by A. M. Myers
“Good. Call me when it’s done,” he snaps, hanging up without another word and I toss the phone down on the counter before turning and hurling my glass of water at the wall. It shatters and the baby next door screams harder but I don’t even care anymore. Our boss is, hands down, the scariest motherfucker I’ve ever met in my entire life and I will do whatever it takes to stay on his good side.
Spinning around, I yank the freezer open and pull out the bottle of vodka I keep stashed there. As I unscrew the cap and drop it on the floor, I walk back over to the table and throw my body into the chair. Dragging the photos in front of me, I raise the bottle to my lips and chug the liquor as my mind spins. If I can’t get to Izzy in the compound, then I will just have to draw her out. She’ll have her sentry with her, which is unfortunate for him, because this is a fight for survival and I’m sure as hell not going to lose.
It’s Izzy’s life or mine and I’m playing to win.
Chapter Sixteen
Diego
I glance up at the time on the oven and whisper a curse as I slap Hazel’s file closed and stand up from the dining room table. Storm called me earlier and said everyone was getting together down at the clubhouse to grill some food and hang out before insisting that I bring Izzy down. I suspect his wife was the driving force behind the invitation but I don’t really care. I’ll take any chance I can get to show her off like she’s mine even if that’s not true… yet.
“Iz?” I call. Silence greets me and my stomach does a little flip but I force myself to calm down. We are on the compound, behind a giant goddamn wall with all sorts of added security so there is no way someone got onto the property and took her without me or anyone else knowing. I check the bedroom first, thinking maybe she laid down to take a nap but my bed is empty, ramping up my paranoia as I take the stairs to the second floor two at a time. When I built this house, there was a part of me that was holding out hope that I would find a woman and settle down, start a family with her, but as time went by and that seemed less and less likely, I couldn’t even stand to be up here. Two of the three bedrooms are empty, without a single piece of furniture, and the office I set up for myself when I first moved in is mostly used for storage now.
I can’t imagine that Izzy would come up here but I check the rooms anyway, my worry growing with each empty one I find. “Izzy?”
My heart hammers as I run back downstairs and once again, a haunting silence surrounds me. Fuck. Where is she? Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I scroll to her name in my contacts as I walk to the back door and reach to yank it open, stopping short. Izzy is sitting out on one of the Adirondack chairs in the corner of the deck, her hair falling in waves behind her as she leans her head back toward the sky, her eyes closed and a sweet smile on her face. The sun beats down on her, making her tan skin almost glow and her belly looks bigger today, popping out in her tank top as she rests her hand on the bump. She’s so goddamn beautiful and I can’t fucking move, can’t breathe as I take her in. This is the dream - the one I had as I built this house, hoping that one day my family would be able to call this place home, hoping that the walls would be filled with love, laughter, and life. It’s Izzy. She looks like this is where she belongs and I can’t imagine how I ever lived in this house before she came to stay with me or how I’ll survive if she leaves.
Holy shit…
Do I love her?
Have I gone and fallen in love with Izzy?
I can’t help but laugh because of course I would go and fall for the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met in my life, the one who vehemently doesn’t want all the things I’m dying to give her because why would I ever make it easy on myself? I never have before and it seems I’m not going to start now. Truth be told, I couldn’t pin down the exact moment that I started developing real feelings for her and as far as I know, it happened six months ago as we locked ourselves away in her house and got lost in each other. It doesn’t really matter though, because getting her to feel the same and freely admit it is going to be the biggest challenge I’ve ever faced.
Almost like she can feel my gaze, she glances up and when she sees me watching her, she flashes me a brilliant smile. But because she’s Izzy, she also rolls her eyes and waves me out to her. Slipping my phone back into my pocket, I pull open the sliding door and step outside as she leans her head back again with a sigh.
“How long have you been standing there like a creeper, watching me?”
I scoff. “Just a couple seconds. We have to get going for the barbecue.”
“So, you don’t deny that you were watching me like a creeper?” she asks, peeking open an eye as she turns her head to the side to meet my gaze with a grin. God, I love that smile and the challenge in her expression. One thing is for sure, if I manage to convince this woman to be mine, life will never be boring. I shake my head.
“No. Just didn’t see the point of arguing with you.”
“Mm-hmm,” she hums, turning to face the sun again as she lets out a contented sigh and I can’t help but watch her, my gaze falling to her belly. I sit on the edge of the chair next to her and lean forward to press my hand to the bump.
“Little man is making his presence known today.”
She laughs, turning to me again and meeting my gaze. “Tell me about it. He’s currently kicking the shit out of my organs.”
“Want me to have a chat with him?” I ask and her eyes shimmer with amusement and she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip as she shakes her head.
“He’s a baby so I don’t think it would do much good.”
I grunt my protest as I slink out of my chair and kneel next to her, putting both of my hands on her belly. “Listen here, young man…”
“Diego,” she murmurs, giggling as she threads her fingers through my hair and I decide it’s my new favorite sound in the world. If I could just hear that sweet, unassuming giggle every single day for the rest of my life, I’d die a completely happy man.
“You are hurting your mother and around here, we do not tolerate this kind of behavior,” I tell her belly, grinning when I feel a foot under one of my hands. I’m sure we make one hell of a picture right now - a biker, covered in tattoos, kneeling in front of his woman, and talking to her belly but it feels so fucking right that I can’t question it.
“Holy shit,” she whispers and I glance up at her as she shifts in her seat. “That actually worked.”
Flashing her a grin, I wink and move back to my seat. “Told you.”
“Don’t get cocky, Rodriguez.”
I grab her hand, pull her out of her chair, and into my lap as she gasps. “I thought you liked it when I get cocky.”
“I like your cock,” she murmurs, her voice lower and heat in her eyes as she grabs my face and wiggles her juicy little ass in my lap. “Don’t get it twisted.”
“If we didn’t have to get going, I would take you inside and make you chant that until you came,” I answer, leaning up and nipping at her bottom lip. She sucks in a breath and wiggles her ass again, a breathy moan slipping past her lips. Our breaths mingle in the limited space between us and I swear it makes everything more charged as she leans into me.
“What a shame.”
I nod, gripping her hip and flicking her top lip with my tongue. “I know.”
She moans again and presses her lips to mine, molding herself to me as I wrap my arm around her body and slip my other hand into her hair.
“Before we go…” she whispers, desire lacing her tone as she pulls back and releases my cheeks, breathing heavily. “Can you show me those photos from Streak you mentioned the other day? I want to take care of it and get it out of the way.”
I blink, my brain slowly trying to switch gears.
“Sure, Mama.” I nod, moving her to one side of my lap to dig my phone out of my pocket and she tries to climb off me but I stop her with a look and firm hand on her hip. She rolls her eyes as she settles back into me. She may seem annoyed but she’s fighting back a smile that tells me all I need t
o know. Once my phone is free, I open the email Streak sent me and pull up the pictures he got off of the security cameras, showing them to her. When she first showed up after the attack, she gave a general description of Luca but looking for a guy with brown hair who is five eleven doesn’t really narrow things down very much. She studies them for a moment before shaking her head.
“No. I don’t recognize any of these people.”
I nod and set my phone down on the arm of the chair. “Okay. We’ll keep looking.”
“What if we can’t find them before they find me, Diego?” she whispers, real fear in her eyes as she hugs herself and flicks her gaze from my eyes to her lap. For just a moment, I allow myself to imagine the possibility before shutting it down. I’ve been down that road in the past and I won’t survive losing someone else I care about. I cup her cheek, directing her to look back up at me and when she does, I offer her a smile despite the overwhelming pain I’m feeling.
“Nobody is going to let anything happen to you,” I say and press my free hand to her belly. “Either of you. Whether you like it or not, Izzy, we’re a family now and I will go to the ends of the earth to protect both of you.”
She searches my face for a moment before letting out a sigh that is heavy with the fear and anxiety she’s been carrying around for the past ten days. “Right. You ready to go then?”
“Yeah.”
She climbs out of my lap and as I stand, I take a risk, grabbing her hand and lacing our fingers together as we walk down the stairs to the truck. Peeking over at her, she looks relaxed and I count my lucky stars because I thought she would rip her hand from mine in an instant. Once we get to the truck, I release her and open the passenger side door, allowing her to climb inside before I shut it and walk around the front to my side. As I slide behind the wheel, I wish she would scoot across the bench seat and let me wrap my arm around her but I’m not going to push it. This thing between us is delicate and I have to choose the right moments to push her and the right moments to give her space or it will all blow up in my face. But, as a rule, I always want her in my arms or close enough to pull into my arms.
We’re both quiet but there is no awkwardness hanging in the air as we make the short drive to the clubhouse. A warm breeze drifts in through the open windows and the birds chirp, making the whole place feel more peaceful. That’s one of my favorite things about the compound is that it feels so cut off from the rest of the world and safe. Here, I don’t have to worry about getting nasty looks from people in town who think the club is a bunch of wild hooligans or worse, the outright hate we sometimes get after someone targeted the club a few years ago and turned the entire city of Baton Rouge against us. On the property, we can just be ourselves and in a lot of ways, it was a fresh start for me and all of my brothers.
When we pull into the parking lot, I see her square her shoulders out of the corner of my eye and I scowl. What the hell has gotten her so tense?
“You okay?”
She glances over at me. “Am I going to have to fight Jumper again?”
“No.” I laugh as I park the truck in front of the doors and turn to her. “Storm and I had a little chat with him yesterday and set him straight.”
“Did you ever find out what the hell his problem was?” she asks, arching a brow, and a smile stretches across my face as I remember the way she humiliated him in front of everyone after he talked shit about her.
“He thought he was being funny when really, he was just being an asshole. He struggles to find that line sometimes but we made him see the error of his ways.”
She laughs. “Did you? What exactly does that entail?”
“Storm made him scrub all of the toilets in the clubhouse on his hands and knees and he and I went a couple of rounds in the boxing ring.”
Her grin is laced with a look of surprise that someone actually stood up for her and the thought reaches deep into my chest, constricting my heart. I’m desperate to know more of Izzy’s story, know what makes that sadness and wariness creep into her eyes sometimes out of nowhere but that is something that will take time. I know that. Doesn’t mean I like it though.
“Why do I find that incredibly sexy?” she says, dropping her gaze down my body before meeting my eyes again. “Did you make sure he’d still be feeling it today?”
A surprised laugh booms out of me and I nod. “Oh, yeah.”
“Good.” She leans back in her seat with a satisfied grin on her face but there is a vulnerability there, too – one she is damn good at hiding from the entire world but the more time I spend with her, the more I’m able to spot it. Each time, I mentally record that shit and make sure the moment is branded into my memory so that maybe one day, I’ll be able to actually figure her out. Turning off the truck, I shake my head and open the door, my mind spinning. All these little clues from her, all the minute details of her reactions are like tiny puzzle pieces and I’m constantly moving them around, trying to make them fit together so I can figure her out. It feels like I’m getting closer. Sure, I don’t know specifics but I know that she feels alone most of the time and it’s why she goes so hard when someone disrespects her. Because she had to, because she never had someone that protected her or had her back completely and the thought kills me. It doesn’t matter what happens between Izzy and me from here on out, if I convince her to give things a shot between us or we simply raise our son together, I promise her that she’ll always have me watching her back.
I reach her door and pull it open, offering her my hand but she ignores it as she climbs out of the truck and moves around me toward the clubhouse. That defiant look is in her eyes again and my cock jerks. It’s annoying as hell but I just know that she’s going to go in there and pretend nothing is happening between us, pretend that we haven’t been screwing like rabbits all over every square inch of my house. Despite that, seeing her attitude always gets me going and there is no way I’m going to let her avoid this in public. I won’t come right out and tell them that I’ve been inside her twice already today but I want this whole damn club and the rest of the state of Louisiana to know that this woman is mine - now and always. I just have to do it carefully - like walking through a live minefield on a broken leg.
No sweat, right?
A humorless laugh tears itself from my throat and I shake my head again as I shut the door, following behind her. Her ass swings back and forth as she marches up the stairs – determination making her body tense as she glances back at me. She’s daring me with a look to expose our little secret and I grin. Doesn’t she know by now what my reaction will be to an ultimatum from her? A warning flashes in her gaze before she turns back to the clubhouse and pulls the front door open. All of the adults are seated in the dining room when we walk in and they all look up, waving and hollering their greetings before turning back to the conversation we walked in on.
Izzy starts walking faster, heading straight for the table that Ali and Carly are seated at and I grit my teeth. Ali is in Storm’s lap and Carly is sitting next to Chance which only leaves one chair left and if she gets there before me, I’ll be forced to make a scene in front of everyone or sit at another table where I can’t pull her close or touch her.
“There’s beer, sweet tea, and bottled water in the kitchen.”
Izzy looks over at the counter where all the drinks are laid out before glancing over at Ali. “I’m going to grab some tea. Save me that seat.”
As she heads into the kitchen, I grin and close the distance between me and the table, sinking into the chair she wanted and crossing my arms over my chest. Ali scoffs and slaps my chest.
“You literally just heard her ask me to save her that seat.”
I glance down at my lap. “She can sit here, too.”
“Oh,” Ali whispers, fighting back a smile and just like that, I know she knows. Losing her battle, she flashes me a smile and winks before leaning into her husband and wrapping her arm around his neck. Izzy turns with a glass of sweet tea in her hand and stops short, sh
ooting daggers at me with her gorgeous eyes.
“You grab me a beer, Iz?”
She shakes her head. “Get it yourself.”
“Please, Mama? You’re already standing there,” I point out and her eyes narrow further at the term of endearment I use for her at home as she glances around the room. Some of my brothers or their wives are watching us but most of them are focused on their own conversations and don’t really care about our argument. Her hand clenches into a fist and my grin widens.
She wants to play games?
Fine.
After a moment, she rips a bottle of beer out of the bucket of ice on the counter, squares her shoulders and marches over to me, stopping right in front of my chair and slamming my beer onto the table. I arch a brow in question. Her eyes are full of anger but it only excites me more and I can’t help but imagine dragging her sexy ass upstairs over my shoulder and finding a quiet corner to fuck her until she’s begging for the release only I can give her. Has she realized that she has this effect on me yet? How many times over the past three days has an argument turned into the two of us fucking like crazy all over my damn house?
“That’s my chair.”
I uncross my arms. “We can share it.”
“No. I want that one.”
I shrug and grab her hand, pulling her into my lap. “There. Problem solved.”
“Diego,” she growls and I bite back a laugh as I look up at her and bat my eyelashes, taunting her. God, if we were alone right now, I’d already have her naked and on top of me.
“Izzy.”
“Jesus,” Chance groans, rolling his eyes as he leans back in his chair and lays his hand on Carly’s thigh. “Would the two of you just fuck again already? I can’t stand this sexual tension shit.”
“Speaking of fucking,” Jumper says, leaning into Alice, Smith’s sister-in-law, with a grin. He nudges her suggestively as he wiggles his eyebrows and motions to the stairs with his head. She scoffs as she raises a bottle of beer to her lips.
