Revealing the Biker's Destiny (Dogs of Fire: Savannah Chapter Book 9)

by Piper Davenport

  * * *

  Shutter

  Shadow and Posey arrived with wine and a chocolate pie, which just happened to be Nova’s favorite. They managed to find some lactose free ice cream, so Nova was extra excited.

  “Did you guys stop at Kennedy’s place?” Catalina asked.

  “She actually brought it to the club,” Shadow said, hugging her, then picking Nova up and throwing her in the air.

  “Service to the nth degree,” Catalina said, and hugged Posey. “Make yourself at home.”

  “I’ll pour the wine,” Posey offered.

  Dinner was relatively uneventful, but I was antsy. I needed to talk to Shadow privately but waiting for Nova to ‘help’ with the dishes was taking much longer than I anticipated.

  “How about Shadow and I finish with this and Cat and Posey can help with your bath?” I suggested to Nova.

  Cat raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to do dishes?”

  Posey grabbed my hand. “Quick, before they change their minds.”

  Catalina chuckled, handing me her towel, as Posey guided Nova out of the room. I watched them leave, then threw a fresh towel at Shadow.

  “Brother, what the fuck?” Shadow demanded. “I was likin’ the fact I didn’t have to do anything tonight.”

  I grinned. Shadow did all the cooking at home, primarily because of the fact that anything Posey tried to cook ended in disaster. In fact, they met when she’d accidentally set her oven on fire.

  “I need to know everything you’ve found out so far. I gotta make some decisions and I can’t until I know which way to go.”

  Shadow nodded. “Otter sent over the drawing he did based on Nova’s description and I don’t like it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it looks like Mike Hollings.”

  I frowned. “Who’s Mike Hollings?”

  “He’s a cop that exists on the edge of legal.”

  “He’s dirty?”

  “Not that anyone can prove,” Shadow said. “But he’s a dick and I know he creeps Cat out.”

  “Your sister knows him?”

  “Yeah. Sort of,” he said. “In a professional capacity. She’s not a fan.”

  I closed the dishwasher and dried my hands on a towel. “Did he fuck with her?”

  Shadow shrugged. “That’s a question for her.”

  “Jesus,” I hissed.

  “Got Rabbit doing a deep dive into him, but he’s still dealing with this Beast bullshit so he’s having to juggle his schedule.”

  Our club was being bombarded with attacks from a still unknown enemy and it was wearing thin. Rabbit had been recruited by some asshat named Taxi with the FBI, along with several other bikers and law enforcement personnel, to staff a team of specialists for some secret mission. However, he’d only agreed if he could use the team’s resources to bring them down.

  Unfortunately, it was proving to be a very slow process, which meant he was forced to be away from home for longer than expected.

  “Any word on when he’s gonna be released?”

  Shadow shook his head. “Nope. Pretty sure Parker’s about to kill Taxi and his team, though. She’s done being without her old man.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “I bet.”

  Posey walked into the room, cutting off any further conversation. “We should go.”

  Shadow nodded. “Okay.”

  “You done having your super-secret pow-wow?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, we’re good, sweetheart. Thanks for sharin’ him with me.”

  She hugged me. “Thanks for having us over. Let’s make this a regular thing.”

  “I like it,” I said.

  Shadow took a minute to say goodnight to Nova and Catalina, then I walked him and Posey out, locking up behind me.

  Time to get some answers from my woman.

  * * *

  Catalina

  I pulled Nova’s door closed and joined Silas in the living room, flopping down beside him on the sofa. He was watching some old MTV top ten metal song show, and I snuggled close to him. “She’s finally down.”

  He nodded to the side table. “I poured you a glass of wine.”

  “Thanks, honey, I’m just gonna sit here for a minute.”

  Silas chuckled, wrapping an arm around me, and kissing my temple. “I can live with that.”

  “What did my brother have to say?”

  “About what?”

  I sat up slightly so I could meet his eyes. “My brother never offers to do dishes, so you obviously finagled a secret power twin meeting with him while Posey and I handled Nova.” I patted his chest, settling back against him. “So, what did he say?”

  Silas sighed, grabbing his phone, and pulling a picture up on the screen. “Do you know this guy?”

  “Looks like Mike Hollings.”

  “Yeah, your brother said the same thing.”

  I sat up again. “Why do you have a drawing of Mike Hollings?”

  “It’s what Otter drew from Nova’s description.”

  “Wait, I thought she said a man with a scar did it.”

  “Yeah. But then she described this guy to Otter, so not sure what that’s all about.”

  I gasped. “You think Mike killed Darlene?”

  “Not necessarily. Here’s the other guy.” He scrolled right and another picture popped up of a man matching Nova’s description. “As close as we can guess, anyway.”

  “He doesn’t look familiar,” I mused. “Any idea who he is?”

  “None,” Silas said. “We’re working on it.”

  “Can Rabbit do a facial recognition thing on him?”

  “Yeah, he’s working on it.” He patted my butt.

  “She said something about a picture on his hand, remember?”

  Silas nodded, taking his phone and scrolling, showing it to me again. It was an ouroboros over a confederate flag.

  “Does that mean anything?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It means he rolls with the Dixie Mafia,” Silas said. “Not sure how the cop fits into the picture though.”

  “Well, Mike was on duty and at the scene, so maybe she’s conflating,” I said.

  “He was there?” Silas hissed.

  I sighed. “Yes. He tried to stop me on the way out of the house.”

  Silas scowled. “Shadow said you’re not a fan of Mike’s.”

  “Nope,” I confirmed. “He’s a dick.”

  “You had run-ins with him?”

  “Run-ins is a bit dramatic,” I said. “He’s asked me out a couple of times and has been sulky when I’ve said no.”

  “Sulky, how?”

  I sighed. “It’s not worth the breath, honey. Seriously. He’s a tool.”

  “Baby, has he ever fucked with you or used his position in the police force to fuck with you?”

  I sat up again, reaching for my wine. “I’m just going to fill this a little more.”

  “Catalina, answer the question.”

  He held his hand out to me and I settled back against him, careful not to spill my wine. “I got pulled over and cuffed on the side of the road once. I can’t prove it was Mike, but it was two days after I’d told him a date wasn’t going to happen.”

  “I’m gonna fuckin’ end him,” Silas growled.

  “Slow your roll, big man. It was months ago, and nothing’s happened since.” I took a sip of wine before kissing him gently. “I can’t even prove he did anything. The timing was just weird. Nolan looked into it for me and all’s been quiet on the western front.”

  Silas scowled. “I don’t like it, Cat.”

  I settled back against him. “Well, if it happens again, I’ll let you take care of it, okay?”

  “If you get a hint of him in your vicinity, you call me.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Don’t do your best, Catalina,” he ordered. “Do my best.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes, dear.”

  He gave me a squeeze, sitting up slightly to kiss my neck before settling back on the sof
a cushions. “Gonna kiss that sass right out of you later.”

  “You better have grabbed enough condoms—”

  “Auntie Cat?” Nova rasped, toddling into the living room, rubbing her eyes.

  “Talking about sass…”

  “Can I have some water?” Nova asked.

  “Yeah, baby.” I slid off the sofa and went about taking care of her.

  In the end, my sass stayed put. Nova made sure of that.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Catalina

  ONE WEEK LATER, I had a date with my brother for dinner. We tried to get together one-on-one the third Saturday of every month, and I cherished our time together, even if he did whatever he could to embarrass me. He called it, ‘bringing Cat out of her shell,’ time, whatever the hell that meant.

  “Nova, baby, are you ready?” I called.

  I was taking Nova down to the studio to hang out with Silas while Nolan and I were at dinner and I was running a little late.

  “I’m ready,” she announced, waltzing out of her bedroom wearing a yellow t-shirt, leopard tights, sparkly pink boots, and a green tutu.

  “Is that a new tutu?” I asked, trying to keep the horror from my voice.

  “Uncle Stump bought it for me.”

  “Oh, did he,” I breathed out.

  “I have a blue, a pink, a purple, and a green one now.”

  “How did I miss that?” I mused out loud.

  Nova dropped her head back and grinned. “Uncle Shutter, Uncle Stump, and Uncle Shadow said you’d like it better if I showed you.”

  “Oh, I bet they did.” I stroked her cheek. “You look beautiful. Let’s go see Uncle Shutter.”

  I grabbed my purse and keys, locking up, then helping Nova into her car seat before taking off for Silas’s studio. He’d told me to park around the back, so I slid into the spot marked STUDIO EMPLOYEES ONLY, and Nova and I headed inside.

  “Shutter, you’re a genius,” a feminine voice crooned, and I shuddered.

  I took a deep breath and walked around the corner to find one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen practically wrapping herself around him.

  And Silas appeared to be lapping up the attention.

  “Uncle Shutter,” Nova squealed, and made a run for him.

  He grinned, setting his camera on the table next to him, and catching Nova as she jumped into his arms. “Hey, baby girl. Are you ready to have some fun?”

  “Can we get ice cream?”

  “Yeah, I think we can do that,” he said, and met my eyes with another warm smile. “Hey, baby.”

  “Hi.” I forced a smile and handed him Nova’s backpack with a change of clothes and her stuffed pig inside.

  The slut smiled at Nova. “Well, aren’t you just the cutest thing ever.”

  Nova leaned away from the woman’s touch, snuggling closer to Silas.

  Silas raised an eyebrow at me. “You okay?”

  “Yep,” I said.

  He set Nova on her feet and extricated himself, finally, from the very pretty whore. Walking over to me, he slid his arm around my waist and leaned down to kiss me. I turned my head and his lips landed on my cheek.

  “What the hell, Cat?” he growled.

  I blushed. “We’ll talk later.”

  “Fuck me.” He frowned. “What crawled up your ass, Cat?”

  I scowled at him. “We’ll talk later. I have to go.”

  “No, we’ll talk now,” he countered, turning to Dylan, a young recruit who appeared to be acting as his assistant for the day. “Dyl, watch Nova.”

  “Silas, I have to go,” I said, as he took my hand and dragged me into his office at the back of the studio. I tried to pull out of his hold, but he didn’t budge. “Silas!”

  After pulling me into the room, he closed the door and faced me, crossing his arms. “Spill.”

  “No.”

  He crowded me against his desk and when he had me where he wanted me, settled his hands onto the wood, effectively imprisoning me between his arms. “Talk to me.”

  I stared at the wall behind his head. “I don’t want to.”

  “Why not?”

  I wrinkled my nose and dropped my gaze to the patch on his cut.

  “You need me to fuck you on my desk?” he challenged.

  “You haven’t even fucked me in my bed,” I whispered, then shook my head. “Stop being sexy and confusing.”

  “It’s my superpower.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “Why are you freaking out?”

  “I’m not freaking out.”

  He leaned back enough to meet my eyes and cocked his head. “Bullshit.”

  “It’s stupid.”

  “Tanya wrapping herself around me when she absolutely didn’t need to be so close to see the last three shots I’d just taken?”

  I gasped. “Stop reading my mind.”

  He smiled gently. “She’s absolutely the last fuckin’ person on the planet you have to worry about.”

  “She’s beautiful,” I countered.

  “You’re prettier.”

  “Stop lying,” I hissed.

  He narrowed his eyes and I swallowed. “That’s one.”

  “I’m just speaking the truth.”

  “No, you’re spouting the bullshit lies your mother drilled into your head.”

  I bit my lip. “Well, you’re not wrong on that account.”

  “I know,” he said, kissing me quickly. “I’m gonna fuckin’ fix that, baby, if it’s the last thing I do.”

  I dropped my head to his chest. “I just can’t compete with someone like Tanya.”

  “She can’t compete with you,” he growled, cupping the back of my neck, and squeezing gently. “It’s illegal to drug Nova so she’ll sleep all night, right?”

  I snorted in an effort not to laugh. She was the best cock blocker on the planet, and we had yet to find time to be alone, alone. “Well, if it’s not illegal, it’s certainly morally wrong.”

  He sighed. “We’re gonna have our time, Cat, and I need you not to run. I love you. I’ve loved you for a long time, and nothing’s going to change that.”

  “I love you, too.”

  “Yeah?”

  “So, so much,” I admitted. “I’m just scared.”

  “I know you are. It’s unfounded, but I get that you need time to feel secure about it.”

  I gripped his cut and rolled my eyes. “You seem to know a lot about me.”

  “I pay attention.” He smiled. “You look beautiful. Red suits you.”

  I wore a pair of extra stretchy skinny jeans, a pair of black knee-high boots, and a red deep V-neck blouse that showcased my cleavage nicely.

  “Thanks.”

  “You worried about tonight?” he asked.

  I smiled. “Worried? No. But I am a little nervous about what my brother will do. Last time we had lunch, he brought a fart machine into the crowded restaurant. But you know him, if I show my horror, he makes things worse.”

  Silas raised an eyebrow. “You could tell him you won’t have dinner with him if he keeps doing it, you know.”

  “Except, I secretly love it. Just don’t tell him that. He makes everyone around him laugh and brightens the waiters’ day. Plus it helps me loosen up a little.”

  “You always have been a good sport about takin’ a joke.”

  “Thanks, honey, I appreciate that.”

  “You better get goin’.”

  I nodded, raising my head for one more kiss before he walked me to my car.

  “I should have Dylan drive you,” he said.

  “No, I’m fine. I don’t plan on drinking, so it’s all good.”

  “If you change your mind, let me know and I’ll send him to pick you up.”

  I nodded, grinning when I slid into the car and he leaned in to kiss me again. “I have to go.”

  “I know,” he said, kissing me again. “Drive safe.”

  “I will, honey. Hey, remember that place on the corner doesn’t have lactose free ice cream.”

 
“I’m not takin’ her there.” He grinned. “I’m takin’ her to Leopold’s.”

  I scrunched up my nose. “Now I wish I could come with you.”

  He laughed. “I’ll bring you some home.”

  Kissing me again, he closed me in, and I headed to the restaurant to meet my brother, finding a parking space around the corner of the building, then rushing inside to find the waiting area empty.

  A young woman approached, her uniform indicating she was the hostess.

  “Hi,” I said. “I’m meeting Nolan Grant. Do you know if he’s here yet?”

  She blushed beet red and nodded. “This way.”

  She tripped over her feet as she led me deeper into the restaurant and I honestly chalked it up to the fact lots of women were nervous around my brother.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yes, ma’am, I’m fine.”

  Ugh. Ma’am. Worst word, ever.

  She started to slow down, and I glanced around her, letting out a garbled squeak. “Oh my god. No. I don’t think this is the right table.”

  “We don’t judge here, ma’am.”

  My brother, in a giant panda costume, slid out from the booth, nearly taking the silverware with him, and walked over to me, wrapping me in a hug.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed.

  “Making the restaurant staff know about your furry fetish,” he said from inside the panda head.

  “Are you seriously going to spend the entire dinner in that thing?”

  My brother removed the head and grinned. “Well, I was going to wait until our food came before taking this off, but damn, it’s hot in there.”

  “Oh my god, you are insane,” I accused, sliding into the booth.

  “And you’re late.” He slid in beside me, setting the head between us.

  I chuckled. “I know. I was giving Silas some instructions for Nova.”

  After a server arrived with menus, Nolan leaned across the table and asked, “What’s going on with Shutter?”

  “What do you mean?” I opened my menu so I could hide my face.

  My brother’s meaty fingers, encased in panda fur, tugged it down. “Catalina.”

  “Nolan,” I mimicked.

  “You’re spending a lot of time together.”

  “Well, I am kind of taking care of his kid,” I said.

  “That’s not what I mean, and you know it.”