Chapter 7

Icouldn’t stop looking at Riker. He confidently walked up to the group of women, said something that had a few losing color, but they seemed to calm once he and Lynnette started talking. Immediately after, he was sitting and laughing with them. Like he’d known them a lot longer than a few minutes.

“You really are smitten with him,” Spade commented.

I grunted. Riker threw his head back and cackled as he patted Lynnette on the head, like he had Darlene just before.

He was gorgeous.

“You think you can tear your eyes away from him for a moment while we go to your office and talk?”

Christ. I didn’t want to, but I had to.

“Let me tell him, and I’ll meet you there.”

Spade chuckled and slapped me on the back. “This shit is good to see, brother.”

Smiling, I handed him the keys and tipped my chin up at him before I made my way over to the group. They quieted when I got close.

“Riker, gonna hit the office for a bit. You good here or wanna come back?”

The women looked from me to him. He beamed. “You go do your business, boss man, and come back to me when you can.”

I raised a brow.

“Promise I’ll be good.”

“We’ll only get him up dancing with us?—”

“Like fuck,” I clipped at Lynnette.

She laughed. “Jealousy suits you, Razor.”

Rolling my eyes, I locked them back on Riker. “Back soon.”

He blew me a kiss, which had my lips twitching. I shook my head and stalked off to the back rooms where my office was.

Spade sat opposite my desk, waiting. I walked around and rested my ass down. “What you were hintin’ at over the phone is that you think Writer’s messin’ with our books?”

Spade nodded.

“When I walked in, I saw Writer’s in for a good night.” He’d been out there drinking while playing pool as Shirley rubbed herself up against him. “And when he saw me come in, he tensed, until Shirley drew his attention away. You think he suspects we’re catchin’ on?”

“Maybe.”

“How much he taken?”

Spade thinned his lips and pulled a notebook out. My gut soured. I knew from his troubled expression, I wouldn’t like his answer. “About fifteen thousand. But that’s only going back as far as this year.” He pushed the notebook my way, and I took a look.

Fucking hell. What a cunning motherfucker.

“Does he know you contacted Pauly about the order?”

He snorted. “Funny thing. Pauly rang me just before you rocked up. The bill just got paid. Writer ducked off to piss before, and he must have been notified of the fuck up. If Pauly hadn’t called, we wouldn’t have looked at his books in the first place.”

Exactly.

Writer was the one who divided up the monthly profit our businesses made and paid into our accounts. The higher the placement in the club, the higher the amount we got. I never questioned mine because I was sitting pretty with what was in my bank account.

“Well, let’s leave Writer thinkin’ he got away with this while we have Coms set up surveillance—in our own fuckin’ club—for Writer’s rooms. I want hard proof in case he tries to talk his way outta this with some bullshit we haven’t thought about. But we also need to make sure he’s actin’ on his own in this shit. We’ll reconvene in a couple’a days. Get Shirley to drug the fucker so he goes down hard tonight. I want the cameras set up by mornin’.”

Spade grinned. “You got it, Prez. Want to see more of his books?”

“Nah, brother. From what you’ve shown, I trust you and Monkey aren’t talkin’ out your asses about this. Thank fuck you guys found this.” Spade, Monkey, Coms, and a few others were the brothers who had my complete trust.

“So, you know why I got you in here, yeah?”

Smirking, I nodded. “Known you a long time, brother. You needed me to approve the shit you’d already considered doin’ but didn’t want to give too much away over the phone.”

“Damn right. The only difference was that I’d thought about gettin’ Writer outta the way with a ride, but he might not take to that if he’s havin’ fun. Gettin’ Shirley to drug him will be easier to keep an eye on him.”

“Not just a pretty face, Spade.”

He snorted. “You don’t do it for me, brother.”

Someone banged on the door.

“Enter,” I barked.

Monkey stuck his head through with a grin. “Your guy just handed Roadie his ass for touchin’ one of the girls who didn’t want his attention for the night.”

Shit.

I was up out of my chair and down the hall in moments with my brothers following. The crowd parted, and I spotted Riker kneeling on my brother’s spine with Roadie’s arm pinned behind his back. He whispered something in his ear, and I saw my brother’s face screwed up in pain, but it was also pale with fear.

Riker glanced up and his words stopped. My sunshine jumped up to stand with his hands clasped behind his back. “I didn’t kill him,” he announced, and some of the crowd laughed. They thought he was joking. That he wouldn’t kill. They didn’t see what I saw lingering underneath.

“Come here,” I demanded. Riker skipped over while Roadie stayed on the floor.

Riker placed his hands on my waist and looked up. “He just walked up to Darlene and grabbed her boobie. I could tell she didn’t want his hands on her like that. Hasn’t he ever heard of foreplay?”

Fuck me, I wanted to laugh. Grabbed her boobie.

Instead, I rubbed a hand over my mouth and curled him into me. Together, we stared down at Roadie. “What did you do to him?”

“Pfft, nothing much. He’s overacting. Get up, Roadie,” Riker called, and my brother slowly got to his feet.

“Nothin’ much?” Monkey asked, still grinning. “Riker launched over Darlene and swung Roadie over his back before landing on him with a kidney punch. We didn’t hear what he said, though.”

“I want to know,” someone said.

“Yeah. Roadie looks about ready to vomit or shit. What’d he say, Roadie?”

“Fuck off,” Roadie snarled. He picked up his phone that must have fallen out and stormed from the room.

Riker tipped his head back, knowing I was already staring down at him.

“What’d you say?” I asked softly as the others, except Spade and Monkey, went back to partying.

He shrugged. “All I said was that I’d cut off his hands and shove them up his ass if he ever touched a woman like that again. And that I’d always be watching. Now I’m in your life, I’ve taken the women under my legs, and I’ll protect them from bitches and manhandling. Especially if I see a woman wince like Darlene did.”

“Don’t you mean wings?” Spade asked.

Riker’s brows dipped. “What?”

“Taken the women under your wings instead of legs.”

“No. I have legs. I’ve never had wings and I won’t.”

His serious and confused face was adorable.

Riker glanced off toward the door where Roadie disappeared into. Obviously, his mind had drifted elsewhere when he asked, “I can’t hurt him more, can I?”

“If he doesn’t listen to your warning, you can.”

He grinned. “I do get to keep an eye on him?”

“You do.”

He went to his tiptoes, kissed my jaw, and skipped over to the women. “Come, come, my lovelies. You need to take my number in case any of you need my help.” He paused and turned his head slowly to glare at Marker who was talking to Boff. They must have felt his stare because when they looked at him, they sneered.

Anger punched me in the gut.

“Mark, Boff,” I called, and their gazes swung to me. I shook my head. Boff dropped his head and walked off while Marker tried to stare me down. Eventually, he clenched his jaw and headed over to the bar.

“I’ll keep an ear out,” Monkey said as he slapped me on the back and stalked off.

“I’m gonna go talk to Coms,” Spade said. “I’m sure you wanna get outta here.”

“Yep. Keep me updated. I’ll come in when needed.”

“You got it. Good to see you content, brother.”

I tipped my chin up. “Thanks.” After he walked off, I waited, watching Riker and thinking that I had a good group of close brothers who I knew would be my ride or die and had already accepted Riker and me.

They knew I’d do anything for them. Like they would for me. That shit filled me with pride and gratitude. It wouldn’t only be them either.

Once the rest had gotten used to seeing me with Riker and seeing what a good man he was, they wouldn’t care it was a same-sex relationship. All right, there could be a handful who’d find it difficult to understand, which I’d eventually sort out, but for now, I just wanted to soak in the damn comfort of knowing I had good people in my life.

Just sucked I wouldn’t be able to tell them anything of the new world I was now a part of, especially as I believed they’d support it. Well, after the shock of learning about everything.

Still, I wouldn’t say anything unless I had permission. Riker’s safety was too important.

Shaking the thoughts away, I called, “Riker.”

He spun my way excitedly, then waved back to the women. “Got to go, ladies. See you next time.” He raced back over to me and took my hand in both of his as I led us out of the compound. “You good if we drop into your place to grab some clothes for you?”

“I’m very good with that idea. And Rio will be cooking dinner about now so can we eat with them. That’s if my brothers don’t annoy you. They can be a bit much.”

“As long as they don’t hurt you, I’ll have dinner with them.”

“They’ve only ever shot me or stabbed me.” A fire burned through my veins. I pulled him to a stop, and he hesitantly added, “Nothing too bad.”

“Nothing too bad?”

“Yes?”

“Maybe they need to be shot and stabbed—Oof.” Riker’s body hit me hard as he jumped at me. Thank fuck, I managed to wrap my arms around him before he fell. Though, he was clinging to me good and tight. “What are you doin’?”

“You make my dick so damn hard with all your talking and looks and how you watched me before you left for your meeting. My dick also loves how you commanded the room. How you didn’t yell at me for teaching your brother a lesson. But most of all, my dick loves how you’re not scared of my brothers who can do what they do and have the jobs that we do. It’s all the freaking biggest turn on and my dick would very much appreciate that sucking sometime soon. That’s why we won’t stay long at my house.”

Laughing, I pushed my face into the crook of his neck and kissed there. I pulled away to say, “We’ll stay as long as you like. But your dick doesn’t have to worry it’ll get attention. It just may not be any good since it’ll be my first head job for a guy.”

“I have confidence in you,” he told me seriously, then grinned. “Besides, I really don’t mind being the one to lick you like a lollipop since I can come from that too.”

“Jesus. Get in the car, sunshine. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we get back home.”

“You got it.” He tried to get down, but I squeezed his ass, which brought his gaze back up to me.

“First you gotta kiss me.”

He smirked. “I do?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I leaned forward and took what I wanted. What I needed since it wasn’t only his dick that’d been hard most of the time since being here.

He wasn’t only going to suit me, but the club as well, because he already looked out for those who couldn’t protect themselves. I loved my club. My brothers. But I also knew that some of them could get carried away. Could be a little rough and demanding.

Spade, Monkey, Coms, and I controlled what we saw or set to fixing what we heard. It’d still be good to have someone like Riker who the women had warmed to instantly. It looked like they already trusted him more than any of us, even when they knew they could come to me for anything.