Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Butcher

L ock motioned for me to sit down at his desk. Toxic followed me in and sat too. We'd been in his office far too fucking much over the last month. A sure sign that I was getting sloppy. Or lazy. There was a time that Lock didn't know half of what I got up to.

"What're you doing?" Lock asked Toxic as he made himself comfortable.

"Just want to hear the rest," Toxic said with a shrug and a grin.

I shot him an unamused look. We'd just finished up with church and Lock had released the others. But he had questions. Considering I'd just told them something that had silenced the room, I wasn't surprised.

Lock sat down, cleared his throat, then spoke. "Could you repeat what you just said in there?"

"Yeah, cause I'm pretty sure I'm still drunk. Either that or I'm hallucinating," Toxic added. Lock shot him a dark look and he just shrugged. "It's not something you'd think you'd hear this asshole say," he said, defending himself.

"I want to keep her."

Lock focused back on me. "You can't just fucking keep her Butcher."

"Why not?"

"Why do you want to keep her?" he countered, narrowing his eyes. When Lock answered questions with a question it always ended badly for me.

"Pretty sure she's one of the assassins."

They both fell quiet at that. Finally, Lock asked, "Pretty sure?"

"Well, she came at me with a knife." Toxic chuckled. "Admittedly, that's not the first time a girl has done that during sex," I told Lock. "So, I want to find out for sure." I wasn't about to admit I wanted to hang on to her for other reasons, too. So I could fuck her again, for one. And because my inner demons had actually let me sleep for once. It could have been the sexual release, but I had a feeling it had something more to do with the woman sleeping in my arms. I needed to figure out what that was all about.

"This isn't the first time someone's come after you with a knife during sex?" Lock echoed, looking amazed.

Toxic shook his head in answer. "That's your takeaway here?"

Lock looked back and forth between us, opening his mouth to say something. "You know what, never mind. I don't want to know." He wiped a hand over his face. "You can't just keep a woman. Nowadays they tend to have opinions on shit like that. And if she's an assassin… What about the women? The kids?"

"I'll keep her in line. I won't let her hurt anyone, Prez," I told him. "I'm not sure she would."

"How's that?"

"Well, she's being paid to kill me. I don't get the ‘kill people for fun' vibe from her."

"You'd know," Toxic added, but he wasn't joking.

My word was gospel on this topic. Years of hunting the worst of the worst of humanity had honed my instincts into a fine-tuned machine. Not to mention like recognized like. She may kill people for a living, but she didn't get any enjoyment out of it.

Lockout nodded at Toxic in agreement. "That's a big risk if you're wrong," he told me.

"I'm not."

"So, you're going to interrogate her, then kill her?"

I swallowed as rage flared up in my chest as his question. It was that quick. "No," I bit out. "When I say keep her, I mean it."

Both his and Toxic's brows shot up. Lock sat up straight, putting his forearms on his desk as he leaned forward and pinned me with an intense stare. "What's the plan here, Butcher?"

I shrugged, but when his gaze hardened, I told him, "I don't know yet."

"You really think she's not going to hurt anyone else?"

"Nah, didn't get that impression from her. Shit, she could barely bring herself to try for me. I know when someone's heart isn't in it. She'll make a few more attempts on me, but they won't be serious."

Lock sat back and rubbed his temples. He was probably thinking that he never expected to have conversations like this. Most of our conversations were probably off the wall to him.

"Her heart wasn't in it? What were you doing to her at the time?" Toxic asked with a wide grin.

"Don't answer that. I don't need to fucking know," Lock said with a sigh.

Toxic and I shared looks that said, ‘maybe he did.' If it would remove that stick from his ass then I'd let him live vicariously through my sex life.

"Fine," Lock said, the word rolling around the room like thunder. "But if she puts one fucking toe out of place..."

"Heard, Prez. I'll handle it." Just the thought of having to dispatch Isla made my stomach churn. I frowned. That wasn't my typical response to violence and death. What the hell? That was the reason I needed to keep her around. I was using the assassin shit as an excuse. I was having feelings . I needed to figure out why there was this connection between the two of us. She felt it, too. I knew it .

Lock pointed at the door. "Get the fuck out." There was no heat in the words. In fact, he just sounded tired.

I glanced over at Toxic. He looked worried. I was almost as good as Lock at reading people, and right now I knew that Lockout was struggling. He was fighting something, but he was a damn fortress of solitude about it. I used to be like that. If he didn't let people in and talk about what was fucking with him, he was going to end up going deeper and darker. But I also knew if I brought it up before he was ready, he would bite my head off. I left his office, deciding to give him space for now. I had enough on my damn plate.

We walked out into the main part of the clubhouse and Toxic shot me a grin. "You going to tell me about what else happened last night?"

"You going to tell me how many of those women you fucked?" I countered.

He tipped his head back and laughed. "You weren't there. Had to make sure the ladies weren't lonely."

"That doesn't answer my question," I pointed out as I went up the stairs. He just waved me off and went toward the bar. My mind focused on the woman currently tied up in my room as soon as he was out of sight.

I was looking forward to interrogating her. This wouldn't be like any other I'd performed. My dick hardened as my smile turned grim. Lock was right though. I wasn't about to let anything happen to the families living here. They depended on us for safety and a couple of the women and children had been through enough already. I hadn't been lying when I told Lock that I didn't get the feeling that Isla would hurt anyone here. Well, other than me. And even that was mostly for show.

Pausing when I saw Static, Hellfire, Smokehouse, and Ricochet standing in front of my door, I frowned. "What're you doing?"

"Watching the show," Hell replied, eyes glued to whatever was happening inside my room.

"Move," I growled, shoving Static out of the way.

"Why are you in such a pissy mood?" he asked with a chuckle. "I'd think having a woman tied up inside your room might actually make you smile."

I just shot him a look, shoved between Hell and Smoke, then slammed the door shut behind me. Their laughter echoed through the wood, making me scowl. It wasn't surprising that they wanted to get a look at the woman that I announced I wanted to keep. For all they knew, I just wanted to hang onto her short term. To find out who she was working for. Only Lock, Toxic, and I knew, for now, that it was so much more than that. I wasn't sure I could actually let her go. That was what Lock saw when he'd been studying me downstairs after I announced I wanted to keep her for good. That if he denied me on my request that even I wasn't sure how I'd react.

Letting Isla, a trained assassin, stay in his clubhouse was risky. But telling me to get rid of her was even more so. He didn't want to lose me in the process. I'd never leave for good, but I would for as long as I needed to in order to sort my shit. Didn't want to, but what I wanted often didn't matter. The urges inside of me controlled what I did most of the time.

But Lock knew he could trust me and my word. I was going to be keeping a very close eye on her. Well, as much as I could until we found Randal. Finding out about him and meeting Isla on the same damn day was inconvenient as hell.

Isla returned my dark look with one of her own. "I have to pee," she announced.

My brows shot up and I cocked my head. "Okay. But first, you're going to answer some questions."

Her glare darkened further. "I will pee right on your floor."

"Just a few more minutes. Who hired you?" I asked, getting right to the point.

She sighed and her eyes darted away from mine. "I can't tell you that."

"Why'd you take the job?"

Those gray eyes flashed back up to mine and she frowned. "You were a name in a folder."

"And now? "

She scowled at me. "You're the man holding me hostage."

I grinned at that. I didn't want her to lose that edge. I liked it. Walking over, I pulled the knife—her knife—from where I had it tucked inside my boot and released her bonds.

She hissed as she brought her hands forward, then stared in shock as I moved in front of her, squatted until we were eye level, and grabbed her arm.

I massaged from wrist to fingertips, helping the blood move back into the area. She didn't say a word so I moved on to her other hand. Her lips were parted as she stared at me and the confusion was back in her eyes. Great. I didn't want to be the only one who couldn't figure out this feeling between us. At least I knew it wasn't only me who was shook by it.

She put her free hand on my chest. Her touch burned through my t-shirt. Then she shoved me hard enough that I almost ended up on my ass. I managed to move my foot backward and catch myself just in time. She didn't pause, just made a beeline to the bathroom.

I chuckled as I stood and went over to my closet. My eyes moved over the myriad of guns, knives, grenades, and landed on the pile of handcuffs. I grabbed two sets of leg shackles, one pair of handcuffs, and more rope and brought them back. I clasped one end of each leg shackle to the posts on my headboard, tossed the handcuffs onto the bed, pocketed the key, and sat down in the chair to wait for her.

Counting in my head, I gave her just enough time to pee, then I barged into the bathroom and hauled her back out into my room again. I let her go just long enough to grab the cuffs, and had my hands on her before she could react. Spinning her, I shoved her against the wall, blanketing her back with my body. "Who do you work for?"

She snapped, "I already told you I can't tell you that."

"Because you won't, or because you don't know?" She was tricky, well-trained. Unlike the last man.

"I don't know who hired me," she admitted.

I didn't bother to mention that we already had Randal's name. That was what church was about this morning. As tempting as her body was, I needed to meet the others downstairs soon. I grabbed her by the hips, my fingers involuntarily flexing, then turned her so she was facing me. Grabbing her wrists in one hand, I made quick work of handcuffing her in front. She seemed too shell-shocked by my handling of her to try to fight.

She wasn't a tiny woman. She was tall, and toned, and fuck did I like every inch of her. Once she wasn't so surprised by whatever this was between us, she wasn't going to be as easy to manipulate. I was looking forward to it, but I was grateful for her compliance now. The guys were already getting a kick out of me showing more interest in a woman than just sex, the last thing I needed was to keep them waiting while I wrestled with her. Not to mention then I'd end up following through on today's plan with a hard cock.

I walked her over to the chair, then used the rope to tie her back up, wrapping it around her torso and legs, but leaving her hands in front so she didn't lose blood flow. I wasn't sure how long I'd be gone today. I didn't want anything to happen to her while I was out.

Her eyes tracked me around the room as I got ready to go. "What are you doing?"

"Have something to take care of," I replied, shooting her a grin.

"You're not seriously leaving me tied up here again?"

"Yup."

Her huff of indignation was loud in the room, but I ignored it. I walked over, put my hands on her thighs as I leaned over and shoved my face into hers. I gripped her thighs hard, a warning, and a pleasure for me. "Behave today, Isla."

She frowned at me but didn't respond.

Shutting the door behind me as I left the room, I crossed the hallway and knocked on another apartment. I crossed my arms over my chest, as though that could contain my irritation at having to leave her there in my room. My head lifted as Seek opened the door.

"Hey, Butcher," she said with a smile.

I hesitated and her eyes clouded with concern. "Any chance you could do me a favor?" I asked.

"Of course," she replied without hesitation. A slow smile spread over her face when I paused again. "This have anything to do with the woman in your room?"

"How do you know about her?"

"Hush saw her this morning. I guess Auron and Jecht were giving her a hard time."

My brows shot upward at that. Those damn dogs had never so much as snarled at anyone that I'd seen, not even me. But then again Isla was a stranger. A dangerous one. "Was wondering if you'd check in on her? Bring her some lunch. Shit like that."

"Sure."

"I'd have one of the guys do it, but Mel and the others are going to be busy watching over the perimeter while we're gone." We were going to split up into four groups and spread out today, so it was all hands on deck. All we had was Randal's name. Riptide had done what he could to find every Randal in the city, but it was a big fucking list. We were hoping like hell that he was actually here. If we had to expand the search it was going to take fucking forever. So we were going to spend the next couple days tracking every man named Randal down. The last thing I could do was send my brothers out searching for him while I stayed here.

"It's no problem," she said with a smile.

"Bring one of the other women with you when you go in my room," I warned her. "And the dogs. Both of them. And be careful. She's...not exactly happy about being here." I didn't want to scare any of the women, so I kept the fact that Isla was an assassin to myself.

She bit the insides of her lips, holding back a grin as she nodded. "Okay, we'll be careful," she assured me.

"I don't know when we'll be back. Just...don't untie her."

"What if she has to use the bathroom?" she asked in surprise.

"She can hold it." I looked her dead in the eyes. "Don't. Untie. Her."

"Okay. Okay, I won't," she promised.

"Thanks, Seek." I knew she could handle herself. And Isla was incapacitated. There was no way she'd get out of those cuffs. At least not today. Eventually she might figure out a way to pick the lock. But not today. She was resourceful. Which was why I hated leaving the women in charge of her. I'd take the time to make a different plan for tomorrow.

I wanted the time to stay with her. To delve into her, figure out what made her tick. What she was thinking all those times when she went silent on me. I wanted to know if honor and pride were weighing heavily on her. She'd taken a contract to kill me. Yet, she wasn't trying very hard. Was her attraction to me—the same as I was feeling for her—staying her hand? Or was she biding her time? Did she savor the kill? I couldn't wait to find out. I just needed to deal with Randal first. He was going to wish he'd never gotten into this line of work by the time I was done with him.