4. Bones
BONES
Ihadn’t slept a wink.
I’d spent the entire night fixating over Elsie’s fucking date.
I wanted to know if she’d had a good time with him, if she’d laughed with him, or if she’d told him the stories she’d once told me.
I wanted to know if he’d fucking touched her, kissed her, or made plans to see her again.
The rational side of me knew it was not my concern.
Elsie had every right to go out with whomever she wanted.
But my irrational side believed Elsie was mine, and it had me tied up in knots and unable to sleep.
I was tired of tossing and turning, so I decided to just give it up.
I got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.
After I turned on the shower, I took off my clothes, then stepped under the hot stream of water.
In a matter of seconds, I could feel the tension in my body start to dissipate, but sadly, it did little to distract me from how incredible Elsie looked when she left for her date.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Elsie staring at me with one of her heated looks, and it only made my cock ache even more.
When I couldn’t take it any longer, I reached down and wrapped my fingers around my thick cock, then slowly started stroking up and down.
My breath quickened as I imagined Elsie in my arms. Her body close.
Her breasts pressed against my chest. One thought led to another, and it wasn’t long before I was imagining her in my bed with her little whimpers and moans echoing through the room.
Everything about her had me spiraling more and more out of control.
Her smile. Her voice. Her scent. Fuck. That’s all it took.
My breath caught, and I came long and hard.
I hoped it would be enough to take the edge off and to ease the tension that was building in my gut, but as I stepped out of the shower and started drying off, I quickly realized the knot in my stomach was still there.
I knew then it was going to be a long day.
I threw on my clothes, brushed my teeth, and headed to the conference room to meet up with Big. We were meeting with Cotton and the others to discuss the intel we’d gathered, but there was just one problem.
The intel was useless.
All of it.
“We’re wasting our time. We’ve been through all this.” Big tossed one of the files across the table as he huffed, “If there was something to find, we would’ve already found it.”
“I thought you guys found something with the cameras.”
“It was another dead end.” Big motioned his hand over the stack of intel we’d collected over the past few weeks and groaned, “It’s all just a bunch of dead ends.”
“He’s right.” Big and I spent days going from one camera to the next, but each and every one of them ended up being a waste of our fucking time.
They were either no longer in service or belonged to someone in the area.
I lowered my head in shame as I pushed my chair away from the table.
“We’ve been over and over this shit, and there’s nothing to be found. ”
“I think it’s time we changed our perspective on things.” Maverick stood and started pacing back and forth as he said, “Instead of focusing on what we don’t know, let’s focus on what we do.”
“Not sure I’m following,” Big answered.
“What do we know about these guys?”
“We don’t know shit,” Q grumbled.
“That’s not true.” Maverick stopped pacing as he said, “We know they hacked into our server, and not just anybody could do that shit.”
“Yeah, and even after we shut them down, they were still able to keep eyes on us.” Big leaned back in his chair as he added, “They had to be watching Q and Rooster. There’s no other way they could’ve gotten to them so easily.”
“Hey... Ho. There wasn’t anything easy about it,” Rooster argued. “We made them work for that shit.”
“Oh really?” Maverick cocked his brow as he teased, “’Cause from what I saw, it looked like they ran you off that fucking road like a couple of girls on a blind date.”
“Whatever, brother. Last time you got rammed was in your bedroom, and I doubt you took it any better than we did.”
“Focus, boys. Focus,” Cotton fussed.
Rooster and Maverick exchanged a couple of disgruntled looks, but both knew better than to say anything. The room fell silent until Stitch finally mentioned, “They had access to one of the portside warehouses.”
Big ran his hand over his beard as he added, “And they had to have eyes on it, too. Probably on both the entryway and the actual warehouse. It’s the only way they knew we were coming.”
“But how are they pulling it off?” I ran my hand over my face with frustration. “I mean, I get having security cameras on site, but on the road? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Unless they’re cops,” Two Bit grumbled under his breath.
“I doubt Harris or Daniels have anything to do with this.” Cotton shook his head as he grumbled, “Hell, those two can barely tie their fucking shoes.”
“Well, they can tail with the best of ‘em,” Clutch complained. “Harris followed me for almost an hour. From work to the gas station, and then on to the house. It was weird.”
“Now that you mention it, he followed me around for a while last week,” Rooster confessed.
“Daniels tailed me for a while the other night. He was parked outside the construction site and followed me home. Did the same last night.” Guardrail turned to Cotton as he said, “It’s doubtful that they have anything to do with this, but you gotta admit, the timing is awfully suspicious.”
“Yeah, it might be time for us to have a conversation with our men in blue.”
“I think you might be right.” Cotton turned to Stitch as he said, “You and Wrath go have a chat with Daniels and see if you can get anything out of him.”
“You got it.”
I wasn’t surprised that Cotton wanted them to start with Daniels.
He and Cotton had history that dated back long before my time.
His son had run into some trouble, and Cotton called in a favor and made it disappear.
Since then, the two had been allies of sorts.
If there was something to tell, I had no doubt that Daniels would tell it.
Stitch and Wrath stood and walked out of the room, and Two Bit was the first to ask, “And what about us? Anything you need us to do?”
“Stay on high alert.” His tone softened as he added, “I know it’s quiet. I know it might seem like these guys have given up and moved on, but I think we all know that’s not the case.”
“Yeah, we don’t have luck like that,” Maverick scoffed. “These guys are out there, and it’s only a matter of time before they rear their ugly heads. But you don’t gotta worry, Prez. We’ll be ready when they do.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” With that, Cotton turned to Big and me. “You two have been at this for weeks. It’s time for you to take a break and step away from this shit for a bit.”
“Nah, we’re good, Prez,” Big argued. “We don’t need a break.”
“It’s not up for discussion.” Cotton’s eyes narrowed. “You’re done for the day. You can start fresh tomorrow.”
Big gave him a nod. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“Church is dismissed.”
Cotton stood, then immediately followed Guardrail and Maverick out of the conference room.
I sat there for a moment, trying to steady the mix of guilt, shame, and all-consuming anger that was brewing in the pit of my stomach.
Even though I knew Big and I had done everything we could possibly do, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d let the brothers down, and that didn’t sit well with me.
In fact, it had me all kinds of fucked up.
Sensing my distress, Stitch came over and placed his hand on my shoulder. “This isn’t over, son. We’ll find ‘em.”
“I know.” I glanced up at him as I said, “I just hate we haven’t been able to track them down.”
“Tomorrow’s a new day.” He gave me a fatherly pat, then said, “Go get away for a bit. Blow off some steam and clear your head. It’ll do you good.”
I nodded, then stood and walked out of the room.
Without saying a word to anyone, I continued down the hall and out to the parking lot.
I was on edge and in dire need of some lengthy wind therapy, but as luck would have it, it was too fucking cold for the Harley.
Having no other choice, I got in my truck and drove through the clubhouse gate.
As soon as I was on the open road, I hammered down on the accelerator and sped down the old, winding road that led to my house.
My head was all over the place.
One minute I was thinking about the guys and what was going on with the club, and then, I was thinking about Elsie and how incredible she looked when she left for her fucking date.
It was just another twist of the knife. I hated that I’d let things with her get to this point. I had no one to blame but myself.
At first, I didn’t think anything of the draw I felt towards her.
I thought it was just a really strong friendship. It wasn’t until the night of Savage’s birthday party that I realized our connection was something more.
Savage had just patched in, and the brothers were hell-bent on showing him the night of his life.
They’d packed the place with friends, ol’ ladies, and hang arounds.
Some were playing beer pong, while others were busy shooting darts or playing pool.
All were drinking heavily, and while it looked like a great time, I wasn’t in the mood to get wasted.
It had been a long, fucking week, and I just wanted to sit by the fire and clear my head. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. I was on my way out the back door when Rooster shouted, “Yo, Bones. Get over here and play a round with us.”
“Sorry, man. I’m heading out.”
“Come on, brother.” Rooster nodded over to the beer pong table as he complained, “These girls are kicking my ass! I’m pretty sure they’re cheatin’.”
“We’re not cheating.” Elsie giggled as she told him, “You just suck.”
“And they’re mean, too!” Rooster shook his head. “Damn. I need your steady hand to help me turn things around.”
“Fine, but only one round.”
“One round is all I need.”