I've been meaning to have this discussion with her for a while now, and getting it out in the open is a relief. Her brother might have a problem with my promise to her, but I don't really give a shit what he wants. I'm fully on Gigi's side.
She leans forward, her red-tinted hair falling over her shoulders as she reaches out to take my bloodied hands into hers. Her green eyes lift to meet mine, and I suck in a breath at the depth of emotion I find there. "I want this—to be here with you—more than I've ever wanted anything in my whole life. So, yes, I want to come back here and make a life with you. Getting a taste of this place, of what life will look like when I'm free of the ROC and just able to be here with you, it makes going back almost bearable."
I can't resist her anymore and close the gap between us, kissing the hell out of her before pulling back before it can go any further. Asher steps into the room and clears his throat, so I turn to look at him and lift my eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. "Our guest is all loaded up in the truck, and we're about to pack up your bike. You've got about fifteen minutes until we're ready."
I nod my thanks, and he leaves us alone again, so I turn back to Gigi. "Pack your bag while I shower. We're taking my truck back, and one of my guys is riding with us to keep an eye on Riff.
She gives me a look like she's surprised he's still alive, and I smile, even though it might look a little bit unhinged. Then I look down at our linked hands, where some of his blood has marked up her skin. "And wash your hands. No one's blood is allowed to touch your skin but mine."
Her eyes heat, but there's no time, so I let her go and hurry up to shower, ignoring the raging hard-on I've got going on. It's going to be a long fucking drive back to hell.
"I'll tell you anything you want to know; just don't take me back to the ROC. They'll kill me," Riff pleads from his spot on the floor of the cab of my truck. In the rearview mirror, I see Indy roll his eyes.
"You should've gagged him," he notes, looking bored.
"No, I've got information you want! I know who killed Devil, and it wasn't us."
Now, I don't really give a flying fuck who killed Devil. The guy needed to die, and the world is better off for his loss, but Savage might want to know.
"I'm listening," I say because really it's a long fucking drive, and Gigi's asleep on my shoulder, so I've got nowhere better to be at the moment.
"Promise you won't let them kill me."
"I'm not promising shit. Tell me what you know, and I'll decide if it's worth your life."
I hear his shuddering exhale. "Fine. All of this started a couple of years ago. Savage was older, and Devil was grooming him to take over the ROC when the time came. When he started listening to his son's ideas about how to turn the club more legitimate, it pissed off some of his officers. That's when they came to us. They needed to get him out without it looking like they were involved, so we made a deal. See, Devil wanted to get the club out of the skin trade, and after he watched one of his friends OD, Savage wanted out of the drugs, too. That only left guns, and they were only bringing in a fraction of the profits."
"With the club competing for standing and territory with us, it left them weak, especially since the ROC officers were willing to split the profits of their new venture with us as soon as we took Devil out. Ace and Beast tracked him down and took care of the hit themselves to make sure the job got done." I didn't know who the fuck Ace or Beast were, but I bet Savage would.
When I don't say anything, Riff keeps going. "Your four original officers have been rebuilding and strengthening the sex and drug parts of the businesses using one of our old safe houses, and business has never been better. As soon as they get Savage to step down—or if he won't, kill him—they'll take over. I'm not privy to all the details, but from what I've heard, they're trying to discredit him with the club, so they demand a resignation and revote. If that doesn't work, I was supposed to grab his sister to use as leverage—her life for his presidency."
At his words, I growl, and Indy punches Riff in the face since I can't. He gets me like that and gives me a savage smile when I nod at him in the mirror. "We'll see what Savage thinks of your little story," I sneer at him, feeling pissed off all over again at the reminder he wanted to take what's mine, but more than that, that he'd turn into a traitor for the club he's pledged his life and loyalty to.
In both clubs, for men who supposedly hold loyalty above all else, there's a whole lot of backstabbing and betrayal going on, and it makes me fucking sick. Indy's glaring down at the man at his feet who's gone quiet, and I imagine similar thoughts are running through his head, too.
After that, I turn on satellite radio, no longer interested in talking with anyone, and the rest of the drive passes in silence aside from the low murmur of the song playing in the background.
Swinging by the hotel where Julian and Sebastian are staying, I drop Indy off with them. I don't know what Savage has told the club about who I really am—or if he has at all—or why I'm bringing the Death King back with me, so I don't want to risk blowing my cover if it's still intact.
The drive back to the Reign of Chaos clubhouse is short, and Gigi stirs just before we pull in, looking up at me with sleepy eyes that make me want to take her right back to bed. "Are we here already?" Her lips turn down in a frown, and I know she's not happy to be back, and neither am I.
"Unfortunately, but now I know what's going on, and I don't think we'll have to stay much longer." If what Riff told me is true, I have the whole picture of what the four old officers have been up to, and now all I have to do is prove it.
When we pull up to the main clubhouse, it's in chaos. There's more than one body down in the dirt, a couple of sweet butts looking disheveled and screeching, and Savage, Grim, and Ruin huddled together with their weapons in their hands. "Stay in the car, Gigi," I growl, pulling my own gun out of the glovebox and jumping out of my truck.
I look around as I stalk toward their huddle, and Grim looks up as I join them. "What the fuck happened here?"
"The Death Kings," Savage spits out. "They attacked an hour ago, drove right up to the front door, and opened fire. They grabbed a couple of sweet butts as retribution for their missing member." He looks at me with nothing but rage and vengeance in his eyes, and I can see it echoed in his other two officers when I make eye contact with them, too.
"Where's Gigi?" he suddenly asks, and I jerk my chin toward my truck where she's staring out the passenger window with concern marring her beautiful face.
"Who'd they take?" I look around and see Lola and feel a twinge of relief. If she'd been taking, Gigi would've been upset, and I would've had to fuck someone up for it.
"Tiffany, Crystal, and Jade." Fuck, Tiffany is one of Gigi's friends, too. I didn't like the other girls, but I knew what their fate would be if we let the Death Kings have them, and I couldn't sit by and let it happen.
"You're going to want to hear what the guest I brought back with me has to say, and then we make arrangements for what comes next," I say, sliding right into boss mode. This shit here is right up my alley and the kind of situation I've trained my whole life for. It's like second nature to handle shit like this.
Benson is about to get a crash course on exactly why he should never doubt that his sister is safest with me.
"Oh, yes, I am," I argue for at least the tenth time. The men surrounding me have been adamant that I'm not going through with my plan, but I've never been good at letting people tell me what to do. For the second time in my life, a decision is completely mine—my eyes flick over to an extremely pissed off Connor standing across the room glaring at me—and I don't care how many times my brother and his buddies tell me I can't go in after Tiffany, I'm doing it anyway.
"No, you're fucking not," Savage yells, and I roll my eyes.
"We're wasting time. The longer we wait, the less control we have over what's going on in that place." I'm making a valid point and match my brother's glare with one of my own.
He throws up his hands and tu
rns to Connor. "Talk some fucking sense in your girlfriend."
Connor eyes me, and then a look of resignation passes over his face. He knows me, knows I'll never turn my back and leave Tiffany to be sold and drugged and used by men like Poison, Vandal, Brutal, and worse. Not when I can get in and do something about it. He pushes off the wall he's leaning against and crosses the room, leaning over to murmur in my ear, "Are you sure about this?"
I nod, and he stands up straighter, pressing his palm into my lower back in a show of support. The heat from his skin sinks into me and helps settle my nerves. It's not like I want to throw myself to the wolves, but I don't feel like there's another choice. Sure, my brother and his club and Connor could go in with guns blazing and take out a bunch of the Death Kings, but there's a good chance some of ours will be lost along with theirs, and if I can stop that from happening, I'm going to.
Looking up into Connor's steady hazel eyes filled with so much love and conviction marred with concern, I know deep in my heart I'm making the right choice. I can't let him go in there and get himself killed. As much as I've resented Savage for not helping me get free of this place, I'm just getting to know him as family. I'm not ready to face the possibility of losing him, either.
"You know it's a good plan," I tell my brother, and his jaw flexes. He knows it, too; he just doesn't want to admit it. "Riff can take me in. When they get him back, they'll calm down. He'll say that I gave him a hard time, and he had to subdue me or something. C-Shadow," shit, I almost slipped. The club as a whole still didn't know who Connor really was. "Can get his surveillance guy to strap a camera on me, and when they throw me in with the other girls, I'll get what we need evidence-wise. A few of you guys can use the footage and the info we already have from Shadow's guys to go stealth and get the other girls and me out. Easy."
Grim scoffs but doesn't say anything, and my brother points to him as if to say, see? Even Grim thinks your idea sucks, but I don't let his negativity deter me. If we ever want to get rid of the old officers, we're going to have to have something on them. What my brother does with that evidence—whether he turns them over to the police, blackmails them into staying away, or killing them—that's his decision, and I don't really care either way.
All I want is to wrap this up with minimal bloodshed and walk away with a clear conscience. Do I want to risk myself for Crystal or Jade? Not particularly, especially not after what Crystal did to try and drive a wedge between Connor and me. But as bitchy and terrible as they are, they're also innocent in all this. No one, no matter how big of a bitch, should have their lives snatched away from them and be held against their will and forced to do unspeakable things.
A shiver runs through my body, and Connor slides his hand over to my hip, gripping me tightly. Being held captive by the ROC has been a walk in the park compared to what those girls face, and I can't just do nothing. If my plan works and I can get in there and get the evidence we need, this all comes to an end, and I can finally get out of here and go live the life with Connor I'm starting to become desperate for.
Connor stands rigidly at my side, a silent support as I face off with my brother. Our eyes are locked, and I keep my fist pump inside when he breaks our stare-down first and shifts his piercing green gaze to Connor. "How soon can you have surveillance setup? We're not doing this until we know exactly what we're up against."
It's only been a few hours since the girls were taken, but I think we all understand how important it is to move fast. I won't disagree with him on this, and he's looking at me like he expects me to fight him, but I'm not going to. Benson is right—it would be idiotic of me to volunteer to walk into this situation without a solid exit strategy.
"My guys are already working on it. Give them another hour, and we should be good to go," Connor answers easily, his confidence in his team never wavering. I look up at him, and he meets my gaze, and I hope he can see how proud of him I am, even if I don't want to say it out loud. There are too many people standing around, and I don't know how he feels about showing affection in front of my brother and his officers, not to mention all the club brothers hanging around and acting like they're not listening in.
Savage nods once and then turns to Grim and Ruin. "Patch Riff up and make sure he's clear on the role he's playing in this. If he steps out of line, we take him out when we go in for Gigi and the other girls."
To be honest, I'm super proud of my brother, too, and how he's risking his club and his position in it to go after some sweet butts that I know for a fact Devil would've left behind. Actually, Devil probably would've gladly handed them over if it got him more money or control.
"You have an hour. We'll meet back up and see where we want to go from there once we have surveillance in place," Savage announces loudly to everyone standing inside the bar with us. Connor moves his hand from my hip and laces our fingers together, tugging me out of the room and up to mine. It doesn't escape my notice, and he still hasn't stepped foot back in his room after the whole Crystal incident, not that I can blame him.
I like having him in my room and in my bed, so it's not like I mind sharing my space.
When the door is closed, he wastes no time pinning me up against it with his hard body, his face so close I can feel his breath on my lips. "I hate that you're doing this," he finally says, resting his forehead against mine.
I reach up and run my fingers along his jaw, feeling the rough stubble against my palm. "I know, I do, too, but we need to finish this and move on. Not only that, but those girls don't deserve to be left behind, no matter how much I may want some of them to get herpes and suffer with it for all eternity."
"Cold," Connor chuckles and leans back just enough so I can look into his eyes. His body's still pressed up against mine so I can feel every hot, hard part of him.
Sighing, I run my fingers through his hair, willing him to really hear what I'm about to say. "I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines of my own life. I want to be free, to move to LA with you and apprentice under MJ, wake up every morning to this handsome face," I boop his nose and his lips curve into a warm smile, "and take daily walks on the beach. I want to try new foods, do something as simple as go to the grocery store, have a picnic in a park. I could go on and on. My point is you need to trust me to take care of myself like I'm going to be trusting you to come get me."
His brows furrow, and his eyes turn stormy. "You haven't been in a situation like this before. A million things could go wrong, and I'd fucking die if anything happened to you, Gigi. I've let people down before when things didn't go like I thought they would, and I can't have that happen to you." He sucks in a deep breath, and the pain in his eyes shatters me. He carries so much on his shoulders, but he doesn't have to do it alone.
"I fucking love you, Gigi. Please don't make me watch you walk in there, not knowing whether I'll ever see you again." He's pleading with me, and tears sting my eyes because I have to do this. It's the only way. Even if all my brother's guys storm the little shack and Connor brings his team in, too, there's no guarantee when the smoke clears, there will be anything left to explain what happened or make Vandal, Brutal, Bomber, and Poison go away. We need proof, and I'm the only one that can get it.
But then it hits me that he told me he loves me. My heart stutters in my chest, and my breath catches as I get lost in his eyes. They're wide and pleading and filled with so much love and affection tears sting my eyes again, only this time one drops down my cheek, and he swipes it away with his finger.
"I'm convinced fate sent you here to save me, you know? My avenging angel," I say, giving him a watery smile as my whole insides are exploding with happiness. I'm sort of dizzy with the overwhelming joy of it all in the face of such a shitty situation.
He steps closer, eliminating any space between us, giving me a savage smile that promises he'll destroy anyone who tries to hurt me or cage me again. His next words promise the same. "No one will ever hurt you again, Gigi." We both know he can't really promise that, but I still lean into th
e safety of his body because now it feels like home.
"Connor," I say, grabbing his face between my palms and tipping it down so I know he's fully paying attention. "I love you, too."
As the words leave my lips, he crushes his mouth to mine in a bruising kiss that feels like he's trying to imprint himself on me, so neither of us forgets this moment. I let out a little whimper as he ravages my mouth, his cock thickening between us. He bends and grips the back of my thighs, wrapping my legs around his waist, and rolls his hips against me, so his dick rubs right up against my core.
His kiss is hard. Hot. Urgent.
His fingers slip down between us and pop the button on my shorts open right as someone bangs on my door. "Savage needs you in the bar," one of his guys calls through the door at my back, and Connor pulls back, breathing heavy and with a sinful look in his eye. The last thing I want to do is go downstairs and continue on with this shitty plan, but I don't feel like I have a choice if I ever want to get out of here.
Connor lets go of my thighs but doesn't step back, so I have no choice but to slide down his body, and I groan in frustration. "They couldn't have given us five more minutes," I grumble, and he raises his eyebrow because we both know that wouldn't have been enough.
He steps back, and I immediately miss his warmth and steadiness holding me up. He starts for the door, but I reach out and grab his hand. "Wait. I want to say something before we go."
Hazel eyes watch me carefully, and I run my hand through my hair while I stall because I'm not sure exactly how to say what I need to. "Gigi," he warns, the tension in his body ratcheting up already in anticipation of what's about to happen. "If you're determined to do this, we need to go."
Captive: A Bodyguard Romance (Hollywood Guardians Book 1) Page 24