Chapter 37
The Intelligence Gathering
Eli
We make it to the woodfired pizza place. It’s nicer than Crusty’s and makes individual pizzas with fresh ingredients. Harper likes pizza, so I figured it would be a safe bet she would like this place.
Taking her hand, I help her out of the car and keep hold of it, leading her into the restaurant. The host seats us in a booth in the back corner away from everyone else.
As we walk that way, I notice a group of basketball players, including Trace Masters and Ashley’s Homecoming date, Alex.
I didn’t know they’d be here. It’s a coincidence but at least, I have eyes on some of the guys tonight.
Those guys are part of Zach’s crew. There must not be a meeting tonight. I already feel bad our guys are all working tonight and we’re out on a date, but the others have gotten time with Harper. Tonight is my turn.
When we sit across from each other, she drapes her napkin on her lap and picks up the menu. But her gaze seeks me out.
“We good?” she asks.
I blow out a breath. “Yeah.”
She sets the menu to the side and folds her hands in front of her. “If you want to do a raincheck and join the guys to help, I’d be okay with that. I asked Luke earlier and he said we should go out.”
I put my hands over hers. I can see the guilt in her gaze as well. “Maybe we’ll cut it short and go over there after we eat?”
She brightens. “That sounds like a good idea.”
The server stops to take our drink orders and we look over the menus. When the server returns, we place our orders and he leaves us alone again. I sit back in the booth and take in Harper.
Her warm eyes lift and my heart does a little flip. She glances around.
“Now seems as good a time as any to discuss ‘things.’” She shifts in her seat and crosses her legs.
I cock my head as if I’m unaware that she wants to discuss my sexual nature. “Things?”
Her cheeks flush and she plays with her straw in her drink. “You and I haven’t really gotten to play alone much. Obviously, if you were willing to entertain Ashley’s request, you’re missing something in our relationship.”
I lean forward and take her hand. “I wanted information, kitten. That was my motivation for bringing it up. Not a need to have something different.”
“But she does give you something I haven’t yet?” There’s curiosity in her eyes and that intrigues me.
I turn her hand over in mine and hold her wrist while I trace the intricate lines on her palm with my fingertip. Her pulse quickens beneath my thumb and her face softens with desire.
“What you give me is different than what Ashley does.” I smile. “Your softness and kindness draw me like no one ever has before. I’m sure there will be times I’ll need you in a way we haven’t gotten to, but we have time.”
She sighs and frowns at her hand. “I don’t want you to be disappointed in me.”
“I’m taking things slow with you, kitten. We’ll get there, but I’m not going to go from spanking you to caning you. Even if I think you can handle it, it’s best if we keep testing your limits. Not just throw you in the deep end and see if you sink or swim.”
Her lips form a stubborn line. This girl. When she’s all in, she’s all in. I hope she’s sure she’s all in for us. I don’t know what we would do if she left us.
Or rather tried to leave us. I wouldn’t be the only one not willing to let her go.
I hold her hand between both of mine and search her eyes. “If you want, we can try to up it a notch tonight, but I’d rather do it when we have more than a few hours stolen in the middle of the night and preferably not with parents down the hall.”
Her eyes darken and sparkle. “Explain to me what you like. You want my submission and me to call you sir. Binding me so I can’t move. Spanking me, pinching me. What else?”
Fuck. My cock hardens uncomfortably against my zipper. Thinking about doing all those things to her makes me want to drive her to a spot and show her exactly what I can do to that body.
“What do you need from me, sir?”
I glance around to make sure no one else is listening and lean in, drawing her closer.
“I get pleasure from causing pain, kitten.” I brush her hair behind her ear and she shivers. “I don’t want to hurt you unless it causes you pleasure or release as well.”
“It’s not so much a particular act you need?”
Smirking, I nod. “You finding pleasure in the pain I provide will be enough. I don’t want to frighten you or turn you off to it entirely, which is why we’ll go slow.” I cock my eyebrow, curious. “Are you enjoying the welts on your ass from the belt?”
Her cheeks pinken. She wets her lips. “Every time they ache, I think about everything that happened that night.”
“Does it make you want more, kitten?”
Her eyes widen. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
The server clears his throat as he holds two pizzas, waiting for us to notice him. He’s only been there a moment, but Harper seems startled and drops her gaze to the table.
I tell him which pizza is whose and he sets them down, returning with some napkins. Harper takes a bite, but her cheeks are still flushed.
“He didn’t hear anything,” I assure her. Her gaze jerks up to mine. Shrugging, I grin. “Even if he had, you have no reason to be embarrassed, kitten.”
She blows out a breath. “I know, but it’s still new and odd.”
I lift my pizza. It’s time to change topic. “How were the girls with the list?”
“Good.” Harper chews before adding, “They were able to eliminate a few girls and mark a couple that have the potential to be after you guys for whatever reason.”
I study her like I always do. Her eyebrows pinch together and she focuses on her food. She’s uncomfortable.
“You decided to take on the girls’ side of the list. If it’s too much to handle—”
“No, it’s not too much.” She sighs and wipes her hands on her napkin before giving me her full attention. “How would you feel if you had to go through a rundown of every guy I had sexual experiences with?”
“First, you would have had to have some...”
She glares and I hold my hands up in surrender.
“While I would want to know and maybe give those guys hell, it wouldn’t have mattered because you’re ours now.
” I run a hand through my hair. “I wish this whole thing wasn’t an issue, kitten.
It sucks that we can’t trust guys we used to call friends.
That the whole ecosystem is shifting.” I glance around the restaurant.
“You changed us for the better. You are changing us. It’s causing havoc because it’s new and different, but we’ll get to the bottom of whoever is trying to use you to get to us. ”
Something catches my eye and I glance at the basketball table. Alex and Trace have their heads together. My phone buzzes with an alert. One of the trace programs Jack has running pings on my screen.
Zach:
Meet tonight 8
My phone says it’s seven forty-five. By the time the others have a chance to rally, they’ll be too late. None of them have eyes on the guys. That means I need to follow those two dickheads to the meeting point. Fuck.
“What is it?” Harper asks.
I lift my gaze to hers. Double fuck. “I can’t leave you here.”
I pull out my wallet and put enough money to take care of our meals plus a generous tip.
“What do you mean?”
I hold up my hand and quickly type to the guys.
Me:
I’ve got eyes on two
I’ll follow, find location
Luke:
You still have Harper?
Me:
Yeah
Luke:
Follow only
My gaze lifts to Harper’s. “Normally, I’d take you home or have someone else do this. But we need to follow those two when they leave, which should be as soon as they pay their bills.”
Harper glances at the basketball players and her lips tighten into a line. “I’m in.”
Harper
Not exactly how I pictured date night with Eli, but somehow it’s fitting. It makes me feel better about not helping out the others go through all those files and emails. Finding the meeting place has been on the top of the list for a while. It’s one of the reasons everyone is run ragged.
Eli and I head out to the car. He pulls around the block to watch for when Alex and Trace come out of the restaurant.
Eli has his headlights off and we’re just sitting here in the idling car. Waiting. I twist my fingers together.
“What’s the plan?” My nerves are getting to me while we wait.
“Follow them. Find out the location of their meetings and leave. Maybe make that movie or go help the guys.” Eli smirks.
“That’s it?” My fingers go to my choker. I’m not sure how that will be helpful.
“We can’t risk you.” Eli doesn’t take his gaze from the doors. Trace and Alex come out of the restaurant and get into a car. Eli follows behind them, leaving space so they don’t realize what we’re doing.
“I could stay in the car and you can try to figure out what the meeting is about?” I offer. “It seems ridiculous to lose this opportunity to find out if they really are up to something.”
“They’ll meet again, kitten.” Eli’s focus is on the car in front of us. His voice is steady, but there’s a hint of worry. Is it for me? Or is it losing this chance to find out what Zach’s crew is up to?
I sit back as we weave through the city streets. The others are working to make sure we have something against Luke’s father. We shouldn’t let this opportunity pass to find out Zach’s plan, but I’m not sure how to convince Eli.
When they pull up to a house, Eli passes it and parks down the street a little.
He unlocks his phone and types. I blow out a breath. I could reason with him or I could make a decision. He’ll follow.
I open the door and slip out.
A harshly whispered kitten follows me as I run to the bushes, skirting around the house to the next one over. Flattening myself against the siding in the dark, I draw in a breath and wait.
A body presses against mine, but I don’t scream.
“What are you doing, kitten?” Eli doesn’t move back, keeping me trapped.
“Helping.” My breath shudders in and out of my chest as adrenaline pumps through me. It’s risky, but not overly so. “We need intel. We shouldn’t pass up this opportunity.”
“We don’t go in without a plan. That’s how shit happens.” His mouth is against my ear and his words are barely a whisper.
I put my hand over his rapidly beating heart. “What if they move the location next week? What if that’s what they’ve been doing all along and that’s why you can never track them?”
For a few heartbeats, we remain pressed together while he processes my words. He has to know I’m right. Even if they meet again, it might not be about whatever this is.
His sigh blows my hair. “Stay close.”
He takes my hand. Good.
We move cautiously toward the house the guys disappeared into. My heart pounds so loud I swear they’ll be able to hear it, but Eli never would have left me alone in the car to do this on his own.
I’ve never done anything like this in my life and it’s exhilarating.
When he leads me to the house, we creep around it, looking for the room they’re meeting in. Most of the windows are dark, but light pours out of one and we’re lucky they have the window cracked as smoke and the smell of weed filters out.
Eli puts his hand against my hip to flatten us against the dark wall. When he pulls his hand away, I stay put. The only way this works is if I follow his directions. Otherwise, he’ll never trust me to do this again.
He has a small camera like the one Sidney found that they planted. He carefully puts it on the window ledge. I long to ask him if they all just carry one around, but it’s better to be quiet and ask later.
Then he takes out his phone and dims the screen. He hands me one Bluetooth headphone and I put it in my ear as he puts the other one in his ear.
“What the fuck are you doing? Where’s Harper?” Luke’s harsh whisper fills my ear, and I almost yelp in surprise.
Eli types on his screen, but I can’t see it.
“Fuck.” The word is soft from Luke. “Jack has the camera on. You should leave.”
Eli types.
“Too risky.” Luke hisses.
I grab Eli’s hand. We’re staying. Just in case the feed cuts out or something. I need to know what I’m up against.
“I told you not to trust those cheerleaders,” a guy says. “They’ve been cuddled up to the horsemen for too long. Ashley went out with Eli for lunch.”
“They’re useful.” I recognize Zach’s voice and it’s close to the window. A little chill runs through me, but I don’t lock up. He doesn’t know I’m out here. Eli will keep me safe. “And a good distraction.”
“Fucking them won’t get us what we need,” a second guy says.
“Yeah, but it doesn’t hurt.” The smile is evident in Zach’s voice. “We just need to eliminate their little bird.”
My breath catches. Is he talking about me? Fuck. I was hoping the guys were wrong and I was off the chessboard.
“You were supposed to take care of that.”
My mouth opens because I recognize that voice. Tanner. WTF?
“You’re the one who fucked up and got our merch taken by the school.” Zach doesn’t raise his voice, but his tone loses some of the easy-going attitude. “You’re lucky it wasn’t a full shipment. We wouldn’t even have a problem now if it hadn’t been for you.”
“It was only fair. They were fucking with my sister, so I fucked Caden’s.” Tanner’s voice moves close to the window before walking away.
I hate that fucker.
“Yeah, and almost got us all caught.” An inhale and then a stream of smoke floats out the window. Zach continues, “If we hadn’t been tipped off, we all would have been off our teams and some of us probably would have landed in jail. That wouldn’t have made our boss happy at all.”
Boss?
“Fuck off. Caden’s sister wasn’t even worth it,” Tanner says. “Fucking virgins.”
“I bet Harper has learned how to take a dick or five.” Zach chuckles and there’s some words of agreement in the room. My stomach twists. Assholes.
“What we need to do is steer Sidney’s plan to our benefit,” another voice says. He sounds more confident than Tanner and less cocky than Zach. My gaze darts to the shadow of Eli beside me, but I can’t say or do anything besides stand here.
“Sidney wants a distraction. Let’s give her one,” the first voice says.
“So, it’s going down at Homecoming then?” Tanner asks.
“Not that you’ll be there.” Zach flicks his used joint out the open window. “But you can join the afterparty. I guarantee you won’t want to miss it.”