Thief (Blood & Bone Enforcers MC Book 2)

by Grace Brennan

  He was still thickly muscled, his t-shirt clinging to his body, his huge arms decorated with a few more tattoos than he had three years ago. He was wearing a ballcap pulled low on his brow, hiding his light green eyes from her, but she knew they were the same—including his white-blond eyelashes that were such a striking difference to his dark hair. He had a strong nose set atop thin lips that still managed to look soft, even though the rest of him was chiseled and strong.

  Really, the main difference was his beard. In the military, soldiers weren’t allowed to have beards. The only facial hair permitted was a mustache, and she’d never seen him with one. The beard he was sporting was full and thick, and surprisingly attractive on him.

  Wait. Attractive? No, no, no. She hadn’t noticed whether any man she met was attractive since Brandon died, and she wasn’t about to start with his best friend.

  Inhaling deeply, she backed away, putting a little more distance between them. She wasn’t at all comfortable with realizing how much he appealed to her, and it was a thought she needed to nip in the bud.

  “I don’t get it. I know you were hurt, but I can’t even tell.”

  His eyes shot to hers, his brow furrowing, and then he cleared his throat as he shook his head quickly. “I didn’t get punched that hard. Barely felt it, really, so of course there wasn’t damage.”

  “I saw it, Noah. And I saw the blood. Of course there should be signs.”

  He shrugged, looking away from her as he stood up. “I just heal quickly.”

  Her eyes narrowed as the suspicion she suddenly felt earlier welled up inside her. “Noah—”

  “Why are you here, Lily? You just happening to walk in here couldn’t have been a coincidence. I haven’t seen you in years, and Nevada’s a long way from Virginia.”

  “Three years.”

  He frowned as he finally looked back over at her. “What?”

  “It’s been three years and four months since we’ve seen each other. At Brandon’s funeral. You disappeared after that, and this is where I find you? I heard someone say this is a motorcycle clubhouse. What the hell happened to you, Noah?”

  Noah closed his eyes at the suppressed grief in Lily’s voice. He knew it wasn’t for him—it was for Brandon, and that same grief washed over him. Opening his eyes, he studied her as he sought to find words. Any words. Because it felt like the ability to speak had suddenly deserted him.

  Lily looked much the same as she had before. She was average in height, but like most people, she seemed small next to him. Her blonde hair was loose, hanging almost to her waist, a few inches longer than it’d been the last time he saw her.

  Her face was oval, and she had high cheekbones, with a pert nose set above full lips. Her blue eyes were large in her face, the striking shade hitting him like a punch to the gut, as always—light blue near the pupils, darkening to a ring of blue-black on the rims.

  And they were currently staring at him with suspicion, but he didn’t miss the glimmer of hurt she was trying to hide.

  “Well? You’ve always been quiet with me, but you have been known to speak on occasion. And maybe you still don’t like me, but we had a connection through Brandon. So like it or not, I care about you, because of that. Because of Brandon.”

  He frowned, finally finding his voice. “Where did you get the idea that I don’t like you?”

  That time, it was Lily who looked away. “You rarely spoke to me, but I know you were outgoing with everyone else. Brandon told me. It was a logical assumption.”

  “It wasn’t because I didn’t like you, Lily.”

  Her eyes shot back to him as she wrinkled her brow. “Then why?”

  He couldn’t tell her the truth. Just thinking it made him feel guilty as fuck. The reason he hadn’t talked much wasn’t because he disliked her. It was the opposite. He liked her too much. The honest truth was, he’d been attracted to her. And it had made him uncomfortable, on top of feeling like scum for being attracted to his friend’s wife. He’d been worried that he’d make it too obvious when they were all together, so he didn’t speak much and ignored her as much as possible.

  Maybe that hadn’t been the right way to do it, though. He’d never meant for her to feel like he didn’t like her—he just didn’t want her or Brandon to know how much he did.

  Even now, he felt ashamed of it. What the hell kind of friend was he? He’d been attracted to Brandon’s wife. And then he wasn’t able to save Brandon. He’d failed both of them, in more ways than he could count.

  He’d been attracted to her. Who was he trying to kid? He was still attracted to her. And it was just what he’d been afraid of happening, and part of the reason why he never sought her out after the funeral.

  He felt like shit that he wasn’t there for her the way Brandon would have wanted him to be.

  But he was equally sure his friend would have killed him for wanting her the way he had.

  She arched an eyebrow at him and he cleared his throat, deciding to change the subject instead of answering the question. “And what’s wrong with being in a motorcycle club?”

  “Maybe nothing. I guess it all depends on what you guys do.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t born yesterday, and I’ve watched Sons of Anarchy. Is that what y’all do here? Run drugs or guns or something illegal like that?”

  Noah stared at her, unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit. “No, that’s not what we do. Nothing illegal goes on here.”

  “Then how do you make your money?”

  He arched an eyebrow as he gestured at the bar. “We own this place.”

  Her eyes narrowed on him. “And that’s enough to support all of y’all? There are like six of you, if the deed I saw is right.”

  “You got ahold of our deed to this place?”

  Cheeks flushing, she shrugged as she glanced away. “I was trying to find you, and your name popped up on the deed. So yeah, I’ve seen it. I didn’t realize it was an MC until I got here, though.”

  He couldn’t deny feeling impressed as he watched her. They tried to keep everything as secret as they could, so finding it couldn’t have been easy. He knew she was into computer stuff, but he hadn’t known she was that good.

  “Look around. See how crowded it is? It’s like this most nights. Our only truly slow night is Sunday. Plus, we all live upstairs, and this place is paid for, so it’s not like our expenses are high.”

  Pursing her lips, she glanced around, taking in the people eating and drinking. It was a busy night and the place was packed, but she still didn’t look very convinced. “And you’re sure this is all there is to it?”

  It definitely wasn’t. They were Enforcers—shifter law. They regularly went on missions to track down evil shifters, but it wasn’t like he could tell her that. And that was why, other than Brandon, he’d never had any human friends. He hated that he had to lie about what he was all the time.

  “I’m sure. Have you always been this suspicious, or is it new?”

  The flush in her cheeks deepened, but she just shrugged, her eyes defiant. “I can’t help it. It just feels like something isn’t adding up.”

  Blowing out a breath, he shook his head as he looked around the bar. “We haven’t spoken in three years, Lily. Shit’s changed since then.”

  “It wasn’t my idea for you to disappear. And of course, things change. I just hope the core of you, the honorable man Brandon said you were, hasn’t changed.”

  Honorable. Didn’t that feel like a joke. But he couldn’t say that to her, because that would lead to questions he didn’t want to answer. Ones he couldn’t answer.

  “I’m the same person. Why’d you come here, Lily?”

  She hesitated, and before she could answer, Blake called out to him from across the bar. “Noah. Church. Now.”

  Noah squeezed his eyes shut, barely resisting letting a groan out. He’d wanted to find out what she wanted and then send her on her way before he lost more of his s
anity, and a meeting would only delay that.

  He briefly considered ignoring the Enforcer’s leader, but in the end, he knew he couldn’t. If Blake was calling a meeting, they had a mission come through, and the sooner they got those under control, the better it was for everyone.

  “If all your MC does is run the bar, why do you need secret type meetings and stuff?”

  His lips quirked at her persistent suspicion. But hell, she was right. They might not be doing anything illegal—the exact opposite of that in the shifter world, actually—but she wasn’t wrong about him keeping things from her.

  “We have meetings about the business. Bar and grill type stuff. I better not keep him waiting. Blake doesn’t like that. Can we pick this up when I’m done?”

  She pursed her lips but, after a long moment where he thought she’d refuse, she finally nodded. “Sure. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

  He nodded, not saying anything else as he spun around and walked toward the archway in the back. And it wasn’t until he was away from her and his lion started pacing again that he realized his cat had calmed while he was near her.

  Chapter Three

  Lily wrapped her arms around herself as she watched Noah stride away. It seemed like everyone just parted for him, automatically taking one look at the gigantic man striding purposefully through their midst, and scrambled to get out of his way.

  It was kind of amusing, because Noah might be huge, but he wasn’t a violent man, despite being a former Marine.

  Or at least, the Noah she used to know hadn’t been. True, she hadn’t been close to him at all, but Brandon wouldn’t have been friends with him if he was back then.

  Didn’t mean he hadn’t changed, though.

  Lord, Lily, who are you now? she thought to herself. The person she’d been since she walked into B&B Bar and Grill wasn’t like any version of herself she’d ever known. The suspicion was a little weird on its own, for sure.

  But it was the way she felt determined to get to the truth that threw her. She wasn’t normally like that. And knowing she had no right to pry into Noah’s life didn’t seem to be enough to stop her.

  Add in the way she was suddenly noticing things she shouldn’t—how he made her feel delicate as he towered over her; how amazingly well he filled out the soft cotton of his t-shirt; how his bulky muscles seemed delicious to her—and it was like she was a completely different person than who she’d been just a few hours ago.

  She wasn’t comfortable about any of it, but she could handle her suspicious nature better than she could the sudden attraction to Noah.

  Brandon would certainly approve of her trying to make sure Noah was in a good place, and that he hadn’t gotten himself into anything illegal or dangerous. But she wasn’t so sure he’d approve of her lusting over his best friend.

  Guilt washed over her, strong enough to make her close her eyes. She’d always been sure she’d spend the rest of her life alone, because nothing and no one could top what Brandon had been to her.

  If she thought about it, she would have said she’d feel guilty for moving on with anyone, even though she knew he would have wanted her to be happy. But Noah… that was a whole different kettle of fish. And even if Brandon wanted her to move on with someone else, she didn’t think that included his best friend.

  She had to put aside the attraction she felt for Noah. It couldn’t go anywhere, even if she wanted it to. And she didn’t want it to.

  But she couldn’t walk away without making sure Noah wasn’t going down the wrong path. Her gaze narrowed on the hallway in the back of the bar that he’d disappeared down, curiosity burning through her. She wanted to know what the meeting was really about.

  What Noah said about it being bar business didn’t hold up. They were open and the bar was packed. Why would they hold a meeting in the middle of a busy night? Why not wait until they were closed?

  Nibbling on her lower lip, she stared at the Members Only sign above the archway. Lily of a few hours before would never dream about going past that sign.

  The Lily of that moment definitely was.

  Walking as casually as she was able, she made her way to the hallway and glanced around to make sure no one was watching before slipping inside. She looked around, and finding it empty, she eased down the hall, listening for voices, grateful she was wearing sneakers that didn’t make a lot of noise.

  She finally heard people talking, and she crept toward the door that was open slightly, barely breathing as she came to a stop. Holding herself absolutely still, her shoulders tense, she listened hard.

  “So we need to monitor the situation. If it goes as I think it will, people will get hurt.”

  “And there’s no other intel?”

  Lily felt her eyebrows raise. That was a woman’s voice. She hadn’t realized there were women in the MC. She thought back to the deed to the bar. There’d been two names that were initials, so it was possible those were women. Shaking it from her thoughts, she focused on the conversation again, already not liking what it sounded like.

  It was definitely more than bar business. But were they the ones who could get hurt—or the ones who’d be inflicting the hurt if things didn’t go the way they wanted? Uneasiness coiled through her middle as she waited for someone else to speak.

  “No, that’s all we have for now. So I need someone to go over and scope the situation out. See if what we have is correct. If it is, we need to move soon.”

  “I’ll go,” Noah said quickly.

  “You sure? I thought you had a visitor.”

  “She’ll be gone soon. I want to go.”

  Lily frowned at that. Her original thought had been to leave as soon as possible, but that made her want to be stubborn and dig her heels in.

  And damned if she was leaving until she knew what the hell was going on with him and this MC.

  “What we really need is someone with computer knowledge. It would help the mission out and get us the info we need easier. From everything I’ve learned, it’s hard to get in and out of the compound. We can eventually learn their schedules, but it’ll take time we might not have.”

  “You mean like a hacker?” the woman asked. “What about Alex, from the Rocky River fighters? He’s good.”

  “I guess we can ask if we need to, but I’d rather not involve him. The situation might strike a little too close to home for him and his mate.”

  Mate? Well, she was more confused than ever. She was lost and had no idea what any of them were talking about.

  “Are they talking about anything good in there?”

  The woman’s voice came from right next to Lily’s ear, and she let out a little squeal, jumping and hitting the door. As it swung open and everyone in the room looked at her, she glanced nervously between them and the dark-haired woman who’d caught her spying.

  Busted.

  Noah stood up, frowning as he stared at Lily standing in the doorway, Damara right behind her.

  “Lily? What are you doing back here?”

  “Uh, I got lost?”

  Tarun snickered next to him and he cut her a look before glancing back at Lily, raising an eyebrow at her obvious lie. Shifters could hear lies, but even if they couldn’t, it wouldn’t take a genius to figure that one out.

  Clearing her throat nervously, she looked between the meeting room and Damara before easing inside a little more. “Yes, well, I was just, um, walking by, and I overheard someone saying you guys could use someone with computer knowledge. I can help.”

  He shook his head emphatically. “No. Not with this.”

  “What, you think I can’t help with the bar’s books, or something?” she asked challengingly, her eyes narrowed on him.

  Before he could reply, Blake beat him to it. “Can you hack?”

  Lily swallowed hard, her eyes darting around. “Yes.”

  Her voice wavered a little as she spoke, but the honesty in her tone rang clear as a doorbell. He instantly shook his head again at Blake as the other man
studied her contemplatively.

  “No, Blake. Don’t. Besides, she was leaving tonight. Weren’t you, Lily?”

  Her lips tightened. “Nope. Sure wasn’t. I’m available to help.”

  “Blake—”

  “It wouldn’t be dangerous,” Blake replied before looking back at her. “It would mean leaving with Noah to do surveillance. You up for that?”

  That time, her look at Noah was a little smug. “Sure am.”

  “It’s settled, then. Y’all can leave in the morning.”

  Noah glared at Blake and then started walking toward Lily, taking pleasure in how her eyes widened nervously. “If you guys will excuse us, Lily and I need to talk.”

  As he passed her, he wrapped his hand around her wrist to tug her along behind him. He stumbled for a second as a spark shot through him at the contact, but he forced himself to ignore it as he started moving again.

  When they got to the end of the hallway where the back stairs were located, he let her go and turned toward her. She touched her wrist and rubbed gently, her brow furrowed. He knew he hadn’t hurt her—he’d taken care to keep his grip loose. She could have easily pulled away if she wanted.

  So maybe that meant she’d felt the same spark he had. Fuck. If she had, that wasn’t good. It might have made his heart leap at the thought that she was as attracted to him as he was to her, but it couldn’t go anywhere between them. It really didn’t change anything.

  His lion gave a little hum inside him, and Noah nearly jumped out of his skin. His cat rarely made noise inside him—and even more rarely spoke. He raised his hand and rubbed at his chest again, almost unconsciously. What he wouldn’t give if his cat would do shit like that more often.

  “Are you okay?”

  He raised his eyes at Lily’s words, dropping his hand when he saw she was watching him. “I’m fine. But what the hell were you thinking? You need to go tell Blake you changed your mind. You can’t do this.”