Realistically, the longer Ashby was left unfound and unchecked, the higher the probability someone I cared about, even if it wasn’t Presley, would be taken away. The club dabbled in a few different gambling ventures both legal and not, so I knew odds and when they weren’t in my favor. I hated that Case had a point, and I was begrudgingly impressed he and Hill had come up with a plan that was just on the right side of devious and dangerous.
“All right. I’m game.” What other choice did I have? It wasn’t like I could step aside and let her be interested in another man. Even if it was just for show. “But I can’t make her fall for me. I can’t force her to feel any particular way about me.” I wanted her to want me the way I wanted her. But love was a different ball game. We were still very different people, and she didn’t have any idea what my life was actually like, and I wasn’t sure I had the first clue about hers when it wasn’t in danger. There was a long way to go before we could start throwing around words like love and forever. Not to mention neither of us really had any experience when it came to having something serious, something you would kill to protect.
Hill shrugged as if Presley’s feelings were irrelevant. “All you need to do is make it look like she’s stupidly in love with you. Whether she actually is or not doesn’t matter in the big picture.”
Of course, it didn’t matter to him, but to me that seemed like a huge sticking point. I really wanted her to actually like me. The idea of her falling head over heels for me made the inside of my chest warm, and it had all kinds of soft, tender feelings I’d never experienced before sparking to life. My relationship with Presley was almost innocent and pure compared to most of my others. I loathed the idea of anything tainting it.
“Fine. I’ll do what needs to be done.” I paused for a second, before offering up my own caveat. “I’m telling you now if this crazy woman comes after me or my club, I’m dealing with it my way. If she comes anywhere near Presley while I’m around, I’m dealing with the threat however I see fit. I will not wait for the heroes in her life to ride in on their white horses to save the day.”
Hill automatically moved to argue. Surprisingly, Case intervened. He nodded his dark head and met my serious gaze with his own. “We asked you to get involved. We knew the risks.”
I was ready to call this meeting done, but I stopped from turning toward my bike when Case continued. “However, if I catch you blatantly breaking the law with no regard for innocent civilians, I will take you down, Palmer.”
I flinched at the use of my given name. I didn’t hear it often, and I didn’t like the way Case said it, as if he was trying to remind me there was a normal man buried somewhere inside the biker. “Duly noted, Sheriff.”
I swung a leg over the bike and slid my sunglasses back down over my eyes. Hill walked away without a backward glance, but I could see the tension in every line of his body. Case put his hat back on his head and moved slightly closer to me as I rocked the bike off its kickstand.
“Heard from a buddy in the Austin PD that an anonymous whistleblower dropped an envelope of evidence showing Ashby and Presley’s mother’s doctor more than likely involved in malpractice which resulted in her death. When he went to talk to the doctor, the man was a mess and had ten broken fingers. He readily admitted to everything, but wouldn’t tell my buddy how his hands got so trashed. You wouldn’t know anything about any of that would you, Shot?”
I grinned because we were back to Shot as soon as he was suspicious of me. “All I know is a doctor who shouldn’t be allowed near the sick and defenseless can no longer do any damage. That might not be your idea of justice, but it is mine. It’s the very least he deserves for his part in breaking Presley’s heart. Her mother was all she had, and he helped take her away.”
Case sighed heavily and turned to walk away. “I don’t like you. I never will. But there are times when I’m damn jealous of you. It must be nice to have absolutely no one to answer to. I wonder what kind of man I’d be if I believed I was untouchable. You have so many damn skills, and you’re so fucking scary. I wonder what you could do if you channeled all that power into something other than raising hell and running the club.”
His words were part compliment and part complaint. I chuckled and cranked the ignition on. The roar of the motor drowned out my words as I told Case’s retreating back, “Even if you don’t like me, Case, I’ve always liked you.”
It was true.
I’d reluctantly admired the man from the start and knew if our roles were reversed, the type of man he would be was one I would still look up to and respect. He was also skilled and scary, and a natural leader and advocate for those who couldn’t fight for themselves.
He was wrong about me being untouchable, though.
Not too long ago, an intriguing, leggy, redheaded medical examiner brought me to my knees without even trying.
Chapter 14
Presley
Thanks for coming with me today.” I looked at Shot out of the corner of my eye. He’d been quiet throughout the day, hardly interjecting or offering an opinion as we jumped from house to house.
I’d spent the day caught between trying to figure out why he’d insisted on coming with me as I searched for a new place to live, and being secretly thrilled to spend the entire day in his company. When I told him that I was going house hunting with Kody, he’d immediately interjected that it wasn’t safe for the two of us to be running around, touring empty houses alone. The attack at the bar was still fresh in everyone’s mind, so it was hard to deny that he had a point. He told me he would free up a day to go with me instead, and while Kody hadn’t liked the change in plans, she didn’t argue too much. Apparently Hill was home for a stretch and she’d finally decided to tell him about the baby.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t viewed a single property I liked.
I felt like Goldilocks. All the single-family homes seemed too big for one person, and the idea of the upkeep was daunting. All the town houses and condos seemed too small and sterile. I couldn’t seem to find a happy medium, or a place that screamed “forever home.” All in all, I was frustrated and emotionally drained.
My aggravation must’ve been evident because Shot commented on it when we got back to my car after viewing the final house for the day. When he first showed up at my apartment on his motorcycle, I balked at the idea of getting on the back of his bike. Luckily, he didn’t ask me to ride with him and instead asked for my car keys so he could chauffeur me around. Since I would be flipping through listings and scrolling through directions on my phone, I didn’t resist in handing them over.
“I’m glad you didn’t like any of those houses today. I thought seeing what you were looking for in a permanent place to live would tell me a little bit more about you. It was interesting to see how all the ultramodern and minimalistic designs totally turned you off. They were too cold and empty. Honestly, I had you pegged as a new-build kinda woman.”
I tiredly shook my head and repressed a shiver of delight that he was trying to learn more about me. His rough charm was hard to resist when he decided to use it. I brushed a loose piece of hair away from my cheek.
“I’m not sure what I want, but I do know I don’t want a place that feels anything like a morgue when you walk in.” I cocked my head to the side, thinking about how warm and welcoming Aspen and Case’s remodeled Craftsman was. It wasn’t a huge house, but it felt big enough to hold the Lawton family and then some. It also had the perfect blend of both Aspen and Case in all the decorating choices. It was a little goth and a little country-western. Two styles that shouldn’t mesh well but did. Just like the couple who lived there. “I like Case and Aspen’s place. I’m not really handy or crafty, but maybe I need to look at something a little older that I can update and make my own.”
Shot chuckled and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. “All the men in your family know how to swing a hammer. If you want to fix a place up, you won’t be doing it on your own.” His eyebrows winged upward. “And I can alw
ays ask the guys in the club to help out, if you don’t mind your place being overrun with bikers.”
Oddly enough, the idea didn’t bother me at all. Before Shot burst into my life, the thought of a house full of scary, leather-wearing strangers was my actual nightmare, but now it didn’t seem so bad. Shot and his boys took care of one another. They relied on one another, just like the Lawtons did. It wasn’t a traditional type of family, but the bonds they shared were unbreakable, and I liked that. I was starting to think I wanted to form some bonds of my own.
“If I take on a huge project like that, I’ll be open to taking all the help I can get.” I watched him quietly before asking, “What kind of place do you see calling home? I know you and some of the other guys in the club all stay out at the ranch, but some of the members have to be married and have kids. Do you ever picture yourself living in a normal house and having a family?”
He stilled a little and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. I bit down on my lower lip, wondering if I’d crossed a line I didn’t know had been drawn in the sand. We were getting to know each other, probably slower than most couples did, since we were both amateurs when it came to starting a relationship. I wondered briefly if I was pushing for too much, too soon. I hated that I couldn’t get control of the uncertainty that crept in when I was unsure of myself and my place in the lives of those I was starting to care so much about.
Luckily Shot put my doubts to rest with a surprisingly raw and thoughtful response. “I don’t really think it’ll be a place I’ll call home. I think it’ll be a person. Someone I want to see at the end of the day. Someone I want to come back to when the club inevitably gets into trouble. I think home will be the person who gives me a place to go when I need a minute to breathe and not be the president of the Sons of Sorrow. Any roof over my head, any place to sleep, is fine as long as I know I can wake up next to the person who matters most to me.”
I gulped because I didn’t want to assume he was talking about me, but it kind of felt like he was speaking directly to my heart.
“Kind of like you, no one was the right fit, so I kept looking. I think I stumbled onto a fixer-upper as well.” He flashed me a grin, his dark eyes glittering with dangerous promises. “Good thing I’m ready to put in the work to make sure the person I have in mind is going to be my forever home as well.”
I couldn’t form a coherent thought on the rest of the way to my apartment. He’d stunned me to silence and snatched all rational thought from my mind. It would be so easy to start spinning fairy tales around his words, but I was still scared of believing what he was telling me. Our lifestyles were so different, I couldn’t come up with a logical way they would ever seamlessly mesh. We’d been spending more time together, and I was terrified he would get bored of me after a few weeks. But he wasn’t letting me put distance between us anymore. In addition to insisting on coming with me today, he was sending clear signals that he wasn’t planning on leaving me on my own tonight.
I didn’t say anything when he followed me up the stairs to my apartment a little while later. I figured he was going to see me inside and make sure nothing had been tampered with while I was gone for the day. He was taking the whole protection thing incredibly seriously, but when I mentioned he might be going overboard he reminded me of what happened at the bar, which immediately silenced me.
The inside of my apartment was dark and quiet. I was going for the light switch and dropping my purse on the catch-all in the hallway, when suddenly I felt Shot move behind me. I opened my mouth to ask what he was doing and tried to turn so I could see. But my movement stilled when a strong arm wrapped around my shoulders and a heavy hand landed on my mouth. The chill of metal rings decorating the fingers of that hand sent a shiver racing through my body. I dug my fingers into the forearm locked across my chest and kicked at the shins pressing into the back of my legs.
I was intimately familiar with how those thick, rough fingers covered in heavy rings felt pressed against my skin. When Shot didn’t let me go as soon as I started to struggle, I shifted tactics and went totally limp in his hold.
It was easy to forget that he’d been a highly trained soldier before becoming an outlaw biker. Anyone else would’ve dropped me to the floor. Shot tightened his hold and lowered his head so he could whisper in my ear, “You need to leave the lights on when you go out and you should get better locks for your door. Anyone can break through the ones you currently have.”
Instead of nodding, I jammed my elbow back as hard as I could, hitting him in the gut and forcing out a whoosh of air. When he let me go, spinning me around so I was facing him, I pushed him with all my might, glaring at him as I pointed a finger in his handsome face.
“Not funny.” I really was far from amused.
Shot rubbed what I knew were his rock-hard abs through the cotton of his T-shirt. “Wasn’t meant to be funny. I wanted you to see how easy it would be for anyone to grab you if you don’t take precautions. I’m worried about you.”
I scowled at him. “I don’t need you to intimidate me.”
He nodded, dark hair flopping across his forehead and falling into his eyes. “Your instincts are solid. Your flight-and-fight responses seem to be pretty equally balanced. If one doesn’t work, you fall back on the other without hesitation. Those self-defense classes paid off.” He tapped his stomach again and gave me a grin. “You could do some serious damage if you really needed to.”
Frustrated at how he went about proving his point, I dragged my hands through the front of my hair and tugged. Everything about him was over the top. There wasn’t a subtle bone in the man’s big, built body. It was hard to keep up with him. He’d gone from quiet and observant while we were house hunting to an aggressive combatant in the blink of an eye.
But, there was no arguing that he got results. “Hill told Kody that they’re going to open an official investigation into Dr. Kemper and that he won’t be able to practice medicine ever again.” I met his penetrating look with a grateful one of my own. “Thank you for that.”
“Didn’t do it out of the kindness of my heart. Don’t forget you owe me one.” He winked at me, and his grin shifted to something along the lines of being downright carnal. “I can’t wait to collect my own favor in return.”
I shifted restlessly. I’d never had a man show such overt interest in me sexually before. Or rather, I’d never paid any attention when they did. Shot made the simmering chemistry and magnetic pull between the two of us impossible to ignore. Deciding a change of subject was in order before I got in over my head, I mumbled, “Kody also mentioned Dr. Kemper was pretty roughed up. How come you aren’t worried about him saying anything to the police about your involvement?”
Shot shrugged and followed me as I walked toward the tiny kitchen. I wasn’t hungry, or thirsty, but I needed something to do with my hands before they blindly reached for the man dressed in all black, radiating badass energy as he stalked me with a predatory prowl.
“The good doctor has a lot he’d like to keep hidden. His wife was taking him to the cleaners in the divorce, and he has a long-term side chick he’s been keeping in luxury in Austin. Both those factors are costing him a fortune. He’s been playing hardball with the wife, but she’s suspected that he’s been hiding money so she can’t access it during the split. She was right. He has a bunch of his assets in an offshore account. Far more than he reported in the divorce.” Shot sounded disgusted, which I found a little surprising. I wouldn’t have thought infidelity would be a big deal for a guy who admitted to never having a serious relationship in his lifetime. “We hijacked his accounts. Told him if he tried to tell anyone about the club’s involvement, we were turning all the assets over to the wife. Also told him he could have the money back once Ashby Grant is in police custody. As long as he cooperates with the investigation, he can have it back.”
He had access to his own fully equipped surgical suite as well as a surgeon on call. It didn’t surprise me one bit to hear he also had access t
o someone who could hack into a banking system.
Shot lifted his eyebrows upward. “After I tell the wife all about the secret accounts. She deserves a payday for dealing with his arrogant ass for so long.”
He was devious, and shockingly clever. I guess he had to be in order to stay out of prison and to keep his club and its members out of trouble.
“We should’ve grabbed dinner.” I was planning on telling him I would make us something to eat, but the words were cut off when he spun me around with a hand on my arm and by the pressure of his lips landing on mine.
I gasped at the unexpected kiss, and my hands lifted of their own volition to his broad shoulders. He walked me backward, his mouth devouring mine with each step. My back hit a wall, rattling a mirror and a cheap print hanging there.
Shot’s palm slid along my side, thumb brushing over my rib cage. His knee pressed between my legs, letting him lean into me, so all our hard and soft parts were perfectly aligned. My breasts pressed against his firm chest, the warmth from his body making my nipples perk up and tighten. I pulled my mouth free when one of his hands gripped a handful of my backside in a suggestive manner.
“Today was technically our second date, Presley.” His almost midnight-colored eyes were normally unreadable, but at the moment his intent was very clear. “You told me I could kiss you the next time.”
“You’re right, I did say that.” I searched around for words that didn’t make me sound like a lovestruck idiot.
Shot smiled and reached up so he could smooth my hair back from my face. I let my head knock against the wall as my heart started to race with his gentle treatment.
“Do you trust me, Presley?” It was possibly the most sincere question he’d asked since I’d met him.
He was as surprised by my rawly honest “I do” as I was.
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