Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“W e’ll meet you downstairs.” Vander shot his siblings and best friend a look they knew well.
Rhys and Easton grabbed their women. Ace and Maggie grinned. Gia looked like she was going to argue, but Saxon dragged her back down the stairs.
Hell, Vander hadn’t even heard them until the last minute. He’d been too wrapped up in Brynn.
He never let anyone sneak up on him.
When he finally had his unruly cock somewhat under control, he stepped back.
Brynn ran a hand down her ponytail and grabbed her discarded coffee mug. She drank some and moaned.
Nope, cock not under control.
“I guess I’d better go,” she said.
Excellent idea. He needed to clear his head.
She slid off the island. She was still in those tight jeans…
Eyes off her ass, Norcross.
“Come on.” He tucked his shirt in and found her shoes. He could shower after he dealt with the gang.
They headed downstairs to the office.
The women were all draped on the couches, heads together. Even his normally ‘one of the boys’ helicopter pilot had gotten dragged into the girl gang. Maggie did look happy, though, so Vander couldn’t complain.
“So, I’m Gia.” His sister sprang up, hand outstretched to Brynn. “Vander’s sister.”
“I know.” Brynn smiled and shook Gia’s hand. “I’m Brynn. Detective Brynn Sullivan.”
There were gasps from the women. Vander looked at the ceiling.
“You’re a cop?” Gia breathed. “Oh, I love this!”
“We aren’t together,” Vander growled.
“Really?” Haven asked with a frown, eyeing the Army T-shirt Brynn was wearing.
“She spent the night at your place,” Harlow said. “You barely let anyone up there, let alone women.”
Brynn cocked her head and met Vander’s gaze. “Really?”
Jesus . Vander shoved his hands in his pockets.
“And you were making out on your kitchen island.” Maggie had a donut in her hand and took a huge bite. “It was hot.”
“Oh, you think everything is hot right now,” Gia said.
“Pregnancy hormones,” Maggie mumbled around her donut.
“We are not together,” Vander repeated.
“Yet.” Brynn winked at him.
The women all traded excited looks. Vander noticed the men all averting their gazes, grinning.
“So, did you want to see some footage I have of your people of interest from Iron Wanderers?” Ace asked.
Brynn snapped to attention, morphing immediately into detective mode.
Vander found it fascinating. He jerked his gaze back to Ace. No . No thinking she was fascinating, gorgeous, attractive, or smart. Instantly he remembered those frenzied moments on his kitchen island. The feel of her, the taste of her…
Fuck . “Let’s see it.”
They headed to Ace’s office. Brynn was one step behind him, followed by Rhys, Easton, and Saxon.
“Nice set-up.” Brynn scanned all the screens on the wall.
Ace smiled. “Thanks. I’m Ace.”
“Brynn.”
“I know.” He dropped into a chair. “So, I was doing some digging around on our new MC members at the time of the shooting at the Back Corner.”
Vander watched Brynn’s lips firm into a flat line. He knew she was thinking about shooting the gunman and her downed man.
He wanted to touch her, but he let his fingers curl into a fist, instead.
Three photos popped up.
“Bender, Shotgun, and Nomad,” Brynn said.
“I’m not sure where Shotgun was at the time of the shooting,” Ace said. “But, I know where Bender was.”
A picture of the tattooed biker with a big-haired, buxom blonde filled the screen.
She was really buxom.
“Hell,” Easton muttered.
“I know,” Rhys murmured. “I’ve never seen breasts that big.”
“Her name is Cindy. She works at a brothel, where Bender spent several hours.”
They watched the biker pin the woman to the wall, face buried in her cleavage.
Brynn’s nose wrinkled. “It’s unlikely he’d be involved with targeting Trucker, if he’s spending his time getting laid.”
“It could be an elaborate alibi,” Vander said, “but I don’t think Bender is that smart. That leaves us with Shotgun and Nomad.”
Ace zoomed in on still shots of the men.
“From club gossip, Nomad spends a lot of time with the ladies as well.” Brynn gripped the back of a chair.
“But Nomad and Bender were talking with Trucker when they set the meet at the Back Corner. Still, I can’t one hundred percent rule out Shotgun.
It could be either of them. From my limited interaction with them, Shotgun is smarter, and older.
Nomad appears to be your typical biker with a dash of charm.
He wants to ride, work on his bike, party, hang out with his brothers and get laid.
He’s always smiling, but it covers some intensity.
” She shook her head. “I can’t prove anything yet. ”
Her cell phone rang.
“I need to take this.” She stepped out. “Sullivan.”
Easton straightened. “I like your woman, Vander. Tough, smart, and beautiful.”
“She’s not mine,” Vander said.
“You look at her like she is,” Rhys noted. “And you held her all snuggled up on your lap after the shooting.”
“Really?” Easton said.
Saxon just smiled.
“She…tests my control,” Vander conceded unhappily.
Easton gripped Vander’s shoulder. “Good. We all need that sometimes. You, most of all.”
“It’s dangerous. I don’t need it. My life is exactly how I like it.” How he’d carefully crafted it.
Saxon laughed.
Vander scowled at his best friend.
“Vander, you’ve watched all of us have our lives—which were what we thought we wanted—tipped sideways by our women,” Saxon said.
“And upside down,” Easton said.
“Try spun around and around until nothing looked the same,” Ace added dryly.
“I need things how they are.” Vander glanced at the doorway. “Caring for someone…I worry about what that might unleash in me.”
There . His biggest fear was on the table.
These men knew him. Knew everything he’d seen, done, waded through.
He knew he was darker, more intense, and more dangerous than anyone he knew. He needed his tight leash.
If he loved a woman… There was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep her safe.
Kill. Fight. Burn the world to the ground.
He dragged in a breath. It was a risk a man like him couldn’t take.
“You get to have a life, Vander,” Easton said. “You’ve earned it, more than anyone I know. You don’t have to be in protector mode all the time.”
Vander shrugged. “It’s the only mode I have.”
“We want you to be happy,” Saxon said. “We’ve found it, and I promise you, it’s worth it.”
Vander gritted his teeth, his gut churning. He wanted things he knew he couldn’t have.
“Just drop it,” he growled.
He saw them all trade glances.
“Okay,” Easton said.
“I have some more intel on the Wanderers,” Ace said, after a long moment. “It’s going to be a mess there, with Trucker out of action.”
Work . That’s what Vander needed. There were always assholes and bad guys to keep him busy.
Vander shifted closer to Ace. “Show me.”
* * *
“Yes, I’m fine. Thanks, Lieutenant.”
Brynn ended her call with Lieutenant Cook. He’d been checking in on her.
She looked up and saw the group of beautiful women looking at her.
Based on her background checks on the Norcross family, and Hunt’s input, she knew the tall, pregnant brunette with short hair was helicopter pilot Maggie Lopez.
The bombshell blonde was Harlow Carlson.
The pretty, slender brunette was Haven McKinney.
And the small, curvy woman with her hand on one hip was Gia Norcross.
Brynn could definitely tell that Gia was a Norcross. She had Norcross written all over her attractive face.
“So, a police detective,” Gia said. “I never pictured my brother with a cop.”
“Why?” Brynn asked. “Because he doesn’t follow the rules?”
Gia nodded. “It’s the thing I love about him. That he forges ahead and makes his own path. And it’s the thing that scares me the most about him.”
“Oh, I know he bends the rules, but if he ever breaks them, I’ll be watching.”
“Vander in handcuffs.” Harlow held up a hand. “Give me a second.”
Hell, Brynn needed a second as well.
“He’s too scary for me,” Haven said.
Maggie made a scoffing sound. “Like Rhys isn’t scary.”
“I know, but he smiles. He has light inside of him, as well as the dark.” Haven cocked her head at Brynn. “But you’re not afraid of Vander, are you?”
Brynn rocked back on her heels. These women would be a lot of help in the interrogation room. “No. I can see he’s dangerous, but I’m not afraid of him.”
A wide smile crossed Gia’s face. “I think you might be good for my far-too-intense brother. He’s used to people scrambling out of his way, or jumping at his orders.”
“I’ve no plans to do either.” Brynn had some good friends—fellow cops, a friend who was now a DEA agent—but girls’ nights out and lunch dates were rare.
They all worked crazy hours, and were dedicated to their careers.
She considered the women in front of her.
When it came to the man she was totally fascinated by, she needed all the help she could get.
“He’s attracted to me, I’m attracted to him, but he’s holding back. ”
Almost as one, the women leaned closer.
Gia nodded. “I’m not surprised. He’s always been intense and private. He can stand in the middle of a crowd and still be alone. And after the military…” A sad look crossed Gia’s face. “It hardened him.”
“He’s never had a woman at his place,” Harlow said.
Gia’s head bobbed. “Oh, yes. He’s my brother—” she pulled a face “—and I know he hooks up, but he always goes elsewhere. He never spends the whole night, and never has anyone in his loft.”
“Really?” A kernel of warmth flared in Brynn’s belly. She liked that. Too much. “We didn’t sleep sleep together. I mean we slept, but that was all. He…looked after me after things yesterday. We snuggled and slept on the couch.”
The women all blinked.
“Snuggled?” Gia said. “Vander snuggled?”
“And looked after you?” Maggie rubbed her small baby bump. “Like not just the ‘shoot someone for you’ kind of looking after you?”
Brynn nodded.
“God, I love this.” Harlow clapped her hands together.
“Me too,” Haven agreed.
“Me three,” Gia echoed.
“He’s fighting this thing pretty hard.” Brynn smiled. “But I’m planning to seduce him.”
“I really like that,” Maggie said.
Gia caught Brynn’s gaze and nodded.
Suddenly, Vander strode out of Ace’s office.
“It’s a mess at the Iron Wanderers,” he said.
Brynn nodded, switching from girl talk to work. “I expected it would be. I’ll know more once I take the temperature of the club.”
Vander’s dark brows snapped together. “You’re going back there?”
“Yes. I have to finish my job. I can’t close my case until I uncover the new dealer and take him down.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“I know it’s dangerous. I’ll be careful.”
“Someone could have IDed you from the bar.”
“We did our best to keep a lid on things. It’s understandable I’d be questioned by the police. My cover should hold.”
“Should?” He shook his head. “It’s too risky. The dealer could know you’re a cop.”
“It’s worth the risk.”
“No. It’s too dangerous and you can’t go back.”
Brynn stepped closer to him. “Are you enjoying that little fantasy world?”
His scowl deepened. “What?”
“The one where you issue orders and I follow them?”
“Brynn—” His voice was a dark growl.
She heard stifled laughter behind her.
“God, she’s perfect for him,” someone whispered. She thought it was Harlow’s voice.
“Totally.” That was Gia.
“Vander, I appreciate—” Brynn’s phone rang. She yanked it out. “It’s Hunt.”
She saw Vander straighten.
“Hunt,” she said.
“Where are you?”
“The Norcross Security office.”
“Look, your informant called. She’s totally panicked. The Iron Wanderers are in disarray. And Trucker is still unconscious in the hospital. All kinds of players are vying to take charge. Grill, the new members.”
“Our dealer might out himself,” she said.
“Yeah. Tonya is scared. She said tempers are running hot.”
“Okay, look I need to swing home, and shower and change.”
“You haven’t been home?” Hunt’s voice was not happy.
“Hunt, we have bigger problems right now. Are you at headquarters?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll see you soon. We’ll make a plan.”
“Okay, Brynn.”
She shoved the phone back in her pocket and looked at Vander.
“You’re going to the clubhouse,” he said, his voice emotionless.
“Things are a mess. It’s my chance to flush out our guy.”
Vander’s face shut down. “Right.”
Her chest tightened. She suddenly realized Vander didn’t like his people being in danger. He could handle the fear, but not the fact that he couldn’t control the situation.
But he had to accept that she could handle herself.
“I’m not going in half-cocked,” she told him. “I’m going to talk it over with Hunt.” She leaned closer, conscious of their audience. “I’ve got this. Any sign things are going bad, I’m out of there.”
His gaze stayed locked on hers.
“I have your number. If I need extra backup, I’ll call.”
“It’s not my business,” he said stiffly.
Ouch . That hurt. She could tell he was trying to freeze her out.
What the hell happened to you, Vander?
“Too bad. I’ll still call.” She waved to the crowd. “Bye.”
“Bye, Brynn.”
“See you later.”
Vander’s eyes were cool. “Goodbye, Detective.”