I decided not to comment on his statement, because I sure as hell didn’t have anything nice to say about it. I wasn’t vulnerable. Far from it.
Especially not with a man like himself.
“What do you think about these threats against Liv?” I asked.
I needed to move the topic of conversation away from… that.
“I think they’re credible. Given what the club has been through and all,” Thor said.
“Care to fill me in on that?” I asked.
“Can’t.”
“Figured.”
“Well, I think she’s still better off than I was. When someone comes busting into this hotel room, then we can talk about taking further steps. Until then, I think we’re doing everything just right. Well, mostly right,” I said.
“You mean with the man who busted into your apartment?” he asked.
Oh yeah. I had told him that story.
Why the fuck had I told him that story?
“Yes,” I said flatly.
“Do you still live in that apartment?” he asked.
I kept my eyes hot on the screen in front of me.
“Yes,” I said softly.
“Takes a strong person to do something like that.”
“It’s been home for years. Not gonna let some mobster asshole take it from me.”
“But you don’t feel safe there.”
I scoffed. “I don’t feel safe anywhere.”
“Not even with me?” he asked.
There was something in his voice. A tinge of sadness I couldn’t place. I slowly panned my gaze over to his and saw those dark brown eyes filled with emotion. Not intensity. Not stoic anger. But something else. Something that resembled guilt. Or pain.
Something new from this hulking man.
“What would happen if I told you ‘no’ to that question?” I asked.
I watched his nostrils flare.
“I’d say I wasn’t do my job right, then,” Thor said.
“Why do I not believe you?”
“Probably because you don’t trust people often. Like me.”
“Why do you look so sad right now?” I asked.
His face quickly settled back into stone as I grinned.
“Too late, Granite. I caught ya,” I said.
“Granite?”
“Eh, it’ll work for now until I find a better nickname. ‘Thor’ can’t really truncate down any further,” I said.
“No nickname is fine,” he said.
“Okay… Granite.”
His eyes leveled with mine as I turned fully away from my laptop.
“Why are you so concerned with whether or not I feel safe with you?” I asked.
There was a very long pause of silence between us before Thor drew in a deep breath.
“Debra,” he said.
“Girlfriend?” I asked.
“Ex.”
“Dumped you?”
“Died.”
My lips parted in shock.
“Thor, I’m so—”
“Save it,” he said curtly.
I watched him lean back into his chair, listening as the wood creaked underneath his gigantic from.
“I joined the club when I was eighteen. I had no life beyond school. Hell, I hated school,” he said.
“Didn’t we all,” I murmured.
“I met this woman. Debra. And she was just… everything. Intelligent. Well spoken. Strong. Gorgeous. Very bull-headed.”
“Sounds like your type.”
He chuckled. “Anyway, we hit it off. I fell in love. She fell in love. We moved in together, the whole shebang and whatnot.”
“Did your life with the club creep up or something?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. She got cancer.”
Fuck.
“The one thing you couldn’t protect her from,” I said.
“Yep. We tried treatments. Surgery. All natural fucking diets. And none of it worked. I watched her waste away into nothing. When I met her, she was one hundred and twenty pounds. And when I buried her, she hardly surpassed eighty-five.”
“Shit,” I whispered.
“Protection is my game. It’s my thing. And I couldn’t do that for her. I couldn’t save her life, Willow. But I can keep you and Olivia safe. I can do that for you two. And you make it very hard not to toss you out to the wolves.”
I grinned. “I’ve always been—”
I almost said “bull-headed,” but I caught myself. However, something told me Thor knew exactly what I was about to say. Because a smile crept onto his cheeks. A full-blown smile, teeth and all.
It looked beautiful on him.
“You should smile more often,” I said softly.
“I did, when she was alive,” Thor said.
“How long ago?”
“Three years ago, I buried her.”
“I really am sorry.”
Then, he did something I didn’t expect. Thor leaned up, put his elbows on his knees, and took my hands within his. I watched as his massive palms dwarfed my hands. I watched his thick fingers curl around the tops of my hands, gripping them as his eyes held mine.
“It’s why I’m so protective over you and Olivia. You, especially. When the two of you pepper sprayed my ass and left, I knew for certain someone would have gotten to you before I did. I’m not here to coop your asses up. I’m here to protect you from a threat you don’t have a full grasp of yet. These people are fucking ruthless, Willow. And if something happens to you…”
He stopped his sentence, and how I wished he hadn’t.
“Then what, Thor?” I asked.
“Then…”
He shrugged, but when his eyes met mine again, I watched him move forward. His eyes dropped to my lips. Our bodies gravitated to one another. I wanted to hear him say it. Part of me wanted to hear those words I knew he had stopped himself from saying. I felt his heat. His hands released mine as they slowly worked their way up my arms. Massaging and sliding over my skin as our foreheads touched.
His hands cupped my neck as his thumbs smoothed over the shells of my ears.
“If something ever happened to you Willow, I don’t know what I’d do,” Thor murmured.
“Why?” I whispered.
My eyes connected with his and I felt his breath pulsing against my lips.
“Because I haven’t felt such a pull toward someone since Debra,” he said.
I moved to close the distance. To feel his electricity pouring into my body. But, the second I flinched, my phone rang out in my pocket. The only reason why I didn’t ignore it was because it was Liv’s ringtone. She was calling, and I knew what wasn’t good. I sighed as Thor nuzzled his nose against mine. He massaged the lobes of my ears with his fingertips, making me thankful I was already sitting in a damn chair. It took all the strength I had to pull back from that man’s hot breath as I slipped my hand into my pocket, pulling out the ringing piece of technology that had ruined our moment.
A moment I didn’t know I had wanted until that second.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“There’s been another threat,” Liv said.
Her voice was shaking, and I stood straight up from my seat.
“I’m putting you on speaker,” I said.
“What’s going on?” Thor asked.
I pressed down onto the button. “A threat came into the police station, I think.”
Thor’s face settled into stone. “Olivia, can you hear me?”
“Colt wants me to tell you I’m on the back of his bike and headed back to the hotel,” Liv said.
“I’ll be downstairs to receive you,” Thor said.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Willow, I’m losing it. I-I-I don’t know what to—”
“Olivia, take a deep breath and talk to me. I need to know about the threat,” I said.
“They know you’re in town,” she whimpered.
My eyes connected with Thor’s and I watched his shoulders roll back.
“Th-th-there wasn’t a note. Just… just a picture of us. At the bar,” Olivia said.
I rolled my eyes. “Fuck.”
I felt Thor’s “I told you so” gaze hot on me and I shot him a “shut the hell up” kind of look.
“It was just a picture of the two of us running down the sidewalk. Holding hands. And it’s got both of our faces X’d out in red,” Olivia said.
“Get your ass back to this hotel and now. Tell Colt to take a new path getting here,” I said.
“He said he’s already on it.”
“I’m coming downstairs to meet with you guys. Come through the back entryway. I’ll be out in the alley,” Thor said.
“And I’ll be in the room watching the cameras,” I said.
“I don’t know what to do,” Olivia breathed.
“First, we get you back into this room. Then, we go from there,” I said.
I kept my eyes glued to my computer screen until the three of them barged back in. And Colt was pissed. He kept rattling on about how the DEA nor the police were doing anything about these threats against Liv. Then again, Liv wasn’t letting them do anything because she still wasn’t telling anyone about her relationship and involvement with the club in the first fucking place. It was a Catch-22 that had no way out other than for Olivia to admit what was going on with her and Colt.
Which put her entire job on the line.
“We have to do something!” Colt exclaimed.
“There isn’t anything I can do right now that doesn’t cost my job!” Olivia argued.
“Is there any chance they know about this hotel?” Thor asked.
I shrugged. “We have to assume the worst. We didn’t go far from the hotel to get to that bar. For all I know, they followed us from the parking lot.”
“But you would have caught them on your cameras or something, right?” Liv asked.
“I’m going back tonight and looking at all the parking lot footage from the time we got here until the time we left for the bar. I’ve been backing up the footage on my external. But I won’t have any answers for you until the morning,” I said.
“I want them as soon as you have them,” Colt glowered.
“I’ll route my information through Thor. But in the meantime, what else can we do?” I asked.
Chapter 10
Thor
The second Willow threw that question out, I felt Colt’s eyes on me. At first, I avoided his gaze. I didn’t even want to entertain that bullshit idea. I didn’t want to think about it. But then my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. And I watched Colt reach for his. I rolled my eyes as I slipped my phone out, seeing a text message from Dean.
I rose my stare to connect with Colt’s before we opened the message.
Church ASAP. Give me free times. Got a plan in the works for Diego.
“Fuck!” Colt roared.
“What?” Willow asked.
“What’s going on right now?” Olivia asked.
I sighed heavily as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
“You gonna tell them, or should I?” I asked.
“Tell us what?” Willow asked curtly.
My eyes fell to her and I watched that softness of hers I’d pulled out earlier switch right back into a hardened mode of protection. The woman was a force to be reckoned with, and I sure as hell didn’t want to piss her off.
The last thing I needed was another face full of pepper spray.
“Our only other option right now is to take the leverage off the table,” Colt said.
“No. Absolutely not,” Olivia said.
“What? The hell does that mean?” Willow asked.
“It means—”
“It means they want to take Diego out. But that wasn’t our deal. Colt, you turned Diego over to us in exchange for keeping your asses and names out of it,” Olivia said.
“And yet here we are with someone stalking the two of you now. Liv, they sent that damn picture straight to the police department. Someone walked right in there, set that shit right down onto your desk, and walked right the fuck out,” Colt said.
“I need that security footage,” Willow said.
“You’re not taking Diego out,” Liv said.
“It might be our only shot though,” I said.
Everyone turned their eyes to look at me, but I stood strong in my words.
“If we take him out, then the cartel will lose its power. He won’t be ordering people to send threats. He can’t give any other orders from jail until this trial. At this rate, he won’t even make it because he’ll do more damage than ever. He’ll spook a jury. Stalk you. Kick up more shit in town. Anything to keep his ass off the stand,” I said.
“Wait a second, you support this?” Willow asked.
I slowly connected my eyes with hers.
“You got anything else we can fall back on?” I asked.
“Colt, we made a deal,” Liv said.
“And I held up my end of the deal. I turned him over. But both of you have targets on your backs now. Which puts targets on our backs as well. You have to remember you’re still dealing with a club. And we don’t always play by your rules,” Colt said.
“Yeah well, maybe you should,” Liv spat.
“Can we leave the couples arguing for later?” Willow asked.
“Back me up or stay out of it,” Liv commanded.
“Would you like to rewind and try that again?” Willow asked.
“Look, we get it that the two of you don’t agree. But there were issues stemming from this cartel long before either of you dropped into town. We’re already chest deep in this mud of a game. That’s not easy to pull out of. Especially when the stakes are this high,” I said.
“Fine, then let me speak from a spot of experience. Killing Diego would further push the club into dangerous waters. And if I get out of my involvement with Colt, things could get very ugly for me as well. They’d capture me. Torture me for information regarding your club. I know I’m safest with you guys right now, but I’m a DEA agent as well. I can’t condone the killing of a man who has yet to stand trial,” Liv said.
“And we don’t expect you to,” Colt said.
“Did she just say, ‘a spot of experience?’” I asked.
“Her father was a Steel Horsemen,” Willow murmured.
My head whipped over to her. “A what now?”
“We’ll talk about it later,” Colt said.
“No, we’ll talk about it now. Olivia’s father rode with one of the most prestigious motorcycle club’s out there?” I asked.
“Yes. He was also arrested on drug charges he was innocent for, went to prison for something he didn’t do, and was killed by that same cartel in prison before his parole came around. Anything else you want to know?” Liv asked.
Every single one of us fell silent.
“I need some space,” Colt murmured.
I watched him stride off as Liv raked her hands through her hair. She drew in a deep breath before her eyes held mine. I was staring into the eyes of fucking club royalty. The baddest motorcycle club to ever clean up their shit and change their ways, and her father had been part of it. Had given his life for it. I wasn’t shocked very often, but I was in that moment. I nodded my head in respect before she turned around, then walked off after Colt to try and help him calm down.
Leaving Willow and myself alone.
Again.
“Who the fuck have I tangled myself up with?” she breathed.
Not really to me, but just to get it out. I knew that tone of voice. She was sequestering us. Stereotyping us. I looked over at her and watched her flinch. Take a step away from me, as if I had just slapped her with my movements. She was growing fearful of us, and it broke something inside me. I didn’t want her to be afraid of me. I didn’t want her to think we were a bunch of bad men. Because we weren’t.
There were so many bullshit decisions made that had gotten us to this point. And we all knew this wasn’t the club we had set out to beco
me.
“We aren’t bad men,” I said.
“Well, you’re contemplating murder. I’d say that’s pretty rough,” Willow said, snickering.
“It’s been a long road getting here.”
“Then why don’t you fill me in so I don’t think I’m being stared down by a man who’s going to gut me in the middle of the night.”
She couldn’t have said anything more hurtful. I wasn’t a heartless killer. I wasn’t some massive life-threatening machine. I turned toward her, trying to command her attention. But, the more I turned to her, the more she turned away from me. She had her back to me. Her shoulders were rolled forward. As if she was bracing herself for any sort of assault I was about to bring down onto her. That strong woman, with eyes like fire and a strength of three times her weight, and she cowered away from me.
It made me sick.
“It started with Leti,” I said.
She shook her head. “I don’t want to hear—”
“Jace’s girl who’s pregnant. Her name is Leti, and she was the first of a series of clients and issues that brought us into the cartel’s space.”
“Thor, please don’t—”
“She needed help, Willow. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. She needed help because the cartel was using her dead brother’s supposed life as leverage to keep her smuggling drugs over the border. They killed her brother and used the idea of him being alive to manipulate her. And when she came stumbling into our bar with a suitcase full of drugs she had yet to turn over and begged for our help, we gave it to her. That’s what we do, Willow,” I said.
I watched her shoulders roll back, but she didn’t turn around.
“We take on clients who need help. And yes, we are trained to kill. Yes, we shoot to kill. Yes, we have a great deal of weapons and armor and things at our disposal. But, we do it to guard. To protect. Not like this,” I said.
“Then why the hell are you contemplating it?” Willow asked.
She slowly turned around, and I was simply relieved that she was facing me again.
“Because our president isn’t thinking straight anymore. So, on top of the clients and situations that have been dropped into our lap because of Leti coming to us, we’re trying to stay afloat. We’re trying to push the cartel out so the children of our town don’t get their hands on the types of designer drugs being filtered in after almost two decades of this place being clean. But, with our president slowly spinning out of control, it’s getting hard. We’re trying to balance everything, but it’s getting tougher when the club butts heads. Like we are right now,” I said.
Thor (The Black Hornets MC Book 5) Page 6
