Chapter Two

Bear

She was lying. I'd bet my life on it. The question was, why was she lying? The terrified, vulnerable look in her eyes told me there was more to it than simply lying about what had happened tonight. Trouble was following this girl, and it was headed straight to Grim Road. I knew this like I knew none of it mattered. Not to me. This woman -- Olivia -- she was going to be mine.

Lemon sighed. "Right. OK. I guess we stay here." Yeah. Our VP knew she was lying, too.

Olivia backed up, moving away from all of us. "What does that mean?"

"Relax, buttercup," Lemon said, an annoyed look on her face. "No one's gonna hurt you, but we can't take you to the compound, and we can't leave you to your own devices when you're clearly lying about something to do with the way Bear and Ringo found you. So? Here we are and here we'll stay until Crush and Byte get a beat on the guys following you." She raised her eyebrows, giving Olivia a hard look. "Unless you change your story and tell us the truth."

"I'm not lying." She shook her head, her eyes wide and terrified. "I was afraid they'd follow me home."

"Bullshit," Lemon spat. Now, the VP was all business, not in the mood to fuck around. Olivia flinched, but Lemon didn't budge. She crossed her arms over her chest and leveled her piercing gaze on Olivia. "But I get why you'd be opposed to telling us what's really going on. For now. But we still can't let you leave until we know the truth."

She looked around at all of us. A trapped little kitten unsure what to do. She was trembling where she stood, but shook her head slightly. "I understand." Her words were soft and resigned. Like she fully expected us to do something unspeakable but had accepted her fate.

"Christ," Dom swore, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Can't help you if we don't know what you're facin', girl," he muttered. Liv lowered her gaze to the floor and said nothing. "All right, then." Dom pulled out his phone. "Piston and Venus are in town. They'd be the best choice to stay with her anyway."

"I'll call Apple, too," Lemon said. "They're friends --"

"No! I don't want Apple." Olivia's head snapped up, her eyes wide and pleading as her gaze found Lemon's. Then she shook her head several times before continuing more sedately. "I mean, I'm sure she's busy." She looked away. "Or something."

Lemon's eyes narrowed as she studied the other woman. Then she nodded slowly. "All right. Venus and Piston it is."

"And me." No way I was staying out of this one. No fucking way.

"Not sure that's a great idea, Bear." Dom studied me carefully and I knew the man saw way more than I was comfortable with.

"I'm claiming her," I said. Why I said it I had no idea. Didn't change the facts, but I wasn't ready for this yet. Not by a long shot. The last thing I wanted to do was claim her, then have her be some kind of spy or informant or something. And I admitted to myself, if those guys really were CIA as Crush said, then, yeah. There was every possibility she'd brought the very people most of us were running from. Maybe not to our front door, but certainly close.

"No," Dom snarled, poking a finger against my chest. "You're not. You're gonna go home and let Venus and Piston deal with her until morning. After that, once Crush has had a chance to look into her and the whole situation, I'll reevaluate."

"You don't have a say in who I claim, Dom. My woman. My choice."

"I do when the safety of the club is involved. See this?" He pointed to the patch on his chest with his club designation. "Sergeant at arms means the safety of the club is my responsibility. That makes this every bit as much my choice as it is yours."

I took a step forward, but Lemon got between us. "Dump some testosterone, you guys. Bear." She gave me a hard stare. "If you take her as your woman, you've got to accept the consequences if she's not on the up and up. You willin' to do that?" It was times like this I seriously questioned whether Lemon was really a teenager. Sure, she'd adopted some of Rocket's mannerisms when dealing with tough business in and out of the club, but she was her own person with her own sense of moral toughness. The look on her face said she'd cut me herself if this went to shit, and not regret a Goddamned thing.

"I will."

"No!" Olivia gasped. "No. I, uh, I can't be your woman. I've… uh… I've already got a, uh, boyfriend."

"If he's the one who made you walk home on your own, he's useless." Besides, I knew she was lying. Again . This pattern was going to make it harder and harder to trust her when we got to that point.

"I wasn't walking home," she said, looking anywhere but at me or any of us. "I was walking to my car."

"Right. Baby, the employee parking lots in that area are on the back side of the building. Where do you live? And, before you try to lie, keep in mind that Crush is looking into everything. Not only that, but you can't lie for shit."

She winced but shook her head. "I was walking back to my car." Her voice was quiet. Hell, I don't think even she expected us to believe her, but she was sticking to her story.

"All right, then," Lemon said. "I'll have the boys bring some food by. We've kept the place aired out and clean in case anyone needs a place to crash in the city, so you should be good here. Rocket will make sure Piston and Venus are on the way, so you'll have backup, Bear. Also, Ringo, put a couple more guys farther out to keep an eye on the place from a distance."

Rocket chuckled despite the situation. "It's almost like she thinks she's president, huh?"

Ringo snorted. "Don't give her ideas, prez. She'll have you retired and be runnin' the whole operation if you do."

"I already run the operation. I just let Rocket think he's in charge."

"As much as I'd love to deny it, she's probably right. She definitely knows how to manage me."

Lemon grinned up at our president. "Just one of the many reasons you love me."

"Absolutely," he said before pulling her to him and kissing her soundly. Which wiped the smirk off Lemon's face and put a dreamy smile there. Which she didn't even try to hide.

"Good luck." Ringo clapped my shoulder as he headed out the door. "Got a feelin' you're gonna need it."

Didn't I just know it.

Olivia wandered around the living/kitchen/dining area of the house. It wasn't a large place, but there was plenty of room for the two of us. Tomorrow, if things proved difficult and Venus and Piston needed to stay here with me, there would still be plenty of room. But I wasn't ready to give up yet. While I knew she was lying and that there was very likely some shit headed our way, I thought I could get through to her.

There was definitely an attraction between the two of us. I could tell she felt that pull. I also thought it went against her nature to lie. Not only was she shit at it, I didn't believe she wanted to. There was just something in her expression, like she felt guilty. It was all part of being a shit liar. So the question became, what or who was she protecting? The boyfriend she said she had? If so, it just proved she didn't need him. A woman should never have to protect her man. He should protect her, even at the expense of his own life. If it wasn't the boyfriend, then who? And why?

"You gonna talk?" Even though I'd spoken softly, she started, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

Olivia shook her head, her gaze squarely in the middle of my chest. "I already told --"

"Yeah, you already told me a bullshit story." I took a quick step toward her. Of course, she retreated a couple more steps. What surprised me was she only took a couple of steps back. I knew how intimidating I was. I'd perfected the look in the most dangerous of situations. I backed her up to the wall and caged her in. "Now, you're gonna tell me the fuckin' truth."

"I've got nothing more to say." Her voice was a whisper, but I could tell she wouldn't budge. I wouldn't intimidate her into giving me what she wanted. Not yet anyway.

I pushed off the wall and stalking through the house, checking the doors and windows as I went. "Don't bother trying to leave. The house has an alarm, and the guys are set up outside in case you do. You won't get far." I stomped inside my bedroom, leaving the door open.

This was going to be tricky. Everything depended on what Crush found in the next twenty-four hours. By claiming Olivia, I'd be able to force the issue of taking her to the Grim Road compound if things got too hot to stay where we were. If it really was the CIA chasing her, the last thing we wanted to do was lead them straight to our home. But if she was in imminent danger, my claim would extend the club's protection to her. If we did, and she was a willing participant, then I'd share her punishment. So, the benefits to Olivia were way more than they were for me. Until she was well and truly mine anyway.

She'd followed me down the hall and I stopped in the doorway to the room I'd claimed. "You can have the room across the hall." I pointed. "It's bigger and has an adjoining bathroom. The doors stay open."

She blinked. "I… what?"

"You heard me. No shut doors except the ones leading outside. That means the bathroom too."

"I'm not leaving the bathroom door open." The look on her face was so incredulous I almost laughed. Now wasn't the time, though. I needed to be a hard-ass. She needed to trust me, but she also needed to know I absolutely would call her on her bullshit.

"Any door I find closed gets broken down. If that means I remove every fuckin' door in the place, that's what I'll do." I gave her my best "don't fuck with me" look. When she winced and turned away, I almost felt bad. Almost. This was for her own good. "Now. If you want a shower and stuff before bed, get to it. You had supper?"

"I'm not hungry," she whispered. "Thank you. I'm sorry. For everything. I didn't mean to cause so much trouble." Did I imagine she winced again? Regret this time instead of fear? Guilt, beyond just the lying she'd already done? I'd always thought of myself as a good judge of character, but since the whole fucking mess with Hammer and Claw I always questioned myself. I did now too, but I knew it didn't matter. Not really. I wanted Olivia for my own. No matter the situation. So I had to really be careful, to unwind her lies to my satisfaction without breaking her. Which… yeah. This was going to be tricky.

"You ain't no trouble, honey. But you do need to trust me. Tell me what's goin' on. We can't protect you if we don't know what the fuck's happenin'."

Instead of answering, she turned and went into the room I'd indicated was hers. She put her hand on the door, then dropped it, looking over her shoulder. If she was looking for permission to shut it, she was dead wrong. I just gave her a look. She sighed and continued in.

"Fine. Venus will be here soon with some more stuff. For now, there should be a complete change of clothes in the duffel in the corner over there." I pointed next to the bathroom. "I'm serious when I say no closed doors. I will break a motherfucker down."

"I know," she said softly. Then she crossed to the duffel and entered the bathroom. She didn't shut the door.

I scrubbed a hand over my face as I stomped inside the room I'd claimed across the hall. There was a queen-size bed, dresser, nightstand, and little else. I could hear the shower running in the other room and knew she needed to scrub the day off her.

I sat on the bed, my mind seizing on Olivia, naked in the shower. Not a great idea. The very last thing I needed to do was get distracted by my dick. There was no denying she was a beautiful, desirable woman. But I didn't like secrets. Which was hypocritical because I'd kept my share over the years. Still had them. But I knew in my soul I'd never allow this woman to keep secrets from me. For the first time, I truly understood why Lemon insisted we stop with the secrets thing. We couldn't keep the club safe if we all had secrets that could come back to haunt us. And I couldn't keep my woman safe if I didn't know what was haunting her.

I sat on the bed, not daring to leave her alone. There was every possibility she was contacting someone, letting them know where she was and the situation. If that was true, Crush would know and we'd deal with it. That wasn't the reason, though. It took everything I had in me not to strip off and join her in that shower. Not for sex, though I really wanted that. Very fucking much. I wanted to dominate her. To have her riding the edge until she was so mad with lust she told me everything just to fall over the fucking edge.

Yeah. I was fucked sideways. To hell and back.