When Shady and Harmony had explained about their relationships, it had shocked her a little, of course, but then she had shrugged and said, “Not my business what anyone does in the bedroom.”
Boo had smiled, and the others had laughed when she had accepted what they told her.
But they were secretly happy she didn’t freak out and demand to be taken somewhere else. That really wouldn’t have been a good thing. Mostly because the women caught the vibes from Data and Numbers when they were in the same space as Kit. After watching the two men for years, only get together with women who were slutty and labeled ‘non-relationship’ worthy women, they were relieved. They loved the two slightly geeky, mostly gruff, and sexy men who were just stuck in their heads. They wanted something for them, and looking at Kit, it may be her.
“So why did you think there was something weird going on there in the first place?” Kink asked with a blank expression. His tone made the entire room tense since they knew when he used that tone, he didn’t trust whoever he was speaking to.
Kit knew she was being interrogated in a nice polite way, so she said, “When Angela asked me to help the Vipers find a place to stay I was a little shocked, they were not exactly the cleanest people I have ever met, and I mean that in every way, especially their hygiene. They seriously smelled. So I was trying to figure out why she was helping, it didn’t fit. Angela was a classic high society snob, she acted like everyone was beneath her. So I listened as they talked about people called the Ops Warriors. I looked into it, and really I was just curious. Then as time went on, small things happened, and I was getting more and more suspicious. Like Angela would receive calls from Arizona almost daily, which in and of itself is not suspicions; however, when I was hired, Angela told me repeatedly if someone from the US called her, to say I had no idea who they were looking for. My father told me to ignore it and do my job, but honestly, it didn’t feel right.”
Data and Numbers walked into the room and sat down on either side of her. Everyone watched them pull the chairs close so the armrests were touching Kit’s. Kink narrowed his eyes, Shady grinned, and Boo watched them carefully, the others, well they just shook their heads and chuckled. Kit felt safe between them, not that she hadn’t a minute before, this was different, it was as if they were guarding her. She looked at both men and seriously began to wonder if they were looking at her as a weak woman who needed protection, or a woman they were both attracted to. BOTH! Kit tried to think of what she had been talking about, but the picture of her being involved with two men? Well, she needed a damn fan, because that was hot.
Shady snorted and said, “Nothing about Angela feels right.”
Kit looked back at the group in the room nodded. She seriously wondered if they had been able to tell what she was thinking. She decided to ignore the elephant in the room for now and said, “This is true, looking back there were plenty of signs that something was off. I should have paid more attention, but I didn’t.”
“Not everyone would say something though when they did discover their bosses were into something illegal,” Data had said softly. Kit looked to him and the way he was looking at her and she sucked in a deep breath. Wow, that answered that. He was looking like he really wanted all these people gone from the house. She wouldn’t think about what would happen then.
She couldn’t or she was totally going to need a cold shower.
Kit had smiled at him and then looked at Shady again. “I first heard your name a year ago; I swear I had no idea that she had abandoned you. I was asked to find her long lost daughter who was taken from her. Angela knew I was good with computers, and she played me just right.
Crying about her daughter being taken by her awful ex-husband. How she was scared for her daughter. I fell for the whole thing.”
Numbers took her hand and said, “Cut yourself some slack.”
Kit shook her head. “Finding out that she was going to kidnap Jas for money sickened me. I could not believe some of the things she said about her, some of the emails. Angela never talked about her as a person; it was like she referred to Jas as an object she wanted to control.
She even had a suitor picked out for her. A man known for his cruelty to women.”
Shady had growled and shook her head. “Jas will never be put in that situation again, ever.”
Then Kit had given them the thumb drive, which proved to be very informative about who was involved. Data and Numbers repeated several times how brave she had been. Kit actually began to think she was brave. Especially since they killed her parents which completely rocked her world, but she had escaped. It didn’t lessen the anguish at all, but at least she was done with beating herself up, for now. It would probably come back, but right this second, she felt anger at Henry not herself.
Data and Numbers plugged the drive into a laptop, and they all gathered around and read the emails. Kink had stood up and called Creed and Fork right away. The two leaders had been pissed when they saw not only had Angela been in touch with a few of the MC members in Arizona, but also a few of the women, which completely pissed off Shady, especially when she saw the name of one of their old Ops members who was duped into being involved. Reading he had been set up and tricked into the relationship pissed them off. Really? Being in a ménage required total trust, and their brother had been violated. Knowing Raven, this was going to hurt him badly.
Right now, Creed and Fork were trying to find out where Raven actually was. They weren’t going to let their brother be a casualty in the sense he would get physically hurt. They already knew he was going to be devastated by the betrayal. The Lady Riders knew they were going to have their hands full, they would have retribution.
Kit had been exhausted when they finished the conversation, and the women all helped her up to the master suite to get settled. Honestly, both of them had sat at the bottom of the stairs waiting for the Lady Riders to come back down, they were hoping to go and talk to her a little bit as well. Their overprotective feelings had been pushing them to just take her and run. Knowing who was all involved in this now, it was daunting to think about what could happen to her.
However, they hadn’t appeared at all. Data and Numbers both thought they had felt the same way as the others did. Protective. Kit just has that air of innocence that really pulled people in. It wasn’t fake, it wasn’t over dramatic, it was just there. All the Lady Riders had seen it, and by the time they ended their conversation with her, looked at the thumb drive, the Ops who were there believed she was innocent. So now they were stuck with the women until they felt like it was safe to leave Kit in their care.
It was driving the two men nuts, mostly because the attraction they were feeling toward Kit was something neither of them had felt before. The intensity was off the charts. And they knew she was aware of them too. She watched them every time they were in the same room, and her gaze wasn’t only curious, it also held the heat both men were feeling.
Finally, they went to the office to see what they could find out about the emails. Data was going to hack Angela’s email account to see if she had sent more messages, and maybe get a location where she was. Shady wanted a shot at her mother, announcing it, which in their world meant she got the first chance in a room with her. None of them argued at all. The bitch deserved it. Shady was going to beat her ass, Angela had left her to the mercy of those two men.
Data and Numbers worked around the clock and well into the next day reading emails and IP addresses in order to find the woman, the only thing was, she was using a device with the location turned off, so they had the IP address, but they couldn’t track it. So they began running a search program on the web, looking for anyone who had used that IP. It was slow. They had figured they could spend the off hours with Kit, getting to know her while they waited. Yeah, that so did not work out for them. Although they had seen her, she had never been alone, like EVER. But they had felt her awareness.
Last night during dinner, Data and Numbers had been able to sit next to her at din
ner, which was the closest they had gotten to her. Kit had responded to them though, when they helped her fill her plate, when they had poured her wine, and even when they pulled out her chair politely to sit her down.
Then there were the small touches they had been able to sneak in. Passing food, or whatever. They both had taken cold showers for the last few nights. Damn, being in her presence shook them. But she had felt it too, they had been able to see it. Kit had shyly accepted their attention, whispering several times ‘thank you’ to them and touching their hands freely. It gave them hope, like a lot of hope.
They knew she understood how they were, sharing women, and being close friends who were okay with that. It was unusual, but hey, she had said she wasn’t going to judge anyone.
They just hoped she felt the same way about herself. Accepting other people doing it didn’t mean she would be down with it. But the way she was responding to both of them gave them hope. But right this second, they were cranky and glaring at their computer screens deep in their own thoughts until Data finally let loose.
Data swung around in the chair that was in the office he was sharing with Numbers and said, “When are they leaving?” His patience was almost out. “I mean why are their men not coming here and dragging their asses out of here. I would, this is such bullshit, it’s like they are on vacation with each other. If there is much more estrogen released in this place, we could seriously loose our man card.
Numbers looked over his shoulder and said, “You’re asking me?”
“It has been two days, TWO DAYS! Shady, Boo, and Harmony have been here two days, and the only time we have gotten close to Kit is at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other than that, they are holed up in the media room watching chick flicks and eating popcorn and chocolate, and someone is eating all of the pickles and pepperoni,” Data said.
“I know right,” Numbers whispered and leaned and looked down the hallway to make sure none of the women were coming. “It is fucking weird, if I didn’t know better, I would think—”
“Don’t finish that sentence. If we say it out loud, it will make it true and then we will need to call our brothers and tell them. I am so not telling them that shit. We are going to need to do something,” Data said and looked at his friend and leaned forward. “Maybe we should call Creed and Fork and just tell them to come get their woman?”
Numbers shook his head. “You want to call and admit we can’t handle the Lady Riders?”
Data growled and said, “Yeah, ‘cause that is not shameful, they scare the shit out of half of the guys. Hell, more than once we have had to be a buffer with them and the guys. Harmony especially, do you remember when she was sharpening her knives at the dinner table. Fuck, man, she was a master, the guys were all just staring at her in fear. If she wanted to filet someone, she could totally do it without blinking.”
“Breakfast!” Shady yelled down the hall.
“Okay, you call and tell them,” Numbers said as they stood. “Then you can tell the Lady Riders their men are coming.”
“Seriously, you are making me do it?” Data snapped. Numbers turned and nodded.
“Hell yeah, they like you better than me, I want to live to actually see where this goes with Kit.”
Data shook his head. “Damn, you owe me.”
Numbers shrugged. “Whatever.”
They made their way down to the kitchen where the four women were already sitting at the table. Kit sat between Harmony and Shady, while Boo sat across from her, which only left the two seats that didn’t face her. What in the hell were they doing? Damn women, Data thought.
He was going to call right after breakfast, this was just bullshit.
“Looks good,” Data mumbled, it did. They had made breakfast burritos with all the fixings—green chili, and all.
Numbers smiled at Kit, and he said softly, “How are you feeling today?”
Kit shrugged and said, “Better.”
Yesterday Maxi and Ice had come and brought a box full of things they had found at the house, mementos. It had been a sad day, but Kit had gracefully made it through, talking to all of them about the memories each object had. She had been sad but hadn’t cried. Boo had spoken to them about Kit being in shock; she was actually doing good considering the trauma she suffered at finding her parents.
However, the dark circles under her eyes had lessened, and she had more color this morning. They took this as a good sign, and even though she was still grieving, they really hoped she was well on her way to accepting them.
This wasn’t going as they planned at all though. The Lady Riders hadn’t factored into the decision when they chose to use the house, but of course it didn’t work out like that. Data and Numbers had been busy with the new recruits, and doing checks on Arizona, and sending Creed and Fork the information they could find about Raven. The General, Charro, Knight, and several other brothers were all getting ready to leave San Diego and rescue their brother, Raven. They were bringing their brother home. But that was going to change today. They weren’t going to do busy work forever. No, they had plans to claim this woman. They needed time to ease her into it.
The Lady Riders had to go.
“So what are the plans for today?” Data said in a cheery voice and made sure to looked at Shady in the eye, indicating it was time for them to leave. The leader of the Lady Riders just stared at him blankly, so he turned to Harmony who did the same. Shit, their men really needed to come and get them. Data and Numbers would end up dead if they didn’t.
Apparently, they weren’t feeling the need to cooperate because Shady said, “I don’t know; we thought maybe we would do more of the same.”
Numbers eyes hurt from glaring at the Lady Riders. When this was done, they were going to have a serious talk with the guys about this shit. Why in the hell were they such pains in the asses? Kit smiled at him and he forgot he was pissed, shit, he was turning into the pussy whipped men in the Ops.
The phone rang, and Numbers stood and walked to the counter and looked at the caller ID, it was Creed. “Yo,” he said as he answered.
“You need to get to the computer right now. Charro and Knight were contacted by one of the locals who saw Raven. They have him set to fight in a death match, it is all over the net.”
Bear growled in his ear as Numbers stiffened and looked at Data who stood up immediately at the ready.
Numbers swore into the reciever and said they would go look and see what else they could find, and he turned and looked at Data who was already moving to the door, so were the women. They knew something had happened.
The Lady Riders and Kit stood up as well. Kit had lost all the color that had been there a minute ago. But Numbers saw her grab Data’s hand for reassurance and he wanted to yell his approval but he held off. Instead he stepped closer and Kit grabbed his hand as well, yeah, things were totally going to work out for them. Kit may not realize it, but she had just given them the signal they needed to know she was ready.
When they arrived at the office, the group heard the rumble of the motorcycles in the distance. Yeah, this was going to shift things a little. Especially if those fucking assholes were planning on killing their brother. Using a fight to do their fucking dirty work was pussy, Raven either didn’t realize what they were doing, or he was now being forced into the situation. Either way, they were going to find their brother.
Data sat in his chair while Numbers began pulling the different pages of information they had received overnight. There was a stack, but he was skimming them quickly and finally he saw on the last page he found a reference to the fight, he read it out loud.
“One of our own has challenged Dimitri to a first ever bout to the end, quite literally the end. A death match, which will be live streamed next month. Betting will open tomorrow. As you know, Dimitri has not lost a match, ever. Raven knows how to fight, and is ready to defend his woman who is on the line as well. One night with the woman he lusted after for years.”
Shady sucked in a breath, a
nd she said, “Those fucking assholes. You have got to be kidding me; they would really do this and think we would not find out? And one night with that whore, seriously? How fucked up can you be, Raven must think he is saving the bitch.”
“That is what they want,” Data said and then spoke to Creed on the phone. “They want us to come there; it is going to be a set-up. They put this out there, knowing we would see it.
Fuckers aren’t going to go down easily.”
“Yeah, we all figured, but that doesn’t change the fact I will not leave Raven there. Last time I talked to him, which was just last week, he was saying he wanted to come out here and visit, he wanted to talk. I am assuming it may be about all this shit, maybe he saw something he wanted to tell us about. Whatever it was, though, he didn’t have a chance to get here and talk to us.”
Harmony leaned over. “Has anyone tried to reach that fucking whore?”
Creed sighed and said, “No, it seems that whenever we try to call someone from town there is a trap and trace on the line. So, they have some big bucks backing them, because there is no way in hell they have enough money for that. Ricco has already sent Raph and Carmi to the mine. They are securing everything, but there have been a few altercations with the club in town.
They have taken to bribing the workers of the mine.”
“Shay, Harmony, and Boo, we need you back here. Data and Numbers, we need you there where no one knows where you are right now. We need to get more info like now,” Creed said, and the women nodded, walked to Kit who was standing in the doorway, they hugged her and whispered to her something that had her nodding her head and then they were gone. “There will be two men in the garage apartment.”
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