“I need to stretch my legs and, like I just said,” he emphasized, “I’m not leaving you alone while I do it.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“It wasn’t a suggestion. You need to figure out when what I say is one and when it’s not.” For fuck’s sake, he hadn’t meant to cram that down her throat. He felt like they were going backwards. Him simply being the bossy asshole and her only his job.
Her next comment cemented that. “I bet you get a lot of women with your charm.”
“That’s what got you in my bed.”
“It wasn’t your charm.”
“Yeah? What was it?”
“Stupidity,” she said way too quickly, then added, “On my part.”
“Regretting it, Kitty Kat?”
Instead of answering, she spun and headed toward the stairs. “I’ll grab my sneakers.”
He stared at the empty space where she’d been previously standing, his chest tight as fuck, his brain spinning. His frustration kicked up another ten notches.
He wanted to follow her upstairs and drag out whatever was bothering her, but he didn’t. Even though he needed to go up anyway to change into running gear, he waited until she was finished.
When she finally came back down, ready to run, he went upstairs without a word.
Especially since his mouth was already full of his own fucking foot.
“He’s a complete asshole!” Kat grumbled, frowning at her wine glass that was somehow once again empty. She grabbed the nearest open bottle and filled it back to the brim. She wouldn’t be surprised if she spent half the night puking up both the wine and cupcakes she’d shoved down her throat. She wasn’t used to eating so many sweets or even drinking like this. In fact, it was rare she ever drank.
She shrugged to herself.
Fuck it.
She took another long swallow of the pinot noir and then glanced around the table to the women who stared at her with knowing looks. “No one is going to argue that?”
Pursed lips, uh-huhs, head shakes circled the table instead.
Kelsea, a blonde-haired woman close to Kat’s age, raised both palms up. “You’re certainly not going to get an argument from me.”
“Great.”
“Welcome to our world,” Sophie grumbled as she shifted uncomfortably in an Adirondack chair near Kat.
Her belly was huge, and Kat bet the woman couldn’t get out of that chair if she tried. The woman with the long dark hair and stunning green eyes said she was carrying twins. Then Kat got lost when Sophie explained how the twins weren’t hers and she was just the incubator because the eggs had come from Ivy.
It turns out Ivy was the redhead sitting down at the other end of the table who had announced she couldn’t carry the twins because her womb was reserved for Jag’s baby.
What Kat figured out was Sophie was actually carrying her niece and nephew for her brother-in-law, Axel, who was the cop Steel said lived in the compound, and his wife, Bella, who was unable to have babies.
While Kat found that selfless and also impressive, she would not be volunteering to be a surrogate for anyone.
Kat had just shaken her head and then decided not to ask questions to clarify any of that. She wasn’t going to be in Shadow Valley long enough to keep everyone’s name straight or who was incubating whose baby.
Sophie continued, “Just give him time, they eventually stop fighting it.”
Kat’s eyebrows pinned together. “Stop fighting what?”
“What they’re feeling,” Rissa, a tall curvy woman with dark blonde hair, said. Mercy’s wife, girlfriend, woman, ol’ lady, Kat wasn’t sure how she identified with being tied to the tall man with the icy eyes and scary features. Rissa was the total opposite. Warm and welcoming, had a great sense of humor and she smiled a lot. Especially after her second glass of wine.
“About what?” Kat asked her, still confused.
“About you,” Rissa stated.
Kat picked up her stemless wine glass and lifted it to her lips, careful not to spill even a fucking drop. She’d need every one of them.
“I don’t understand,” she announced loudly after taking a healthy gulp of the red wine. The fermented grapes may be going to her head. She was starting to feel a bit fuzzy around the brain.
“Steel probably doesn’t, either,” Kelsea said with a snort.
It was time to divert the topic of conversation since all eyes were now on her and they all held a “knowing” look that Kat did not like. At all.
“How many women are in this,” she waved a hand around, indicating the huge multi-level deck on the back of Sophie and Zak’s house, “sisterhood, as you call it?”
“So many that the guys are beginning to get nervous when we all gather,” Frankie, Hunter’s wife or girlfriend, or whatever, said.
“Is this all of you?” Kat asked.
“No. Bella, Jewel, Ellie, Emma, Kiki, Jayde, Jazz and Brooke aren’t here,” the woman named Diamond spoke up. Apparently, she was Slade’s wife or girlfriend or ol’ lady... gah... woman. Slade and Diamond also owned or managed, or whatever, Shadow Valley Fitness.
“Too bad you’re not allowed to leave the compound while he’s gone. I’d love to take you to our gym. Slade, my ol’ man, is Steel’s sparring partner and they’re close. I also teach kickboxing. I’d love to learn some moves from you.”
“Have you done any competitions?”
The gorgeous dark-haired woman nodded, “Some local events when I was younger. I began kickboxing more for self-preservation than competition, but I love it. I had to hide it from just about everyone for years.”
Kat’s ears perked. “Hide it? Why?”
“I grew up in the MC. It was the club’s job to keep us all protected. Females...”
Kat lifted a hand already knowing that same old song and dance. “I get it. Females are good for one thing, right?”
“Women—or girls—in an MC are considered property. The men—especially the Sergeant at Arms—are supposed to protect us. I’m not saying the women aren’t capable. Fuck yes, we are. But bikers have a different type of mentality. It’s a bit more archaic than the rest of the world. To put it simply, they’re behind the times.”
That sounded way too familiar.
“It’s getting better,” Sophie said, her hands massaging her belly.
“Thank fuck,” Ivy muttered at the end of the table.
“And you all accept that?” Kat asked, surprised.
Her question was answered with smiles and chuckles.
“You all don’t accept that,” she answered herself, thankful that this group of women didn’t just allow the men to rule their worlds.
“It’s getting better,” Sophie repeated. “What happens behind closed doors is sometimes different from what others see.”
“It’s a game,” Kat said.
“It’s a way of life,” Sophie said simply.
Kat could understand that. “I came from a family very set in their ways, set in traditions. Women had—have—their place. I broke the mold. I wanted nothing to do with it. I watched my mother, and also my sister, conform and I didn’t want that life.”
“Did that cause tension with your family?” Rissa asked.
Kat stared at her now half-empty wine glass, running the tip of her finger around the rim. “Let’s just say that until I see the error of my ways, I’m no longer invited home for Christmas dinner.”
Murmurs surrounded her. Kat glanced around the deck at the women. She hadn’t told them that for sympathy, but because they made her feel comfortable enough to do so. She hadn’t been comfortable around a group of women in a long time. If ever.
“We are a huge family. Not just the MC, but the Shadows,” Frankie stated. “I never felt so welcomed anywhere before like here in Shadow Valley. And I’m relatively a newcomer.”
“You fit right in,” Kelsea told Frankie. The blonde turned toward Kat. “And so would you.”
That caught Kat off guard. While that was flatt
ering... “Oh... I... I’m just here until they catch my stalker.”
“And then what?” Sophie asked.
“And then I head home to LA and continue my training and career.”
“I’ve been to LA and I’ve lived in Vegas most of my life. I can attest that Shadow Valley is so much nicer,” Rissa said carefully, her eyes on Kat.
“I’m sure it is,” Kat murmured. “But I have no reason to stay here.”
The deck became dead quiet.
“Damn,” Diamond whispered. But when she opened her mouth to say whatever she was going to say next, Rissa clamped a hand on her arm, making Diamond’s mouth snap shut. The two women shared a look, which Kat did not like, and suddenly the whole subject was dropped.
All of that made the hair on the back of Kat’s neck prickle. Why did they act like they knew something she didn’t?
“When are your boys getting back?” Ivy asked, also catching that exchange while sipping on seltzer since her “stomach was upset.”
Apparently, upset stomachs in the sisterhood meant another baby amongst them but Ivy insisted over the yelling of the other women when they had all first arrived, while she could be pregnant, it wasn’t definite yet. She also announced they’d all be the first to know, after her husband, of course. Husband, boyfriend, ol’ man, whatever.
Though, she did call the biker named Jag her husband and not ol’ man.
This whole MC life was far too complicated to figure out in the hour they’d been sitting out on the deck enjoying the fall weather and the colorful leaves of the surrounding woods.
Kat had to admit the area was beautiful, the women were great and the neighborhood peaceful. But it was not for her. It was too laid back. She enjoyed the hustle and bustle of both LA and Vegas. And she wasn’t sure if sitting in a rocking chair on a deck in Pennsylvania staring at trees while drinking wine was in her future any time soon.
But again, there was no reason for that even to be an option. Especially after what she heard—and also did not hear—around that dining room table the other day.
“They’re trying to track down Kat’s stalker,” Rissa was saying, drawing Kat’s attention back to the group.
“Then that fucker has no chance,” Diamond announced with a knowing smirk. “Especially since Steel is good with his hands.” She made a twisting gesture with her hands in the air like she was breaking someone’s neck. “Right, Kat? Steel’s good with his hands?”
Once again all eyes were on her. Most of them holding amusement. “Well, he hasn’t tried to break my neck. Yet, anyway. But he’s a good boxer.”
A few snickers and mmm hmm’s rose around the deck. Which bristled those little hairs on the back of her neck again.
“I’m not sure what you ladies think is going on between us, but did I not mention that he’s a complete asshole earlier?” she asked after draining the last of her wine.
“He brought you home,” Sophie said softly.
He brought you home. Way too much meaning was behind those simple words.
“That’s not his home and he only brought me here to keep me safe while they hunt ‘H’ down since the cops haven’t been successful.”
Uh huh’s and sures filled the fall air.
“You think he needed to bring you here when they all went back out to Vegas, anyway? It would’ve been easier for the rest of them to just meet you two out there. One could’ve guarded you while the others hunted.”
Guarded. Hunted. Like she was helpless.
She was not a fucking helpless woman who needed a man to handle her problems.
Kat pushed to her feet, pressing a hand to her stomach, which was churning and not from wine and cupcakes. “I’m not feeling well. I need to go... I... I just... need to go.”
Diamond jumped to her feet, too. “You can’t leave until Slade comes back to get you.”
“I don’t need a fucking babysitter.” Kat squeezed her eyes shut when she realized how irritated she sounded. These women had been nothing but nice to her, she shouldn’t take her frustration out on them. She lifted a hand. “Sorry. This situation has me on edge. I’ve never had to rely on anyone and it makes me feel helpless. I didn’t mean to snap.”
“Understandable,” murmured Rissa.
“I thank you for inviting me today. I was going a bit stir-crazy stuck in the house.” Three days of being locked in that house with only the DAMC bikers Slade, Linc, and Dawg as company, each one of them taking shifts to “babysit” her, was enough to drive her off a cliff.
She was so done with all of this.
Her life was no longer her own. She needed to get back to her regularly scheduled programming. Not going to the gym and unable to work out her frustration with the situation made everything worse.
She didn’t even have Steel to mess with. And he was cranky as hell before he left to head back to Vegas. She should’ve insisted she went with him.
When she suggested that, he said no. That ‘H’ wouldn’t find her here in Shadow Valley, even though the fucker had been finding her everywhere else. Apparently here in the Valley, she was off the grid.
“But now I need to go lay down, the wine is getting to me.” Sort of the truth, sort of not. She was a bit buzzed but not to the point of not being able to think straight.
“I’ll call Slade,” Diamond said quickly.
“I’ll be fine. I can walk back. It’s only around the corner. Just have him meet me at the house.”
“Kat,” Diamond said, her phone already to her ear, “at least let me walk with you.”
A few of the other women insisted on that, too. To keep the peace, Kat nodded her head in agreement, forcing out a laugh. “Fine. With the two of us, no stalker has a chance, right?”
Diamond returned the stiff, humorless laugh. “Right. No chance.” She glanced at her phone with a frown. “He’s not answering. I’ll keep trying.”
Sophie called out, “I’ll call D and give him a head’s up,” as Kat and Diamond made their way down the deck into the grass.
Diamond yelled, “Do that,” over her shoulder, rushing to keep up with Kat’s impatient pace.
And as they walked together back toward Nash’s house, Diamond sent a text to her husband, boyfriend, ol’ man, whatever.
Chapter Sixteen
Steel wore a path in the carpet at the airport, his cell phone glued to his ear.
A familiar answering grunt greeted him.
“We have an issue,” he started. “We found out who ‘H’ is.”
“Get ‘em, then,” his boss responded.
“There’s a problem, which is why I’m calling your ass right now, D. Henry McGill, aka ‘H,’ got on a red eye last night.”
“Lemme fuckin’ guess to where,” Diesel responded.
“Yeah. And, fuck me, we’re all out here,” Steel growled into the phone.
“Slade’s with her, ain’t he?”
“He’s supposed to be. But I need you on it, too. Between you and Slade, he’s got no chance to get to her.”
Diesel grunted.
Steel took that as agreement, so he continued. “We’re getting on Paranzino’s jet as soon as it lands and they refuel it. It was on its way back from dropping Paranzino and his husband off in Tahiti or some such shit. Mercy made it crystal fucking clear we needed it right away. Next commercial flight into the Burgh isn’t until tomorrow morning.”
“Fuck. Good thing that fucker has turned into Mercy’s lil’ fuckin’ bitch.”
“Well, I’m not sure how long that’s going to last. He wasn’t happy about sending his jet home just for us and also made that quite fucking clear.”
“Fuck ‘im.”
“That’s pretty much what Mercy’s response was.”
Diesel grunted again.
“So, you got it covered on your end?” Steel asked his boss, trying to keep the alarm out of his voice as he walked away from the rest of the Shadows so they wouldn’t overhear.
“Yeah.”
“D...”
>
“Yeah.”
“Make sure nothing happens to her.”
The long hesitation on the other end of the phone wasn’t unexpected. D finally barked out a laugh. Again, not unexpected. Steel also expected D to ride his ass without any lube.
“’Cause she’s your woman? Or ‘cause she’s your fuckin’ job?”
Steel scrubbed a hand down his beard. “Does it matter?”
“Just answered my fuckin’ question.”
“D...”
“Yeah, asshole, got it. That fucker shows up in our territory, we got ‘im. Nobody fucks with our women.”
The phone went dead.
He stared at it for a second before heading back to his waiting teammates. “I want to know how the fuck he knows where she’s at?”
“Her manager?” Hunter asked, sprawled across three seats and using his duffel bag as his pillow.
Steel chomped down on his toothpick and shook his head. “I didn’t let Berger know where I was taking her solely for that fucking reason.”
“Think he got a bead from her phone?” Walker asked, slouched in a seat across from Hunter, his boots planted on the floor, his knees cocked and spread.
“Berger had switched her phone out a couple times. Last one, her current phone, is in a cousin’s name.”
“Berger did,” Mercy emphasized in a low grumble. “But did you?”
He cocked a brow toward Mercy. “You think her manager is somehow tied to this? Why would he want to risk his cash cow?”
“Is she?” Ryder asked, his baseball cap pulled so low, Steel couldn’t see the man’s eyes.
“Is she what?”
“A cash cow to Berger.”
“Fuck yeah. She earned two hundred grand off that last fight alone.”
Ryder let out a long, low whistle.
Steel continued, “I have no idea what his cut was, but she was the one taking the hits and losing blood in the cage. He stood outside the ring with me while looking pretty.”
“What’s it like watching your woman get knocked around?” Brick asked. He was sitting on the ground, his back against a large column, his wrists resting on his bent knees, his eyes hidden by dark sunglasses even though they were inside.
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