Chapter 3
Jenny
My curiosity was killing me as Priest led me into a room where the officers of the club, and Seek were waiting.
I really wanted to know what he was going to tell me before we were interrupted.
I’d fallen asleep every night for almost six months wondering why he’d suddenly pulled away.
As much as I wanted to know, I was sort of afraid, too.
If he told me something like I was too plain Jane to be an old lady it would break my heart.
Then Caitlyn had interrupted and now I had even more questions.
Who was she? Why was she here? It was obvious she wasn’t speaking to anyone since she hadn’t uttered a single word, but she’d looked at Priest with such trust and hero worship it was hard not to see she felt safe with him.
That made me slip a little further down that cliff I was teetering on.
Trying to find my balance around Priest was damn near impossible.
One wrong move around him and I was going to tumble head over heels in love with him and that would be a death sentence to my heart and most likely my ego.
He’d told me he planned to finish telling me what’d happened months ago when he broke it off, but that didn’t mean that he wanted me.
I couldn’t allow myself to get my hopes up, it was just too dangerous.
I needed to guard my heart around the man or I’d lose it and never get it back.
“What the hell took you so long?” Priest’s vice president asked, glaring at him.
A muscle flexed in Priest’s jaw and the sudden urge to lean up on my tiptoes and scrape my teeth over it nearly overwhelmed me.
This was why he was so dangerous. He made me feel and act in ways that weren’t typical of me.
I wasn’t a virgin, but I didn’t have what anyone would call a lot of experience with men.
They tended to go for the lithe beautiful women and that wasn’t a descriptor anyone would use for me.
I’d had one boyfriend after high school and though we’d parted ways after a year, we’d done so on friendly terms. All the other men in my life had just been friends.
“Sorry, Rip. Lock.” Priest nodded at his president.
Lockout was sitting there with a bemused look on his face as he watched Priest and me move together to sit down.
I’d only met him once, but Priest had told me quite a bit about some of his MC brothers, so it sort of felt like I knew them even though I doubted they knew a thing about me.
Lockout was sort of intimidating. Which was funny to think, because Priest was the one who towered over everyone—except the man from earlier, Hellfire—and had a perpetually pissed off look on his face most of the time.
“You get everything resolved?” Lockout asked with an arched brow.
Before Priest could answer, Butcher opened the door and motioned for Lockout. Thank God, because I didn’t exactly want to hash out what Priest and I had—and hadn’t—spoken about upstairs in front of everyone. Although with how impatient everyone was looking, I doubt they cared about the details.
“Be back in a minute,” Lockout said, standing and following Butcher outside.
My hands were in my lap, twisting together as I fought not to bounce my leg. It was a nervous habit. A strong hand clamped down over my knee and squeezed. I glanced over at Priest and smiled. He knew I was fighting the urge and that was his way of helping.
We’d been bordering on dating before he’d ended things so we were left now in that awkward in-between stage of things where we didn’t know every deep-seated fear, hope, and dream, but we knew just enough to have our own inside jokes.
And feelings of longing. Did I mention those?
Because they were persistently tapping me on the shoulder right now, as though to remind me they existed.
As if I could forget, especially with his giant hand gripping my leg.
I could feel a heat building, starting from my thigh and working its way upward to pool between them.
I wanted him to take me in his arms and kiss me. To tell me he’d made a mistake and he wanted me to belong to him. Stupid. It was dumb of me to want that so badly since he had essentially broken up with me, but I did.
Lockout came back in the room and all the quiet conversations the others had been having stopped.
Everyone focused on him as he sat at the head of the table.
His hazel eyes focused on me as he began.
He explained about Seek being Search and Rescue—which I thought was so cool and I couldn’t wait to pick her brain about that later—and what had been happening out in The Silverbells.
He went on to explain how they’d found Caitlyn.
I couldn’t contain the gasp that slipped past my lips when he said that they’d found her crouched over her mother’s dead body while the men who’d kidnapped them and killed Sherry dug a grave for her out in the desert.
My hand covered my mouth to keep any more outbursts contained.
I adored children. I wanted a whole brood of them someday—put these child-rearing hips to use—but until that day, I settled for working with them.
Working for CPS was oftentimes heart wrenching, but when I was able to help even just one child in need it made all the troubling cases worth it. It was also how I’d met my friends and the MC over in Texas. One of their old ladies—Julie—ended up working for us for college credits.
“Is that why she’s not talking?” I asked, my eyes straying over to Priest.
He had a grim look on his face as he nodded. “I took her to a local therapist, she said all we could do was wait for Caitlyn to feel safe enough to talk to one of us. Caitlyn’s been seeing her a few times a week.”
I reached over and covered his hand with mine.
His skin was warm and it eased something within me even though I’d been trying to comfort him.
There was worry in his eyes and I wanted to erase it.
He flipped his hand over and squeezed mine, his long fingers entangling with my fingers.
The silence around us sank in and embarrassment rushed over me as I realized everyone was staring at us.
Most of the guys wore amused expressions—I didn’t even want to contemplate why—and Seek was looking at us with hearts in her eyes.
Priest’s hand clamped down on mine as I tried to pull away. He snared it and kept holding it while the conversation started up again. I shot him a glare, but eventually had to ignore him, so I could focus on what the others were saying.
“We contacted Caitlyn’s Aunt Sharon, but she lives on the East Coast and is disabled. She said she can’t take care of her niece. Aside from her, the girl has no other family, other than her father,” Hush told me.
“Who we suspect is a part of this whole thing,” Riptide finished for him.
“Why?” I asked.
“According to the sister, Sherry was on the run from her husband. She had an elaborate plan to check in with her sister daily in case he found her and Caitlyn,” Priest answered.
“You don’t take precautions like that if the guy’s not a dirtbag.
” The guy who spoke looked a lot younger than all the other men sitting around the table.
I’d guess close to my own age of twenty-six, maybe a few years younger even.
I frowned, reading his name patch. His name was Ricochet.
Priest had explained to me once that each ranking member of the MC was retired or ex-military.
There were older guys like Priest and Hush, but some of the others looked too young to be retired.
Ricochet’s dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes made him look even younger.
Or maybe it was the sorrow that lurked in his eyes. It made me wonder what his story was.
“So you’re looking into the father?” I asked.
“Yeah, and we’re going to find out what’s really going on out in The Silverbells,” Seek said, eyes glinting with determination.
“Well, I’ll be happy to help,” I said, perking up a little. Maybe helping them with this would get my mind off losing Grams.
“No way,” Priest growled next to me.
I looked over at him in shock and disappointment. Was he so adamant about getting me out of his life that he was going to reject my help with something the MC had asked me to come in on?
His eyes narrowed as he searched my face. He must have seen the confusion because he explained. “We didn’t ask you here to put you in danger, Jenny. I don’t want you anywhere near The Silverbells.”
“Seek is helping,” I pointed out.
“She was the one who brought it to our attention and we needed her dogs to help find Sherry and Caitlyn,” Hush clarified. He shot Seek a warning glare. “But now she’s not gettin’ involved in this mess.”
“What!” Seek snapped, glaring at Hush.
I winced since I’d just inadvertently started that fight for my new friend. Serves him right for cutting her out though.
“I was the one who started this whole thing, Hush. I brought you in. You’re not cutting me out now.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her boyfriend.
Lockout cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. “This isn’t up for debate, Seek. You asked the MC for help and we agreed. We’re going to take care of this, but we’re not putting either of you in harm’s way while we figure it out.”
We could all but hear her grinding her teeth in irritation.
I didn’t blame her, there were things we could help with…
probably. I tried to stamp down my own aggravation.
“So what do you need me for then?” It came out far more aggressive than I meant.
Priest squeezed my hand hard, warning me to watch my attitude.
I gave Lockout an apologetic smile. This was their club, their world. They were asking me for a favor, but I had no authority here. No woman did, it was their organization to run as they chose.
“We were hoping you could help us with Caitlyn,” he answered, ignoring my surliness from before.
“I want to adopt her,” Priest told me.