Chapter 14

14

NEVADA

Cash:

Any issues you call me first, got it?

Me:

Got it, boss. You sent Brew whom I assume can share with single beds. Me and Star. We'll meet up with Brew and Haze later tonight. I knew that Brew especially wouldn't pass up this opportunity to check out any leads on trafficking because of his past history. It's a compulsion he has, and I get why he was so pissed that he didn't get in on the action with the Carusos.

"So we're gonna need four rooms, ma'am," I say to the clerk who looks like she had to drag herself unwillingly over here from the small television playing in the back room. "Two nights, we may possibly extend."

The others are gathered outside as the office is tiny.

"I'll need a name, son," she replies in a southern twang.

Star turns to look at me, her voice drops low. "Four rooms?"

"Yep."

"Me and Halo can share…"

I start using my fingers to count. "You're with me. Halo and Kyle, or she might like to bunk in with Riot. Brew and Haze."

Star shifts her gaze to the old woman behind the counter who's looking down her glasses at us. She drops her tone further. "We're not shar?—"

"Four rooms." I give the old woman my best shit-eating grin and surprise surprise, she smiles back. "If you'd be so kind."

"Of course, young man. Where y'all from?"

"New Orleans. Got some business in the city." I glance around. It's clean and tidy, and they have a diner next door. "Nice digs. You got any suites?"

They don't even use a computer here. I smile to myself as she looks down at the book. "Well, son, you're in luck. We have one premier suite available. It has a balcony."

I give her a wink. "Perfect. Thank you…" I glance down at her button. "Gladys, appreciate it."

"Well now, you're welcome, honey."

I hear Star mutter something as she steps outside and I give over my details and pay for the rooms in cash, tipping Gladys as she hands me the keys. I hang onto Brew and Haze's room and hand out the others.

Halo glances between us. "Star, are you sure you don't want to bunk with Kyle? I really don't mind taking the couch, or we can get another room, how mu?—"

"They're out of rooms." I shrug. "It happens."

Star frowns, though I doubt Halo would have the couch if Riot has anything to do with it.

Kyle, who I only said a few words to in the apartment, side eyes Star. He seems like an okay dude. Nerdy. Non-threatening, even though he's huge. A big teddy bear. "So, we're roomies, Halo?" He nudges Halo in the ribs.

I hear a low growl from Riot who's standing between me and Halo. Kyle laughs. Halo flushes and Star looks like she's about to punch Riot in the face. Great, this is all I need. A show-down before we've even got any work done.

"Riot, you've got your own room." I give him a pointed look.

Kyle gives Riot a look that tells him he's far from afraid, and I wonder what it is this group have for fucking breakfast. I mean, I wouldn't mess with Riot in a month of Sundays, but then Kyle says, "It's okay, dude. I prefer the company of other men. She's safe with me."

I snort as Riot's shoulders visibly slump. He glares at Kyle. "She'd be a lot safer with me, big guy."

"Is that because you're part of a scary motorcycle club?" Kyle waves his hands as if to say ‘ooh I'm scared.'

I roll my lips. Kyle has a bit of sass. Good for him.

"No, it's because I have a really big fuckin' gun."

"Now, now boys." Halo presses one hand on Riot's chest, and the other on Kyle's. "There's no need to go pissin' in the breeze. There's enough of me to go around."

Riot's not exactly known for his civility, but even I can see he's not gonna do anything. He's just marking his territory, so to speak.

Riot looks down at Halo. "I don't like to share, Shorty."

I snort. "Shorty?"

Star rolls her eyes. Kyle shakes his head and Halo looks like she's about to swoon. Well, she is kinda short.

Riot meets my gaze. "We headin' out?"

"We'll take the bags up then reconvene in fifteen?"

He nods, heading to his truck to retrieve his duffel. Then he bends and picks up Halo's two suitcases.

"She knows we're only here for a few days, right?" I mutter to Star.

When the others are out of earshot, I know I'm in trouble because her hands are planted firmly on her hips. "Subtlety is obviously not your strong point."

"What?" I grab my bag from the back, and Star takes hers. I don't dare try and take it from her, even if it is the chivalrous thing to do. Unlike Halo, Star has packed very light with one bag and it isn't even full. I'm impressed.

"Us sharing a room."

"Like you don't want more of what we did earlier?" I cock a brow.

Not even she can deny what's going on between us. I know she enjoyed it. I know she wants more of it, and now she knows a little more about me, hopefully she wants to take things a little further. Like exclusivity. I'm not saying we need to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but there's no way I can ever let a man touch her again unless it's me.

I don't give a fuck what she thinks about it.

After my performance this morning in her apartment, I know she's not gonna just toss me away. We haven't even touched on half the shit I want to explore with her, and she seems to be up for just about anything.

"We're here to get answers." She tries her best to look indignant, but I know her now. I know that she's just saving face. I'm reminded again that she probably needs to hear that it's okay to receive pleasure even when you're going through a crisis. Hasn't it taken her mind off all the doom and gloom going on? I know it has for me.

"And fuck."

She glances over her shoulder, but the trio are already headed upstairs. "Nevada." There's a warning tone in her voice that makes me smirk.

"You think you can just turn off my dirty mind because there's other people around?" I head up the stairs as she tags along behind me. "Not a chance, beautiful girl."

"You're so goddamn pushy, you know that? You should be sharing with Riot."

I tsk. "Then Halo would have no place to crash."

"She's not going to jump into bed with Riot. Trust me."

I just love pushing her buttons. "I don't know, I think she looked pretty flushed just now. What is she, the Virgin Mary?"

"No, but she takes her time getting to know someone." She gives me a pointed look that makes me laugh.

"Just like you did?"

One foot after the other, she trudges behind me and I feel ten feet tall because my girl is coming to my room. To our room. "I was horny. Sue me."

I tip my head back and laugh out loud, earning me a look from the others who are ahead of us. "I'll remember you said that."

"Why, so you can use it against me later?"

I gasp. "Again, you insult me with words. If we didn't have a meeting with Brew and Haze in the next hour, I'd be sucking your pussy until you rise off that bed like the goddamn Holy Ghost." I feel a slap to my shoulder as she whacks me. That only makes me laugh harder. "Baby, you know I'm for a little rough play day or night."

"Why don't you make it any more obvious we're fucking," she whisper-shouts.

Hearing her say that settles my racing heart because it sounds on-going. Like this doesn't have to end.

I don't want it to end.

I'm fucked, I know that much.

"Like they don't already know after this morning?" I throw back. She can't deny that. It was so hot, knowing they could hear us as I made her come. Leaving her in that fucking mess so I could go and take care of myself. "You also owe me because I had to take care of myself today."

"I don't owe you shit."

I bite back another healthy laugh. I swear this chick works wonders on my abs from laughing so much. "That's not how it works in my world."

"Really?" she purrs. "And here I was thinking that we were in my world."

"Oh, I'll be in any world you want me to be if I get to taste that pussy and ass again."

The color in her cheeks rises, and I grin wider because no words come out of her pretty mouth. "After all, we both know you like the dirty talk."

"Nevada, stop it!" She almost sounds amused herself. My chest puffs with pride that I put some light in her darkness. I know how much she's suffering, and all I want to do is take her mind off things. Okay, it'd be fine if she fell in love with me too, but Rome wasn't built in a day and all that.

I can't deny that I kinda love it when she chastises me. It makes me want to do very bad things.

We get to the corner door and I shove the key in the lock. The door opens with a creek. The motel isn't bad, but it's also not exactly The Ritz. But we need to lay low and be close to the storage facility, which isn't far from here.

It's clean inside and looks freshly renovated. The duvet is crisp and the pillows look comfortable. I dump the bags. There's some heavy curtains that I immediately open to let the light in. The entire suite is like a mini-apartment with a renovated bathroom and a tub. I imagine soaking with my girl in there and my dick hardens.

There's a mini kitchenette, but we won't be doing any cooking in here. Well, not the type of cooking that you'd normally do in a kitchen.

"This isn't too bad," she says, as if her expectations were low. "Pity I won't be staying."

I don't know why she plays hard to get.

The walls are a light gray with tile flooring and carpet in the bedroom, which also looks new, which is a pleasant surprise. I guess old Gladys liked me after all. It was worth the free upgrade for just a smile.

I make a show of sitting on the bed and bouncing up and down on it a few times. It doesn't squeak, much to my disappointment.

"Oh, you're stayin', baby girl."

"Can you just pick one name and stick to it?"

I shake my head. "Nope. This annoys you more, and it'll only encourage you to jump me and have angry hate-sex."

"Very mature."

She can pull off a resting bitch face well, but I know better. And it gives me a jolt of electricity through my body knowing that I'm depriving myself until I can take my sweet time with her, and no matter what she says, I will be doing exactly that.

I press ignore on my phone. That damn no caller ID again. I don't have time to scream my annoyance down the phone, not with a crowd of people around.

"Worked with the footage the twins sent me," Kyle says. "Tracked two possible facilities, one is a shipping container graveyard, the other an industrial scrap metal playground, both have invisibility from the public and the perfect camouflage."

"So we need to go check them out." Surprise, surprise, Star is ready to go bang down their door and nail their asses.

"Hold up." Brew flicks his gaze to her. We're all sitting around a large booth table at the diner next door to the hotel, planning our next move. "We're not at that point to go bangin' down any doors. These assholes have guns, sweetheart, big guns, and they won't take too kindly to us sniffin' around askin' questions."

Before Star can cut back in, I say, "So we'll go in the scrapyard, pretend to be lookin' around while you two take the shipping yard."

"Hey, what about me?" Halo pouts.

"We're in the stakeout van." Riot grins. "You don't even have to call shotgun and I've got good snacks."

"You know on a stakeout you have to actually watch what's goin' on?" Haze grumbles. "Not be makin' out on the job."

Halo's cheeks flush just a little but Riot just grins even wider. "You both know I'm multi-skilled."

Halo laughs. "This I have to see… Wait… I didn't mean… I just meant, like, guys can't usually do more than one thing at once… Shit… Digging a bigger hole here."

Star looks anxious; her gaze is off somewhere else, her jaw tight and her fists balled. I know she wants to go in guns blazing, but that's not how we do things. And I'm sure if this wasn't so close to her heart, she wouldn't be contemplating it either. Maybe it's not a good idea that she even come with us, but I know for a fact we'd have to tie her down and gag her, and I don't think that would go down well.

"Haze is right, gotta keep our eyes on the ball. Me and Star will check out the scrap yard, see what we can find. In the meantime, if the boys find anythin' their end at the shippin' yard, we reconvene then." I glance at each of them.

I mean, I do rank higher in the club than Brew or Haze, and I'm no higher or lower than Riot, but he has been at the club longer and is more street smart than I am. But everyone knows Brew and Haze live by nobody's rules, and that might be a good thing where this investigation is concerned. Nobody knows us here, which is even better, and none of us are wearing cuts.

"Sounds like a plan." Brew tucks back into his all-day-breakfast like he hasn't eaten in a week. "Not like we have a huge backup, so no doin' anything stupid." He casts a glance at Star, which she chooses to ignore.

She's barely touched the muffin in front of her, or the coffee. "Eat." I nudge her softly with my shoulder. "Not leavin' until that's gone."

"I'm not a child," she mumbles, picking at the paper around the damn thing.

"No? Then finish it and we can go." A part of me knows that I'm pushing all the boundaries with her. I know she's independent. She's strong. But I also feel deep in my bones she needs stability, and in some weird way I think I give that to her. Or maybe I'm crazy and it's just my imagination. Either way, she's not getting rid of me.

I'm here to see this thing through, no matter what. I also know getting information out of people, even if we do find something, won't be a piece of cake. People don't talk unless there's violence involved, or money thrown at them.

With Star, she's unpredictable. She'll either knee me in the balls and tell me to fuck off, or do as she's told if she feels like it. I'm pleased when I see her take a chunk to her mouth and slowly chews.

"Good girl," I mutter.

Her eyes flick to mine and there's that look again. The vulnerable look that clouds over her pretty green irises. The one that makes me want to fold to my knees and do whatever it takes to make her happy again. But I know this can't be fixed until we find Tilly. Star is always gonna be broken until we find out the truth. And not for the first time since I met her, I wonder if she truly is ready for that.