cade was upsetting Jemmy and needs a good spanking.”

Booker grinned. “Like we all know that. What did you say?”

“That I’m the only one to give good spankings and if my boy played up, Griff had permission to stick him in a corner and leave him there all evening.”

Booker burst out laughing. “Cade is gonna make you pay for that.”

“I’ve no doubt he will. When I finally see him.” But Quinn’s affectionate expression told Red that he couldn’t wait.

Red ignored the pang of jealousy at the fact Quinn had a boy.

So did Booker. It had been a long time since Red had been in a relationship with anyone, let alone a boy.

He’d shut that part of his life away years ago.

Since the day his boy had walked out of their home and into the arms of Red’s best friend, taking his Daddy’s heart with him.

Red cleared his throat. “If we’re done here?”

“We haven’t told you what the job is yet,” Quinn pointed out. “At least give us the time to hear us out. If you still say no, we’ll understand.”

*cough* “Bullshit.” *cough*

That was from Booker.

Cook sighed and rose to his feet. “I’ll leave this with you, Quinn. I have a meeting with Angel Securities, and I’m jetlagged and haven’t had nearly enough coffee to deal with Josh Cooper. Mr. Baxter, I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

Red doubted it but he shook Cook’s hand and watched him stride out of the room, wishing he could leave with him.

“Red.”

Red turned his attention to Quinn as Booker topped off their cups, not bothering to ask whether Red wanted a refill. Like any bodyguard would turn down a caffeine intake.

“May we call you Red? I’m Quinn, this is Craig.”

The other man inclined his head.

Quinn continued. “Look, Red. You know who we are. More to the point, what we are. We know you’re a Daddy too. This saves a lot of time.”

Red shook his head. “I’m not a Daddy.”

“You may not have a boy, but you’re still a Daddy.” Quinn’s hard brown eyes turned bleak. “It’s hardwired in you.”

Quinn could believe what he liked. Red had stepped away from the Daddy community a long time ago.

Craig leaned forward. “We have a situation and when we saw your résumé, we knew we had a solution to the problem.”

“Explain.”

“First, tell us why you want to leave Monaghan’s. You’ve been there a long time.”

Red thought about all the excuses he could use. I need a fresh start. Monaghan’s is going through a difficult time. What came out of his mouth was totally unexpected. Because it was the truth.

“My former boy just became my boss. It ain’t working for me.”

Both men nodded, but there was no pity in their eyes. Red would have hated that and walked out on the spot. No, all he saw was understanding. He guessed there was an advantage to talking with like-minded men.

“We did some digging,” Quinn said. “If you hadn’t told us that, it would have been the end of the interview.”

Red huffed. “So all I needed was to lie to get out of here? Geez. You could have told me that earlier.”

Craig burst out laughing and Quinn’s mouth quirked in one corner.

“We got us another Mo,” Craig said to Quinn.

“Mo Carstairs?” Red asked.

“You know him?”

“I know of him,” Red corrected. “I was on Joseph Holden’s team.”

Joseph was Mo’s billionaire bratty boy and had been a godawful nightmare until Mo took him in hand. Red had heard a lot about Mo on the grapevine. They were similar in many ways.

Monaghan’s had taken the rare decision to sack Joseph as a client to save their sanity and dumped him in CDR’s and the Biker Daddy Bodyguard’s lap. It had been an inspired move and one much appreciated by his former security team.

“Thoughts and prayers,” Quinn murmured.

“Don’t worry, we won’t put you on Joseph’s detail,” Craig added.

Red shrugged. “A job’s a job. I’m just a grunt, not a team leader.”

He didn’t understand the pause as both men looked at him, then each other.

What was that look for?

Quinn flexed his fingers. Red noticed how large his hands were. They could deliver a firm spanking. He didn’t know whether to pity or envy Cade.

Quinn seemed to be searching for the right words. “The Biker Daddy Bodyguards are not the same as most security operations.”

“You mean you fuck your clients,” Red said bluntly, not surprised when both men scowled at him.

“The only man I fuck is my boy,” Craig snarled.

“Likewise. My boy, not yours,” Quinn added when Craig turned on him. “Seriously, Red. You know better than to say something like that.”

Red raised an eyebrow. “I know you. I know who you guys are. And I know why you chose me. But I’m not interested. I stepped out of the Daddy scene a long time ago as you know.”

When my boy walked away from me. My heart couldn’t take that kind of hurt again.

“Find someone else to manage your boy,” he ended.

“He’s not so much a boy as a tattooed, pierced, glitter-loving chaos demon with no sense of self-preservation,” Craig muttered.

Red furrowed his brow. He’d heard something like that description before. A tattooed, pierced, glitter-loving chaos demon? It was kinda specific. Where had it come from?

Quinn pulled a folder toward him, but Red was done with this performance. It didn’t matter who the guy was. Chaos demon or not, he didn’t want to take care of a boy. His heart wouldn’t let him. Red stood, rolling his shoulders. “All I want is a job. Booted and suited.”

Quinn pressed his lips together. “I’ll refer you back to Dominic. He focuses on the regular security detail.”

“You could just look at the folder,” Craig suggested.

“Look at me. Do I look like the Daddy for a glitter demon?”

“Yes.” Quinn and Craig said simultaneously.

“You boys need to get your eyes checked.”

And Red walked out on that note, walking, not running, because he’d seen the name on the folder and that told him all he needed to know.

Christopher Monroe

Yeah, fuck it. He was running. And they never needed to know why.

Red headed for his favorite bar, needing to change out of the suit, and shed the bodyguard persona, becoming Red again.

It was mid-afternoon and few customers were in the bar.

He liked this place, quiet and unpretentious, the staff willing to leave the customers alone with their drinks.

Red changed in the restroom, careful not to get his suit anywhere near the floor.

Then he headed over to the bar where Aaron grinned at him.

The only concession to decoration was a string of fairy lights around the expensive bottles on the shelf behind Aaron. This was a pub to relax in, not to be seen.

“Early finish, Red?”

“Interview. Didn’t get the job.” He didn’t feel like explaining that he was the one who’d walked out.

Aaron’s expression was pitying and somehow that made him feel worse.

“I’m sorry, Red. Do you want me to call Bruce?”

“No, don’t bother your Daddy.”

Bruce was Red’s best friend from way back when, and Red knew Bruce would drop everything if Aaron called. He was always loyal to his friends.

“I can drown my sorrows by myself just fine. It’s okay. One drink, I promise,” Red said, as Aaron opened his mouth to object. “You know I don’t drink to excess.”