“Keep your phone on you,” Connor manages to growl through the kiss I drop on his lips. I pluck it out of my back pocket and wiggle it in front of his face before slipping it back into my shorts as slowly and sensually as I can without laughing.
His second growl has me lunging for the door before he can capture me and take me back to his bed. I keep reminding myself that Lola’s waiting for me, and it’d be a bitch move if I didn’t show after how many times she’s covered for me lately.
I hurry down the stairs to the kitchens before I can change my mind. There’s this amped-up energy running through me after giving Connor that tattoo that I can’t shake. It felt so right holding that gun in my hand and getting lost in the art. Knowing no matter what happens, he’ll always have that little piece of me on his body sends tingles straight between my legs.
As I step into the kitchen, I’m a little breathless, and it’s not from rushing down here. Tiffany and Lola both look up when I walk inside with matching grins on their faces. I groan because I know they’re about to pump me for information I don’t want to—or can’t—give.
Before any of us can say anything, a squeal comes from the hallway, and I hold my finger up to my lips to tell Lola and Tiff to stay quiet while I creep toward the door. I peek around and fight off a gag as I see Vandal with his hand up Chastity’s shirt. I roll my eyes and turn to leave before that hand moves south when I hear her shrill voice. “But why can’t we go back to your room?” she whines.
“I’ve got shit to do,” he grunts as an explanation, and I duck back into the kitchen and pull out my phone, sending Connor a text. I’m stuck here, and even if I wasn’t, I have no desire to follow Vandal or any of those assholes around. Who knows what they’d do to me if they caught me. Nope, better to let the boys who know how to kill someone with their bare hands be in charge of the riskier fact-finding stuff.
When I get a text back from Connor saying he’s going to follow Vandal and see if he’s up to anything, my heart lurches. Shit, I never thought about how he’d be the one in danger, and my heart does not like that at all.
Ugh, things are so complicated with all the feelings flying around that I need to take a step back and breathe. Maybe I should put some distance between Connor and me, sleep in my own bed for the first time in weeks. It’s the smart thing to do, but all I feel is sick when I think about doing it.
“What was that about?” Tiffany asks when I move back into the main kitchen and join them at the counter, picking up a knife and starting to chop a tomato.
“Nothing, just Vandal and Chastity,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Weren’t you supposed to have a date or something?”
She scoffs. “Yeah, I was supposed to be in Chastity’s place, but Vandal canceled, and she thought she’d slide right in and demand his attention.”
I seriously couldn’t understand why my sweet sort of friends wanted anything to do with those guys or that life. My brother I could see, even Grim, Ruin, or Saint. But the rest of them were questionable at best. Still, I try not to judge too harshly because I don’t know where they came from or what their life was like before they got here.
“If it makes you feel better, he tossed her aside like yesterday’s garbage,” I say, and Tiffany snorts while Lola giggles next to her like a goddamn hyena. I thought it was funny, but not that funny. Then again, no one hates the Cunt Club like Lola does.
We spend the next couple of hours cooking, serving, and cleaning up lunch. I don’t even get a chance to eat myself until my stomach growls, and a wave of lightheadedness reminds me I haven’t eaten anything all day. It’s about then that I realize I haven’t heard from Connor in hours, and my brother has taken up a position in the back booth of the bar where he can watch me and not raise suspicion. Normally, Connor would be here keeping an eye on me, and the fact he’s not here just became glaringly obvious.
It’s like a hole in my life where he should be, and man, does that fuck me up realizing it. Realizing how fucked I am, how far gone I am for him. It doesn’t matter that I’ve been trying to keep my feelings out of it; my heart’s giving me the straight-up middle finger while it cries out for its missing piece.
Ugh. I am so fucked it’s not even funny.
I swear to fuck that prick Vandal knew I was following him yesterday because he ran me all over the goddamn place before he ended up at a sketchy as hell "massage" parlor for two fucking hours. I'm still pissed off about that shit.
The worst part is I had to leave Gigi in that hellhole alone.
Okay, so she had Savage watching out for her, but I still don't know how much I trust the guy considering he's the one in charge of all these bastards.
I look around the bar, glaring at everyone who dares to make eye contact. Gigi was in a weird mood last night and spent the night in her own room, and that just pissed me off more. Between keeping an eye on her and trying to follow the four old guard bikers around—who are more clever than I want to admit—I'm stretched too fucking thin.
That's why I'm about to call in a couple of my guys. I'm not talking to Savage about it first, and if he doesn't like it, he can go fuck himself. He expects me to figure this shit out, and keep his sister safe at the same time, when he couldn't do it with his entire entourage of officers at his back? Yeah, as much as I like to consider myself able to handle anything, even I know when calling in my team is the smart play.
I recheck my watch, and I've got about an hour before Julian and Sebastian check into their hotel. It's on the outskirts of Vegas, and they'll be using it as our HQ away from the office. Even if Savage is okay with me bringing them in, somehow I doubt he'd welcome them onto club property with open arms. He'd need a damn good way to explain their presence, and I haven't been able to come up with anything.
Gigi moves back behind the bar with a case of beer in her arms, and I have to grip the side of the stool to keep from jumping up to help. She's been avoiding eye contact with me all day and didn't answer my text this morning, and it's starting to piss me off. I rewind through our conversations yesterday and can't come up with any reason why she'd be avoiding me.
The only thing I can figure is things got too real for her yesterday with the tattoo, too permanent maybe, and now she's running scared. She may not know me all that well yet, but I'm sure as fuck not going to let her run from me. She can play this game if she wants to, but at some point, she's going to realize I'm not going anywhere and when I told her that when it's time for me to leave, she's coming with me, that I mean that shit.
When Gigi stiffens up, I turn to look in the direction she's facing and see Brutal hobble into the bar. My jaw clenches so hard, my teeth hurt, and before I can even think about it, my stool is slamming onto the ground, and Grim has his hand around my bicep holding me back.
"Don't be stupid," he snaps, tightening his grip when I try to rip out of his hold.
He's right, and I hate that he is. "What the fuck is he doing here? He's barely alive, for fuck's sake."
"The jackass probably wants to prove some moronic point that he's tough or that we won't fuck up their plans or something," he mutters, still holding onto my arm.
When Gigi finally turns and looks at me, her eyes are wide with fear, and I strain against Grim's hold on me. I hate that look in her eye, and I hate even more that I can't do shit about it without ruining everything I'm working toward.
Brutal moves across the room to the bar, and Tiffany gets him a drink and motions him over to a table near the front where Bomber sits huddled over his beer. She's not exactly warm and friendly with him, even though that's basically her job around here, and her lips thin when he tries to stick around and bullshit with her instead of going where she's pointing him.
"Hey!" Grim barks from behind me, and Brutal startles and then turns to glare at him. "Take your broken ass over to the table. Tiffany will bring your beer over." His voice is cold as fuck, and I'm glad to see he's taking this shit seriously.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I know I'm going to ha
ve to leave to meet up with my guys, even if walking out of here—now that one of Gigi's tormentors decided to waltz back in the bar like he wasn't about to rape and torture her a couple of days ago—is the very last thing I want to do.
I break the hold Grim has on my arm and turn to face him. He's still watching Brutal move slowly across the bar over my shoulder, a cold fury in his eyes that I never want to see pointed in my direction. "I have something I have to do," I tell him, and his cool gaze flicks to Gigi before it settles on me, filled with understanding.
"I'll stick around until you're back," he promises and ducks around me to take a spot front and center at the bar. Gigi visibly relaxes when he sits, and her eyes dart up to meet mine. I curl my finger for her to come over to me, and I watch as she takes a deep breath before she steps out from behind the bar and moves into my space.
When she's close enough to touch, I tuck her hair behind her ear and let my finger caress her velvety cheek. "I know what you're doing," I say, and she flinches before she looks up at me guiltily.
"And what's that?"
"Running scared." Her skin turns that sweet pink shade before she bites her lip.
"I'm sorry, I just don't know how to do this."
I raise my eyebrow. "Do what? I'm not asking you to do anything except trust me."
"That's just it, Connor. Everyone I've trusted has stabbed me in the back, and I end up in a bloody heap while they walk away laughing. I'm scared that's going to happen again with you. I already feel too much," she confesses, that last part a whisper I can barely make out.
"I know, Gigi. I get it, and I'm not actually mad you're brushing me off. I have to take off and deal with something right now, but Grim will stay until I get back. Believe it or not, I really like you, and at some point, you're going to have to face the fact that I'm not fucking leaving you behind, okay?"
She studies me before giving me a nod, and I wrap her up in my arms, breathing in her coffee and vanilla scent. Her body is stiff against mine for a few seconds until she melts. All the tension bleeds out of her while she's wrapped up in me, and it's exactly the reaction I hoped she'd have. I know she feels as much for me as I do for her; she's just too scared to admit it.
But she will.
I drop a kiss on her lips, tasting that strawberry lip gloss that will forever remind me of her before I turn and walk out to my bike. Eyes burn into my back as I do, but I ignore them. Savage will know soon enough where I'm going and what I'm up to, and if it's one of the old guys watching, well, I guess they'll know what I'm up to soon enough, too.
My mind isn't focused as I ride to our rendezvous spot. I'm consumed with ways to bring Gigi closer again, to get her to open up and accept that what we have is the kind of thing you don't turn your back on for anything. I'm almost surprised when I pull into the parking lot of the hotel in what feels like the blink of an eye later.
My guys must've been watching for me because when I step into the air-conditioned lobby, they're waiting for me. Julian pushes off the wall he was leaning against, and Sebastian follows him over, pushing his glasses up his nose. I'm almost positive that's more a nervous habit of his than an actual necessity. No one's glasses fall down that much.
"Boss," Julian says as he comes to stand by my side. "We should probably go up to the room for this discussion, yeah?"
"I agree. Besides, I didn't want to haul all of my equipment down here," Sebastian adds, looking around at the basic decor. This hotel hadn't been picked for our base because it was nice; I chose it because of how unremarkable it was—a chain hotel with the same standard three-star offerings as so many thousands of others.
"Have you guys been here long?" I ask while we wait for the slow as fuck elevator to crawl down to us.
"No, we checked in right before…" My phone goes off in my pocket, and I look down at the screen, grinning at the picture Gigi sent me with a cherry stem knotted on her tongue.
"Earth to Jamison," Julian says, his tone teasing and maybe a little bit surprised. "Why do you look like you got hit with a fucking arrow from Cupid or some shit?"
I stuff my phone back in my pocket, ignoring how my heart fucking hurts, knowing Gigi's unsure about her feelings for me. At least she's willing to try, and that's what that picture means to me. I need to shove all things Gigi aside for a minute and put my boss hat on, though, because ultimately, what matters for her and our relationship in the long-term is getting her the fuck out of the Reign of Chaos's clutches.
It's insane to me I'm thinking about a long-term relationship with a woman in any capacity in the first place, considering my lifestyle before I took on this project. Doesn't matter. Gigi's what I want, and now that she's in my sights, I won't stop until she admits she wants me just as much.
Sebastian clears his throat, and I realize my mind wandered back to Gigi again, and I never responded to whatever bullshit thing Julian said before I spaced out.
"Shut up," I snap, and a huge-ass grin stretches across Julian's face. He looks like he just won a fucking medal or something, and he elbows Sebastian, who glares at him. Sebastian's usually so caught up in whatever project he's working on that, as far as I know, he has next to no social life, dating included. The only time I see him around women is when he works on cases with Ryan or female clients, and even then, he's shy as shit. I wonder if he even knows what Julian's giving me shit about.
The elevator doors slide open, and we step inside. Julian opens his mouth, but Sebastian shakes his head. "Not until we get into the room." He deliberately glances up at the small black camera in the elevator's ceiling, and we both follow his gaze.
The rest of the ride is silent, with Julian biting back the shit-eating grin that wants to take over his face because he caught me looking like I've got a crush—and, really, I do, so I can't be too pissed at him. Sebastian has his phone out and is tapping away at it like he'd rather be interacting with the piece of technology than us anyway and is happy to do it.
It hits me as the doors open on the fourth floor that even though I don't want to get into the whole Gigi thing, I don't have a choice. I'm going to have to fill them in because if they don't have all the info, we won't be able to make a plan that works. It fucking sucks that Julian is about to get all up in my business and tease the shit out of me for it, but Gigi's safety is more important than my pride and ego.
Sebastian slips the keycard into the lock and pushes into the room. Julian and I follow him in, the door clicking shut loudly behind us. The room is tiny with two queen beds side by side and a joke of a desk with a chair. I shift by Julian and pull out the chair, dropping onto it while Sebastian pulls out both his laptop and tablet.
"Before we get into everything here, do either of you need to update me about anything back at the office?" I've been pretty much radio silent for an entire week, and a lot of shit's gone down, so it feels like an eternity since I had a catch-up with anyone from my team.
Julian shakes his head. "Everything's running normally. Sebastian finished up what he was working on, so we're both here for the long-haul for whatever you need."
Sebastian mumbles his agreement from the bed furthest away from me, where he's digging through a duffel bag and pulling out a bunch of equipment. The pile beside him keeps getting bigger as I watch. I wait until he's done and sitting back on the bed with his tablet on his lap.
"You good?" I ask him, and he nods. I try not to chuckle at the serious expression on his face. Sebastian is a damn good member of my team, and frankly, we'd be fucking nothing without him. His weirdness only adds to his charm, or at least that's what I tell myself.
"You guys are up to date on the last update I sent to the cloud folder, right?" If they're not, we're going to have a whole hell of a lot more to talk about before I can get into what's happened since I last updated.
They both look at me like I'm stupid, and I roll my eyes. "I had to check," I grumble.
"Yes, last we heard, some assholes in the club were skimming off the top or some shit, and you
found some sort of serial killer nest in the basement." Julian makes it sound like a joke, but we all know it's not. It's just the way he deals with shit, so I don't take it personally.
"Right, so it's actually four assholes at a minimum, and since there's only one of me, I haven't been able to figure out what they're up to because I'm so goddamn limited by myself." I rake my hands through my hair, feeling my gut tighten in frustration.
"I can help with that," Sebastian says as he plucks a USB stick out of the pile of stuff in the middle of his bed and holds it up. "You'll take this back with you, and if any of those older guys have a computer, load the program on the stick onto the device. I'll be able to dig through their entire hard drive remotely, and they'll never know it."
"Where'd you get something like that?"
"I wrote the programming. It wasn't hard," he says in that matter of fact way he always talks about this shit. He blinks at me like he's waiting to see if I have anything to say about it, but I don't.
"Good job?" I try, and Julian snorts out a laugh before running his hand over his shaved head and down his face.
"Thanks," Sebastian says in the driest voice imaginable and then taps at his tablet. "I'm also sending you instructions on how to hack into their phones. It would be better if I had the actual device here to work on, but it seems unlikely you'd be able to get them and keep them for a few hours before taking them back without suspicion, so you're going to have to make do with a step by step guide. You can call me if you need me to talk you through it."
My palms get a little sweaty, and my stomach rolls. Shit like this is why I have Sebastian. I briefly wonder if I can somehow smuggle him into the club to do this undercover, but then I look at his perfectly styled dirty blonde hair and button-down shirt and know they'd never buy it even with Savage's permission. I almost laugh when I think about Sebastian on a motorcycle.
"As for me, I figured you'll need extra help with surveillance and trailing these motherfuckers when they're out doing fuck knows what." Julian leans forward and rests his forearms on his thighs, grinning at me like a psycho. "I even brought my bike."
Captive: A Bodyguard Romance (Hollywood Guardians Book 1) Page 16