11. Meredith

11

MEREDITH

B ang bang bang.

I'm only half awake as I try to figure out where the sound is coming from.

Bang bang bang.

There it is again, maybe some yelling? But I can't make out who it is.

My eyes flutter open and I find that Grizzly is still next to me. He must be more awake than I am, because he's standing up and tugging on his jeans, wrapping his belt around his middle.

I roll over, a tangle of sheets and blankets all around me. My shirt is all twisted up and I'm embarrassed to feel some old drool caked to one side of my face. I hope I didn't get any on Grizzly.

As my head clears, I remember the events of last night.

It all seems so far away now, but I know it wasn't a dream, because not only can I see Grizzly going to the door, swearing under his breath, but I can now hear the voices on the other side of the door more clearly.

It's Trap and Dart. I don't know what time it is, but I'm guessing Grizzly didn't expect them to show up first thing in the morning like this after he basically told them to get on with their night last night.

The bed is still warm next to me where Grizzly was, and I sit up, stretching and finger-combing through my hair so I look at least half-presentable.

I really don't want to get out of bed yet. I'm still exhausted, probably the effect of the stress of last night's events. And on top of that I have so much to process. There are things I need to figure out about my father, like where he went and if he's safe. Does he even know what they did to me?

I also need to figure out what the hell is going on with these three men. There's clearly an attraction there, even if it's small and under the surface.

I suddenly feel shy, like I might need to cover up. I mean, Grizzly's known me most of my life. There's a bit of shyness and weirdness to this that I wasn't feeling with everything else going on last night. But then again, I'm wearing his clothes, and he watched me sleep most of the night to make sure I was safe.

Grizzly cracks open the door, and in pop the smiling faces of Trap and Dart.

I can't help but grin back at the cheesy looks on their faces.

"So you're still here," Trap says, surveying me. His steel-gray eyes blaze when he sees I'm wearing Grizzly's T-shirt. What must he think about it?

Dart goes right past Grizzly and comes through the door. He seems to notice the same thing.

I milk it for all it's worth and give him a sideways grin. Like maybe I'm keeping some kind of secret.

If all of this attraction goes away with the rest of them, but leaves Dart feeling jealous, then maybe I'll come out of this with him—like I always wanted. It can't hurt to try.

Right now, I have the attention of all three.

"What the hell are you fuckwads doing in here at eight o'clock in the morning? You know I'm never up before nine. Besides, she's been through an ordeal, and nobody knows she's here yet. Unless you two blabbermouths went and talked all this up."

Dart shakes his head, and Trap does the same, taking a step back with his hands in the air like he's surrendering. "I don't mean no harm by it, Prez, but really, we want to know she's okay. You got her all night. And we need to talk."

The three stand there, staring each other down like some kind of Western shoot-out is about to go down.

I can't help it, I start laughing at them. Then I start snorting.

They all stop and look at me, each with a different expression. Dart looks curious, Trap looks at me me like I've lost it, and Grizzly looks like he could jump me right here and now.

That sobers me up real quick, and the laughter stops just as quickly as it started. "Sorry, it's just…you guys sound and look so dumb. But you're right about one thing, we need to talk."

I scoot forward and pat each corner of the bed.

Grumbling but cooperative, each of them takes a seat while Grizzly comes back to his spot in the bed next to me, though fully dressed this time.

His hand rests really close to my side, and I kind of wish he would reach over and do that spine-tingling move he did last night where he used his fingertips to graze my skin. But I don't think he's going to do it in front of these two, given the mood they're in.

"So, sweetheart, how are you feeling?" Dart asks, his hand reaching out to rub at my knee. He takes it back like he touched a hot potato fresh out of the oven when Grizzly stares at it like he might cut it off.

I've never had men fighting over me like this.

Maybe it's because I've just never allowed myself to be in such a situation. I've been too busy all my life taking care of other people and being the good girl, being quiet and easy, since the rest of my life was the opposite. But I can see the allure of this kind of chaos.

"Okay, I guess. I just feel a little weird."

Trap nods. "Anything you feel is valid. I can understand you might be feeling strange. How would someone normally feel in such a situation? Who the hell knows, because this kind of thing doesn't happen to normal people." He winks at me, and I think he's trying to flirt, but it's a little bit too early for me to read between the lines.

Yeah, this is definitely not a dream.

"Well, let's get on with it, then. I know the two of you are here because you want to know what went down with Meredith here getting kidnapped. We want her side of the story. I think she deserves to hear our side too." There's that air of authority again from Grizzly, and it makes me scoot instinctively closer to him. It feels like they're a wolf pack, and he's the alpha, and nobody questions him no matter what he says or does.

"Well, you tell us whatever you feel like telling. I'll be honest, I might get a little bit pissed, depending on what I hear anyone did to you. I was ready to fuck some shit up in there last night when I saw you up there and recognized you. It's just not right, what they do. We were already there because we got tipped off, but the fact that they had you, another victim with personal ties to the MC…" Dart shakes his head, and I can tell he's holding back any more anger so as to not scare me.

I look at Trap, and there's a somberness about him. I think he feels the same.

"I guess I'm feeling a little survivor's guilt, or something like that. Because I got away, but those other girls…"

"Okay, so from our side, you should know that we weren't there for you, because we didn't know. But I'm sure so glad we were there," Grizzly says. I turn my body toward him, ready to listen to a story.

"Long story short, we have an informant who gave us information about someone else, someone in the Italian Mafia who has a deal with this Russian scum. Well, he told us about this auction that was happening, and we were supposed to use it to pretend like we were making amends. We wanted in so we could figure out how their operations worked. We thought we might rescue a girl, weren't sure going in, but we knew we had to look real. We told him we were there to look for another club whore."

Grizzly almost cringes when he says the word, as if it might offend me. I know enough about the MC to understand how it works. Club whore is just a title. A job. Honestly, most of the women here in the clubhouse are treated better than women in a corporate job. It doesn't really offend me, except that I'm not one.

"I know what you mean, go on," I say reassuringly.

Grizzly clenches his fists a few times and then relaxes. "Well, I had these two knuckleheads here going around and getting all the information they could, but seeing you on stage kind of interrupted all of it. We were determined to take you home. We bid on you and then we pushed them with a little bit of extra cash to get you out sooner. We didn't think you should have to wait in there any longer and suffer." Grizzly looks away, his body tensed up.

I've seen Grizzly angry only a handful of times. And I know he can be scary.

Hell, he could probably scare the devil right out of his pants.

Everything is quiet for a moment, and then Trap speaks up. "That's really it. But what about you? How did you end up there? Did they tell you anything?"

I blink, trying to hear the questions and filter them through my groggy brain.

Dart seems to notice me struggling and puts his hand up. "How about we pause for just a second. Trap, I think this girl is in some clear need of coffee. How about we get some for everyone?"

Just as Trap and Dart are about to leave, my stomach burbles. Trap chuckles. "Maybe some food too. We'll grab something from the bar and be right back."

They leave the door open and give Grizzly a look as if to tell him not to shut the door on them again. I try to hide my smile as I watch them go.

But then that leaves me alone with Grizzly again.

His hands move up my leg and I rub his back.

"Are you sure you're all right? Nobody would blame you if you weren't."

"I know that what you know about my personal life is minimal, but I've been through hell. There's not a lot that would traumatize me for too long. I'm fine. Plus, you guys saved me. I can't imagine what those other girls are facing right now, but that's not me. Thank you."

Grizzly slowly lets go of the tension in his body and turns around to face me again. He leans in close, and I swear if he comes any closer I'm going to kiss him. There's just this magnetism between us that I've never felt before.

Maybe it's been there before, but I haven't seen much of him lately. He's been too busy, and so have I.

We pull away from each other when we hear Dart and Trap coming down the hall, loud as ever.

They enter the room with eggs, an English muffin with butter, and coffee. On the tray they've also set packets of sugar and some cream.

"We didn't know how you like it, so we figured you could fix it yourself," Dart says.

I sit back and let them set the tray over my lap, and smile up at them. "Thank you. This really is sweet."

I go back and forth between enjoying my meal and trying to tell them every detail so they have enough information to do something about this. I'm not stupid. I know this isn't just about me. Anything I know could be used against the Russians in order to go after them. I'm sure they have every intent to do it too, even if the idea makes my stomach stomach roil with fear for them. And for Harlow, because even though she's not really a member of the MC I get the feeling that she'd never let them go for revenge without going with them.

They hover over me as I tell my story, and they react strongly to the news about my father. They seem pissed about that, and I don't blame them. Especially from an outside perspective, I would be livid to hear that someone had to go through all that just because of their completely idiotic drunk asshole of a dad. But I guess I thought nothing of it until now, because I'm so used to it.

When I'm done with my food and the hovering is getting to me—too many eyes on me without me doing anything—I get up.

I look around and try to figure out how the hell I'm going to get out of here and also look like a normal human. I'm not really ready to broach the subject of spending the night in Grizzly's bed with his daughter, who's also my best friend.

Plus, nothing happened. But I need to look like nothing happened.

"I can get you some clothes from one of the girls' rooms. Something that belongs to one of the club whores or something. I'm sure they've got something that's better than what we've got," Grizzly says.

I bite my lower lip, unsure if I want to impose upon them like that. But I do need something, and even if I hadn't shredded and thrown away the clothes from last night, I'd never wear them again.

"I hate to do this, but I don't think I have much of a choice. If you could, please?"

Grizzly leans over and kisses me on the forehead. "Sure thing, be right back, darlin'."

His words and the kiss send a chill down my spine.

I finger-brush through my hair again, trying to make sure I've gotten all the knots out while I wait for the clothes. While I do, Trap looks at me. "Be sure you let your family know you're okay. I'm sure they're pretty worried about you."

Of course, Trap wouldn't know much about my history or the fact that my dad is pretty much my whole family. But I can't help but break out in a burst of cackling laughter.