I was giggling over the ridiculous name of the woman—who would turn out to be one of the bad guys—my second favorite spy had just met while playing cards in Monte Carlo when knuckles rapped against the door. Dom paused the movie and shifted me off his lap to set me on the cushion next to him before he got up. Crossing the room, he flipped the lock and let Hack inside.
“Hey, Dom...in...iccc,” Hack drawled, his eyes twinkling with humor.
Dom slugged him in the shoulder, and I rolled my eyes. The guys with rooms on either side of us had heard me screaming out Dominic’s name when he took my virginity—and a few other times in the days since then—and had taken to using his full name and lengthening it out to tease him. At first, I wasn’t sure what to think about the banter. It was a little embarrassing to know I was that loud when I came, but Dom got me over my self-consciousness with his cockiness over the whole thing. “Keep it up, and I’ll be sure to give you more shit than I planned when you finally manage to find a woman. I’m sure you’ll give me more than enough to work with, especially since it’ll take a fuck of a lot of effort on your part to make your woman as happy as my little doll is with me.”
“I have no doubt I’ll have more than what it takes when that time comes,” Hack muttered, crossing his arms over his broad chest. “But I’m not too worried about the distant future. By then, you’ll probably have half a dozen kids to worry about and will have forgotten all about your plans for revenge trash talk.”
“I’m doing my best to work on the first of those half dozen.” Dom winked at me as he walked back over to the couch and dropped down at my side.
Hack smiled at me. “Hey, Lucy. Let me know if he ever gets out of line. I’ll put him back in his place for you.”
It was also hard to be embarrassed around guys who never directed their teasing at me and went out of their way to be welcoming. “Will do.”
“My little doll never needs to worry about how I’m going to treat her,” Dom growled, pulling me onto his lap and wrapping his arms around me. “Did you knock on my door because you wanted to fuck with me, or did you actually have something to say?”
“Yeah, man. I did.” His expression turned serious as he heaved a deep sigh. “I looked into the cop and his murdering douchebag of a son.”
I felt Dom’s body tense beneath me. “You find something?”
Hack nodded, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “Figured out real quick that there had to be some truth behind the rumors Lucy’s co-worker mentioned. News articles here and there that were quickly retracted. Mentions of police reports that didn’t seem to exist. But once shit like that has been entered into the system, you can’t hide it from guys like me forever. You might fool everyone else, but a good hacker can find the traces left behind if they know where to start looking.”
“Quit bragging and tell me what the fuck you found,” Dom rumbled.
“Intimidating people into keeping quiet isn’t a new thing for the dad. He’s tossed his badge around and bullied his son’s way out of trouble. First case I found dated back eight years to when he was in high school. The girl he dated was from the wrong side of the tracks, and he took full advantage of it when she tried to dump him senior year.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “The little fucker didn’t like taking no for an answer, and she didn’t have anywhere to turn. The cops ignored her each time she wanted to file a report. The motherfucker stalked her ass for months. He didn’t leave her alone until he found a new girl after graduation.”
“Fuck,” Dom hissed, his arms tightening around me.
Tears filled my eyes as I thought about the hell that young girl had been put through. “I need to tell the cops what I saw. He tortured that girl, killed my neighbor. Someone has to make him pay, and I’m safe with the Silver Saints to protect me.”
“Oh, he’ll fucking pay alright,” Dom promised, dropping a kiss on the top of my head. “Did you track the girl down?”
“Not yet, she’s in the wind.” Hack shook his head. “Took off a few months later, and nobody’s heard from her since. Not even her mom, and from everything I found, they were close back then.”
“Did he kill her, too?” I whispered, tears streaming down my cheeks.
Hack’s chin jerked up. “Either that or she’s been working for cash under the table for the past seven and a half years, didn’t renew her driver's license or transfer it to wherever she went, and never registered anything in her name. No phone, no apartment, no utilities. The girl disappeared off the face of the planet.”
“What else did you find?” Dom asked.
I twisted around to stare up at him. “What else? Isn’t that bad enough?”
“It’s fucking awful, doll. But Hack wouldn’t have come to fill me in if that’s the only thing he tracked down. If there’s no trace of the girl, her story doesn’t help you, and his goal was to find something we could use to keep you safe,” he explained.
“Of course, I found more. No way in hell would I stop until you have what you need.” I turned back to look at Hack as he continued, “He had another girlfriend when he met your neighbor. She wasn’t too happy to hear she was being replaced by a woman who he fucked in their bed. Pitched a fit over it and took a bat to his car. The douchebag retaliated with his fists, right there in the parking lot. Lost his head and didn’t notice a girl who’d just gotten in her car a few spots over. Not until the cops showed up and she tried to back up the girlfriend’s story.”
I cringed. “Having a witness didn’t help?”
“Not even a little bit.” Hack grimaced, shaking his head. “I haven’t figured out exactly what he did yet, but the dad must’ve scared the shit out of the innocent bystander because she never showed up to sign off on her statement. The ex-girlfriend got arrested for property damage and filing a false report. With how they spun the story, she hurt herself to back up her assault claim.”
“You found the witness?” Dom asked.
Hack flashed us a cocky grin as he nodded. “Damn straight. But I’m guessing the only way we’ll be able to get her to throw in with us is if we do our convincing in person.”
“Makes sense, considering it was a cop who convinced her to keep quiet in the first place,” Dom agreed.
“She’d be the perfect ally,” Hack added. “The statute of limitations hasn’t run out on the assault and sending the ex-girlfriend to jail when she was a victim would cause all sorts of problems if it came out.”
“Then we’re going to have to convince her. And the sooner, the better. Are you available to head out tomorrow?” Dom asked. “That should give me enough time to make sure Lucy is covered while I’m gone.”
It was difficult to wrap my head around how quickly everything was moving now that Hack had found someone who might help us. My whole life had changed for the better when I tried to steal Dom’s wallet, and he kept giving me more reasons to be grateful for being so desperate that day. “Assigning me a babysitter won’t be necessary.”
Dom stroked his hand down my back. “I’m glad you feel comfortable enough around here to hang out by yourself, but until you’re safe, I’m not leaving you alone.”
“I didn’t say anything about being alone,” I huffed, making Hack chuckle. It sounded like he was catching on faster than Dom to what I was suggesting. He circled his hand in the air, telling me without words to get on with it. Turning back to Dom, I explained, “I’m coming with you guys.”
8
Dom
“Like hell, you are,” I growled as I instinctively wrapped my arms tight around Lucy. Just the thought of her anywhere near that sick fuck had rage flowing through me, burning like lava in my veins. “Your ass is staying right here where I know you’ll be safe.”
Lucy wiggled around on my lap, trying to turn and face me, but I grabbed her hips to hold her still. She froze when she felt the hard ridge rapidly growing beneath her ass. After a beat, she cleared her throat and twisted her torso so she could look at me without moving her lower half. If I hadn’t b
een so pissed, I might have enjoyed the pink hue on her cheeks and the spark of desire in her bright blue eyes.
“How can I be safe if I’m not with you?”
I narrowed my eyes at the overly innocent expression on her face. “Are you trying to manipulate me, little doll?”
“Is it working?” she asked as she perked up.
Hack started laughing before I even answered her. “Fuck,” I muttered.
“Can’t do that if I’m not with you, either.” My eyebrows shot up at Lucy’s quip, and I almost smiled.
Hack was laughing so hard he practically fell over. I glared at him, promising retribution with my dark stare. The physical kind that would ruin his pretty face.
Lucy melted back and cuddled into me, further weakening my resolve to leave her at the clubhouse to be guarded. Steeling myself against her disappointment, and my blue balls, I shook my head. I stood with her cradled in my arms, then dropped her legs and let her slowly slide down my body. Her blue eyes heated, and I mumbled a string of curses under my breath.
“Come on.” I moved her to my side and curled my arm around her waist to lead her to the door. Hack had finally managed to get ahold of himself and he smirked as we passed by. My other arm shot out and landed a blow straight to his gut. Winded, he stumbled back a few steps but was still grinning like an idiot.
“That wasn’t very nice,” Lucy murmured as we exited the room and walked down the hall.
My tone was gruff when I replied, “He had it coming.”
“I did,” Hack wheezed from behind us.
When we reached the stairs, I gestured for Lucy to descend first and couldn’t help appreciating her fine ass all the way down. At the bottom, I grabbed her hand and started toward the president’s office. Mac was sitting at his desk with his feet on top crossed at the ankles, and his hands behind his head. He was smiling—an expression I’d rarely seen until he met his old lady, Bridgit—at Link, who was standing in front of the desk with his back to us. Dax and Scout were lounging in the chair beside him, also smiling affectionately at Link. The whole scene was weird for a second until I realized Link was holding his newborn son, and that was the reason for their dopey expressions.
I rapped on the door, and Mac waved me in as Link and Dax twisted to see who’d arrived. Dax grinned at Lucy and winked. I scowled at the bastard and tucked her into my side. Link was the first to comment on it, though.
“So this is the reason you haven’t been to see Harlowe and the baby?”
Scout chuckled and shook his head. “Pinkie’s gonna be pissed.”
I scowled and tightened my arm around Lucy guardedly. “Lucy needs our protection just like she did. She should understand that.”
Link snorted and rolled his eyes. “She won’t be pissed because you stayed behind to protect this itty-bitty thing. She’s gonna be mad as fuck that you haven’t brought, Lucy?”—I nodded—“to meet her yet.”
I sighed. He was probably right. I’d become close with Harlowe when I’d been assigned to protect her while Link was out tracking down the asshole trying to kill her. Link hadn’t been real happy with our relationship, and I’d been more than happy to give him shit about it. I had a feeling that was about to backfire, so I changed the subject to what was really important at that moment.
“Look, a murderous son of a bitch is after my little doll, and I need to go take care of it.” I looked at Mac and asked, “Can you assign someone to watch over her while I take care of business?”
Lucy poked me in the side hard enough to make me grunt at the small stab of pain. “I’m coming with you,” she argued.
I didn’t respond and kept my attention on Mac who frowned at me before settling his gaze on my girl. “I’m Jared Mackenzie, Mac. The president of the club,” he introduced himself.
“Lucy Skye.”
“Lucy Skye?” Scout parroted, his tone full of glee. “Yep, you look like a diamond. Perfect.”
My little doll looked up at me with confusion, and I rolled my eyes. “Scout has a thing about nicknames,” I explained.
Her cheeks turned a little pink and her blue orbs twinkled with amusement when she looked back at Scout. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?”
“Exactly,” he said with a wide, stupid grin.
“You busy?” I asked him, bringing us back around to the original topic.
Scout nodded reluctantly. “I’m overseeing a run with some prospects.”
“I can do it,” Dax announced.
I was about to accept when I clocked his expression. He was staring at Lucy with an appreciative gleam that I didn’t like the look of.
“Good idea,” Link interjected with a smirk. “I think they’ll hit it off. Besides, he’s single, she’s single—”
“Not single,” I snarled.
Dax raised a brow and gave Lucy a thorough once-over. “Not seeing a cut on her that claims her as someone’s property.”
Link, Scout, and Mac were all laughing their asses off, and I shot silent daggers at them out of my eyes.
“It’d serve you right, jackass,” Link muttered around a chuckle. “You’ll know how I felt when you were flirting with my property. Just think of all the brothers who—”
“I’m taking her with me,” I snapped.
The whole room erupted with laughter, even Lucy was giggling at my side. I decided to simply stay silent and wait. No sense giving them a reaction that would only prolong their bullshit.
Harrison started to fuss, and Link whispered to him as he began to sway from side to side.
I nodded toward the baby, “Cute kid. Guess he takes after your wife.” Link just chuckled and nodded, kissing the fuzzy top of his son’s head.
Lucy sighed and I glanced down, smiling at the look of longing on her beautiful face. “He’s adorable,” Lucy gushed. She must have felt my eyes on her because she glanced up, and her face flushed. “You’d look hot holding a baby,” she mumbled shyly.
I laughed and gave her a squeeze. “You’ll get to see for yourself real soon if I have my way, little doll.”
She blushed, and it was so sexy and cute at the same time. “We’ll be leaving first thing tomorrow,” I threw over my shoulder as I quickly guided Lucy from the office. I took her back to our room and worked on that baby twice before letting her up to pack a bag.
9
Lucy
My lips curved down into a pout as Dom led me to a black truck with an extended cab parked in front of the clubhouse. “We’re not taking your bike?”
Dom slid his hand down my back and guided me toward the passenger door. “The trip is too long to have you on the back of my bike when you’re not used to riding.”
“And taking the cage has the added benefit of letting me multitask,” Hack added. He flung the rear door open and leaned inside to set a laptop bag on the seat behind the driver and a duffel next to the bags Dom had already put on the floor. “I installed a wireless car router last night that will give me a good connection on the road. I want to keep track of all the moving pieces of the situation to make sure we aren’t blindsided by anyone.”
Dom opened the passenger door for me, but I paused before climbing in. “Maybe Hack should ride up front. His legs are a lot longer than mine.”
“Yeah, but nowhere near as sexy,” Dom murmured in my ear as he lifted me up and set me on the seat. Then he brushed his lips against mine and drew the seat belt across my body, his knuckles grazing one of my nipples and making it pebble.
“C’mon, lover boy. We need to hit the road, or we’ll miss the perfect window to talk to Paisley,” Hack grumbled from the back seat.
“Paisley?” I echoed, twisting around to look at Hack while Dom slammed my door and rounded the truck to climb in the driver’s seat. “That’s a pretty name.”
“She’s a pretty girl,” he muttered without looking up from the laptop he’d already pulled out of the bag.
Dom must’ve only caught the last half of what Hack said because he started the engine and gla
red over his shoulder. “Who’s pretty?”
Hack lifted his head and grinned. “As pretty as she is, I’m not hitting on your woman.”
I poked Dom in the side. “We were talking about the witness, Paisley.”
Some of the tension left Dom’s shoulders, and he loosened his hold on the steering wheel so his knuckles weren’t white. He focused on the road as he drove through the gate. “You perving on the chick we need to keep Lucy safe?”
“All I fucking said was the girl is pretty,” Hack snarled, turning his computer so the screen was facing forward. A picture was pulled up of a red-haired, green-eyed woman who was undeniably gorgeous. “It’s a fact, not an opinion. And I only brought it up when your woman said her name was pretty.”
“Don’t let your dick make your decisions while we’re taking care of this shit,” Dom warned.
Hack flipped the computer back around and mumbled, “I've never given you reason to think that’ll happen.”
“Yeah, but like I recently discovered, your focus can change in an instant.” Dom stretched his arm out and laced his fingers through mine, lifting my hand to press a kiss against my knuckles.
I didn’t want to do the whole road trip with the tension thick in the cab of the truck. After giving Dom’s hand a squeeze, I reached up and turned on the radio. I grinned when I recognized the classic hard rock song blaring through the speakers. Considering what we were about to do, “Highway to Hell” was spot on. I cranked the volume up, and we spent the majority of the drive listening to music. It helped distract me from what was at stake, but my fear returned tenfold when we reached our destination.
“Breaker confirmed Paisley is inside. She has a three-hour break between classes.” Hack’s eyes were glued on the townhouse.
Silver Saints MC: Volume 1 Page 19