Chapter Six

Bear

Going postal on Redwood hadn't been intentional. Yeah, the little punk deserved what I'd dished out and more, and yeah, I'd meant it. No one in this club was touching or even thinking about touching Olivia. Which was a huge problem for me while she hadn't yet told me the truth about what the fuck was going on with her.

Bullet cleaned her wound, putting a bandage over it after he washed off the blood drying on her skin as well as the fresh seepage. "I think a few Steri-Strips'll do. Put a bandage on it until it completely stops bleeding, but you won't need to keep it on long if you don't want to. When was your last tetanus shot?"

"I-I don't really remember?" Olivia darted a brief glance at me before looking back down at her lap. She sat at the dining table while Bullet taped her wound together. He grunted, putting a small dressing over the wound before sitting back and studying her. "I'll get you a tetanus shot and some antibiotics. You allergic to anything?"

"No."

"Good. I'll be right back." He smiled at Olivia, then stood to leave. "I'd have brought it with me, but I was closer to here than I was my office when you messaged." He hiked his thumb over his shoulder at the door. "Saw Banjo, Redwood, and French on the way out." When I didn't say anything, he continued. "None of ‘em looked too happy." Still, I said nothing. Bullet sighed. "OK, then. Nice chat. I'll be right back."

I grunted and turned back to Olivia. Bullet could show his own fucking self out the fucking door. Olivia kept her gaze lowered, twisting her fingers together. I stood there right in front of her for a long while. She kept her gaze down but darting around the room as if looking for an escape.

"Olivia…" I sighed, scrubbing my hand over my face. "Honey, why would you do that? Put yourself between two men who are more than twice your size? He could have accidentally hurt you."

"You could have hurt me too."

"Honey, no matter what's going on or how upset I get, there is no situation where I accidentally hurt you."

"Meaning, if you hurt me, it's intentional."

Something strange unfurled inside me. I immediately knew she was wrong. I couldn't imagine a situation where I ever hurt her intentionally, even if I wanted to. Wasn't altogether sure I could even if I had to. Or was ordered to. So I decided if I wanted her to be honest with me, I needed to be honest with her. If that meant I admitted how attracted I was to her, I'd lay it out there for her.

"Meaning, anything I do to cause you pain will ultimately give you pleasure. And it won't be accidental. It will be deliberate and premeditated. And you'll beg me for it."

Olivia sucked in a breath. Her gaze snapped up to mine, and one hand landed lightly on my chest before she snatched it away. "Sorry," she whispered.

I shifted my weight so I inched closer to her. Slowly, I reached down and took her hand, bringing it back to my chest. I held it there, letting her feel my heartbeat through my shirt. "Touch me if you want," I murmured. "Might as well get used to me now. You're gonna be touchin' me a lot in the future. Same as I'll be touchin' you."

"I-I c-can't."

"I told you the truth about the only pain I'd ever bring to you. Now, I want your truth. You said you had a boyfriend. Do you?"

She opened her mouth, then swallowed. This time, when she spoke, I knew she was telling the truth. "No." Her confirmation was a breathy whisper, one that wrapped around my heart and squeezed. To say nothing of what it did to my cock.

"See? That wasn't so hard. Was it?"

"Why are you doing this? I know you don't trust me."

I didn't hesitate in my answer. "No, Liv. I don't. But you're going to tell me what's going on. Then I'm gonna take care of whatever trouble's found you. Once that's done, we can get on with learning to trust each other."

The expressions on her face changed rapidly. I saw surprise, hope, disappointment. Sadness. Then a steely resolve. Olivia shook her head. "No. That will never happen."

"Which part? Because there's a lot of stuff I intend to do."

"All of it!" She sidestepped to get around me, then crossed the room. She was deeper inside my home, but too fucking far away from me for my liking. Only thing that kept me from moving back to her was the fact she had nowhere to go and couldn't get out of the house without me being able to stop her. "Bear, just…" She sobbed in a shuddering breath. "Please. Give me my phone back and let me go home," she finished with a little whimper.

"Sorry, darlin'. Can't until this is all straightened out. Crush is checkin' your phone out. Once he's satisfied it's secure, he'll get it back to you."

"I can't stay here, Bear. I can't."

"Tell me why."

"It's not that simple."

"Sure it is. Only thing missin's trust. As in you don't trust me, so you've not told me the truth. You not tellin' me what's goin' on makes me not trust you."

"And I have to trust you to tell you so we're back at the beginning." She sounded equal parts exasperated and almost desperate. "I don't know what to do!" she yelled at me, tears starting to stream down her face. "If I don't tell you and something happens, I'm dead. If I tell you and you can't protect me, I'm worse than dead! Like you said, there isn't a scenario where this ends well for me!"

This was my opening. She wanted to tell me; it was easy to see. She'd given me just that little bit of an opening, and I knew I had to take it. I crossed the room, taking back the distance she'd put between us. "Listen to me, baby, and listen hard. I claimed you as mine. In the eyes of the club, you're just as important as me. Maybe more so because you're a woman. Grim Road is many things. Most of them not good. But we do not prey on the weak. We don't subjugate our women. The club whores are here for one purpose. They know what's expected of them before they come here. They still have the right to say no, and they can leave any time they want."

Her eyes widened and her lips parted. I could tell that, for whatever reason, I'd shocked her.

"All the women with us could be in danger just by associating with us. We accept responsibility for that and don't take the danger to them lightly. We protect them. The women protect the children. We all protect each other." I gave her my hardest stare. The one that said I meant every fucking word I was saying and had the means, motive, and opportunity to follow through with my promise. "You're already mine, Liv. I claimed you. Told them you're mine. That means every single man in this clubhouse will protect you with his life. Same as he would for all the women. You're ours, and we're all family. We protect our family."

It was either the exact right thing or the exact wrong thing to say. Either way, Olivia dissolved into tears. She took in great gulps of air only to continue to sob as she sank to the floor in a small heap.

I crossed the distance to her in slow, careful steps. The last thing I wanted to do was spook her. I wanted her to feel safe with me. Then, maybe she'd tell me what the shit was going on, and I could take care of it for her.

When I reached her, I crouched down in front of her, taking her hand in mine. "Honey, talk to me. Tell me what's going on."

She sniffed, wiping her nose on the back of her wrist. I stood and got her a paper towel, letting her clean up while I went to the bathroom and got a wet washcloth. When I got back, she was rocking back and forth slightly, like a child trying to comfort herself.

I sat beside her, putting my arm around her and raising the cloth to her face to gently wipe the tear stains away. I felt her body shivering where we touched. When she looked up into my eyes there was a quiet resignation I hated. She was terrified. At the end of her rope with no idea what to do next. I willed her to take a leap of faith and give this to me. I'd take care of it and prove I could be a worthy protector.

She looked down at her hands, twisting the paper towel in her hand. "I'm supposed to…" She swallowed, closing her eyes tightly. "Spy. On the club." Before I could say anything, she continued rapidly. Like she needed to get it out before she changed her mind. "I was supposed to activate an app on the phone they gave me and they'd do the rest. I have no idea what it does exactly, but I think it somehow lets them into anything connected to the Internet or a cell service or something."

"Who's ‘they', Liv?"

"I only know him as Mr. Black. He was one of the guys who chased me to you and Ringo. He's an associate of my father."

The relief I felt was instant. She was telling the truth. Sure, I already knew this, but it was a step in the right direction. Maybe she was going to take the leap of faith after all. "Good, Olivia. That's good. Do you know what he and your father do to help each other?"

She shook her head. "I'll tell you everything I know." She raised her head to meet my gaze with her own. She looked haunted. Terrified. "But you have to understand, I tried my best to keep my head down and not notice anything."

"Just tell me what you know, and the club will take care of the rest."

"My father is an international businessman. At least, that's what he wants everyone to believe. What he really does is inform for the CIA."

"Where?"

"You mean, what country? City?" When I nodded, she continued. "A lot of places. I'm not sure of the exact places, but I can tell you he has offices in Berlin, Dubai, Tripoli, Cairo… He's even got offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. All of it is a front. Oh, he makes money. Hand over fist. But it's not his natural gas company or even the companies he owns under the table taking in all that money to clean up the Chernobyl site."

"A front for what?"

She shrugged, shaking her head and looking about as miserable as a person could. "I swear I don't know. All I know is Mr. Black is an integral part of it all. I know there are places they're trying to clear out. Small places where no one will care."

"Clear out?" Though I knew what she meant, I wanted to see how much she actually knew.

Fresh tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she started sobbing again. "I'm sure I don't know the half of it, but I've heard them talking. Once I had to go with him to Tripoli. The day we left to come home there was a news report about a village not a hundred miles to the south that had been destroyed. The images looked like some kind of bomb had gone off. But the really horrible part was, there had been people who survived only to be shot as they fled. I heard Mr. Black and my father toasting ‘finally wiping that shithole off the map so we can make some fucking money.' Their words. Not mine."

"Did he tell you why he wanted you to spy on us?"

"He said he had a job for you, Bear. You by name. He said if I got caught, I was to tell you he had you by the balls and that you better do your fucking job this time."

"He say how he had me by the balls? What he was holding over me and what he expected to happen?"

"Pretty sure he thought he was going to find something when I infiltrated this place and turned on that app. As to what he had planned, I don't know for sure, but the target's in the mountains of Afghanistan. I'm just not sure what or exactly where. I got the impression that, just like that town south of Tripoli, this was a small group, probably sitting on something the CIA wants and are unwilling or unable to negotiate for. They said it was very remote and no one would miss the place, but they don't want to leave any evidence behind, so he's looking for a professional cleaning crew. He said that's what you used to do, Bear. You cleaned an area and left no trace. Not like the mess they had back in Tripoli."

If she believed Leon Black when he'd told her I'd eliminated entire villages just because someone told me to, I could understand her hesitation to trust me.

"Telling me this took courage. I'm proud of you for taking a chance and trusting me." I smiled down at her. "Thank you, Olivia."

She looked up at me with wide, brown eyes. "Are you going to hurt me? If you are, I can take it. I just can't take not knowing." She ended on a little sob before swallowing loudly to get her emotions under control. I had no doubt she was terrified. Any woman in her position would be, and she'd be smart to be scared.

"Already told you, honey." I grinned down at her, stroking her jaw gently with my finger. "I'll never hurt you unless you ask me to, and only with pleasure being the end result." I winked at her, trying to lighten the mood and help her be at ease when she was anything but.

"What about your president or vice president? The other men in Grim Road?"

"Not lettin' anyone hurt you. Is there anything else I need to know? I know Venus searched you. You told me about your phone. Is there anything else you need to tell me. Anything at all? Even if it's just bits and pieces."

"No."

"What made you change your mind about telling me, Liv?" I needed to know this most of all. I knew we still had a long way to go to trust each other, but I thought she might have the same instinctive pull toward me as I did her.

"You guys might be a lot of things, but you're not the kind of men to kill innocent people, let alone commit some kind of genocide. I wanted to believe you when you first picked me up and put me on your bike." Pink tinged her cheeks, and I knew she was uncomfortable. Embarrassed or nervous, maybe. But I thought it was more than that. "And the second I jumped into your arms, something inside me settled. I felt safe for the first time in a long time. I want that feeling for the rest of my life. I tried to justify what Mr. Black wanted me to do with the fact that you were murderers. That you'd killed innocent women and children because you were being paid to. I thought I could deny the blood on my hands because I wouldn't be the one to pull the trigger. But that was a lame justification. I'm not sure I could have gone through with it even if I still believed you were murderers, but after the way you treated me, how you protected me and never demanded anything, not even immediate answers, until you had me in a safe place. Those aren't the actions of cold-blooded killers. At least not someone who could kill innocent people for money."

I grinned. "I'll take it, honey. Now. You OK?"

She nodded. "I think so. What do I do now? Crush didn't turn on the phone here, did he? Because I don't trust Mr. Black or anything he gives me. Just connecting to the network could be bad."

"No. He took it somewhere else where he said he'd have more control over everything."

"Good." She whispered her response and ducked her head again. "Bear?" She didn't look up.

"Yeah, baby."

"I'm really sorry I intended to betray you."

"You didn't know me. Still don't, but you know the important things."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"But just so you know I'll do my best to never keep anything from you or mislead you, when I was in the Middle East, my team was assigned to that same fuckin' village near Tripoli. When we got there, we were given the order that the place was to be… liquidated. No one was to survive to be able to give an account of what happened."

She sucked in a breath. "Oh no…" I could see the fear and horror in her face as my words really sank in.

"Yeah. But I refused the order. We worked for the CIA, doing their dirty work. That village was too much, though. I wasn't about to slaughter those people."

"You promise? I mean, you're telling me the truth. Right?"

"I am. That mission is how I ended up here at Grim Road. Rocket took me in and let me disappear. Everyone here has been in some form of Black Ops. We've all done some horrible things. But none of us would do that. Black tried to come after me. Tried to kill me more than once before I finally made it here. After that, Crush took over, and I disappeared."

Olivia sagged against me. I don't know if it was relief or if the adrenaline rush left her, but she looked exhausted. "OK. So, from this point forward, I'll trust you. Bear, please don't make me regret it. And I don't mean that as a threat. I mean, you're right. I want this thing with you. You claiming me, or whatever. I think I crave that sense of safety you give me because I'm willing to risk my life for this. Because, if it's real, then I'll have everything I've ever wanted in a man. If it's not, then I'm no worse off than I was."

"I swear to you, honey. You'll always be safe. From now as long as anyone in Grim Road is around. I will always protect you."

"All right, then." She gave me a solemn look. "What happens now?"

"Tonight? You sleep. I'll sleep with you if you want, but only to help you feel safe. Nothing physical is happening tonight."

The look on her face said that surprised her. "You don't want to… uh… have sex with me?"

"Oh, make no mistake. I very much want to have sex with you. But you're not ready. And I'm not taking advantage of you. You are going to be with me as much as possible, and you're gonna sleep in my bed with me. You need to get used to my touch, and I just fuckin' want you in my arms."

Surprisingly, that got a nervous laugh from her. "Never slept next to a man before. I might kick."

I gave her my best wicked grin. "Good. I like my woman to have a bit of spirit."

That got a better laugh, and she actually smiled. And, God, I was so fucked. The girl was absolutely gorgeous. That fucking smile was fucking breathtaking.

There was no way I was getting out of this with my man card intact. Because I was already pussy-whipped. I'd follow this girl wherever the fuck she wanted to go. And Goddamn the consequences.