Chapter 10

10

VIOLET

W hen Brodie brought me to the Hounds of Hellfire compound, I had expected everything I’d ever learned in romance books about motorcycle clubs to be proved wrong. But the clubhouse looked pretty close to what I’d pictured, and his president and VP seemed to be just as in love with their wives as my favorite book boyfriends were with their old ladies.

After I nixed their whole bait idea, Brodie gave me a full tour, although we spent most of it in his room where he repeatedly made me tell him who I belonged to before letting me come. Then we hung out in the lounge with some of his club brothers, Stella, and Courtney.

“How did you two meet?” Stella asked as she settled her baby boy against her chest to gently pat his back, soothing his little whimpers of complaint.

The pretty blonde wore a black leather vest over her outfit that proclaimed her as belonging to King, the Hounds of Hellfire prez. A property patch, just like the heroines in the fictional clubs I’d read about.

“I live next door to a guy Brodie is looking into,” I explained.

“Brodie, huh?” Courtney teased, quirking a brow.

He didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it as he slid his hand across my shoulder to wrap his palm around the back of my neck. I was seated on the end of a long couch, with him perched on the arm next to me. I leaned deeper into his side and curved my lips into a pleased smile. I knew what point the VP’s wife was making—Brodie would never have had me use anything but his road name if I wasn’t special to him.

“Yup,” he muttered. “Knew I had to find a way to bump into Violet just from her voice. If her neighbor wasn’t such an asshole, I’d owe him a debt of gratitude.”

My cheeks heated as I remembered the scene he’d heard me narrate and thanked my lucky stars that his friends had no idea what he was talking about.

“Stalker much?” Courtney asked with a giggle, making Blaze shake his head with a sigh.

Brodie shrugged. “A guy’s gotta do what he’s gotta do to get his woman’s attention.”

“Damn straight,” King agreed, cupping the back of his son’s head with a soft smile that had Stella blushing.

“I’m sure some light stalking wouldn’t scare Violet off after she narrated that book for Thea Drummond with the hero who took his masked stalker rep very seriously.”

The room went silent as we all turned to gawk at Wizard. I didn’t know much about Brodie’s club brother, but I never expected him to know the hook line for one of Thea’s books even though it was listed on the cover. Or to know the author’s real surname and not just the shortened version she used for her pen name.

My eyes were wide as I asked, “You’re familiar with The Monster Behind the Mask ?”

“Stumbled across it when I was looking into you.”

“Looking into me?” I echoed, turning to glare at Brodie. “So you knew a lot more about me than just that I was an audiobook narrator when you rescued me from Jeff that day?”

“Not much,” he insisted with an unrepentant grin. “Didn’t read the report too closely.”

“Really?” I asked, my brows drawn together.

Brodie traced his finger over my lips, nodding. “Once I saw your picture, I fell even harder for your face than your voice.”

“Awww,” Stella cried, sniffling. “Who knew that Echo had such a way with words?”

“Hey, now. I’m damn good with sweet-talking you, baby,” King objected, stroking his thumb across her cheek to capture the tear that spilled out of her eye.

Stella laughed softly. “So good that I had your baby less than a year after we first met.”

“Chill, Prez.” Wizard shot a wicked smile at Brodie. “At least you don’t need to worry about your woman recording sex scenes with another guy.”

“What the fuck?” Brodie growled, pushing on my chin to tilt my face toward him. “What exactly does recording sex scenes with another guy entail?”

“Absolutely nothing sexy, that’s for sure,” I muttered, casting a dirty look Wizard’s way as best I could.

“Explain,” Brodie demanded.

“Most of the books I’ve narrated have either been solo or dual narration, where I just record my chapters on my own.” I winced, already knowing how much he wouldn’t like what I had to say next. “But Thea wanted to give duet narration a try on her next book, which requires more collaboration between her male narrator and me.”

“What kind of collaboration?” Brodie asked.

At the same time, Wizard muttered, “He’s not her male narrator, just the one she hired for the job.”

Ignoring his club brother—for now—I focused on the person who mattered to me, Brodie. “Duet narration means that we each handle our character’s lines of dialogue, even when the chapter is in the other character’s point of view.”

“Fuck,” Brodie groaned, heaving a deep sigh.

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve only done two other books as a duet and am not a big fan of it.” I patted his muscular thigh with an apologetic smile. “If any other author besides Thea asked me to take on this project, I probably would’ve turned them down. And I don’t have more books lined up that require duet narration. I can turn them down in the future, if you prefer.”

“I hate to limit your career when you’ve worked so hard to make a name for yourself, but I gotta admit I’m not a fan of you recording sex scenes with another guy, even if it’s just acting and from completely different rooms.”

I didn’t miss how some of the tension in his shoulders eased at my offer. And if I was being completely honest with myself, I got a feminine thrill over how possessive Brodie was of me. But that didn’t mean I would keep doing something I didn’t even enjoy just to push that particular button. “I’m not going to take a hit by turning down duet narration projects. I have a long list of clients who like working with me and get plenty of inquiries from new ones each week. I will need to start slowing down on how many I accept anyway, if I want to have time to spend with you.”

“I’ll make it worth your while, baby,” he vowed before kissing me, not caring that his club brothers were watching.

“Another one bites the dust,” Ace joked, elbowing Wizard in the side. Brodie had introduced me to him when we arrived, explaining he was the club’s treasurer. With a warning to never play cards against the guy because he was too damn good and didn’t mind cheating when necessary. Not that anyone had ever been able to prove it.

Wizard shook his head. “When I claim my woman, I’m not gonna be pussy-whipped enough for her to act out hot-as-fuck sex scenes with another guy.”

“Quit starting shit,” King rumbled. “I read somewhere that babies are sensitive to their environment. Don’t need Cadell to get all worked up.”

Wizard raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry, Prez.”

Cadell let out a soft cry, and everyone’s attention turned to the baby. I heaved a sigh of relief to have their focus off Brodie and me.

He dipped his head to my ear and rasped, “You okay?”

I smiled up at him with a nod. “Yeah, I’m still curious about why Thea’s books are stuck in Wizard’s brain, but I’m having fun.”

“There’s a reason we go to him when we need intel to be gathered.” At my quirked brow, he added, “But I will admit that it’s strange since there was no reason for him to dig up anything on the authors you work for beyond their names.”

“I’m glad you can see it, too.”

I started to glance at Wizard, but my attention was pulled back to Brodie when he added, “And the guy you’re doing that duet narration with.”

“Are you really going to ask Wizard to look into him?” I asked, my eyes widening.

“After we’ve wrapped shit up with the ring we’re taking down, fuck yeah.” His eyes heated. “Gotta make sure he doesn’t pose a risk to you, even if your contact with him is limited.”

Any irritation I felt over the idea melted away. “I love how you look after me.”

“I’m never gonna let anything bad happen to you, Violet,” he vowed. “Every inch of you is mine and only mine.”

I didn’t hesitate to agree. “I am.”

“Never had much of anything that I could call all my own, but you gotta know that I take care of what’s mine.”