Brooke glances over to me then back to Ryder who is staring her down, waiting for the so called apology I am not holding my breath for. “Sorry,” she mumbles so quietly I almost don’t hear her.
“Oh, and while I was coming up here, I heard the word contract. You’ll be happy to know I will be getting my lawyers in on that immediately, so your time here is limited,” Ryder says before turning to me with a smirk. My cheeks redden brightly. Brooke is fuming mad out of the corner of my eye which only adds to my satisfaction.
Ronan finishes bandaging up Brooke’s nose before handing her a roll of gauze. “Change the gauze in a couple hours and do so every six hours for the next few weeks. It’s just a simple break, so it should heal quickly.” Ronan packs up his bag and sets it aside.
“Not that I’m not happy y’all showed up, but what are you doing here?” I ask. Ronan and Ryder exchange looks before looking back to me. Damn, both of their glares have me weak in the knees. Pull yourself together, woman!
“Might as well tell her, man, she’s your client.” Client. The instant death as far as relationships go. Client ranks right up there with the forbidden friend zone.
Ryder sighs then grabs some files out of his briefcase. I watch carefully as he pulls out this huge manila folder filled to the hilt with papers.
“We have a hunch, but we can’t be sure. This was all the information I found on Finn. It’s not a lot but hopefully it’s something.” He hands me the folder and I flip through it briefly. All this information is not new.
“Didn’t Zac fill you in on what was going on?” I ask him. Surely he had to know all the information prior to meeting me.
Ryder looks to Ronan for confirmation but Ronan just smiles with a shake of his head.
“Looks like I’m busted,” Ryder says and for the first time since meeting him, he flashes a cheesy, yet wolfish grin, something I never in a million years expected. “Yes, all that information is what Zac already found. I just needed an excuse to come see you,” he says causing all the air to leave my lungs. Wait, what?
“S…see me? Why? What for?” I stammer over my words. Oh, Jayde would be so proud of me right now. Gwen strolls up to us at the wrong damn moment.
“Boys, stop bothering Anna. Can’t you see she’s all flustered from y’all?” Gwen says, handing each of them a cup of coffee and saunters back to her desk. I can totally see Ronan and Ryder playing the protective big brothers their whole lives when it comes to Gwen. She’s a spitfire but sensitive at heart, and has most likely had her fair share of boyfriends which from the looks of things, doesn’t make Ronan and Ryder any less lenient.
“We are not bothering her, are we Ryder?” Ronan side glances Ryder who is still staring me down with an intense stare. “Fuck no we aren’t. In fact, we just stopped by to ask you something, Anna.”
My head whips around so fast I thought I pulled something. “Wait, you did? What would you like to ask me?” I ask in disbelief. What could they ask me that couldn’t be asked over the phone?
Ryder looks around the office and nobody is paying us any attention. Stepping closer, he wraps his large hand around my tiny wrist and pulls me closer to his body to whisper in my ear.
“I don’t give a fuck if this is out of line but my brother and I have been thinking about you ever since we first saw you in here. Normally, we don’t mix business with pleasure but for you, we’re willing to make an exception. We both know you have a lot going on with looking for Jayde but know this, sweetheart. We want you in the dirtiest ways. And you will be ours. We know you want us just as much as we want you. I can smell it. So remember that.” Ronan winks my way then without another word, he picks up his medical bag and strolls out the door. Ryder nips my ear gently before pulling back and follows Ronan out the door without another word.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph! That was so hot I can’t even fathom. My heart is practically beating out of my chest. Gwen must have noticed because she is standing in front of me in an instant, waving her hands in front of my face but it’s no use. I’m frozen in place. I can’t move.
I have come completely undone and it’s all thanks to two super sexy, impossibly intoxicating people. Ronan and Ryder. Holy shit, I’m in so much trouble.
Chapter 19
Sarah
Everything is so jumbled right now. Leo left me high and dry, well not literally because dry is the last thing I am right now. But after he dropped me from the wall, he took one look at me before running like the wind out of the café and making me more confused than ever before. He wants me. I can feel it. Literally, I could feel his erection when he had me pinned up against the doorway. So why is he acting cold and shy all of a sudden? He totally pulled a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act and to be quite frank, it pisses me off. There’s only one person who would be able to help me with this dilemma and she isn’t here, so I try the next best person.
“I need help, and yes the emotional kind.” I shoot out a quick text to Anna. The message flips to read immediately so she must have her phone out ready to text me.
“Funny, I was about to text you the same thing.” She replies. Another message pops through.
“The Falcon brothers are giving me a migraine. And guys think we’re complicated?! Please.” I smile from that. Anna isn’t used to having two guys after her like those two are. I don’t think she can handle the attention. As long as I’ve known Anna, which is just as long as Jayde has known her, I am convinced she intimidated every boy who came within spitting distance of her. Anna puts off that aura that she doesn’t take anything without it having it go her way. Maybe she is onto something. Seems to me Jayde was always the one getting the guys despite how much confidence she lacked. That all changed once she met Zac and for the first time in a very long time, she glowed. He brought light back into her eyes that I hadn’t seen in such a long time. Another message comes through my phone. “I told Gwen I needed a break so I’m headed down there. Actually, I’m close so I’ll see you in two minutes.” And two minutes was all it took because before I could reply, she was barreling through the door.
“Well hello, stranger,” I say jokingly.
“This is no time for jokes. We need to talk. I have no idea what to do about Ronan and Ryder. Or if I even should be thinking about those two with everything else going on. Jayde should be our top priority right now, not these guys,” Anna says in a rush. She rambles when she is nervous or excited. It’s cute to see her this flustered over guys.
“Well, I have my own problems with my own guy here. This is not going as planned,” I tell her, flopping down into one of the café chairs completely spent.
“Why, what happened?” Anna looks around the café. “I thought Leo was meeting you here to count inventory or something.”
“He is, or was. He just left not long ago. After practically air fucking me against the door jamb,” Anna snaps her head up in surprise with her eyes bulging out. “What? Are you fucking kidding me right now?! Tell me more you slut!”
Laughing out loud, I try to not let it be too obvious I have dirty details but that is quickly fading.
“There’s nothing really to tell. He came on to me...a lot. I mean a whole lot. Phew, I’m still warm from it.” Anna has scooted to the end of her chair, zoned in on my story.
“It was one of those kisses that you read about in your mother’s romance novels. The one where the hunky alpha male sweeps you up into his arms and presses you firmly against the wall and kisses you so roughly, the breath you didn’t even realize you were holding, is let out then you know without a shadow of a doubt everything is alright in the world.” Anna is staring with a stargazed look in her eyes and it makes me blush. “That sounds so amazing. I want a kiss like that. No, I need a kiss like that. From both of the Falcon brothers. Fuck, we need help.” Anna chuckles softly before grabbing a pastry out from beneath the display case and taking a huge bite out of it.
“Umm, who’s going to pay for that?” I ask in mock shock.
“Put it on my tab
,” Anna says with a wink. “It was either this or a cold shower. A cold shower might actually be more useful right now.” Anna smiles brightly which is contagious because I start smiling too.
“You’re such a hot mess,” I say gently nudging her.
“Takes one to know one. We should get tramp stamps that say “hot mess” on our lower backs, you know just to give us the proper label.” Anna retorts, which only makes me laugh. That would be something she would do during one of her drunken adventures. She reaches over into her bag and pulling out a six pack of Corona and handing one to me. “But instead, I picked us up a little emotion killer.”
Looking at her wide-eyed, I shake my head. “We aren’t licensed for these types of beverages.” I say in a stern tone before popping the cap and taking a long swig of the amber liquid. It slightly burns and tastes horrible but I don’t care. Our grandmother used to say beer tasted like horse piss and she was right. This shit is nasty. But, we have limited resources until we get back home and get into the good stuff.
“So what do we do about these men in our lives now? We have got to remain focused on looking for Jayde and can’t stray away from that,” Anna says while finishing up her pastry. She is right. Our focus has to be on Jayde and nothing else can deter that focus.
“You’re absolutely right. Which is why we aren’t going to let these men distract us from finding Jayde,” I say with a finality in my voice. We make a silent pact that from that point forward, nothing is going to stop us from finding our sister and best friend. Nothing. Not even hunky alpha males with movie star good looks.
Chapter 20
Anna
The silent pact we exchange without saying the words is overwhelming. Ronan and Ryder are gorgeous and apparently Leo was too. To think about it brought up too many feelings. These guys were going to royally corrupt us from head to toe and there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it.
“Do we actually believe that in our heart of hearts we can turn down those gorgeous guys?” I ask skeptically.
“Ugh, I wish. At this rate, we’ll both be knocked up before the next full moon.” At Sarah’s words, I choke on the remainder of my pastry and almost toss it back up.
“Damn, don’t talk like that. I don’t even want to think about kids right now.” I say, wiping my mouth from almost choking. Kids would be such a horrible idea right now. It’s not like I don’t want kids, just not right now. My phone buzzes from my purse and I reach over to retrieve it. “It’s Zac. He stopped by the office and we weren’t there. I’m going to tell him to come by here.” As I begin typing out my reply, Sarah grabs my hand, stopping me mid-sentence then gets a sly smile on her face. “Or we can tell him to meet us at that club he mentioned earlier. The Lair?” Sarah lets go of my wrist, looking at me for approval.
The lust must have seeped into her brain and caused brain damage. “Are you crazy? What happened to keeping our focus on finding Jayde? Not running around looking for whips and chains to keep us company.”
“Well, I do want to find Jayde but she would also want us to have a little bit of fun, I guess. I just really want to check that place out. Jayde would be happy we did. She is always going on about the men in her romance novels. Now is our chance to experience one in real life.”
My feet shift slightly in uncertainty. “I don’t know about this. Don’t you think we should find out some good news before we go out and have fun?”
Sarah contemplates what I am saying before she speaks. Usually she is the one trying to talk some sense into me, but this is all new territory.
“Oh come on. You’re the one always going on and on about not having fun, how life is boring.”
“Life is boring. My best friend, your sister is missing. That hardly calls for celebration.”
Sarah stares at me for a few seconds before speaking. “So you’re not going to go?” she asks with a tilt to her forehead, challenging my stubbornness.
Sighing heavily, I look away before slumping in my seat. “Fine, I’ll him to meet us at the club. What does one night hurt anyway?”
Sarah jumps up and down excitedly. “That’s my girl. Let me text Gwen and tell her where we’re going. Maybe she can tag along too.”
I finish typing in my phone telling Zac where to meet us. His response with a “What the fuck?” was priceless. I bet that place was the last place in town he expected any of us to consider going to. But, I reassured him Jayde would want us to have a little bit of fun. She wants us to find her, but she doesn’t want us burnt out in the process. Zac seemed to agree with me. He’s been busting his ass day in and day out trying to find her. There are a few leads but nothing pointing in the direction he needs to go.
“Great, Gwen can go. She’s just going to finish up the last copy of the evening edition and meet us there.”
“Oh fuck! The newspaper! I completely forgot to get back to it. We are never going to get caught up at this rate.”
Sarah throws a bagel at my head which misses and falls to the floor. “Calm the hell down, missy. Gwen already took care of it. No need to worry.”
Relief floods me instantly. I’ll have to give her a raise when this is all over. Or tell Jayde to give her one. Sarah grabs her purse and the rest of her belongings and turns to me ready to leave.
“Ready to go?” No way, I’m not buying it. “What made you decide to go to The Lair all of a sudden? Something had to flip inside you to make you want to go there.” Sarah shuffles her feet again, looking like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “It’s just something new. What’s wrong with that?” I look her up and down. “A lot is wrong with that. You don’t do new. Hell, I don’t think you’ve bought new shoes in five years. So what gives?” I ask once again, hoping for an answer.
“Nothing! Now let’s go before we’re late meeting Zac,” she says then out the door she goes without me being able to question her more about it. I’m still not buying this whole facade. The Lair isn’t some place you just choose to go at the drop of a hat. There’s rules and regulations to follow. In other words, an invite is needed before going in. Unless it’s Friday and it’s open night. And today is Friday which means open night. Goddamn-it, she is good. Good, but up to something, but what?
Chapter 21
Sarah
Phew, that was a close one. Telling Anna we should go to the club is smart. Plus, when Leo stormed out of there, something fell out of the pocket of his shirt and getting a better look at it made me question my morals. A business card slipped out of his pocket and when I picked it up, a thought crossed my mind then slipped right back out. It was crazy to go to The Lair, especially given its “contents” and what the club contains.
Anna doesn’t say a word as we bolt out the door. Not like I gave her a chance to say anything. Going to The Lair was on my radar now. Gwen says she will meet us there but not before getting a million questions regarding the sudden need and urge to go to this club. The business card is stuffed in my pocket and even though it’s just a piece of paper, I feel it there against my thigh, burning straight through to my skin. Anna skips her car and instead jumps into my yellow bug. “Why aren’t you taking your car?” I ask, fastening my seatbelt.
“Because if we drink, one of us has to drive, so what’s the point in taking two cars?”
I call bullshit. “Liar.”
“Plus, it will give me adequate time to question this behavior,” she says, turning her full attention to me and looking at me questionably.
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Pulling out the business card, I hand it to her. “Here is the information to the club, the address, number, everything. It’s legit,” I say, trying to deter the focus from me to the club.
“Oh, I know it’s legit but what I don’t understand is why you want to suddenly go there. This is not your style,” Anna says, pulling out her phone and pretends to scroll through Instagram or some other distraction.
“What? Whips and chains don’t get you all excited?!” I ask defensively.<
br />
She chuckles. “Oh, yes they do but what I don’t get is why they get you excited? You’re Miss prim and proper, Miss responsible, Miss missionary,” Anna accusingly says causing me to slam on the breaks as we’re driving down the road. It was more out of shock than anything.
“I am not Miss missionary! I have kinky sex all the time!” Anna raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, really? Then why don’t you tell me what is the safe word you used with your last boyfriend?” she asks, keeping her attention to me.
“Ummm….stop?” I say. Anna shakes her head.
“No, stop is not a safe word. If anything, it will make your man go harder and rougher. Stop is not the word to use. You don’t know anything about the lifestyle, do you? And where did you get this business card anyways? It’s not like they’re on display at the grocery store or church or something.”
I laugh nervously. “Ha ha right, church. That’s a good one.” Anna raises one eyebrow then crosses her arms in a “you’re in deep trouble” stance.
“Alright, spill. What the fuck is going on?” she asks, as we pull onto the street the club is supposedly at.
I gape at her. “Nothing! Nothing at all! Why do you keep assuming something is going on?”
“Because I wasn’t born yesterday and I’m not stupid. Emotionally challenged maybe but not stupid.” Ignoring her while keeping my eyes on the road, the club comes into view. From the outside, it looks like an average building in the middle of nowhere. Despite its upscale appearance and clean landscaping, you would think this building housed the most exclusive club Charleston has ever seen. Which is not a lie, because it is the most exclusive club Charleston has ever seen it’s just the interior of the club isn’t what most expect.
Keep the Faith (Bulletproof Series 1.5) Page 8