Hadley Chapter 13

Stretching my body, I wanted to groan. My body was sore, but it wasn’t in a way that I would regret or not find delicious when I thought about the cause. Griffin had made love to me twice last night, and I thought it couldn’t get better than the first time, but I was wrong. After he got off in my mouth, he explored and played my pleasure points like he’d known my body for years. I lost track of the times I came before he shocked me by getting hard a third time and taking me again.

As I reluctantly opened my eyes, I saw the hazy morning light coming in around the curtains. I buried my face in my pillow. No, I was staying in bed all day, and no one could make me get up or do anything. I was on strike today.

Heat hit my back a second before I felt a hairy chest rubbing against me, then a leg thrust gently between my legs. A low, growly voice whispered in my ear. “Good morning, darlin’. How did you sleep?”

His rough-sounding voice made me shiver. My body reacted to it. The man could command my whole body with a few words. He had no idea how truly far I’d fallen under his spell in such a short time. When I thought about it, I was totally stunned. Insanity was the only word for it, but I wasn’t seeking help to stop it. His lips and teeth nibbled on my ear.

“Umm, that’s not the way to get me out of this bed, Griffin. I slept great, although the thought of staying in bed all day does seem like a good one.”

“What would we do if we did that? Maybe there’s something we can do to keep ourselves entertained,” he said with a chuckle.

“There is. I planned to sleep. There’s nothing better to do,” I smarted off.

His teeth latched onto my earlobe, and he growled. I squealed, then found myself flat on my back with two hundred pounds of muscular man straddling me with a gleam in his eye. “Oh really, you just want to sleep, do you? I guess I have to accept that challenge and do better than I did last night if that’s how you feel.”

“Kidding! I was joking. I swear, Grif, last night was amazing. You have nothing to prove. You’re the best lover on the planet.”

“Hmm, I still think I should make sure you’re not just telling me that to spare my feelings,” he muttered. He was lowering his head to kiss me when there was a loud banging on the bedroom door. I jumped. He didn’t.

“Hey, enough messing around in there, you two. Get your asses to the kitchen. Breakfast will be ready in five minutes. Don’t let it get cold,” Jinx yelled through the door. I could hear amusement in his tone.

“Go the hell away, Jinx,” Griffin yelled back.

“Nope, if you don’t want me coming in there to get you, naked or not, you better be there. The clock is ticking,” was his response, and then we heard him walk off whistling.

“Would he do that?” I asked.

“Come in here? Probably. As much as I want to stay in bed with you, baby, I won’t chance it. If he came in and saw you like this, I’d have to kill him, and that would cause a war between his club and the Patriots, and then our friends would have to take sides. It would be a clusterfuck. I guess we’ll have to put this on hold until later,” he said with a deep sigh and a remorseful expression.

I burst out laughing. This caused him to attack and kiss my neck, so in the end, I barely had time to throw on clothes, brush my teeth, and run a brush through my hair before hurrying downstairs. When we entered the kitchen, we found Jinx wasn’t the only one there. How we didn’t hear them, I don’t know. The whole club was gathered in his living room, kitchen, and dining area. It was one huge room.

Everyone looked at us. There were a few smiles, a couple of smirks, and the rest were speculative glances. As we came to a stop, they began to clap.

“About goddamn time, you two stopped circling each other,” Sarge said.

“Yeah, we were about to lock you up in a room and not let you out until you stopped this bullshit,” Sinner added.

“Personally, I hoped she’d shoot him so I’d have a chance,” Thrasher said with a wink.

“You don’t have a chance of that. Not after what I heard last night,” Jinx said with a chuckle.

My face grew hot, but I didn’t let him get away with embarrassing me. I let go of Griffin and rushed toward Jinx. He put up his hands as if to surrender as he grinned. I took my chance and feinted a punch to his jaw. When he raised his hands higher to block me, I landed a punch to his ribs. I pulled it enough not to do damage, but he felt it. He huffed out air as I smirked at him. He gave me a surprised look.

“That was a love tap. Keep it up, and I’ll let you have the real thing, Jinx. I know what I’m doing. Broken ribs and pissing blood for a week doesn’t sound like fun, does it?”

“Jesus, get your woman away from me, Griffin. She’s mean. I thought she liked me, but I guess not,” Jinx pouted as he said it.

“If I didn’t like you, you’d be nursing several hurt spots. I just want to keep you in line,” I told him sweetly.

“I’m in line. Truce,” he said then he added a wink at the end.

I laughed, and the next thing I knew, he was giving me a hug. I hugged him back, which got the others lining up for one. Griffin tugged me out of Styx’s arms. “Get your own woman.”

“We’re trying, but they all get snapped up by fuckers like you and the other guys first. What the hell? We’re gonna have to host a damn party or something for all the eligible women within the nearby six or seven states,” Rage grumbled.

“I refuse to believe for a second that any of you have trouble finding women,” I scoffed.

“We’re not saying we don’t have sex. We do, but most of us want more than that. It’s all those damn Warriors’ fault. We were carefree bikers living the good life, oblivious that there was more out there or that we wanted it until we became friends with those bastards. Suddenly, we meet all these gorgeous, strong, interesting women, and they’re all taken by the time we meet them. Then the Patriots start the same thing, along with the Punishers and Pagans. I think they owe it to us to help us find women,” Mad Dog stated firmly. He was staring hard at Griffin.

“Hey man, don’t look at me. I stumbled across Hadley by accident, and from what I know, so did all the others you’re bitching about. Go out and rescue some women, walk the town, or meet one through one of your businesses. I don’t think a party will do it. You’ll get more of the same kind you get now,” Griffin advised.

“While you’re all debating, the food is getting cold. Hadley, ladies first. Make sure to get as much as you want because these assholes won’t leave any for a second round,” Jinx gestured to the food. Knowing they’d wait on me if I didn’t. I picked up a plate and got started. As I went down the long counter with the different selections, I had to ask.

“Where did you get this? It looks great, by the way. I’m starved.”

He smirked, so I gave him a warning look. He didn’t say anything about why I was starving. I didn’t know I was that loud, but then again, I’d been so caught up in what we were doing.

“I made it. Where do you think I got it?”

“You made all this?” I didn’t mean to sound astonished, but it wasn’t what I pictured a biker, especially one who was the president, to do.

“I did. I’m more than a handsome face, a hot body, and a badass. I have other skills. You need to promote that to find me the right woman. I can be somewhat domesticated. Put it on my resume,” he joked.

“Do you clean and do laundry?” I asked.

“I can and would split the work. You don’t get to be my age without learning shit. So when you go looking for the women Mad Dog mentioned, find mine first.”

This got loud objections from the others. I had to laugh as they got more insulting, and the threats grew wilder. It was loud, chaotic, and so much fun to eat with them. I laughed so much it was hard to eat, but I snuck in bites. Jinx had done a really good job, and when we were done, there wasn’t a morsel left. I watched in awe as the guys, without saying a word, got up and began to clean up. Sinner saw my face.

“We know if we want Jinx to keep cooking for us, we clean up. It’s the least we can do,” he explained as he cleared the table.

“Does he do this often?”

“At least once a week if he can. It’s not always breakfast. Sometimes, he makes dinner. It relaxes him, he says.”

I glanced over at Griffin. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, beautiful, but I don’t cook. It’s not because I won’t. I’ve tried, and it always ends in disaster. You can ask the guys and their ladies. I’m banned from all their kitchens other than to chop stuff or clean. I can do that. Do you cook? If not, no big deal. We’ll hire someone to make meals for us or do the mail-order meals that’s become popular in the last few years. We won’t starve or have to eat out every night.”

I pasted a mournful look on my face. I couldn’t help it. I had to do it. I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Griffin, but that’s a deal breaker. Jinx, I guess you and I should talk.” I winked at Jinx when I said it. Griffin couldn’t see it. A wicked smile spread across Jinx’s face.

He pretended to puff up as he replied to my suggestion. “Babe, not only will I do all those things I told you, but the sex will put what he did to shame.”

I took a step toward him. I squeaked, which wasn’t dignified, as I was hauled back against Griffin, and his strong arms caged me in.

“Over my dead fucking body, you’ll take her.”

“Hey, you heard the lady. She wants a man who can cook. Don’t be a sore loser, man,” Jinx said.

I felt Griffin moving, and the next thing I knew, he had out his phone. We all watched him, wondering what he was doing as he pressed a button. I could see his screen, and I saw the name Mark. He hit the speaker button. It rang a couple of times before Undertaker’s gruff voice answered.

“What’s up? Is everything alright with Hadley?”

“Other than a bunch of bikers who want to steal her, she’s fine.”

Undertaker barked out a laugh. “You can’t trust a damn biker. Have I taught you nothing? They’re a bunch of horny fuckers.”

The guys all laughed and nodded.

“I knew that, but damn, Jinx is tempting her away with his cooking.”

Undertaker groaned. “Man, don’t lie to her and say you can. It’s too ugly to contemplate your cooking. Hadley, honey, don’t even ask him to try, please. I beg you.”

“But I really had my heart set on a man who could cook,” I pretended to whine.

“See, that’s why I’m calling. I need you, Sean, and Gabe to order an assault team against them. I’ll get her out of here. The only way to keep her is to eliminate the competition.”

I turned my head so I could see him. He was staring intently at me. “I can’t believe you called him to joke about this.”

“Who said it was a joke? I have news for you, woman. You’re mine now. Last night sealed the deal. I’ll fight and even kill to keep you.”

His macho words made a part of me melt. I know it wasn’t all modern to want a man to take control, but in certain instances, it appeared I loved it. I was shaken from that feeling when Undertaker answered him.

“If you mean what I think you do about last night, about damn time. As for an assault team, how soon do you want them, and do you want them to give Jinx special treatment?” he chuckled darkly.

“Mark, don’t you dare encourage him! We’re just playing with him. Touchy damn man.” I elbowed Griffin in the stomach.

“Hadley, I’ll always back a brother, especially to keep his woman or protect his family. The Marauders are friends, but he’s my brother.”

Aww, that was sweet, especially coming from a man like Undertaker. This led to Jinx protesting. This went on for a couple of minutes before Griffin ended the call by telling his brother to hold off on the assault.

I shook my head at him. “Crazy ass man,” I muttered.

He turned me around to face him. “Anything for you,” he said before he kissed me. The hoots and shouted encouragement were a faint noise in the background as I got lost in him.

???

The fun continued with Griffin and the Marauders for the rest of yesterday after his call to Undertaker. Some of them went to work, but others stayed at the compound. I got to do more exploring when I wasn’t working. Even if I was away from the lab, I still had things I had to do. We were at critical points in the project. I was really encouraged that it appeared we’d make the deadline Dad had set.

It was aggressive, and I’d been asking him why, but all he said was the government wanted it. That wasn’t unusual, and he’d always pushed back when they got too pushy in the past. There was something he wasn’t telling me. I even had a call with him earlier when I updated him and then asked again why the push.

“Honey, I told you. They just really need it, and this time, I thought we could do it faster. We’re not going to cut corners and not thoroughly test it, but it needs to meet the deadline. Now, enough of that. Tell me, how are things going there? Are Griffin and the Marauders treating you okay?”

I knew he wouldn’t say more, so I answered him. “It’s going really well. The area is peaceful, and no one is too close to their compound. It’s been interesting to be here and to meet them. They’re not exactly what I imagined, but they’ve been more than welcoming and helpful. They make me laugh a lot. What about you? How’s it being with Undertaker in the woods?”

I didn’t want to tell him about me and Griffin over the phone. It was a face-to-face conversation. I wasn’t worried he’d think he wasn’t good enough or anything. I just knew he’d have lots of questions and would want to talk to Griffin and observe us.

“Mark has been wonderful. He’s not the most talkative guy, but we get along well. He has a great mind and we’ve been talking about things needed to protect us and our men and women in the service. I want to get all the Patriots and those who work for them together to pick their brains. Why I haven’t done something like that before, I don’t know,” he grumbled.

“Dad, you’ve more than helped to protect them and this country. I think it would be fun to have a discussion with them, though. Any more shooting sessions in the woods?”

He went on to tell me what they’d been doing. Our call lasted an hour before I had to hang up to do a conference call with the team back at Gerard’s.

Today, I was working on figuring out why one of the components wasn’t working the way it should. Everything had been performing perfectly until this morning when, bam, it was as if it was totally offline, and no one knew why. What happened between yesterday and today?

I could do things remotely via remote access to the lab computers. I was doing that now, trying to trace the problem. Griffin was off doing something. He’d known without me telling him I needed to concentrate.

Hours later, I had my answer. It wasn’t one I expected or wanted to contemplate, but there was no other explanation. With shaking hands, I grabbed my phone and texted Griffin. He was still out somewhere on the compound.

Me: Need you here, please. We need to call Dad and the team.

It wasn’t more than thirty seconds before I had his response.

Griffin: I’m coming. What’s wrong?

Me: I’ll explain when you get here and we have Dad and the others on the phone.

Griffin: I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.

I paced the office. Jinx had been sweet enough to let me use his home office to work from. I was impressed with his setup. He had told me about all the club’s businesses and how he had the ultimate responsibility and oversight of them. They ran the club like a company in many ways.

When Grif arrived, he wasn’t alone. Jinx and Animal were with him. They were all frowning. Grif came to me and hugged me. “What’s wrong? You look sick.”

“I’ll tell you, just get Dad and your team on a video call. Please.”

He let go and went to the computer. I paced as he got things organized. Jinx left the room. Animal had taken a seat. A couple of minutes later, Jinx was back, and he had a glass with what looked like whiskey in it. He handed it to me. “Drink this. You’re pale as shit and agitated. No matter what’s wrong, we’ll take care of it.”

I didn’t argue. I took it and drank the whole finger of alcohol in a gulp. It was whiskey. It burned, but in a good way. “Thanks,” I told him when it was gone. I didn’t usually drink like that, but this warranted it.

It was amazing how fast Griffin got the others together. He waved me to take the desk chair. He stood at my side. Jinx and Animal sat in other chairs.

“Sweetheart, what’s going on?” Dad asked worriedly.

“I got a message this morning from the lab team. One of the components that had been working perfectly suddenly stopped working. They discovered it when they came in this morning.” Dad already knew it, but I was bringing the others up to date.

“Okay, so what did they expect you to do about it?” Sean asked.

“I’m able to remote access into the computers there and certain other things. I’ve been working on it all day, trying to figure out what’s wrong. I finally did, and that’s why I wanted this call with all of you.”

“And?” Gabe asked.

“The only explanation I have is that someone sabotaged it. There’s no way it broke on its own. It’s been tampered with. The team didn’t touch it once they figured out it wasn’t working. I designed it so they knew I’d want to be the one to fix it. We need to get the security footage from yesterday showing the time from when we stopped working on it until they called me this morning. Someone was in that building. I want to know who and how. The ones with access are extremely limited.”

I felt sick to my stomach as I told them my conclusion. The people in our lab I’d worked with for years were more than just employees. I would’ve never, in a hundred years, thought they’d do this. As I waited for us to all be together for this call, I racked my brain to think who would do it. None of them stood out.

There was swearing, and Dad exclaimed in shock and disbelief, “Hadley, that can’t be. No one at Gerard’s would do that. There has to be another explanation.”

“If there is, I can’t find it from here. Dad, I don’t want to believe any of them could do this either, but we have to consider it. Here’s my next dilemma. In order to gain access to the security footage, we have to ask our head of security for it. What if he’s part of this? It would tip our hand that we’re onto what was done. I don’t know how to access it. Do you?” I asked my dad.

He shook his head. “No, I don’t. Damn it, why didn’t I think of that? I don’t know how else to get it other than to ask PJ.”

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t think of it either.”

“We can get in and get what you need. Don’t worry. Let’s not jump to conclusions until we view it. Give me a minute to get Makayla on it. If she can’t get in, then we’ll call the big guns, Smoke and Everly. I’ll be back,” Gabe said before getting up to walk out of the room.

“Who’s Makayla?” I asked.

“She’s our newest addition. She’s a computer expert, and she likes to get into impenetrable systems,” Sean explained.

I knew who Everly and Smoke were. Griffin had talked about the other clubs and their members. While we waited for Gabe to get back, I told Dad what I’d been doing and found. I knew it was all gibberish to the others, but he and I knew what it meant and how serious it was.

When I was done, Gabe was back. “She’s on it. She said to give her an hour. If she can’t break in with what you provided us before, Travis, then I’ll call Smoke.”

“Thank you. I really hoped I was mistaken, but I’m sure I’m not. Short of me going to Gerard’s and tearing it apart, it’s the only explanation.”

“You can’t go there. If you do, whoever is behind this has a chance to get to you. In fact, that’s probably why it was done,” Griffin said sternly.

“I agree. It’s likely a ploy to get you to show yourself along with your dad. You both need to stay where you are,” Undertaker seconded.

“It may be, but if it derails us from completing this on time, that’s not going to be acceptable. You know how unforgiving the government is. It’s fine for them to make you wait but not for you to make them,” I reminded them.

“Yeah, their double standard of hurry up and wait for us and gimme now for them,” Jinx muttered.

It was true. Not wanting to get off topic too much, Sean brought us back to the task at hand. “I know this isn’t what you want, but why don’t we get off here and come back in an hour? That’ll give us time to work on things. I’ll send out the invite. Okay?”

We all agreed and ended the video call. I got up and paced the office. The three with me were watching me closely. “You don’t need to stay. Jinx, I promise not to wear a hole in your wood floor. I just can’t sit still right now. I need to be doing something, but I don’t know what?”

“Take a walk with Griffin. Get out of the house for the next hour. You’ve been cooped up here all day. I’d say go sex her up, but then we’d never see you again today,” Jinx said with a grin. As tense as I was, I had to chuckle. I knew he did it to ease the tension a little.

“Hush, no talk about our sex life, remember?” I reminded him.

“If you go for a walk, I’ll hush.”

That’s how I ended up taking a long stroll. Grif purposefully wouldn’t let me talk about the situation. Instead, he told me more about his home in Virginia. I had to admit when we returned for the follow-up call, I was a bit more relaxed.