Chapter 7

"How's it going with babysitting duties?" Malice asks, sitting next to me at the bar.

Hammer and he called me in while Dagger was on shift with Gwyneth. I'm hoping they've got news on this Johnathan bastard.

"It's going." I shrug and take the beer I'd asked the prospect to get for me.

I do my best to keep thoughts of Gwyneth out of my head. That kiss from the other day has the power to go straight to my dick.

Yesterday, I spent time at the station watching for anything out of the ordinary. I also saw how in the element Gwyneth is with what she does for a living. I still have a hard time understanding why she refuses to be paid by Rico for the classes at Primal Fit. Witnessing it in person, the way she takes charge and gives the women the confidence they need is a great thing.

"Cy was able to do some more digging into your charge," Malice states, getting my attention.

"What did he find?" There're a few things I'd like to know, and I hope he'll have the answers for me.

"Grab your beer, and we'll take this to Hammer's office. Cy will meet us there and share what he found," Malice says, slapping a hand on my shoulder.

I nod, my gut telling me there's something to it with Gwyneth. Why she's the way she is, is what I want to know. Something in her past had to trigger her need to teach self-defense. I also want to know how she's able to survive only on her paychecks from the EMS department.

Grabbing my beer, I follow him, ignoring the slobber crawler vying for my attention. Since setting eyes on Gwyneth, I don't think any other woman could be as beautiful. For that matter, none of them could get a rise out of my dick the way she can.

The other night, when I kissed her, the way she moved underneath me, the feel of her sweet heat rubbing against me as I grinded against her, I could have easily taken what I wanted from her then and there, but I felt the heat rising inside her. She's as hot for me as I am for her. Still, I didn't take her. I teased her until I couldn't stand not going further and ripped myself away from her arms. I laid next to her and held her after she went to sleep just as I'd done the night before.

It'd pissed me off after that first night. I'd woken horny as ever for her, and she escaped my arms to go workout with another man. I would have much preferred to have worked out her frustrations in a better way, one that would leave us both sated, but I let her go.

Once this shifts over, though, as I told her, her ass is mine. I'll send Dagger away to get a break while I spend her time off deep inside that sweet pussy, I'm dying to taste. I don't think any other would come close to substituting what I know awaits me.

Besides, if I did fuck another bitch while waiting on her, I might as well give up on getting between those legs of hers. She's not the type of woman who would tolerate a man who stepped out on her. For that matter, my own momma and sister would beat my ass.

Nah, I'm good at waiting. It'll be worth it. The way she lights up with just my kiss, it'll be like fireworks when I finally get my dick inside her. She'll burn us both alive.

I shove the thoughts away and step into Hammer's office, closing the door behind me. "What do we know?" I aim the question in Cy's direction.

"Gwyneth Rose Haney, born to Samuel and Trisha Haney, is nothing like either. Growing up, she made good grades, honor roll. Never one to act out. Always helped where she could," Cy says and goes on to fill us in on her past details up until she turned eighteen and left home. "There's a gap there from about six months before she turned eighteen until she left home."

"You can't find anything?" I ask, furrowing my brow.

"Nada." Cy shakes his head.

"I bet she was sent to what is simply called ‘The Spa'," Malice states. "It's where some families send their children who don't toe the line and do what is expected of them. Mostly, it's the daughters who go. They're sent to learn their place."

"What exactly do they do to teach this lesson?" My gut tells me it's nothing good.

"Some experience electrode therapy. Others are forced into drugs that will control them. A few are focused on learning their place sexually. The whole thing is fucked-up." Malice sneers, curling his lip in disgust. "If I remember correctly, they have another therapy that involves beating to submission."

Fuck.

I'm willing to bet that's the one Gwyneth was subjected to endure. I won't know without confirmation. "Why don't we give Simon a visit and find out if he knows anything about it."

"I'll send Axe and Gunner to talk to him," Hammer says in a way of agreeing and jerks his chin toward Cy. "What else do you got?"

"Nothing much," Cy answers. "She works her shifts. She is damn good at her job, according to the records I've read. In the past eight years, since she first started her career as an EMT and got her training as a paramedic, she's earned the respect of those who she works with. And the work she does at Primal Fit is volunteer. Assuming she went to this place Malice is talking about, I'm willing to bet money on it that it's the reason she does this, and her treatment had been to beat her to submission. It would make sense as to her reason for teaching women self-defense."

I couldn't agree more, and I intend to find out. My phone pings in my pocket, alerting me to a message. I dig the phone out and look at the screen to find a message from my sister.

Leanna: Hospital now!

"I gotta go." I don't bother messaging my sister back or telling my brothers where I'm going. My only thought is something has happened to my mom or one of the kids.

I hope like hell it's nothing and my sister is overreacting.

I barely step into the emergency room waiting area when I find my sister sitting alone, tears streaming down her face. I rush to her side. "What happened?" I ask, doing my best to keep my voice calm.

"It's Mom," she cries. "I went over to check on her ‘cause she said she wasn't feeling well. I found her collapsed on the kitchen floor."

Pain shoots to my chest. It's like I'd been hit by a sledgehammer.

"Have they said anything?"

"I'm waiting to hear something," she answers, breath hitching.

The doors to the back open, and I look to see Dagger stepping through them, eyes full of sorrow. His face is grim as he approaches the two of us.

No.

"I asked the doctor to let me be the one to tell you," Dagger murmurs softly, clears his throat, and delivers the blow. "She's gone, brother. I'm sorry. It looks to be a heart attack, but we won't know for sure until an autopsy has been completed."

He talks, and it's all I can do to breath. My chest aches, and I feel my world collapsing around me. My mom is gone. She's gone, and I can't do anything about it.

I wrap my arms around Leanna and hold her tight while staring at nothing and no one as Dagger's words sink in.

What am I going to do without her?

Closing my eyes, I breathe deeply, feeling the walls falling in on me. Losing my dad was hard, but we made it through because we had the glue still connecting us all. My mom? Without her, everything feels like it's slipping, and I don't understand. Why did she have to die?

She's the strongest woman I ever knew.

The feeling of someone watching has me opening my eyes once again to find Gwyneth standing just inside the entrance to the ER, looking at me. It's then I realize she was there. She responded to the call and couldn't do anything to help my mom.