Chapter 17
Lynch
As soon as the words left her mouth, I took hold of her hand and led her down the hall. When we reached one of the empty red rooms, I guided her inside and closed the door. "You're playing with fire out there."
"Oh, yeah?" A spark flashed through her mischievous eyes as she sassed, "What are you going to do about it?"
"Oh, no. It's not what I'm going to do about it." My eyes locked on hers. "It's what you're gonna do about it."
I slipped my arm around her waist and pulled her close.
The wanton look in her eyes got to me in a way that I hadn't expected, and I nearly came right then and fucking there. I reached under her skirt and trailed my fingers along her bare thigh up to her center.
I smirked as I eased her panties to the side and slipped two fingers inside her. A wave of gratification washed over me when I found her soaking wet—which left no doubt that she was just as aroused as I was.
She planted her hands on my shoulders, bracing herself as she waited for me to make her come.
I didn't—at least, not yet.
Disappointment marked her face when I removed my hand and stepped away from her. I didn't say a word but simply started unbuckling my jeans, and that sinful look in her eyes returned. Her breathing grew ragged with need as I pulled out my throbbing cock and began stroking it.
Raelyn ran her tongue along her bottom lip, and that was it.
I was done.
I had to be inside her, and I pulled her over to me.
She removed her panties, then lowered herself down on my lap, straddling her knees on each side. She reached down between us and took me in her hand. She wrapped her fingers tightly around my hard, thick shaft and began stroking me, which had me instantly on edge.
A slight hiss slipped through my lips as her fingers found their way to the base of my cock and guided me to her entrance. Our eyes met as she lowered herself, taking me in inch by inch until I filled her completely.
I didn't know what it was about Raelyn, but she got to me in a way that no woman ever had. There was something about her scent, the way she moved and spoke, and the feel of her skin beneath my fingers that drove me fucking wild.
I'd found the one, and I wasn't ever letting her go.
I gave her more than she'd bargained for in that red room, and when we were done, I took her home, where we spent the remainder of the night tangled in each other's arms.
The next day brought us both a much-needed break.
After sleeping until almost noon, I called and checked in with the boys. All was clear, so I decided to spend the day with Raelyn. She ordered some takeout, and we spent the afternoon watching movies.
Later that night, we crawled into her bed, and it wasn’t long before Rae had snuggled up next to me with her head on my chest. She hadn’t been lying there long when she whispered, “I like being with you.”
“That’s good because I’m not planning on going anywhere.”
“Good.” She grew silent, and I was beginning to think she’d drifted off to sleep when she glanced up at me and said, “I never meant for this to happen. It just did.”
“This?”
“You and me.” Unable to look at me, her eyes drifted to my chest as she admitted, “I tried to keep things casual, but it’s too hard. I like you too much, and now I’m falling for you, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”
“I hate to break it to ya, babe, but this thing between us is anything but casual.”
“So are you feeling the same way?”
“I’m not going anywhere, Rae. And if I have anything to say about it, neither are you.”
I didn’t give her a chance to respond.
Instead, I lifted my hand up to the back of her neck and pulled her to me as I pressed my mouth to hers. Rae’s lips were warm and soft, and each swirl of her tongue made the blood rush straight to my cock. It wasn’t long before I reached for the hem of her panties.
Rae had me tangled up in ways I never dreamed possible, and I found it hard to believe that she didn’t know the effect she had on me.
But I spent the rest of the night making sure she finally understood.
The following morning, I woke to the sounds of Rae shuffling around her bedroom. I opened one eye and watched as she slipped on her jeans. She looked so damn beautiful I couldn't resist saying, "Hey, you. Get back in bed."
"I wish I could." She sat down just long enough to put on her shoes. "I'm supposed to meet my mother."
"I didn't realize it was that late."
"It's still pretty early. It's not even eleven yet." She sounded hopeful when she added, "You wanna tag along? I'm sure she’d love to meet you."
"I appreciate the invite, but I can't swing it today." I sat up in the bed and tossed the covers back. "I've gotta run by my place to grab a few things, and then I have to get over to the clubhouse."
"About that. How are things going with all that?"
I pulled on my boxers and asked, "Something on your mind, babe?"
"Just wondering how long I'm going to have to deal with my little shadow." She motioned her head towards the window. "He's been here for days."
"He's there for your safety."
"But my safety has never been an issue before," she pushed. "What's changed?"
"You're with me now." I stepped in front of her and slipped my arms around her waist, pulling her close. "And that changes everything."
"Okay, but—"
"No, buts." I leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. "It's his job to make sure you stay out of harm's way, and that's what he's going to do."
"Whatever you say, boss."
"Boss, huh?" I chuckled. "I like the sound of that."
"You would."
She gave me a playful shove, then finished getting dressed. After Raelyn grabbed her purse and keys, I followed her downstairs and out to her car. She opened the door and was about to get inside, when she looked back at me and asked, "Are you sure I can't talk you into coming with me?"
"Afraid not."
"Well, it's on you if I don't make it out of there alive."
She laughed, then closed the door and waved at me.
Seconds later, she was backing out of the parking lot and heading into traffic. Once she was gone, I got on my bike, and Fritz, Davies' replacement, followed as I rode out to my place. Fritz came inside and waited while I took a hot shower and changed into some clean clothes.
After I made us both some coffee, I gathered up extra clothes and threw them into my saddlebags. Once I had everything I needed, we headed over to the clubhouse. I don't know exactly what spurred the feeling, but I knew there was trouble the second Fritz and I pulled through the gate.
We both parked and were walking towards the front door when Jagger came charging out with Shotgun and several of the other brothers following close behind.
They all looked frantic as they rushed towards Shotgun's SUV.
I was about to ask them what the hell was going on when Hawk called out to us. "Sophie's office is on fire!"
"Is she okay?"
"We don't know yet."
"What the fuck?"
He didn't say anything more. Instead, he got in the truck and slammed his door closed. Seconds later, Shotgun hammered down on the accelerator and barreled through the front gate.
Fritz and I rushed over to our bikes and raced to catch up with them. We were two blocks away when I spotted the smoke billowing into the sky. It was dark and looming, and I had no doubt that Jagger had seen it, too.
I could only imagine what he thought when they pulled up to his ol' lady's office and saw it overtaken in flames. As soon as we parked, Jagger bolted towards the front door. As he ran, he shouted back to us, “You see any sign of Collins?”
Collins had been prospecting with us for almost six months. He was a big guy with a big personality to match. If he was close, we would’ve known it. Shotgun was running behind Jagger when he answered, “Not seeing him!”
“Fuck!” We were enveloped in smoke as we followed Jagger up to one of the firemen. He sounded panicked as he asked, "Do you know if everyone is out of the building?"
"We don't know anything yet, but we're—"
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Jagger asked frantically. "My ol' lady could be in there!"
"We're doing everything we can." The fireman pointed over to the street as he said, "The best thing you can do is back up and let us do our job."
"What job? You're just standing here." Jagger pointed to the fire behind them as he shouted, "You should have your ass in there looking for Sophie! That's your fucking job!"
"I'm gonna need you to calm down, sir."
"I'm not calming the fuck down! Sophie might be in there!"
Jagger gave him a shove, then charged up the steps. We'd all seen the dark, thick smoke pouring through the front door and knew Jagger would never survive if he made his way inside. I couldn't let that happen, so I charged after him, tackling him just before he made it up to the front doors.
By the time we hit the ground, Fritz and Shotgun were at our side, making sure Jagger didn't try to do anything stupid.
When he tried and break free from my hold, Shotgun knelt down next to us and said, "I know this shit is fucked up, brother, but you're not helping Sophie or anyone else by gettin' yourself killed. "
"I have to get to her!"
"You don't even know if she's in there," Shotgun argued.
"But what if she is!" He started thrashing from side to side as he cried, "I can't lose her. I have to do something!"
I tried to keep my voice steady and calm as I said, "We're here with you, brother. We're gonna help you do whatever needs to be done, but you've gotta chill the fuck out so we can do so. You got me?"
"Yeah, I got ya."
He stopped fighting me and took a deep breath.
Once I was certain he’d settled down, I released my hold and helped him to his feet.
We all moved away from the door and back down to the curb.
Hawk placed his hand on Jagger’s shoulder.
“I’m gonna go over and talk to some of the others.
See if anyone might’ve seen Sophie or Collins. ”
“Thanks, brother.”
We all took a moment to search the crowd that had gathered around the burning office building, making sure that we saw no sign of Sophie or Collins, but none of us spotted either one.
Our attention was drawn back to the office building when several firemen came barreling out the front doors, releasing even more smoke and ash into the air.
One of them removed their facemask and took in a deep breath before telling his buddies, "It's clear. There's no one left inside."
"What?" Jagger stepped over to him. "Are you sure there was no one inside?"
"Yeah, man. It was clear."
"Damn." Jagger looked around for any sign of Sophie. "Then, where the hell is she?"
"You tried calling her?"
"Called her about a hundred times on the way over here. Collins, too." He took out his phone and dialed his number. After waiting several seconds, he shook his head, "Neither of them are answering."
Jagger was growing more frantic by the second, and it didn't help matters when Hawk stepped up behind us and said, "I just talked to some of the girls who work with Sophie, and none of them saw her this morning. Not even the girl who works the front desk."
"Then, where the hell is she?"
"I got no idea." Hawk was scrambling for answers. "When was the last time you talked to her?"
"This morning. She said she had to go in early to get some paperwork done."
We weren't getting anywhere with all the back and forth, so I suggested, "We could have Menace try and track her phone. Maybe then we can figure out where the hell she is."
"That's exactly what we should do." Hawk gave me a pat on the shoulder. "Good thinking, brother."
Hawk took out his phone and dialed Menace's number.
As soon as he answered, he filled him in on the situation, then waited as Menace tried to locate her phone.
Firemen continued to work feverishly to get the fire out while we all stood there in the street waiting for Menace to give us some idea of what happened to Sophie.
Unfortunately, he wasn't much help.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Hawk finally grumbled, "You gotta be fucking kidding me. That’s all the way across town."
Hawk was silent for a moment, then said, “Good deal. Thanks, brother.”
As soon as Hawk hung up the phone, Jagger roared, "What? Did he find her? Does he know where she is?"
"He was able to ping her phone," Hawk huffed. "He's about to text me the address."
We all waited with bated breath for the message to come through on Hawk's phone. As soon as he hung up, he looked down at the address and asked, "You got any idea why she'd be over by Riverfront Park?"
"No fucking clue.”
“Then, I guess it’s time we find out."
Jagger nodded, then turned and started for the SUV.
We all followed, and moments later, we were on our way to Riverfront Park.
There wasn't much to the place—just a large grassy area and walkway next to the Cumberland River.
Folks use it for open-air concerts and various events, but I had no idea what Sophie would've been doing there at this time of day.
None of us did.
As soon as we pulled up, we all parked and started looking around.
Nothing seemed to be out of the norm.
It was a beautiful afternoon, and people were out enjoying the weather.
Several were strolling along the bank while others were sitting on the steps. I hoped one of them might be Sophie, but sadly, she was nowhere to be found. After searching every inch of the place, Jagger threw his hands up in the air and shouted, “Where the fuck is she?”
“I have no idea, brother. It doesn’t make any sense.” Hawk immediately called Menace. He turned on the speaker, then said, “She’s not here.”
“She has to be,” Menace argued. “I’m sitting here looking right at her location on the map. She’s right on the edge of the water.”
“Sorry, brother, but you got your wires crossed or something.”
“I’m texting you the exact coordinates. Use them to find her.”
Once Hawk got the coordinates, we followed them over to the bank. After a little maneuvering, Hawk was able to move to the exact location Menace had sent.
That’s when we spotted the cell phone resting on top of the rocks.
Jagger sounded absolutely gutted as he bent down and picked it up. After studying it for a moment, he shook his head and muttered, “It’s hers. Goddamn it! It’s hers.”
“Does this mean what I think it means?” Fritz asked.
“I know it doesn’t look good”—Hawk shook his head— “but this isn’t the time to jump to conclusions.”
Jagger was on the brink of losing it when he growled, “There’s only one conclusion to be made.”
“Don’t worry, brother. We’ll find her,” Shotgun assured him.
“Damn straight, we will.” Everyone in the park stopped and stared at Jagger as he turned to them and roared, “You fucked with the wrong man! When I find you, and I promise I will find you, you’re as good as dead!”